Bowser’s Minions Review

If you haven’t had the chance to read our review of the revamped Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga, we encourage you to do so here! If you are looking to purchase this collection for that remake, and that remake alone, we concluded our review by saying we highly recommend it, seeing the Bowser’s Minions addition to the title, a bonus. But what about those who could care less about Superstar Saga, but are intrigued by Bowser’s Minions? Is the game still worth purchasing, if that mode is what you are after! See what we thought below!

Bowser’s Minions is a tactical strategy game that will have you assume the role of a captain – either Shy Guy, Goomba, or Boo – and select some of Bowser’s best minions to engage in some all out battles. The system itself is very easy to understand, and even my seven year old had the hang of the mode after only a few minutes. There are officially three types of minions to use: melee, flying, and ranged. When deciding which minions you want to add to your attacking party, you utilize a simple rock-paper-scissors formula. Melee is superior to ranged, ranged superior to flying, and flying superior to melee.

Before each battle, players will see what enemies they might be facing, and can tune their own squad to match the invading army. The strategy lies in the menus, as the game takes over completely once you begin the fight, putting all the action in an AI v AI matchup, while you sit and watch your own strategic planning play out, while utilizing a few button presses to have small, yet sometimes important impact on the battle. It never feels unfair, and thankfully Nintendo has added a few interactive moments via button presses that will execute special attacks.

Captain commands are visible on the bottom 3DS screen, and can allow you the captain to negate special attacks from enemies, and various other techniques. Each action requires coins to complete, which are limited in each level. Again, it would have been better to actively take control of some of the characters on the screen, but this at least adds interactive elements that can keep players engaged.

As you progress, you will collect more minions, level up minions, and have more strategic options available to you, depending on the strengths and weaknesses of those in your party. The majority of the fun comes from collecting minions and organizing the battles; the battles themselves can get repetitive, but trying new strategies and new minions can alleviate this a fair bit.

Although we enjoyed Bowser’s Minions for what it was, 44.99 is a steep price to pay for if this is all you want to play, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Nintendo dislodge this from the Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga remake package and offer it as an eShop only download for under 10$. The entire package, however is completely worth it: we give Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser’s Minions a solid 9/10!