Mario fans, this isn't something to pass up. Probably the best game out there for the Gamecube
Good
-It Mario
-Amazing story
-Amazing character designs
-hard to beat bosses
-challenging levels
Bad
-really long to play through, so I don't recommend it for people who like short games because this game will have you hooked to your TV for the next couple of weeks
Story
Well the story is amazing.
Basically Princess peach sent Mario a letter saying she found a treasure map but wants Mario to help her find it. In the letter she enclosed the map and thus the story begins. Your sent off on your journey to Rogueport which is where your suppose to meet peach only to find out she has run off to some place and later in the story you find out she has been kidnapped (big shocker eh?) so now you must find the treasure (which you'll find out is these crystal stars that grant you powers early on in the game) and save peach. Along the way you'll meet a person to help you like goombella (who is the very first person who joins your party) her special ability is to be able to Identify what enemies you face (basically she's the pokedex for Mario) you'll meet other people like Bombery or something like that who can explode opening holes in the wall (very helpful). Earlier I mentioned the crystal stars basically they are the treasures you have to find and to use to save peach, Of course this isn't easy you'll face some challenging enemies and even harder boss fights in order to obtain these crystal stars (7 or 8 of them)
Graphics
Purely amazing Characters look amazing everything to the smallest detail is so well designed
Music/SFX
Greats music and sound effects no problem here
Controls
Easy to use
Replay value
Amazing because in order to find all the secrets in the game you need to go back to the chapters you beat (8) and use the people who joined your party to find them because each person has a unique ability.
Improvements
I'd say there were improvements needed but I'd be lying!
Overall the game is perfect at least to me and any Mario fan would love this, well just about anybody would love this game.