Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga sure makes me remember Mario RPG on the SNES.
As farfetched the story is, many of the elements are brought together through sequences and humor (poor Luigi in most cases).
As you progress through the land, you learn new Bros. moves that can be used in the field and battle. On the field, for example, Luigi will jump on Mario and the two spin, causing them to hover for a short period. In battle, the Mario brothers use Bros. attacks. Each normal attack is strengthened by a timed button press at the point of impact, in a Super Mario RPG, or for the younger player, Paper Mario-esque experience. Bros. attacks are complex moves that require you to press buttons in the correct order and timing to deal out a fairly high amount of damage. As in every RPG, you get experience and level up. At each level up, you can decide to get a small bonus in one of the stat categories. If you keep using the bonus on one stat, the bonus will eventually reach 1, whereas switching often will keep all the stat bonuses moderately high.
Superstar Saga is chock full of great visuals. It features a hand drawn style with text presented as speech bubbles and symbols. The animations of all the attacks, movements, and scripted scenes are brilliantly done.
Superstar Saga contains its share of classic Mario music, as well as well produced original tracks. All the classic sound effects are present and accounted for as well, including the most famous, the jump.
In the end, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga was a very enjoyable experience. With impressive visuals, humorous moments, great audio, and enjoyable gameplay, it is worth buying and playing.