Baby Brother Trouble

Everyone knows Mario, Nintendo's jumping and bumping plumber hero who first arrived on the scene in Donkey Kong in the late 1970s. Some of us have even met his brother, Luigi. But perhaps the twosome are finally feeling their age - in Mario & Luigi: Partners In Time we get to meet them as babies!

Time travel may defy the laws of physics, but who's arguing if it brings Mario, Luigi and their younger selves together in an adventure to save the world? Any plot that involves rescuing a princess called Peach from the Shroobs, monsters from the Dark Purple Mushroom Planet isn't to be taken too seriously, anyway.

What's more important here is the interesting ways in which you can combine the four heroes to win the day. You'll generally roam around exploring as Mario or Luigi, with one following the other, swapping leadership between the two with a button press. Sometimes you'll use them together: for a spin jump, for instance, Luigi clambers onto Mario's shoulders and sets the two spinning. But you can also switch to their baby versions - handily-stored in their backpacks - to complete certain puzzles, pull off moves like the baby drill (using Baby Mario and Baby Luigi to drill into the earth - child exploitation in a Nintendo game!) or to add the kind of oomph to Shroob-tackling scuffles that only a wailing child can provide. And sometimes you'll need to split Mario and Luigi up to explore different areas at the same time.

The game takes advantage of the DS' dual screens, switching between the top and bottom to expand the adventure or to tell the next bit of the story, and also becoming one big arena in the battle mode. Win more of these fights and you'll improve your attack power. You can also boost your strength with combat moves that combine all four characters to produce a super-powerful blow using weapons of war like a cannon or, with typical strangeness, a trampoline.

To catch the European release of Mario & Luigi: Partners In Time, make time for a trip to the shops on the 10th of February.