Edit: Since the game’s now out, we may as well give a translation for the article and the characters involved in.
Basically, the SS Company is called Best Fitness Friends (BFF for short) in English, whereas Sulimu, Muchio and Kyutto are named Dieter, Beef and Kaley respectively.
As you know, Mario & Luigi Bowser’s Inside Story is getting a remake later this month. Titled Mario & Luigi Bowser’s Inside Story + Bowser Jr’s Journey, the game promises to update the DS classic with all the stylings of Dream Team and Paper Jam.
And that’s not all it does either. No, it’s actually got a surprisingly decent amount of new stuff for a remake, from switched up ranks to updated giant battles to a whole extra giant battle gauntlet/boss rush for those wanting to replay them later. That’s much more than Superstar Saga got with Superstar Saga + Bowser’s Minions.
But it’s not those mechanical additions that are most interesting here. No, it’s the story details and characters, especially the new antagonists it introduces in its side mode, aka the mysterious SS Company.
Who are they? Who are these guys?
Background
Well, they’re basically a group of prominent employees for a pharmaceutical company by the name of ‘Shun Satsu’, or ‘Super Suppliers’. They promise Bowser and co that they have a cure for the Blorbs, which is that obesity virus plaguing the kingdom thanks to Fawful’s machinations.
However, as it turns out that’s not the case. As you’d expect, the SS Company are actually affiliated with Fawful himself, and turn out to be working for him in his plan to take over the kingdom. This leads to the events of the side mode, as well as what ends up being the final boss there (find out more about that in the spoilers section).
Characters
Character wise, there are three members of this group. Sulimu (he’s the guy with the yellow tie), Muchio (the big guy) and Kyutto/Kyut (the blue haired girl). As you can probably guess, their names are a play on ‘slim’, ‘macho’ and ‘cute’ respectively. though this may be changed for the English translation.
They’re already pretty popular with the fanbase too. Heck, there’s even some fan art of them already out there:
ずっと描きたかったSSカンパニー擬人化
右の子性別分からんがビビアン的だったら良い pic.twitter.com/hYvhFZOsvh— 朝鈴@垢移動 (@MandL_kameck) 8 December 2018
Spoilers
But enough of that. Onto their overall role in the story. How do they play into the remake in general?
If you’re fine with spoilers, find out below. If not… maybe skip to the end of the article or something.
Spoilers
Either way though, let’s start out with a basic fact. They’re only in the side mode. So no, you won’t be facing off against them with Mario & Luigi this time around, at least from what we’ve seen.
Still, they do make for a pretty interesting final opponent in Bowser Jr’s Journey none the less. Not least because they merge together into this monstrosity:
And take on Bowser’s forces in a battle that’s accompanied by one of the best Mario & Luigi battle themes in history. It’s especially impressive given it’s only used in a side game/mode that about 80% of players will never bother with:
As for the battle? Well it’s a battle I guess. It’s like most battles in this mode unfortunately, mostly automatic. The challenge comes from levelling up and organising your forces, not the actual fighting part.
So for anyone who’s not into this mode, it’ll likely look like a bunch of enemy sprites randomly running into each other until the losing side vanishes. You can see it in the below video at 2:12:52:
What is a bit more interesting though is Fawful’s role here. Or more precisely, his lack of a role, since he doesn’t actually show up as a boss in Bowser Jr’s Journey. That’s a pretty big change from Bowser’s Minions in the last game (where he was the main antagonist and a major presence throughout the new story) and it makes us wonder…
What are AlphaDream’s plans with this mode?
Because it’s become an increasingly large part of the remakes, and seems to be more of a replacement for a new Mario & Luigi game rather than a mere side mode. Seriously, these guys would be perfect for a villain team in a Mario & Luigi 6, yet they’re somehow crammed into the equivalent of side quest. Why? It’s like if Nintendo added a new story mode with new main characters exclusively into Mario Kart 8 Deluxe’s battle mode or something. A bizarre and baffling decision.
Still, that’s what we know about these guys so far, as well as their role in the game.
So what do you think about it? Are you interested to see an all new group of Mario RPG antagonists appear in this remake? Should they have been opponents in an actual mainline Mario & Luigi adventure?
Tell us your thoughts in the comments or over on the Gaming Latest forums today!