Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time/Plot Summary

Shroob invasion of Mushroom Kingdom
The Shroob invasion of Mushroom Kingdom was an invasion that was the key focus of the 2005 game Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time. For centuries, a species of mushroom-like aliens called the Shroobs inhabited a planet in a faraway galaxy called Shroob Planet. Their planet, which looks exactly like a huge giant mushroom in the middle of space, was deteriorating in life quality so these aliens stared into space to find a new home. Finally, one day, they stumbled upon a beautiful place here on Earth known as the Mushroom Kingdom and the Shroobs knew there was no turning back now.

Invasion
When Mario and Luigi were babies, they were at Peach’s Castle with Toadsworth and baby princess Peach. Mario and Luigi walked into the throne room to play with Peach, but right when the play date was about to start, Baby Bowser suddenly dropped to the floor from a high altitude and breathed fire on Toadsworth, knocking him out. After fainting for about ten seconds, Toadsworth regained consciousness and taught baby Mario how to attack by jumping. Mario managed to knock out Bowser after a gruesome battle lasting four minutes. During those four minutes, Luigi still got to enjoy some quality time with Peach. As if Bowser’s intrusive visit wasn’t traumatizing enough, the residents of Peach’s Castle had no idea that it was going to get a heck of a lot worse. Being assaulted by Bowser that morning was nothing compared to the ordeal that lay ahead of them. Moments later, the Shroob invasion began. These aliens began firing lasers and missiles into the castle. A Shroob spaceship became fully charged for their attack and if this attack hit, it would nuke the entire room, killing everyone inside. Toadsworth told everyone to flee as he declared that the castle is lost.

Luckily, Baby Bowser launched a spike ball from his Koopa Cruiser, hitting the spaceship spot on, and rescuing baby Mario, baby Luigi, baby Peach, and Toadsworth. They grieved as reality smacked them hard: Their once beautiful castle was lost. As they faced their brutal new reality, they knew they had a long, painful road ahead of them. Meanwhile, adult Mario and adult Luigi traveled to Hollijolli Village and rescued the mayor of the village. Seconds later, the mayor was knocked out and abducted by three Shroobs. Mario and Luigi then fight the Shroobs, but despite the brothers’ best efforts, they were obliterated by the Shroobs. One of them was holding a remote control for a bomb UFO that would detonate after three turns. Upon detonation, the UFO released so much explosive energy that Mario and Luigi were instantly knocked unconscious. The Shroobs celebrated their victory by repeatedly laughing at the fainted Mario and Luigi, laughing and jumping up and down repeatedly for minutes on end. Meanwhile, baby Mario and baby Luigi had been in Bowser’s Koopa Cruiser, flying high up over the village. Baby Bowser fires a spike ball from the cannon on the Koopa Cruiser, firing in the direction of the three Shroobs, killing one and knocking the other two flying, buying them time to lower the Koopa Cruiser down into the village and send the babies to rescue Mario and Luigi. With the help of Toadsworth, who was generous and gave the babies a lifetime supply of Green Shells, the babies defeated the two remaining Shroobs and rescued Mario and Luigi. After they are reunited on the Koopa Cruiser, Toadsworth explains the events of that morning, and how they were rescued by Baby Bowser.

After the heartless attack, the castle was badly transformed, with purple mushrooms growing on the exterior and interior of the castle, and the floors, walls, and ceilings became a variety of shades of purple, the same color as the Shroob intruders. As the cruiser flies past the now uninhabitable castle, Mario talks to Toadsworth, who was taken aback to learn that the adults were the future versions of Mario and Luigi who had traveled back in time in hopes of rescuing princess Peach. A minute later, the Koopa Cruiser’s alarm goes off a second time as it correctly detects another Shroob missile. Unfortunately, the Koopa Cruiser failed to avoid the attack; the direct hit sent the cruiser crashing straight into Bowser’s Castle. Toad Town was also badly deformed by the invasions.

Back to the present
After Mario and Luigi work their way to the time hole at the end of Bowser’s Castle, they, along with the babies, go back to the present Peach’s Castle and inform Professor E Gadd of their discoveries. They found a piece of the Cobalt Star, which causes the Junior Shrooboid to go nuts, and opens a time hole to Toadwood Forest. Inside the forest, the quartet is horrified to discover trees where Toads had been enslaved and bound to the trees. The Toads’ energy was sapped by the trees and the energy was converted to a Shroob drink called “vim” at the Vim Factory. The four brothers burned down a forest that was blocking the entrance to the factory and took a pipe to enter the factory. Their friends, the Hammer Bros, had been brainwashed by the Shroobs, and threatened them in the Leet (1337) Internet language. The babies were unharmed but were forced to fend for themselves as Mario and Luigi were carried away by a suction tube to a tree elsewhere in the factory. After the babies defeat the Hammer Bros, the Hammer Bros faint, losing the antennae that caused them to obey the Shroobs; thus, the Hammer Bros reverted to their usual selves, and taught the babies how to use hammers to destroy crates that would otherwise block the path. The babies walked into the vents of the factory where they were ambushed by two Spiny Shroopas and learned from the Hammer Bros how to fight with hammers, as the Spiny Shroopa is a spiked species that cannot be attacked by jumping. The babies defeat the Shroopas, fall out of the vents and destroy the tree where Mario and Luigi were immobilized and enslaved, freeing them, but not without another Spiny Shroopa ambush.

The Hammer Bros teach all four brothers how to fight with hammers as a full team of four. Then, the babies explore the rest of the factory until they encounter Swiggler. After defeating Swiggler, the brothers collect the second Cobalt Star fragment, but Baby Bowser intervenes and steals both Cobalt Star fragments and Kamek helps him retreat to Yoshi’s Island. Mario, Luigi, baby Mario, and baby Luigi go to Yoshi’s Island to track down Bowser and Kamek. The quartet is victorious, but unfortunately their victory is overshadowed moments later as a Shroobified Yoshi-like creature called the Yoob, swallows the quartet as prey. The quartet is moderately injured from the fall from the Yoob’s throat to the stomach floor but eventually leaves the Yoob’s stomach unharmed. They manage to get the Cobalt Star shards back. Then, Mario and Luigi and the babies go to Gritzy Desert, and then to Thwomp Volcano, where they witnessed the annual eruption of the volcano. The volcano erupts for days on end, making Mr. Thwomp and Mrs. Thwomp very elated and happy. Mario and Luigi and the babies try to take shelter in a laboratory run by Professor E Gadd, but are unable to escape the flames. The babies managed to extinguish the flames on the burning Thwomps in the laboratory, but more kept falling. The eruption ended at last, but not before extensive damage occurred. The laboratory was completely destroyed, forcing Professor E Gadd to start from scratch in a new laboratory at Boo Woods.

The quartet goes into the volcano’s caverns to rescue who appeared to be Peach, but the quartet was abducted by a Shroob alien ship that takes them to Toad Town. The Peach lookalike takes off her disguise and reveals herself to be Princess Shroob herself. After making their way through Toad Town, the quartet climbs the Star Hill, visits the Star Shrine, and collects the fifth Cobalt Star fragment. With that, they gain access to Shroob Castle and discover that the castle has been largely transformed, though the structure of the rooms is still largely recognizable. The hallway and throne room where the babies once played with Peach were completely blocked off by a laser beam system. The quartet roams the first floor to get all laser beams to point to the Shroob ship in the room that was once the hallway where baby Mario and baby Luigi began their journey. They still cannot enter the throne room, where a locked gate denies their entry. They instead take the underground sewers to get to that room. Eventually, they rescue Peach and stop the Shroob invasion.