If there was one announcement I wasn't expecting from Nintendo during today's Nintendo Direct event, it was the announcement of a new Mario & Luigi handheld RPG. Yet here we are, and Mario & Luigi: Dream Team has been announced for release later this summer. Part of Nintendo's "Year of Luigi", the new RPG will focus be based around a sleeping Luigi and Mario's use of this new dream-reality to do some rather crazy things.

Some of the odd mechanics we got to see in the trailer include Mario being carried by a tower of Luigis, Mario performing a jump attack on an army of foes while summoning a horde of Luigis to follow-up his attacks, and an odd omnipresent Luigi who could make invisible blocks appear. In other words, the game exudes Luigi's personality in wonderfully oddball ways.

Following up the glorious Bowser's Inside Story, I'm willing to commit to the Mario & Luigi series being Nintendo's best RPGs, what with the mediocre Paper Mario: Sticker Star last year. Hopefully Nintendo doesn't plan on taking the personality out of the Mario & Luigi series too. Of course, judging from how Dream Team looks, I don't think that will be a problem. Look forward to more information as we get closer to the summer.