This was a fun adventure it had good music, decent plot, and the writing is just great! Not big fan of Cackletta, she was OK but nothing too great. I will say I found Cackletta Soul Cheep though and that Arm wing attack is near impossible to dodge (At lower HP). The game as a bit easy with some moderate difficulty toward the end.
1. How 'real' the world felt. Because to put it bluntly, the later games felt rather... bland as far as world design went, with very little to do in each area and nowhere near as much variety. It's especially noticeable in Partners in Time because of it's linearity, but Bowser's Inside Story and Paper Jam also seem to have worlds with maybe one or two interesting things on each screen and a whole lot of empty space between them. Meanwhile, in Superstar Saga, it felt like every area had something to find or do, and every inch of the world was used in a clever way as part of the storyline.
It was also a lot less linear feeling, which was good. I mean, the minute you came down from Hoohoo Mountain, you could go pretty much anywhere in the kingdom. Oh sure, you wouldn't be far enough along to actually enter certain areas yet, but you could at least wander off, fight some stronger enemies, find secrets, etc.
Either way, the world felt more interesting than in the later games.
2. The storyline. Why? Because it was never predictable.
Oh no, Peach's voice got stolen! Wait, we killed Cackletta already? Princess Peach still has her voice and its Birdo's that got stolen? Bowser has been possessed by Cackletta? Bowser's Castle has come out of nowhere? The Koopalings are in this? What the hell?
Basically, every part of the game has a plot twist. Every new plot twist opens up a new part of the world you never knew was there, often with its own interesting characters and themes. As a result, the game feels like a real adventure, one where you never knew what was coming.
And because of that... it actually feels like the longest game in the series. It's not (by far, Dream Team takes the cake there on a statistical level), but it feels long because of all the plot twists, unexpected new areas to explore, unexpected boss fights, etc. Meanwhile, Partners in Time and Paper Jam feel very short, since you pretty much know everything that's going to happen, and exactly what places you'll be exploring. Dream Team feels like a medium length game, because the island feels like a small place which you've seen most of by the halfway point.
So yeah, I like the world design and story, because they make it feel like an interesting, grand adventure in a fascinating world despite the game actually being one of the shortest games in the series.
Wario fan, Mario game modder and interested in every Mario RPG you can imagine!
I also run Wario Forums, which is a place to discuss the Wario Land and WarioWare franchises.