Mario and Luigi's third handheld RPG outing will be hitting North America in 2009.

We received confirmation of the existence of Mario & Luigi 3 in the Japanese conference, but now we've gotten a few extra details from the San Francisco Nintendo Media Summit.

In the third installment of the handheld RPG series, which is a spin-off of the Paper Mario franchise, Mario and Luigi will be fighting alongside Bowser. No doubt some bigger brute's come along and claimed Bowser's spot as number one villain in the Mushroom Kingdom, and the only way to get it back is by teaming up with his arch-nemesis so they can fight to the death in peace once again.

Mario & Luigi 3 will be hitting North America in 2009, hopefully a European release won't be too far behind...