After a lengthy hiatus and the closure of its developer, the Mario & Luigi series is making a welcome, if relatively safe comeback.
It has been nearly a decade since the last entry in Nintendo’s Mario & Luigi series of handheld role-playing games. Admittedly, there were two remakes in 2017 and 2018, but they seemed to have little impact on fans and the general market. The Bowser’s Inside Story remake, in particular, reportedly sold so poorly that Nintendo cancelled any further 3DS projects – despite it being the best entry in the series.
In 2019, developer AlphaDream sadly shut down, after filing for bankruptcy, leaving the Mario & Luigi series in limbo. While Nintendo never explicitly said the series had died with the studio, it didn’t offer any reassurance it would continue either. So, there was much rejoicing when the June 2024 Nintendo Direct kicked off with the announcement of Mario & Luigi: Brothership, with a November 2024 release date.
The initial trailer was short but sweet, demonstrating that everything people know and love about the series has been retained. Nintendo even assured fans that some members of AlphaDream are working on this new entry, although it’s continuing its recent trend of not saying who the development studio is – which is very unfair on the creators.
We recently attended a hands-on preview to experience Brothership for ourselves and while it’s too early to tell how exactly it compares to its predecessors, it certainly looks set to please long-time fans, even if it feels rather unambitious.
Despite making the jump from handhelds to a home (well, hybrid) console, the Mario & Luigi formula remains unchanged. You control the brothers at the same time, moving them throughout the new land of Concordia from a top-down perspective, making Mario jump with the ‘A‘ button and Luigi jump with the ‘B’ button.
Run into a monster on the field and you shift into turn-based battles where attacks require timed button presses to deal extra damage and dodge/counter enemy attacks. Like the Paper Mario series (with which it had a crossover on the 3DS) Mario & Luigi is a direct descendant of Super Mario RPG, with all three franchises sharing a similar style of combat.
Muscle memory quickly kicked in and as we were learning enemy attack patterns, bouncing off their heads or smacking them with hammers, it really felt like the series had never left. It just looks a lot prettier. While previous games have always had lovely 2D sprite artwork, Brothership’s cartoony 3D character models allow for even more expressive visuals.
We honestly got more chuckles from Mario and Luigi’s animations than the script, which hopefully doesn’t mean the verbal humour has taken a hit. Prior games always managed to bring the chortles with its character dialogue, but what we’ve seen so far wasn’t that impressive. We can already tell that new companion Snoutlet’s running gag of insisting they’re not a pig will get very old very quickly.
The combat is on top form though. Landing, dodging, and countering attacks remains as satisfying as ever. Interestingly, Mario and Luigi’s standard attacks have received a lot more flourish. Rather than attacking independently, simple jumps and hammer swings see the two work together, meaning you make use of both the ‘A’ and ‘B’ buttons. Nintendo did tell us the brothers would be closer than ever in Brothership, suggesting there’ll be an even greater emphasis on teamwork compared to previous entries.
This doesn’t diminish the flashy special moves, known as Bros. Attacks. In previous games, these moves always required a combination of ‘A’ and ‘B’ presses and we’re excited to see what zany ideas Brothership will have in store. We only got to use two basic ones in the preview, that saw the brothers kick a green or red shell back and forth, but they still end with an impactful final kick that wouldn’t look out of place in a Mario Strikers game.
It also looks like Mario and Luigi will once again each get unique Bros. Attacks, with Mario’s red shell focusing on only one enemy while Luigi’s green shell hits all available targets.
Additionally, there are these new Battle Plugs that appear to take the place of the badges seen in previous games. You can equip two at a time and they provide passive bonuses, such as letting the brothers hover in the air slightly to more easily dodge attacks. However, they have limited use and will eventually run out, meaning you need to let them recharge before they can work again.
We believe this has been done to force players to experiment and change up their strategies, so your mileage will vary on whether this will make the game more fun or just be a nuisance. On the plus side, Battle Plugs can be swapped out mid-fight, which is an unambiguously welcome quality-of-life touch.
With Mario and Luigi confirmed to be the only playable characters, and no sign of any gimmicks like the Dream World from Dream Team Bros., Brothership feels a lot like a spiritual successor to the original Superstar Saga, where the focus was entirely on the brothers, before sequels threw in babies, Bowser, Paper Mario, and dream clones of Luigi.
Based on what we’ve seen so far, the closest thing to a unique gimmick is being able to press the ‘L’ button while on the field to send Luigi off to do his own thing. It’s context sensitive, but it allows for Mario and Luigi to split up for puzzle solving. The example we experienced was a maze where Mario could go up to a platform, giving us a bird’s-eye view of the maze. Then Luigi, who stayed behind, could hit a button to spin the walls round and open a way to the exit.
This back-to-basics approach was perhaps taken to help ease in both returning fans and newcomers. There are little touches too, like how Luigi will automatically hop up ledges and over gaps, meaning you only ever need to worry about moving Mario around. You also no longer select Luigi’s actions in battle with ‘B’; you just use the ‘A’ button (his attack and dodge inputs still use ‘B’ though).
This is hardly a problem, but muscle memory meant we never unlearned his habit during the preview. We also never found any of the enemy encounters especially difficult. To be fair, both segments we experienced were from early into the game, so things could get more challenging later on.
While Brothership seems averse to risks, it’s still set to be a solid continuation of the series. Plus, while the last 12 months have also seen remakes of Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, it’s just nice to see a wholly original Mario themed role-player again. Honestly, the only real complaint we have is that you need to sit through a loading screen every time you win a fight. Perhaps we’ve been spoiled on the likes of Pokémon Scarlet & Violet and Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth, but it’s a mild nuisance all the same.
Unless Nintendo has any last-minute surprises up its sleeve, Brothership is poised to be the company’s last major exclusive of 2024. It will also probably be one of the last major first party releases for the Switch before the launch of its successor. The series’ ship may have sunk once before but, with any luck, this new entry will drag its name back up from the depths and put new wind in its sails.
Formats: Nintendo Switch
Price: £49.99
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Unknown
Release Date: 7th November 2024
Age Rating: 7
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