Mario & Luigi: Brothership - Stuck In The Deep End
Due to some technical difficulties, review codes issued to Player2 took some time to become active leading to a delay in getting started with Mario & Luigi: Brothership, hindering Paul’s ability to get the game completed. Now, with the campaign complete, Paul shares his full thoughts and a final verdict.
I love a Mario RPG, and while I’m especially a sucker for a Paper Mario game, I’m also quite fond of the Mario & Luigi sub-franchise as well, and so it was a bit of a blow to the heart when the news emerged that long-term developer of the Mario & Luigi titles, AlphaDream, were to be closed down in 2019 due to bankruptcy. With their closure, my hopes that we would get a new entry in the Mario & Luigi RPG series took a significant hit, but much to my surprise though, hope sprung anew when in June 2024 a new title, Mario & Luigi: Brothership would be releasing quite imminently. Developed by Acquire in collaboration with Nintendo and some former AlphaDream developers, Mario & Luigi: Brothership shakes the formula up in some areas and remains right on target in others. I spoke in the original, review-in-progress version of this piece that I was extremely positive about the games’ direction, with the full experience now behind me, I’ve come to conclude that while the core is extremely solid, and the games’ heart beats strongly, the game does linger a little too long, outstaying its welcome, with some sometimes uneven pacing.
Mario & Luigi have found themselves on Shipshape Island, a rather curious piece of land since it’s made up of half physical land, and half ship. Together they find themselves out on the wide-open seas of Concordia looking to unite the islands, and having traversed several of them so far, I’m quickly finding myself invested in the plights of the various inhabitants and reasons to seek the connection of their island to the primary hub. The aforementioned uneven pacing doesn’t really stem from the games’ story, nor its delivery. In this respect, Mario & Luigi: Brothership continually places a smile on your face with creative writing, excellent delivery, and a plot that is, while relatively simplistic, nonetheless enjoyable, and what you’d expect of a Mario RPG, laced with humour, and heart.
As a game playing experience, Brothership contains many references to the past, leaning on reliable franchise pillars to guide the direction of the gameplay, while it includes a few new systems to spice things up. As with prior games, each half of the Mario Bros pairing can be independently controlled. While they travel together, each jumps with a different button, other interactions are independent of each other as well, making for unique puzzling scenarios, and brain-breaking platforming opportunities. Combat mechanics are also intertwined with these systems and whether you’re on the attack, defending or evading, or puzzling/platforming, there are plenty of ways for players to execute fun, rhythmic moves, but also lots of opportunities for clumsy, messy failures of execution. As the campaign continues, a number of skills can be unlocked which allow the brothers Mario to work together to traverse large distances, and more. Being an RPG, levelling systems exist, but it’s the ranking system that levelling is folded into that is most interesting. For every eight levels that you progress, players will increase by a rank, and with each rank you progress, players will enjoy new perks like additional gear slots.
Mario & Luigi: Brothership also introduces a range of other new systems, Luigi Logic chief among those. Luigi has a quirky mind and a unique way about problem-solving, and we see this playing out play out in the form of some very light, incredibly light gameplay sequences, some that are akin to a quick time event, others that require some simplistic platforming or input mashing. Every now and then, a unique, “Bros. Move” will emerge, from a UFO spin to others that have all sprung from the Luigi’s grey matter, which will allow the brothers Mario to traverse large expanses, slide through small gaps, and more. It’s not a system that is innovative in any particular ways, however it is one that will crack a smile upon your face.
Sailing the seas aboard the Concordia is something of a rough experience. Once players select the current they wish to ride, the game will automatically carry you to your destination, but the journey provides you opportunities over the few minutes that it takes to arrive to address some menial, optional objectives. The biggest problem that I found, as I was turning in completed missions was that I would often overshoot my destination, leaving me then to circle back to my intended destination, twiddling my thumbs because I’ve exhausted all that I can do in-game in the meantime. That became a chance to me to go to the toilet, or get a drink, which is not necessarily a great marketing beat for the game. This issue becomes less of a headache as the game progresses and you earn upgrades for your ship that makes the micro-managing more… manageable. But this again links to the game’s pacing woes, something that wasn’t overly frustrating early on, but became more apparent as the game played out.
Beyond this, the typical Mario & Luigi turn-based RPG combat formula is again at play, and is executed upon superbly well. As always, Mario and and Luigi will be actively involved in every move of the turn-based combat affair, from timing jumps or swings of the hammer, or even evading or bracing for impact to reduce damage sustained. Of course, each enemies attack pattern differs and so while it’s fine in principle to memorise the way that a certain breed of goomba wishes to attack, in reality it’s hard to keep track of everything, letalone get the timing right consistently. The combined ‘Bros. Attacks’ also return and are always a fun change of pace when you opt to utilise them, but another handy addition that also shakes things up is the ‘Plugs’ system. Much like badges seen in past Mario RPGs (specifically the Paper Mario games), plugs are a method to slot a range of added perks into Mario or Luigi’s already bulging arsenal. They can be mixed and matched in clever ways but what I appreciated the most is that they can deplete, meaning that you’ll need to be strategic about which plugs you wish to use, and when you choose to use them. While we’ve seen systems like Plugs in use before, it’s this extra layer of required strategic thinking that helps the system to thrive.
Mario & Luigi Brothership shines visually. No, it’s certainly not the most technically powerful product, even for the Switch, but the stylised looks of the cast do a lot of offset those technical deficiencies. The vibrant colour palette does wonders to assist the game to pop and when paired with the endearing personality of the cast, everything the game does is aesthetically and tonally appealing. With presentational elements that elevate the game’s narrative, and game design systems, its hard to get too frustrated when the game lingers probably 5-10 hours longer than it needed to.
Mario & Luigi: Brothership isn’t the best game in the franchise, but it’s a solid entry with some fantastic ideas that extended a bit beyond their best-before date. It’s full of heart, full of laughs, but just a little aged. You’ll have a fantastic time for the most part, but will also be feeling like the game got so close, and didn’t quite stick the final landing.
Mario & Luigi: Brothership was reviewed on Nintendo Switch with code that was kindly provided by Nintendo Australia.
