Mario & Luigi: Brothership on Nintendo Switch
Mario RPGs have had something of a renaissance in recent years. After stumbling with some 3DS remakes of beloved classics and missing the mark with Paper Mario: The Origami King, it’s clear that Nintendo has returned to the drawing board with these games to see what made them work to begin with. As if we weren’t already flush with worthwhile RPGs on the Switch, Acquire and Nintendo‘s Mario & Luigi: Brothership is a return to what makes Mario & Luigi standout from so many other genre behemoths.
While getting up to their usual antics in the Mushroom Kingdom, Mario and Luigi are whisked away through a portal to a new land called Concordia. Peach, the Toads, Bowser, and his minions are also all pulled into the vortex with the brothers. Concordia has suffered a recent catastrophe, one that has destroyed the great Uni-Tree that lies at the centre of Concordia’s many islands. It’s through the Uni-Tree that these islands and the residents that live on them are brought together and the Uni-Tree’s destruction has them eternally drifting at sea.
Mario and Luigi meet Connie, an up-and-coming Wattanist who’s trying to nurture and grow a new Uni-Tree on the mobile Shipshape Island with hopes of reconnecting Concordia once again. She enlists the brothers’ help, pleading with them to visit the fractured islands to turn on their lighthouses and initiate their connection with the new Uni-Tree. It’s a straightforward setup with some predictable beats but is elevated by top-tier presentation and an affection for these characters and the world that’s fervent.
Its core themes of connection, unity, and being able to depend on others have been explored plenty of times in media. Despite this, Mario & Luigi: Brothership feels fresh and timely, reinforcing the importance of relationships and having a support system to surround you. It also explores what happens to those who don’t have access to these things and the downward spiral they can go down without external help. It’s simultaneously thoughtful and on the nose but often makes you think about the power of unity in the face of adversity.
Even outside of these core ideas and themes, it’s just a really fun setup that takes plenty of opportunities to celebrate the series. There’s a bunch of great cameos and references peppered throughout Brothership that fans are sure to appreciate. They vary in scope from fleeting appearances to fully-fledged side quests and boss fights, but it’s always fun to see who or what might make a return from the storied history of Mario & Luigi.
This narrative setup also gives way to a core gameplay loop that Mario & Luigi: Brothership follows for the duration of its runtime. You’ll sail Concordia’s seas aboard Shipshape Island as you search for other drifting islands. When you locate one, Mario & Luigi are shot out of a cannon, land on said island, and look for the island’s lighthouse to connect it to the Uni-Tree. Often you’ll need to help the residents of the island before you can gain access to the lighthouse, whether that be by solving problems that have arisen due to the disconnection of Concordia or just the antagonistic forces running amuck.
Each island is located within a current in Concordia’s seas, requiring you to travel there via Shipshape Island’s seafaring capabilities. Once an island is connected to the Uni-Tree, you can fast travel to it and visit whenever you like, cutting out the travel time associated with reaching the current the island is located in. It’s a fun system in theory, but the time required to travel around Concordia’s seas often leads to more frustration than anything else.
Brothership proposes to you that this travel time should be used to explore previously connected islands, complete side quests, and visit shops to upgrade your gear. It is a great opportunity to do those things, but you’ll often complete these tasks before arriving to your destination, leaving a lot of downtime – particularly in the early game. It leaves the initial experience feeling somewhat disjointed and while it’s somewhat alleviated by faster travel times, it’s still a problem that is never fully remedied.
Despite the way this effects pacing, it’s still worth revisiting islands and completing quests. Not only are they worthwhile narratively, often offering comedic elements and fun character interactions, but they also net you exclusive gear and upgrades you can’t get anywhere else. Islets are another key part of this loop, which are smaller, more self contained bits of land with unique challenges to overcome or treasure to uncover.
All of this progression directly feeds into Mario & Luigi: Brothership‘s best aspect – its combat. The turn-based brawls of the Mario & Luigi games have always been consistently engaging, but Brothership takes it to a whole new level with a few new systems and ideas that afford even more flexibility and customisation in builds.
The core of it is still the same. You’ll need to press buttons in time with actions to attack, defend, and counter in battle. Bros. Attacks are a terrific showcase of this system and the way in which everything is animated in Brothership makes it a total delight to play. Mario and Luigi squash and stretch with their jumps, they wind up their hammers with palpable anticipation, and every single action is infused kinetic flourishes that elevates the whole experience.
The biggest and best new inclusion in Brothership is the Plug system. As you collect Sprite Bulbs throughout Concordia, you can craft Plugs to use in combat. Plugs give you active and passive bonuses to use in combat – things like adding damaging other enemies in an area of effect when you hit an excellent rating or automatic healing when health gets low. The coolest part is that these Plugs combine depending on the ones you have equipped. There are so many different combinations to experiment with, each serving different purposes in combat. These Plugs also have cooldowns, though, so you’re often forced to mix it up and find new strategies while you wait for other Plugs to recharge.
Nowhere are these battle systems better showcased than in Mario & Luigi: Brothership‘s boss fights. These lengthy and challenging affairs require you to bring your best in order to come out on top. Luigi also gains access to unique Luigi Logic actions that will temporarily disable the boss if performed correctly, giving each a unique flavour and goal to work towards to attain an advantage. The regular fights also offer a decent bit of challenge, especially in the late game thanks to creative and expansive enemy variety.
The only real issue with combat is that it doesn’t put its best foot forward in the game’s first hours. It’s initially a blast to engage with, but the slow rollout of new Bros. attacks, the Plug system, and other little intricacies leave it feeling samey and monotonous in Brothership‘s opening act. When it starts to pick up, though, it picks up fast and retains pace right up until the finish line.
The islands of Concordia are also a joy to engage with. They offer a myriad of puzzles and environmental challenges to overcome through environmental Luigi Logic and smart use of Bros. abilities that you unlock over the course of the story. These abilities also open up new paths on older islands and islets, introducing some lite Metroidvania elements in Brothership‘s questing and gear progression.
Mario & Luigi: Brothership also marks the first fully 3D Mario & Luigi game – and it’s largely succeeds as a first attempt. We’re at a point now where the Switch is being well and truly pushed to its absolute limits, Brothership really pops off the screen with its vibrant colours and stark attention to detail – especially on an OLED screen. These visuals do come at a cost, though. The game struggles to maintain a steady framerate, especially in its busiest battles and scenes. It isn’t severe enough to damage the experience too greatly, but pops up often enough to be an annoyance.
With so many great RPGs competing for your time this year – especially on the Switch – Mario & Luigi: BRothership is a worthwhile return to one of Nintendo’s novel ideas for red and green plumbers. There are plenty of great Mario & Luigi games, but Brothership cements itself as one of the better ones thanks to an excellent battle system, an engaging story, and a joyous approach to the history of this series and Mario as a whole.
Mario & Luigi: Brothership is now available on the Nintendo Switch for US$59.99.
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Summary
Despite a lengthy absence, Mario & Luigi: Brothership proves that Mario & Luigi should have a place in Nintendo’s pantheon of hallmark franchises.
