Developer: Acquire, Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Platform: Switch
Tested on: Switch
Mario & Luigi: Brothership – Review
What a year it’s been for Mario. The dust has only barely settled on Super Mario Party Jamboree and everyone’s favorite mustachioed plumber is already back for another adventure in Mario & Luigi: Brothership. If we count Princess Peach: Showtime, Brothership is the fifth Mario title on the Switch in 2024, and the seventh in little over a year. That’s a lot of Mario by any metric, even if the gameplay of Mario vs. Donkey Kong is completely different from that of Wonder. Can Nintendo’s mascot keep up his winning streak or is Brothership the straw that broke the Goomba’s back?
Story
When our story begins, it’s business as usual in the Mushroom Kingdom: Bowser and his minions are chilling in their airship, Peach hangs out with the Toads and Luigi is accidentally getting into trouble with a swarm of bees. That changes when a colorful vortex appears in the sky, sucking up Mario and his friends and transporting them to the land of Concordia. It doesn’t take long for Mario to be reunited with his younger sibling, but as usual, the duo find themselves embroiled in a predicament. The world of Concordia has become fragmented and a mysterious illness causes its inhabitants to feel disconnected and gloomy. Duty calls for Mario, Luigi, and their new friends Connie and Snoutlet! It’s up to our heroes to board Shipshape Island, sail to the different parts of the world, and restore Concordia to its former glory. Oh, and maybe save their friends too. The base premise may follow a familiar formula, but this is more than made up for by the series’ signature humor and wonderful dialogue. The central theme of ‘connection’ shines through in almost every aspect, from the sibling relationship of our heroes to even the designs of Concordia’s inhabitants, who resemble electrical plugs.
Graphics
Up until now, the Mario & Luigi series had been confined to handheld consoles. The jump to the Switch, and by extension, TV screens does wonders for Mario & Luigi’s slightly off-beat art style. Brothership steers clear from the usual saturated and round Mario aesthetics. The characters look recognizable, but the different color palette and more comic book-esque style give Brothership a distinct identity. The different environments are filled with lavish detail, but the biggest impression that the game left was in just how expressive the facial expressions of the characters are. This is a great-looking game, with the icing on the cake being that it runs at a buttery smooth 60 FPS.
Sound
For as dialogue-heavy as Brothership is, there isn’t a whole lot of depth to the voice acting. The titular brothers are the main offenders here, with their vocabulary seemingly limited to each others’ names, as if they were communicating like Pokémon. It’s not a huge gripe, and Hideki Sakamoto’s absolutely fantastic soundtrack redeems the soundscape of Brothership. The cheerful and up-tempo battle music is particularly delightful, although there is plenty of variety to be found elsewhere too, matching both the emotional tone of the story and the different environments that our heroes find themselves in.
Gameplay
Most people associate Mario with platforming action, but Brothership occupies a completely different gameplay corner of the Mario universe: that of the turn-based RPG. Of course, Mario isn’t a stranger to this. Even on the Switch, there are both Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario games. Each of the Mario RPG spinoffs has its own distinct flavor though, with Mario & Luigi’s main gimmick being that you control both brothers simultaneously, even when navigating the world. The individual abilities of each brother play a part in solving the environmental puzzles that are all over Concordia. The crux here is Luigi Logic. In certain situations Luigi begins to glow, indicating that he has an idea of how to deal with the situation. It’s always fun to see what happens when Luigi Logic kicks in, especially in combat: the green plumber may suddenly turn a boss battle around by dealing massive damage through a previously insignificant environmental detail.
Speaking of combat, this aspect of Brothership is technically turn-based, but there is more to it than simply picking an action and watching it play out. You’ll be prompted to hit button combinations, both while attacking and defending. This isn’t a new formula, of course, but Brothership takes it to the logical next step in how Mario and Luigi work together to pull off combined attacks to dish out massive damage. Previous entries in the series were more focused on each brother attacking separately. We should note that it might take some getting used to how Luigi attacks using the B button but he still needs to confirm his actions with the A button -for Mario, it’s all A’s- but it’s something that eventually becomes second nature. It’s a system that also continuously expands and evolves, as you unlock new so-called Bros. moves and enhance your combat skills even further through the Battle Plug system. By using plugs, you can add passive buffs to the brothers, like increasing stats or boosting moves. Initially, it all seems basic, but later plugs really can carry you to victory. There are plugs that let you use healing items automatically, without having to waste a turn, and plugs that protect you from elemental damage, to name a few. Plugs gradually change from fun little additions to absolute necessities too, as Brothership amps up the difficulty later on in the game. Fortunately, you can adjust the difficulty if things get too spicy, but be aware that while the first half of the game lulls you into thinking things are going to be easy, the second half subverts this completely.
Variety is the key word here, not just through combat, but also in every other aspect of what Concordia has to offer. The story takes tons of twists and turns, which translates into the perfect excuse to infuse Brothership with lots of fun little gameplay surprises. The Mario & Luigi series has never been one to take itself too seriously and can get silly even by Mario standards. Whether it’s transforming into a UFO to traverse cliffs or changing into a giant Mario ball, you never know what the brothers will do next. We’d argue that it’s necessary though, as many RPGs overstay their welcome. Throughout its 40+ hour runtime, Brothership avoids the common pitfall of becoming stale, and it does so through sheer variety. There’s a surprising amount of replay variety here too, with a plethora of side quests to complete and achievements to clear. Brothership doesn’t entirely stick the landing, as the game is a lot slower paced than we expected, and loading times in particular take the flow out of the game. Of course, had this been any other series than Mario, we wouldn’t be nitpicking, but we know that Nintendo themselves are capable of that extra layer of polish.
Conclusion
Unless Nintendo has another surprise up their sleeves, Brothership is Mario’s final outing on the Switch, and what an outing it is. The colorful and fun exterior of the game hides a surprisingly sizable adventure that has plenty of necessary strategic depth. The overarching story may seem like business as usual, but the characteristic humor and lots of little quirks add plenty of surprise elements. We could have done with a tighter-paced game, and especially the loading times can be a bit frustrating, but we’re really nitpicking here. Brothership is both an excellent game and a fantastic farewell for Mario on the original Switch.
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