Mario & Luigi: Brothership Review (Switch)

It’s been a minute since the last Mario & Luigi was released in 2015. It was called Paper Jam, and some of you may already have it pinned down as among the best RPGs you’ve played. If not, then 2009’s Bowser’s Inside Story, which ranks as arguably the best Mario & Luigi game ever. 

The RPG series has upheld an addictive sense of simplicity, leaning more on the puzzle-platformer angle as opposed to the usual single-player campaign RPG genre tropes. For that reason, Mario & Luigi became a showstopper, only derailed when AlphaDream, the series’ development studio, filed for bankruptcy in 2018. 

After AlphaDream’s demise, it definitely came as a big surprise when Nintendo announced that we’d be getting a brand-new entry. And that taking the reins on the development of the new game is Acquire Corporation. With a new studio at the wheel, there will no doubt be some new changes in the gameplay. The question is, will these new changes affect the original series DNA fans have come to love? Cue Mario & Luigi: Brothership review below.

Let’s-a Go

As you can imagine, Mario games don’t always have the most profound stories. However, Mario & Luigi games do go the extra mile to craft something a little bit differently from the usual “collect X number of items to defeat Y big-bad villain.” For Mario & Luigi: Brothership, we do get a decent enough story that manages to power you through the shenanigans you’ll be diving into. 

Mario and Luigi have been shipped off from the Mushroom Kingdom into a new setting called Concordia. This place has a fresh set of wonders and mysteries that trudge forward the brothers’ newest adventure. It so happens that Concordia has been ripped apart by an unknown force, splitting its world into several mini-islands. 

Fortunately, you can salvage the power of a special Uni-Tree and knit the islands back together. You only have to set out on an adventure to locate them all and, one by one, restore Concordia back to its former self. But while exploring, the story will branch out into several more mini-stories. 

Mama Mia

You’ll meet plenty of characters with diverse personalities and backgrounds. The mini-island they live on will also have its own demise to set straight. Thanks to the tragedy that befell the Concordia people, every island you visit will have some kind of puzzle or quest that needs tending to. 

And so, Mario & Luigi: Brothership soon expands into a much bigger adventure. All along, you’ll be exploring new biomes brimming with diversity, and varied side quests to dive into. You’ll run into all sorts of monsters while navigating puzzles that need the brothers to work together. 

Overall, your playthrough will take a whopping 30 to 50 hours, depending on how thorough you want to be with discovering all the secrets and completing all the side quests. And, yes, that playthrough time can be quite lengthy, especially when you’re not entirely a fan of the Mario & Luigi gameplay. But, in the end, it all proves to be –maybe not great– but a good enough experience.

Drains to Drain

Exploring the diverse islands that makeup Concordia, you’ll either engage in puzzle-solving, platforming, combat, or side fetch quests, which include talking to NPCs and solving their problems, among other nitty gritty. Puzzle-solving isn’t the most challenging way to spend your time. Most of them are easy-peasy solutions that even younger kids can play with. 

Coupled with platforming, you will need to guide Mario along your journey while Luigi follows suit. At first, you’ll access the jump mechanic, which comes in handy in the combat encounters, too. Don’t worry about difficulty, as Mario & Luigi: Brothership holds your hand, perhaps a bit too much. You often get tutorials that probably need to be toned down, especially at the 10-hour mark and onwards. 

Clogs to Unclog

As for the combat, it’s pretty much the usual turn-based flow you might expect from previous Mario & Luigi entries. You start with the jump mechanic, crashing enemies under your feet. However, it always takes a team effort to fight back, with Mario requiring pressing the “A” button and Luigi the “B” button. Timing is absolutely key, which, in turn, means a complete focus on studying the enemy attack patterns and responding appropriately. 

You can dodge incoming attacks, too, or counterattack. Either way, enemies often have unique attack patterns that will, more often than not, spice up each encounter through to the end. Soon, though, you’ll unlock the Bros. Attacks, which are special attacks that inflict more damage. These come with quite thrilling animations that are a pure joy to watch unfold. 

Keep Your Moustache On

But perhaps even more exciting is the new Battle Plugs mechanic. They are like buffs that you unlock and can equip mid-combat to boost specific skills and abilities. The trick, though, is that they are limited, where once they run out of charge, you have to switch them out on the fly. This often demands a lot more thought into the synergy and combos you’ll create with your present abilities. 

While at first, the Battle Plug combos you can come up with will be simple, they quickly grow more complex as more Battle Plug buffs are unlocked. It opens up a wider breadth of options to mix and match, which often translates in flashy and exciting ways on the battlefield. This is perhaps the most exciting element of the combat system in Mario & Luigi: Brothership, with near-endless ways to put a new spin on battle encounters. And with bosses, you enjoy even more room to experiment to your heart’s content.

Watch out for-a Luigi

Furthermore, platforming and combat grow even more interesting. There are times when you’ll hit a stumbling block that triggers Luigi to rack his brains for a solution. The clumsy and idiot Luigi we know suddenly comes up with new ways to approach the situation; he’s suddenly the more thoughtful brother swooping in to save the day.

The ability is called Luigi Logic and makes all the difference, especially in boss battles. He comes up with crazy ideas that are so out of the box and unexpected. And when you consider that some of the enemy encounters can pose quite a challenge, Luigi Logic feels like the additional perk you never knew you needed. The only gripe here, though, is that it doesn’t take much strategy to use Luigi Logic. When the ability is available, it makes all the sense in the world to use it. Plus, there wouldn’t be any compromise you’d have to make.

Thank You, Mario

On the whole, Mario & Luigi: Brothership has spent a great deal of effort crafting lots of side quests. These range anywhere from solving a murder mystery to reuniting lost lovers. In one of the chapters, the story shifted gears into a pretty dark tone; hardly anything you’ll see coming, especially in a Mario & Luigi or Nintendo game, for that matter. 

I love how the game plays with different genres; even if sometimes surface level, it still helps take the edge off backtracking, because, well, you’ll do a heck of a lot of it. See, chasing down the dispersed islands is done onboard a ship vis a vee island called ShipShape. However, once you set the course for your next stop, the ship sails ever so slowly. 

The idea is that while you’re sailing, you’ll keep busy hunting down side quests on the islands you’ve already visited. And, on the one hand, the unexpected shift in genres does prove compelling to discover more of the secrets the islands have to offer. But, on the other hand, not all the side quests are created equal. Some can feel mundane after some time: the 30-50 hour playthrough doesn’t ease things, either.

Verdict

Look, Mario & Luigi: Brothership does plenty of things right and only a few things wrong. This means that, ultimately, the gamers likely to get the most out of the experience are those who love the Mario & Luigi and Mario franchise as a whole. That said, even for newcomers, there is a lot to love here. For one, the combat carries a surprising level of depth and strategy. It claims your focus and attention, testing your timing to a T. And, it further adds the cherry on top with flashy animations that draw you further in. 

The visuals, indeed, are some of the most charming gaming has to offer. You have cartoony and colorful animations with bold strokes that bring out the expressions of characters in the best ways possible. And the soundtrack, as always with Nintendo, never disappoints. Of course, the story has its drawbacks, with nonsensical narrative paths and sometimes “too much talk.” Some of the NPCs are hardly memorable, and I have to say, the ports-faced and cable-bodied enemies can take away the personality of some of the characters.

But the story is never the center of attention in these types of games. Rather, the platforming and combat. And in those two regards, Mario & Luigi: Brothership excels abundantly.