Setting and Story

The Mario & Luigi series has always maintained a humorous tone and the latest entry in the series joyfully continues the tradition with a ship-full of puns. As the punny name implies, Brothership follows the dynamic duo on their quest to re-connect the scattered islands throughout the sea-faring world of Concordia. To accomplish this task, the bros sail a ship named Shipshape across the seas encountering the islands’ various puzzles and challenges as they link the islands together. The intrigue of the plot appears to revolve around how the islands drifted apart and who might be responsible for the catastrophe, something that gets slowly unveiled as you play the game.

Returning Characters

As with past Mario & Luigi games, the setting is often outside the bounds of the Mushroom Kingdom. This allows many new characters and enemy types to be introduced, some becoming fan-favorites such as the sinister and well-written Fawful from the first Mario & Luigi game. But there’s some returning faces to look forward to within Brothership to accompany all the fresh character designs. Besides the famous Mario/Luigi bros, there are several Toads that help set up shops aboard the ship; ever the entrepreneurial bunch, aren’t they? Bowser and Bowser Jr also make an appearance in a trailer, shown laughing at the Bros on a stage with Bowser Castle decor. Shy Guys are also shown zooming around with Bowser in one of the trailers.

I’m personally rooting for Bowser to help the Bros at some point. What’s more, the continuity of Dream Team is recognized with Bowser actually respecting Luigi by calling his name in the latest overview trailer. Princess Peach can’t be left out of the fun either, as she is spotted aboard the Shipshape ship pointing to the horizon. We’ll have to discover for ourselves what other easter eggs and returning characters are found within Concordia when we get our hands on the game.

New Characters

Connie is a central character in the narrative who helps Mario and Luigi link the islands together using the power of Nectar in tandem with the bros using the ‘Connectar’ from the lighthouses (you’ll never be the same after hearing some of this game’s puns). She’s a ‘Wattanist’ who essentially cares for the Uni-Tree, the giant tree connecting all islands together before the disaster. The other cute companion through your adventure is named Snoutlet, named for its pig-like appearance and outlet-shaped … eyes? Snoutlet seems to enjoy living under Luigi’s cap, but certainly doesn’t enjoy being called a pig. While Snoutlet doesn’t grant cap powers like Mario Odyssey’s Cappy, it does offer helpful advice, acting as the game’s guide. In addition to these key characters, there’s a boatload of NPCs populating the islands who give out side quests and have compelling stories of their own.

Shipshape Island

Speaking of NPCs, you’ll encounter many of the islands’ NPCs aboard the ship after you connect them together. This is because Shipshape is the central hub of the entire game, populated with shops, a revolving crew of various characters, and fast-travel pipes to connected islands. The ship is also where you’ll be charting the seas in search of new islands. The giant sail is actually a mini Uni-Tree, possessed with the ability to link islands together.

Island Links

Linking the disparate islands together first requires activating the lighthouse of each particular island. This is where the core gameplay loop comes in. Each island serves as a large level, or perhaps even ‘dungeon’ in some instances, with the goal being the activation of the Lighthouse at the end of them. Once linked, the island will be connected and towed along the ship, Shipshape, and available for fast-travel. This gameplay progression is rather promising, giving players time to return to the ship hub for upgrades and NPC chats in between each of the island outings.

Sailing

Of course, the way you initially reach each island is sailing aboard the ship. Players don’t control the ship’s movement directly as in Wind Waker, but rather chart its course along currents on a map. Some currents are locked until the nearby island is connected, but a majority can be explored freely. Furthermore, previews have shown that you can speed up the sailing speed of the ship, allowing for the automated process to get done quicker if you know where to go. The ship even continues its course while you explore previously connected islands, so you can level up and collect stuff as you wait for Shipshape to reach its destination. What’s really neat is you can view distant islands and reefs as you walk around the ship.

Locations and Biomes

One of the things a sailing-based game allows is a large variety of biomes, and what we’ve seen of Brothership has been encouraging on that front. Each island has its own peculiar theming. Raynforst Island is a jungle filled with torrential rain and vine obstacle, while Heatfreeze Island seems like a fun ode to Freezeflame galaxy from Super Mario Galaxy, with its sharp dichotomy between slippery ice and deadly lava pools. The diversity of islands here is actually somewhat similar to the bite-sized galaxies in the Mario Galaxy games, and as a fan of those classics, I couldn’t be more excited.

Bros. Moves

Helping traverse the many wild landscapes are Bros. Moves, special abilities used between Mario and Luigi to solve puzzles and reach obtuse areas within the environment. I’m fond of the UFO Bros. Move which magical melds the two bros together to hover over gaps and other zones where normal jumping won’t suffice. In a way, the environments seem to have a light platforming flow to them, with some out-of-reach spots requiring future Bros. Moves that haven’t been unlocked yet. The helpful Shipshape Island hub accommodates this light platforming design with its instant fast travel between connected islands.

Luigi Logic

I can’t be the only one delighted to see Luigi outsmarting Mario with his own special ability, right? As the name implies, Luigi Logic occurs when a spark of inspiration enters the green lanky bro’s mind. This sudden inspiration helps the two overcome obstacles in ridiculous but charming ways. Some of these inventive solutions involve a fun minigame to progress forward, while others introduce a new battle mechanic in a boss fight. Luigi Logic throws in a cool unpredictable element to the more traditional elements of gameplay, and I’m looking forward to watching all the inevitable “Luigi Logic tier list” videos after the game gets in the hands of content creators.

Combat Details

Instead of selecting an action and merely watching the result unfold, the player times the jumps or hammer strikes to create combos and critical hits. Likewise, when on the receiving end of an enemy attack, you can jump to avoid hits or even time a hammer strike to counter the enemy for damage. The typical RNG around criticals and dodges in traditional RPGs are actively in the player’s hands with these games, creating a system involving more player agency. Brothership involves both brothers in this interactive timing process, with the ‘A’ button corresponding to Mario and ‘B’ to Luigi.

Bros. Attacks

Using these brother combos depletes the BP bar; and each brother has their own BP bar to rely upon. Bros. Attacks are significantly more powerful than regular attacks, thanks to the combined effort between the two. The button timings with Bros. Attacks are twice as difficult as well, often requiring a string of precisely timed presses between the ‘A’ and ‘B’ buttons. It’ll be fun to see all the delightful animations  of these ultimate attacks, and just as fun to figure out their timings.

Battle Plugs

Helping to augment and buff Mario and Luigi’s battle prowess are Battle Plugs, the accessories within Mario & Luigi Brothership. Some of the Battle Plugs we can expect are stat increases, conditional buffs like enhanced criticals for flying enemies, and even some entirely unique moves. While Mario & Luigi Brothership doesn’t attempt to go as deep as, say, Baldur’s Gate 3 with its role-playing systems, the Battle Plug equipment adds a degree of kit and build option for the dynamic duo.

Exploring and Solving Puzzles

You get most equipment in the game through shops, but some equipment can be earned through good old fashioned exploration. Each island has its own unique theming and puzzle gimmick. For example, Florall Island is native to bouncy flowers propelling the brothers over large gaps. We’ve already some a bunch of jumping puzzles and timing puzzles, but there’s certain to be a healthy amount of memorization and logic puzzles within the islands as well. Between the game’s initiative-based combat encounters, hundreds of NPCs to talk to, instances of Luigi Logic, platforming, and puzzles, Brothership is giving players a lot of gameplay variety.

Development Studio

Speaking of solving puzzles, the mystery of the game’s development team has finally been revealed. AlphaDream was responsible for the Mario & Luigi series until their bankruptcy in 2019, so now there’s a new team taking the reigns. That team happens to be Acquire, known for the work on the original Tenchu: Stealth Assassins from 1998. Brothership also signals the departure of longtime series composer Yoko Shimomura, with Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness/Time composer Hideki Sakamoto being listed as the sole composer for the game’s soundtrack. Sakamoto’s work is great, and what we’ve heard from Brothership so far sounds wonderful, so I wouldn’t be too worried about the ost. Thankfully, Nintendo has confirmed that a number of returning vets from AlphaDream are working on Brothership, assuaging fans that the series is still in capable hands.

File Size

Mario &Luigi Brothership comes in at exactly 9.9 GB on Nintendo Switch. Mario & Luigi Brothership promises a lot of content if the variety of islands and file size are anything to go by, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to explore what it has to offer when it releases on November 7^th.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

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