Mario & Luigi: Brothership feels like the final flourish in a brilliant year of Mario RPGs

There’s little doubt that we are currently enjoying a golden age of Super Mario role-playing games.

After a decade of mostly disappointing releases, when many might’ve even questioned Nintendo’s commitment to the Mushroom Kingdom subgenre, it’s almost hard to believe it’s delivered two fantastic remakes of classics Super Mario RPG, and Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, in the span of a year – and now it’s set to add to that with a brand new Mario & Luigi game as well.

Mario & Luigi: Brothership feels like the triumphant final flourish in Mario’s RPG comeback year. While Switch’s other two outings were genuine dream-come-true titles for many fans, the prospect of the first all-new Mario & Luigi instalment in nine years – unlike the others, a fully original game – is extra special.

While – as has become a disappointing tradition for modern Nintendo games – we don’t yet know which studio created Brothership, Nintendo says “some of the original developers” who worked on the franchise are involved. And from a recent hands-on, the Switch title certainly seems to share DNA with its classic outings on Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS.

Our hour with the game showcased colourful worlds full of original characters, plenty of humorous dialogue, inventive mechanics, and a pair of expressive protagonists, all underpinned by the comfortingly familiar mechanics of a robust turn-based battler.

Brothership sees the iconic siblings visiting the mysterious land of Concordia, where, just like the ill-fated PS5 exclusive of a similar name, everything has swiftly gone pear-shaped. Concordia has been broken into many different islands, and it’s up to the Mario Bros. to reconnect them, while also trying to find their way back to the Mushroom Kingdom.

Mario & Luigi explore Concordia using Shipshape Island, which is a sort of hubworld vessel that can sail around the ocean. Players can decide where to send Shipshape by plotting a course along a map, sort of like a train on a track, and then shoot over to any islands they spot using a cannon. It’s a genuinely cool idea, and we hope the final game can utilise it in smart ways.

In our demo, we first visited Twistee Island, a lush, green locale where we first encountered the plug-like people of Concordia, who Nintendo isn’t revealing the name of just yet. But right off the bat, this is a great signal that this adventure is going to be full of original characters to meet and interact with, which – much to fans’ frustration – hasn’t always been the case in recent Mario RPG games.

The environment is also strikingly beautiful, with lots of detail and colours that really pop. We wouldn’t want to put a number on it, but Brothership also appeared to be running incredibly smoothly, making for an overall pleasing visual package, at first glance at least.

“Right off the bat, this is a great signal that this adventure is going to be full of original characters to meet and interact with, which hasn’t always been the case in recent Mario RPG games.”

The Mario & Luigi games differ from their genre cousins in a few key ways. First of all, you’re controlling both characters, both in platforming and in battle, with players now able to independently send Luigi to collect nearby items or break scenery. The pair also have Bros Moves they can use during exploration, which let them, for example, transform into a UFO to traverse large gaps.

Nintendo says it’s made the Mario brothers closer than ever for this entry, and from its box art – which has the pair embracing – to the gameplay here, it really feels like it: Brotherships’ animations are wonderfully expressive, with the plumber pair helping each other to perform acrobatic moves, or hoisting their downed sibling over their shoulder when defeated.

From our time with the game, the depiction of the characters certainly felt more warm-spirited than other Mario games too, where often Luigi is portrayed as the wimpy sidekick for laughs. Here, the pair are equals, with Luigi even providing the brains in sequences Nintendo is calling “Luigi’s Logic”, where he’ll provide a solution to a problem.

Personality goes such a long way in this type of game, and this certainly seems to be Nintendo’s most vibrant original Mario RPG in a while. Like in previous Mario & Luigi games, the dialogue is fun and irreverent. While there is clearly a plot threading everything together, it doesn’t seem to be as oppressive as in say, the Paper Mario games, with swift, fun setup quickly leading to platforming and battle gameplay.

As has become mandatory, there is a new side character called Snoutlet, who looks like a flying pig, but will comedically argue with anyone they meet that they definitely are not a hog.

On Twistee Island, we’re tasked with locating some hair wax for a local dance troop, so they can style up for a show. This then leads to a sequence where we must locate and rescue a store clerk in a nearby forest, avoiding snakes on the way back, lest we scare her back into hiding. We’re then rewarded with a QTE dance sequence which, again, is fun, but doesn’t outstay its novelty.

“While there is clearly a story threading everything together, it doesn’t seem to be as oppressive as in say, the Paper Mario games, with fun setup quickly leading to platforming and battle gameplay.”

Like previous Mario RPG games, Brothership could easily sink or swim based on the strength of its battle system, but thankfully, we enjoyed what we played here. As with previous entries, Mario & Luigi’s turn-based battles are heavily interactive. The timed-button presses of Paper Mario are here, but the dynamism is dialled up.

When attacking, players can chain together attacks from both Mario and Luigi, by pressing A and B at the right time, depending on which brother is in view. Well-timed moves can lead to lengthy combos, which can see Mario jumping on a baddie and then Luigi kicking him back up for another go.

When defending, players control the attacks and jumps of Mario and Luigi simultaneously, making evading enemies like an intense QTE sequence, as the brothers deflect and dodge incoming attacks. It’s a satisfying dynamic and means you need to be more engaged with the action compared to more laidback turn-based games.

In battle, players can use the typical jump and hammer moves, or resort to items. Thankfully, there also appears to be a robust character levelling system, with players able to assign points to over six stats such as hp, power, speed, and defence.

When our demo eventually skips to a later section of Brothership – a carnival-themed land called Merrygo Island, we’re able to try out some more advanced moves. These include powerful Bros Attacks – unique to each brother – which trigger lengthier QTE sequences in which the siblings can kick a shell like a football, with longer successful passes resulting in increased damage.

Finally, we’re introduced to Battle Plugs, which are Brotherships’s strategic modifiers. These allow the player to activate different bonuses, such as improving certain attacks, making counters easier, preventing effects like dizziness, or adding auto healing.

Unlike similar modifiers in the Paper Mario games, Brothership’s Plugs aren’t found, but crafted via the pause menu. Crucially, they also expire, at which point you can opt to recharge them, or swap them out. Nintendo hopes this will encourage players to experiment with different combinations, rather than just sticking to the same ones.

After spending over 50 hours with Mario RPGs this year, the prospect of another massive adventure could have easily had us feeling burnt out. But after our time with Mario & Luigi: Brotherhood, that wasn’t the case. What we played was vibrant and dynamic, just like the classic games which spawned it. It’s a small slice of a likely massive adventure, but Mario’s year of standout RPGs looks like it could end with a brilliant crescendo.