Mario & Luigi Brothership Review – Bonds. RPG Bonds.

It’s not lost on me that Nintendo went from “focusing” on one Mario RPG franchise to dropping entries in all three “branches” in a single year. First was the Super Mario RPG remake, which was a fun ride with some great updates. Then, there was the remaster/remake of Paper Mario The Thousand-Year Door, which remains one of my favorite games of all time. Finally, last month (sorry for the delay; life’s been busy!), we got the return of the OTHER Mario RPG franchise, and as my Mario & Luigi Brothership Review will let you know, it was worth the long voyage to get here.

Game Name: Mario & Luigi Brothership
Platform(s): Nintendo Switch
Publisher(s): Nintendo
Developer(s): Nintendo, Acquire
Release Date: 11/07/2024
Price: $59.99

The game’s story is honestly really simple, which is part of its charm. Mario, Luigi, and others from the Mushroom Kingdom are doing their thing when they’re sucked into the land of Concordia. Mario & Luigi soon reconnect on Shipshape Island, where they meet a young “Wattanist” named Connie. She reveals that Concordia was once a thriving connected continent, and then, one day, everything shattered, forcing the “islands” of the continent to drift apart. Connie needs Mario & Luigi (along with special aid Snoutlet) to go to the various islands, reconnect them to the new Uni-Tree, and help make everything whole.

One of the first things I want to note here is that this game does feel different from Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario in various ways. The visuals, the comedy elements, the battle strategies, it all feels different while being similar enough that it’s easy to get into. While both this and Super Mario RPG are both 3D titles (compared to the mix of 2D & 3D in Paper Mario), the aesthetics are different. I would argue that Brothership is very vibrant in its color palette, and that makes all the various areas of Concordia stick out more.

Another element that helped the game stand out was its unique story. At first, the notion of “reconnecting all the islands” feels very simple, especially since each island has its own story. However, as you go deeper into the tale and find out about Lord Zokket, The Extension Corps, the Glohm plot, and more, you’ll realize that this game really is just as much about the characters as it is about the journey from place to place.

To that end, I truly enjoyed the tale of Connie, alongside others we met like Team IDLE, Chilliam and Burnadette, the surprisingly deep tale of Buddy and Bowser Jr., and so on. The theme of “bonds” and “connections” may feel on the nose, but they make it stick. A certain line that really resonated with me is that “Bonds Are The Force That Resists Isolation.” Sure, sometimes we do want to be alone, but isn’t it better when we know we have someone to help us get out of our funk?

Mario & Luigi develop so many bonds throughout the game that when it’s time for them to return to the Mushroom Kingdom, you honestly feel sad that they have to leave so many of their new friends behind. One surprise on that front was Princess Peach and Starlow becoming part of IDLE and helping save the day in their own way.

Going now to the gameplay mechanics, events are divided really into two sections: Battles and Exploration. To that end, over time, Mario & Luigi get various moves both in and out of battle to help them deal with foes and get through obstacles. For example, they’ll be able to turn into a UFO to hover around areas or turn into a ball to fit into tight spaces. Then, in battle, they can use special combo moves to do massive damage to an enemy or a whole group of enemies.

That was actually another thing I appreciated. In terms of stats and abilities, Mario and Luigi really do stand out. Mario, for me, was always a better jumper, while Luigi was better with a hammer, and I played to that in many situations. Even when you compare their raw stats, you see differences that help them feel like true individuals versus just “Mario and his brother.” Luigi stands out in more ways than just stats, though.

One of the cooler elements of the game is the “Luigi Logic” sections, where Luigi comes up with an idea that helps the team both in and out of battle. This is how you get the “Bros. Moves” in the overworld, and you can do massive damage to bosses in key fights. This series was famous for how it made Luigi feel like more than “just Mario’s brother,” and I’m glad that continued here.

Plus, there are some hilarious interactions between the two as they travel to various islands, and the team at Nintendo and Acquire really drew out both brothers’ personalities.

Continuing on with the battle system, the new key feature was the “Battle Plugs,” which are special abilities that you unlock as you travel the islands and collect sprites, then literally plug them in to use in battle. Admittedly, it will take you a while to get the better ones and form strategies through them, but once you do, it’s really fun seeing how clever you can get. I was dropping loads of spike balls on enemies, doing massive fire and ice damage, forcing certain weaknesses to appear so I could exploit them, and so on.

Another thing I wasn’t expecting was how in-depth the title was. It’s easily the longest of the three RPGs at about 40 hours, and I didn’t even do all of the side quests! They even warn you when ones are going to “run out” time-wise so that you can prioritize those over continuing the main story. Sure, not all of them are winners, but when you get some cool items, does it really matter in the end?

The game’s overall difficulty isn’t too bad, either. Dodging and countering is a big part of the game, and if you don’t do that, you’ll be using items up at a quick rate. It’s a game that rewards you for thinking fast, paying attention, and knowing which button to push. Yet, you can do “simpler” measures to protect yourself via the “Emergency Guard” option if that’s too much for you.

Sadly, it’s time for the negative elements of my Mario & Luigi Brothership Review. I’ll start with one that personally annoyed me quite a bit: sailing. Yes, we’re on a ship that’s also an island, but getting around the various currents can get really tedious, especially in the beginning, where you can’t speed up the ship and will literally be waiting for the island you want to find to get in range. Even when you get some extra power, it’s easy to mess things up and have to do another loop just to get back to where you wanted to be in the first place.

As for the battle mechanics, while there is a lot of depth to them, the timing mechanics can sometimes be really frustrating to enact perfectly. There was one combo movie that I never used because I could never get the rhythm down right. Then, near the end, the “ultimate move” of Mario’s was something I couldn’t miss…and then somehow I messed it up three times in a row and I have no idea how I did that. That doesn’t even touch upon trying to get the “surprise attack” on foes, and yet, despite jumping on them or trying to hit them with my hammer, it seemed like I would always “just miss,” which was equally frustrating.

Arguably, the biggest flaw is that while the game is long, so you’ll get your money’s worth, it’s arguably too long. The final sections with the “big bad” of Reclusa dragged on FAR longer than they should have, and it arguably stretched the “bonds” storyline a bit too much. I won’t get into too many details for those who haven’t gotten that far yet, but by the end, I was begging for the final boss fight to happen so I could finally get done with the game.

Furthermore, there were certain “player choices” within the game that…didn’t really matter…and the choices were honestly rather one-sided. One example was sending either Peach or Luigi “undercover” on an island. Yet, if you sent Luigi, you’d be risking both Mario on the battle front, and Luigi not getting EXP. Then, another one was about deciding “which genius invention to use” to pimp out Shipshape Island, even though they both basically did the same thing…and it would’ve been odd to go with the super arrogant genius instead the funny one who’s been helping you this whole time.

As I end my Mario & Luigi Brothership Review, I want to reiterate that this was a fun RPG adventure, and I definitely recommend it as one of the “final big Switch games” to buy before the new console. It has its flaws, but it also has a lot of heart.

I truly hope that this one sells as well as the other Mario RPG adventures so that Nintendo will continue all three “branches” on its next system. These games all work in different ways, and I definitely won’t mind setting sail with the next one, whichever one comes out first.