It has been almost ten years since the last Mario & Luigi RPG game and after playing countless hours of the upcoming Brothership, I remembered why I loved the series so much. The whimsical storylines, the turn-based combat that relies on prompt button presses and of course, the ability to grow both Mario and Luigi into stat-built characters, make these games widely different from other Super Mario experiences.
I think the most exciting part of a new Mario & Luigi RPG is the deviation away from the usual Mushroom Kingdom setting. Nintendo has been moving away from the location for years now. We saw Super Mario Odyssey span a new world and the latest Super Mario Bros. Wonder visit the Flower Kingdom. Mario & Luigi: Brothership is the latest Mario game to introduce an entirely new location called Concordia.
Concordia was once a peaceful ocean with various islands scattered across the sea. They were all linked together by a central tree called the Uni-Tree. However, in typical Mario & Luigi fashion, a dark and sinister presence arrived and disconnected the islands. As they were cut off from the Uni-tree, they began to drift apart. Mario and Luigi have now arrived to help Connie travel across the ocean to relink these islands to a new Uni-Tree and restore the world to what it was before.
Of course, this is the basic story in Mario & Luigi: Brothership. Connie helms a massive floating island ship called the Shipshape that sails across the ocean on currents. It is home to a number of these plug-looking people. Each island around the Shipshape is home to its own Lighthouse. Essentially, Mario and Luigi shoot themselves to a nearby island, need to get to each one and fly its adapter plug back to the Uni-Tree and link it.
The islands act as their own worlds in a way. They include different enemies, people to meet and quests they task you with. However, the unique style of each island makes Mario & Luigi: Brothership a real joy when it comes to exploration. Florall Island is a flower-filled rock with petals flowing through the wind and large flower pads to leap onto which sent me soaring through the air. Raynforst Island is a tropical jungle with dense areas to explore and constant sleet of rain pouring down from the sky.
Each themed island comes with different enemies to fight too. Raynforst Island packed chameleons that went invisible and charged at Mario and Luigi. There were also Capnaps that flew through the air and floated down to bash into the bros. These enemies all open up the typical Mario RPG combat mechanics. Namely, jumping to dodge charges, timing your blocks and using a hammer to knock enemies back.
I had to master each enemy and its move set to avoid being hit and of course, hit back at any opportunity. It is what you would expect from the series and it works well. Combat becomes less about choosing an attack and watching Mario pull it off and more about engaging in the right button commands to deal more damage.
Mario can jump at an enemy, leap back at Luigi, jump off his boost and land back on the enemy. Each correct button press further enhanced the attack. If I missed the timing, Mario would then stumble and fall to the ground. The same goes for other attack patterns such as the hammer.
Timing a jump to land on the charging chameleon would also result in Mario or Luigi landing on its head and dealing damage. Often, this would knock the enemy out and sometimes save time during combat. Things get even more interesting with the added Battle Plug feature that enhances basic attacks with extra buffs or effects that are triggered when you execute certain commands.
All this helps create the combat system we love in the series. We enjoy this so much because it is the perfect combination of fun and strategy without becoming overly complicated. Boss fights also add their own unique in-combat encounters but I won’t spoil those for you.
So far, Concordia has turned into my favourite part of Mario & Luigi: Brothership. Exploring each island is enjoyable with its own catchy soundtrack and distinct look. The game’s superb cartoon style also brings this all to life and kept me guessing where I would go next.
The ability to sail across the ocean and choose a current for the Shipshape to go on let me also carry on with side quests while I travelled to my destination. This system provides a true sense of scale to the world as the ship moves around the ocean at a slow pace. Sure, you can fast-travel back and forth to locations you discover but getting to a new island and discovering places in-between that all makes for a good time.
There’s a lot to enjoy in Mario & Luigi: Brothership. This is just a small preview of the RPG with my full review dropping for the game before launch next month. In the meantime, catch up on the game’s overview trailer below. The game is releasing on 7 November for Nintendo Switch.
