Mario & Luigi: Brothership (2024) [Switch]

The Bros are back, and setting sail in their first home console RPG adventure under the Mario & Luigi banner. As expected, transitioning the franchise from handhelds to the big screen has both broadened and beautified the brothers’ journey. However, this broadening may make some players feel in over their heads.

For those unfamiliar with the franchise, Mario & Luigi is a humor-laden RPG series featuring the titular brothers acting as a two-member party, and boasting a well-crafted turn-based battle system with heavy emphasis on perfecting timing-based attack and defense actions.

Brothership, keeping with the series tradition of humorously polysemantic subtitles, sees the duo utilizing their powerful brotherly bonds to navigate and reunite a vast ocean of separated island communities that were once unified, both relationally and geographically. The main antagonist despises all manner of interpersonal connection and seeks to isolate the entire population of Concordia from each other by connecting their consciousness into a Matrix-like illusionary world. If it sounds a little too on the nose, it is, but this is a Mario Bros. game, not Tolkien or Orwell.

The game was clearly made with a great deal of love and respect for the source material, and there are countless small details throughout the game that will delight and speak to the hearts of longtime fans of the Mario Bros. and turn-based RPGs alike. One such example is that if one brother falls in battle and the player chooses to flee the fight, the surviving brother will lift his fallen brethren and carry him off-screen over his shoulder instead of leaving him to die a shameful death to a squad of Koopa Troopas. A Mario brother would never leave his bro behind, after all.

It’s these little details and the humorous approach to the situations our heroes and the enemies they’re after find themselves in that elevate the game beyond standard RPG fare and into something a bit more meaningful. At its core, it is a love letter from the game creators to the brothers themselves and their monumental legacy, written through a narrative that champions the bonds between us that make life worth living, and adorned with a joyful, eye-popping color palette.

The game itself is, admittedly, a bit slow to find its sea legs as it sluggishly introduces the story and the various battle mechanics, but once the ship has left the harbor there is a robust and delightful journey here to enjoy. The numerous island villages are playfully unique and colorful, and the vast majority are a joy to visit. Players who aren’t in love with puzzle solving may be best served by accompanying a few of their island visits with an online guide, but those who welcome a light brain-teaser here and there should be thrilled.

Another potential stumbling block for some players is that there is a bit of backtracking as certain segments of the story unfold. Mercifully, the ship-shaped moving island hub world (named Shipshape Island, har har) allows Mario and Luigi to hop into a warp pipe and instantly travel to any previously visited island, making retreading them much more manageable. In addition, completing and “connecting” an island will unlock previously inaccessible areas, adding a bit more purpose and interest to these repeat visits.

Aside from the main story, Brothership offers quite a long list of optional side quests to explore, all managed and organized within a dedicated menu. The game smartly displays all side quests available, while marking which have been started, which have been completed, and which are “expiring soon” – although “expiring” in this sense refers to passing checkpoints in the game’s main story and not the passage of time. None of the side quests are particularly interesting from a narrative standpoint, but many offer some helpful items and gear, and thankfully the game reveals exactly what the reward will be for completing the quest from the start.

The main attraction of the game is of course the engaging and well-tuned battle system, and all of the various playful ways to dispatch enemy mobs. It’s vital to stay focused and aware in battle, because not all enemies can be approached the same way. Flying enemies will be out of reach of hammer weapons, and pointy enemies will cause harm rather than be harmed by jump attacks. Incoming enemy attacks can be dodged with well-timed jumps or hammer smashes, and some can even be met with counter-damage. Some of the more powerful attacks that the dynamic duo learn along the way involve a combination of quick time events, memorization mini-games or rapid button mashing to maximize damage output.

Both the battle mode and overworld exploration segments are all set to a spirited, lively soundtrack and acted out with expertly animated character movements.

The vast majority of my 56 hours with the game were pure joy. Fans of the Brothers Mario will find delight, silliness and lore references throughout. However, a fair warning is in order for players who may lack the patience or experience required for a full-length turn-based RPG. This is particularly true when it comes to the games dauntingly lengthy final chapter. From the cutscene that would seem to initiate the final battle to when the credits finally roll, there’s an additional 5-10 hours worth of content to trudge through, and not all of it is enjoyable. The main culprit is a seemingly unnecessary fetch quest which involves further backtracking of areas that likely have already been tread twice or more. There are, however, some interesting and mind-bending moments as the final story beats play out, and the exciting final confrontation and finale sequence make the arduous parts of the journey well worth the effort.

Ultimately, Mario & Luigi: Brothership is an easy recommendation for existing fans of the series, or any fans of colorful turn-based JRPGs in general. New players looking to dip their toe in the deep end of lengthier RPG experiences are likely to find themselves walking through a candy-coated gateway to a much larger gaming world. However, those looking for a more manageable game length or those who might roll their eyes at cutesy characters and silly humor may be better served elsewhere.