Growing up with brothers who were much, much younger than myself, I can’t say that a real fraternal bond is something I’ve ever experienced. Of course, I’ve been able to see plenty of diverse examples of sibling relationships through media, from movies like The Darjeeling Limited to the animated action of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and even video games like the aptly-titled Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. And while Nintendo, especially through this very series, has always done a great job of communicating the affinity between the two Super Mario Bros., I can’t say that I’ve ever felt the love quite as much as I did while playing Mario & Luigi: Brothership.
Brothership’s story starts about as simply as you’d expect for an adventure starring the titular pair, with our boys innocently joshing around in the peaceful Mushroom Kingdom when they’re inadvertently whisked through a mysterious rift into another world. Here, in the land of Concordia, the pair discover that things aren’t going so hot – its various islands once connected by a magical “Uni-Tree” are now drifting independently and an evil techno-wizard and his lackeys are concocting a plot to further isolate its citizens.
“Mamma mia! We gonna miss-a da island!” or something, probably.
There’s immediately a lot to like about this new world and the ideas borne of it. Concordia is, almost inexplicably, populated by folks who have faces resembling electric wall sockets and where proper nouns are near-unanimously puns on power, technology, and connectivity. Connection is at the centre of just about everything in Concordia, the concept revealing itself to be the beating heart of the world, the people, and the chain of events set to transpire. Your biggest initial goal in Brothership, in fact, is to sail the floating ‘Shipshape Island’ carrying a reincarnated Uni-Tree to reconnect all of the lost land masses and the distinct and vibrant groups living on them.
The moment-to-moment gameplay on offer here should be familiar to anyone who’s played the other Mario & Luigi titles, with Brothership continuing the tradition of players controlling both brothers simultaneously as they explore various areas, solve light puzzles, and fight enemies in turn-based battles. Progress is made by reconnecting islands and further charting a vast ocean, Shipshape serving as a steadily-growing base of operations that can be directed around the ocean map to sail in “real” time while you go about your business. It’s all presented with a lot of smoke and mirrors, to give the illusion you’re cruising around a huge world, but it’s quite novel.
When your bro asks what you wanna do on a Friday night
Like previous games, you’ll also spend a fair bit of time getting into scuffles with various baddies in turn-based combat inspired by the likes of Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario. Rather than just pick a move and watch it play out though, you’ll have your timing and pattern recognition tested as you hit specific button prompts along with attacks to give them extra oomph and conversely attempt to dodge enemy moves to avoid or even redirect damage. It’s a tried-and-true but winning system where relative strategic simplicity makes room for more heat in the actions themselves.
While things start out super-basic with just a hammer and a jump move each, Mario and Luigi eventually gain access to more powerful “Bros.” abilities that have their own minigame-like prompts to complete for maximum effect, plus a bunch of equippable gear to offer boosted stats and other buffs. The stand-out addition in Brothership though is the Battle Plugs; gradually unlocked via a special currency or through story progression, Plugs can provide potentially game-changing augments to your battle strategy but are balanced by their need to be recharged every so often. A Battle Plug might do something as straightforward as add an extra hit to your standard attack, or give you a wider dodge window, but as you go deeper they start to become more complex and specific. You’ll eventually earn more slots on your powerboard to “plug” them in and create some pretty powerful combinations.
I, uh… I got nothin’ for this
It’s a tried-and-true but winning system where relative strategic simplicity makes room for more heat in the actions themselves.
It’s unfortunate that the game takes far too long to start introducing all of its most interesting nuances, and spends far too much time beating you over the head with answers to things you’ve not yet been afforded the freedom to figure out on your own. Fortunately, once it eases off the brakes a little and opens up there’s a surprisingly meaty and sometimes even formidable game here. There are few punches pulled when it comes to battles, but successfully learning the tells and timing of enemy attacks and completely turning the tables on them is never anything short of satisfying, especially during major boss fights that come with unique twists and conditions. One of which is the single most entertaining mechanic that Brothership has to offer – Luigi Logic.
See, while this is a game about Nintendo’s two leading men, Nintendo’s cranked the spotlight on Luigi up just a touch more than his sibling. His role in the story winds up being pivotal in many ways, and his role in-game is no different. At many moments during exploration as well as in certain battles, our green-capped hero experiences flashes of insight in which he concocts a genius solution to the problems in front of him. Accompanied by a snazzy animation and a healthy heaping of proud excitement, the level of fanfare given to these moments is hilariously disproportionate to Luigi’s actual, eventual conclusions. Mastermind though he may be in the eyes of his peers, it’s laugh-out-loud funny to see him go through the whole Luigi Logic song-and-dance to then do the most obvious possible thing. You can’t help but root for the guy.
Lucky for who, though?
While I spent the first 10 hours or so in Mario & Luigi: Brothership wondering where the sauce was as it meanders around with overlong introductions and that glacial power climb, the proceeding 40-odd hours were an absolute delight. Not only are there some great twists and turns, including the arrival of more familiar faces from the Mushroom Kingdom that add plenty of extra flavour to the plot, there are some truly inspired musings on connection in more than one sense of the word. Concordia, like the real world, is made better when its communities can come together and connect, but equally is threatened by technocratic ideals where isolation and placation beget control.
The Mario & Luigi series has always had particularly sharp writing, especially when it comes to its humour, but I’m particularly fond of this entry’s boldness and almost parabolic nature. I risk making it sound too rich for a Nintendo joint though, so rest assured it’s also as charming and goofy as you could hope. There’s a reason that the Bros. are uniquely equipped for the task of repairing the bonds of an entire world, they’re the goddamn Super Mario brothers.. The bond between Mario and Luigi has never been more keenly authored than it is in this game, bringing with it a joyous representation of non-toxic masculinity and touching just about every aspect of gameplay.
Me writing a hit tweet that one person will pity like
For the most part, this manifests in a steadily growing suite of Bros. Moves that see the pair join together to navigate obstacles in the world. The first one you get is a hovering spin that can get them across large gaps, followed by a Morph Ball-style rolling move and more. These are used fairly well to add a bit of puzzle-platformer flair, though they’re also a big contributor to one of Brothership’s most annoying traits – a heavy reliance on revisiting the same islands and places many times over. Naturally, there’s a bit of that to be expected when embarking on side quests or looking for secrets, but I reckon I could count on one hand the number of times a new major story beat didn’t involve a victory lap around an island I’d just completed.
Luckily, whether you’re seeing something for the first time or the fifth, Mario & Luigi: Brothership’s presentation is packed with that trademark Nintendo charm. The boys, above all, are animated with a huge amount of expression and energy between pulling off high-flying Bros. Attacks in battle and reacting to the antics of all of the new faces they meet on their travels. There’s nothing technologically notable going on here but like the best games in Nintendo’s Switch stable, it does a lot with a little. And like the best games in Nintendo’s history, it features a killer soundtrack that’s definitely tuned more JRPG but is still unmistakably a Mario Bros. joint.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Painfully slow as Brothership’s tempo can be at the start, the structure of events and the ebbs and flows of the oceanic adventure are worth trudging through those initial hours for. Just when you think things are going to reach a crescendo and come crashing to an end, a new surprise swells up to extend your cruise. And while it has its share of surprisingly heady conflict, there’s a prevailing sense of fun – the kind that’ll see you go from revelations of betrayal and discoveries with world-ending implications straight into a brotherly pizza-making challenge.
