Mario & Luigi: Brothership, the Bros.' RPG

GameMario & LuigiNintendo Switch

Nine years of waiting before the brothers headed back into an RPG. Released on 7 November 2024 on Switch, Mario & Luigi: Brothership sends the duo to the Concordia archipelago, to be reconnected island by island. This guide covers its turn-based battles built on precise timing, Luigi Logic, Snoutlet, the series' trademark humour and its broadly positive critical reception.

Nine years after Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam, the two plumbers' role-playing saga finally resurfaces with Mario & Luigi: Brothership (Mario & Luigi: L'Épopée fraternelle in France), released on 7 November 2024 on Nintendo Switch. A comeback long awaited by RPG fans, and a landmark first for the series: it is the very first entry designed directly for a home console.

AlphaDream, the licence's longtime studio, is gone, shut down in 2019: this new adventure is developed by the Acquire studio alongside Nintendo. Destination Concordia, a world of floating islands waiting to be reconnected, where good-natured humour and battles timed to the millisecond make all the difference, as always.

Contents

• A comeback nine years in the making
• Concordia, an archipelago to reconnect
• Turn-based battles timed to the millisecond
• Luigi Logic, Snoutlet and the trademark humour
• A broadly positive critical reception
• Quick facts
• FAQ

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A comeback nine years in the making

The Mario & Luigi series began in 2003 with Superstar Saga on Game Boy Advance. Its recipe: a role-playing game where you control both brothers at once, each on his own button, in battles as snappy as they are funny. The entries then followed one another on Nintendo's handhelds, from the DS to the 3DS, right up to Paper Jam in 2015.

After that entry, the licence fell silent, largely because of the troubles and then the 2019 liquidation of AlphaDream, its longtime studio. Brothership therefore marks a genuine revival. Development is this time entrusted to the Japanese studio Acquire, backed by Nintendo. It is the saga's sixth original entry, but above all the first conceived from the outset for a home console rather than a handheld: the hybrid Nintendo Switch, offering the best of both worlds here.

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Concordia, an archipelago to reconnect

The adventure takes place in Concordia, a world once united and prosperous thanks to a giant tree, the Uni-Tree, and to a benevolent energy called Connectar. After a disaster, that continent shattered: all that is left is a myriad of islands scattered across a vast sea, now cut off from one another.

Sucked into this world, Mario and Luigi come aboard Shipshape Island, a striking island-ship whose mast is none other than a young shoot of the Uni-Tree. The goal: ride the sea currents, reach the islands thanks to a cannon that literally launches the two brothers towards the horizon, then plug each island back into a giant lighthouse to restore the flow of energy. This seafaring exploration, entirely new to the series, shapes the whole progression and gives the game its through line: bringing back together what was torn apart.

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Turn-based battles timed to the millisecond

True to the saga's DNA, the heart of the game remains turn-based combat built on timed action commands. Each brother is tied to one button: timing your presses right lands bonus damage when you attack, but also lets you dodge, jump or counter at the exact moment an enemy strikes. Nothing here is ever fully automatic, and the player's attention is called upon at every turn.

The Bros. Attacks, those spectacular special moves pulled off as a pair, are of course present and correct. The big new addition of this entry: the Battle Plugs (prises de combat in French), a customisation system in the spirit of badges. You equip these modules to unlock all sorts of effects and fine-tune your strategy:

• elemental damage, such as fire, added to your attacks;
• area attacks that hit several enemies at once;
• healing or bonuses triggered automatically in the middle of a fight.

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Luigi Logic, Snoutlet and the trademark humour

You cannot talk about Mario & Luigi without talking about its humour. Brothership leans hard on Luigi's expressions and endearing clumsiness, and introduces Luigi Logic: those flashes of brilliance that, mid-battle or in front of a puzzle, trigger decisive and often very stylish moves from the green plumber. A fine way of putting the younger brother back at the centre of the adventure, when he far too often stays in his brother's shadow.

As for the new faces, the two brothers are guided by Snoutlet (Couchomb in French), a little flying companion who loves to nestle under Luigi's cap, and they get to know Connie, one of the guardians of Shipshape Island. Standing against them is Zokket (Voltfas in French), an enigmatic antagonist who sows chaos across Concordia. A delicious detail: the whole universe is built on electrical vocabulary, which colours the names of the characters and places just as much as the many puns.

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A broadly positive critical reception

On release, Mario & Luigi: Brothership was met with a broadly positive reception. The specialist press praised its witty writing, its art direction worthy of a real cartoon and the freshness of its seafaring exploration, for an aggregate score of around 77/100 on Metacritic. Several French reviews saw in it a successful return for the saga on Switch.

A few reservations do come up from one review to the next, though: a start judged a little slow, tutorials that sometimes get in the way and uneven pacing over the long haul. Nothing crippling, however, for a comeback awaited for so long: the game came close to 2 million copies sold as of 31 March 2025, proof that the brothers' RPG saga really did have its place on a home console.

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Brothership at a glance

Name (France)	Mario & Luigi: L'Épopée fraternelle
English name	Mario & Luigi: Brothership
Japanese name	Mario & Luigi RPG: Brothership! (マリオ&ルイージRPG ブラザーシップ!)
Release	7 November 2024 (worldwide)
Platform	Nintendo Switch
Developer	Acquire, with Nintendo
Genre	Role-playing game (RPG)
Setting	Concordia, floating islands to reconnect

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FAQ

• When did Mario & Luigi: Brothership come out?
  The game came out on 7 November 2024 worldwide, exclusively on Nintendo Switch.
• Who developed Mario & Luigi: Brothership?
  It was developed by the Japanese studio Acquire together with Nintendo. It is the first entry in the series not signed by AlphaDream, a studio that closed in 2019.
• Is this the first Mario & Luigi on a home console?
  Yes. The previous entries came out on handhelds; Brothership is the first in the series designed for a home console, the Nintendo Switch.
• Do you need to have played the previous Mario & Luigi games?
  No. The story stands on its own and takes place in a new world, Concordia; no prior knowledge is needed to enjoy it.
• What world is the game set in?
  The adventure takes place in Concordia, an archipelago of floating islands that Mario and Luigi must reconnect from Shipshape Island, an island-ship topped by the Uni-Tree.

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