In a year when Nintendo has already released two brilliant turn-based Mario RPG games, it’s an achievement in itself that Mario & Luigi Brothership – unlike the others, a totally original game – is worthy of your attention.
If you were to judge all three as first-time experiences, Brothership doesn’t boast quite as strong characters or scenarios as the all-time classics Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, and it’s occasionally let down by some overly obtuse puzzles. But it’s otherwise an exceptionally vibrant, inventive, and spirited adventure, with enough original ideas to stand apart – even if you’ve already ploughed hundreds of hours into Mario RPGs this year.
While Switch’s other two outings were genuine dream-come-true remakes for many fans, the prospect of the first all-new Mario & Luigi instalment in nine years is extra special. And, while Paper Mario games et al haven’t exactly thrived over the past decade, there’s little doubt that this is the best original Mario role-playing release since those classic games.
Like the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS titles it shares its DNA with, Brothership is an adventure full of colourful worlds, original characters, funny dialogue, inventive mechanics, and a pair of expressive protagonists, all underpinned by the comfortingly familiar mechanics of a robust turn-based battler.
The Switch entry sees the plumber pair visiting the mysterious land of Concordia, where life is a mix of biological and electric appliance, and the people look like a mix of shrub and plug socket. It’s an inspired art direction – and the game itself is strikingly beautiful – with the creatures shaped like all sorts of familiar electronic appliances, like HDMI and speaker cables. This also makes for some absolute top tier puns (the game’s main NPC, who cares for a giant electricity-producing tree, is described as a ‘Watanist’, who wants you to collect ‘Luminade’).
Mario & Luigi find the land of Concordia in trouble, after it’s been
Nintendo DS
Nintendo
Role-Playing Game
Andy Robinson