Mario & Luigi Brothership Preview

thesixthaxis.com:

It’s a little odd to think it, but since the turn of the century, Mario’s been as much of a role-playing powerhouse as a platforming icon. Between Paper Mario, Mario & Luigi and Mario + Rabbids, there’s actually been more new RPGs than jump man adventures, and that lead is only going to be extended next month with the release of Mario & Luigi: Brothership.

it’s actually been nine years since the last new Mario & Luigi game, with a couple of remakes during the Nintendo 3DS’s twilight years. The original developer AlphaDream closed down after the last of these remakes failed to perform, leaving the series’ future in doubt. However, it’s lovely to see it get another chance. We don’t know the name of the studio yet – Nintendo being as mysterious as ever – but some of the original developers were noted as being involved.

This new game sees the most iconic Italian brothers since Romulus and Remus thrown into another adventure in strange lands. Concordia has been shattered into islands, and this dynamic duo are the only ones that can help the local partner characters Connie and Snoutlet – not a pig – drag the realm back together again.

With an island adventure before them, they’re going to need a boat. What they end up with is Shipshape Island, a ship that’s also an island, able to traverse the seas and search for new islands to launch Mario and Luigi at from a cannon. Each island then needs to be linked back to Shipshape by finding a magical lighthouse and connecting their beacons together.

We got to fire ourselves at two islands from the game, showing that early evolution of introductory gameplay, as well as some of the pair’s new tricks. Landing on Twister Island, and needing to reach one of the locals who’s now stranded up on a clifftop, the famous twisting vines having withdrawn because nobody’s dancing anymore… and nobody’s dancing because there’s a serious hair gel shortage. It’s a real struggle, but thankfully it’s not that tricky to find Spiralia, the one person who