Hardest Bosses In Mario & Luigi: Brothership

Mario & Luigi: Brothership, and the series overall, has an innovative battle system that not many developers have copied. It’s a turn-based combat system that is active, meaning that players can time their attacks and blocks for bonuses. It’s an immersive experience but one that is also brutally challenging.

If players fail to block a few hits in a normal battle with Mario & Luigi: Brothership, one of their two plumbers may die. This is especially true for the boss fights which are even more involved. Grinding for EXP and getting the best equipment can help, but these boss battles in particular are still deeply frustrating at times. These rankings will take into consideration time and place along with strength. There will be spoilers.

6 Gorumbla

The First Boss Is A Doozy

Gorumbla will be the first boss players encounter and it will be a wake-up call. This game does not joke around about boss battles. The plumbers are at a disadvantage because they don’t have a lot of skills to aid them yet in Mario & Luigi: Brothership like Plugs.

Also, while he may be slow, Gorumbla makes up for it in strength and it’s not exactly like players will be flush with items at the start of the game. That said, the counters are not too hard to figure out and Gorumbla will eventually go down.

5 Sharpcask

A Steel Barrel Trap

• Location: Great Lighthouse Island (2nd)

Sharpcask is the boss of the second Great Lighthouse Island. It’s a giant robotic steel barrel with little eyes peeking out. Despite its massive size, this barrel is fast as it will roll into the plumbing brothers like Sonic chasing Dr. Robotnik.

Players don’t have to fight him, but Ecks will pop out occasionally to boost Sharpcask’s defensive and offensive capabilities too. It’s a grind to whittle down its HP and the best way to do it is through Luigi Logic, leading to a Tetris-like mini-game that may be harder than the actual fight itself.

4 Zokket

Framing Brother Vs Brother

• Location: Fortress Zokket

Zokket is poised to be the final boss of the game but it is all a ruse. Spoilers for who this person is will be hidden, but the final boss or not, Zokket is still pretty formidable. Its greatest strength is using Glohm energy to corrupt one of the brothers, leaving players with only one party member to attack occasionally.

A good counter will set Mario or Luigi back to their right state of mind though. That’s a frustrating part of the battle along with Zokket’s fast-paced attacks. It can also go into a heightened state via Glohm to hit even harder.

3 Bowser

The King Of Koopas Stands Tall

Bowser has two boss battles in the game. The first is normal while his second boss battle turns him into a Glohm version. That Glohm form is challenging, but not as difficult as his first appearance. Bowser hits hard, putting the plumbers in a poor advantage if he makes contact plus Bowser can summon minions.

Any boss battle that involves multiple enemies at once is a threat. Thankfully, there are plenty of group moves to take care of multiple targets at once in the game. Bowser’s patterns are hard to counter at first, but eventually, players should get the hang of it to take this King of the Koopas down.

2 Pipegunk

Switching Between Fire And Ice

• Location: Great Lighthouse Island (3rd)

Pipegunk may be the breaking point for some players and it’s located on the third Great Lighthouse Island. It’s a big pile of goo that looks a bit like Muk from the Pokemon series but creepier. Shun is there waiting in the background to transform Pipegunk into a fire form and an ice form periodically.

It’s hard keeping up with the constant switching and the Luigi Logic to tone the battle down is nearly impossible to figure out. What’s really tricky, besides the hard-to-dodge attacks, is that Pipegunk can heal itself. Any boss in an RPG that can heal itself is bogus.

1 Reclusa

A Marathon Of Bosses

Final bosses in RPGs can sometimes be the hardest bosses in the experience and that’s true for Mario & Luigi: Brothership at least. There are technically four forms or phases players have to work through when they encounter Reclusa. First, players will go down a classic style SHMUP. If players miss an attack they will have to contend with random enemies, ending with a not-too-difficult encounter with Reclusa in its normal jester form.

That battle will end and continue with Reclusa becoming a giant tree, Weeping Reclusa, which will then morph into the Weeping Core form and then back to Reclusa’s simplest model. It’s a marathon of a boss battle and one wrong move could make players fumble enough to have to try the battle/battles over again. Even diehard RPG fans may come out of these battles feeling winded.