Is Mario & Luigi: Brothership Worth Playing?

Mario & Luigi: Brothership represents the grand return of the quirky Mario & Luigi subseries, after a heartily extended absence. 2015 was the last time we had a mainline entry – and ever since, it’s been a case of diminishing returns and remakes that haven’t particularly set the world alight.

Brothership, then, marks the series’ debut on a home console, and it’s likely you’ll have heard mixed things about it. With it being a cluttered back-end of 2024 in terms of major game launches (the likes of Sonic, Zelda, and more have all put in appearances), deciding which one to plonk your cash down for could be an arduous task. Let’s break down whether this seafaring epic is worth the investment, both money and time-wise.

This article gets into
some minor spoilers for the endgame of Brothership
. Granted, it might take you several weeks to reach that point, but we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention it all the same!

Review

Unlike past entries – Paper Jam excluded – Brothership has been met with a somewhat mixed reception.

In his review, Features Editor Eric Switzer declared it “a faithful and worthy sequel, [and] such a step up that it makes the older games look weak by comparison.” He found that it offers “great platforming and great role-playing, and it knows when to mix things up to keep it from getting stale.”

World variety is often a sticking point in Mario games: grasslands, deserts, lava, you know the usual drill. Not so with Brothership: “you also get a murder mystery-style detective sequence in a sleepy little village, a heist episode filled with surprisingly complex puzzles (…) and a big hedge maze that you have to constantly reorient by rotating the wall around.”

Near the end, there’s an honest-to-God psychological horror sequence unlike anything I’ve ever seen in a Mario game.

Switzer also enjoyed the battle system, and all the bells and whistles you can tinker with to make it your own. “The combat never got dull because there are so many different techniques and combinations to discover, and every new plug you unlock adds exponential complexity to the whole system.” The longer boss fights “shined” for Switzer, as did the “cinematic” Bros. Attacks.

He did have a few criticisms of the map navigation, however, which can be slow and tedious until you unlock fast travel.

The sailing mechanic is strange and often frustrating. I don’t know why Shipshape Island is constantly in motion, or why a mini-map of the ocean needs to be glued to the corner of the screen at all times, or why it needs to announce when you’re approaching a nearby island every 20 seconds if you find yourself sailing in a small circular current… but I could do without pretty much all of it.

Hardly a deal-breaker, but worth bearing in mind.

Time Expenditure

Brothership is an obscenely long game. It’s longer than Superstar Saga, Partners In Time, and Bowser’s Inside Story combined, and those are hardly cakewalks to begin with.

The glacial, plodding pacing of the game’s first third is a common grievance among both fans and critics. It takes around ten hours for the tutorial to meaningfully conclude. Then, it takes several more worlds to gain access to more than one Bros. Attack, tens more hours to unlock fast travel… you get the point.

By the time you reach Master Zokket, you will be nearing 50 hours. The padding feels egregious. Just when you think the game is over, it pulls a narrative switcheroo and reveals an even bigger baddie to take down, which then bolts a further ten fetch-questy hours onto the end.

All told, you’re looking at 60+ hours here. A decent chunk of players will have run out of steam long before that stage, and it takes a truly dedicated and tenacious soul to push through to the denouement. If purchasing for a casual fan, or even a youngster, we’d advise some thought about how much time and effort they’re willing to pour in.

Cost

There isn’t a great deal to say about Brothership’s pricing pattern. It’s a first party Nintendo title and it’s got Mario’s mustachioed mug on the cover – it’s going to be pricey, and more importantly, it’s going to stick there until an eShop sale two years down the line might shave a smidge off it.

The game costs $59.99, in line with other titles in the Marioverse. You can pick it up digitally via the Switch storefront, or physically from a good old brick and mortar store. There’s no difference between the two versions, except the nice box art on the case.

What Players Are Saying

Perfect For Long-Time Fans And Newcomers – PJ Molloy

Don’t let the spooky reviews scare you; Mario & Luigi: Brothership is exactly the comeback the series needed. The eye-catching visuals and dazzling animations are nothing short of stunning, and the combat system is fresh and exhilarating while being accessible enough that even an RPG newcomer like myself can immediately grasp it and have fun.

I was also impressed by the story and world-building, both of which showcase the immense creativity the plumber is known for. The world of Concordia is rich with mesmerizing locations and interesting new characters, and the series’ trademark humor is back in its full glory. Don’t sleep on this RPG gem.

Get Yourself A Copy Brothershipped – Bobby Mills

As a gigantic fan of the Mario & Luigi games of old (particularly the bold Partners in Time, with its Lynchian hellscapes and L33t-speaking Hammer Bros.), I entered Brothership with some trepidation, having been made aware of its tepid reviews beforehand. I needn’t have worried – just the internet whipping itself into a frenzy, per the bloody norm.

This is a triumphant, uproarious return to form for a series that had arguably lost its way a little, with half-baked Paper Mario crossovers and remakes on the 3DS (arriving about four years past the point where anyone was booting up their 3DS). The humour’s there, the visuals accurately translate the offbeat artstyle into the realm of crisp HD, and the battles are as relentlessly manic as ever. The Zapperator is one hell of an attack, and would have given Benjamin Franklin a conniption.

About the only stumble I can think of is the ridiculously bloated runtime. This is a game that runs ten-20 hours longer than it should have done, and by the time the credits hit, it’s less a sense of narrative satisfaction as it is one of: ‘thank God, I was running on fumes.’ We didn’t need an additional villain at the last minute, even if he does lend an extra layer of creepiness. Flagrant disrespect for your time aside, Brothership’s a winner.