Mario & Luigi is a series I’ve long since been interested in checking out but have never made the plunge. I sort of kept up with it as I saw copies of the new entries when they came to store shelves, but I guess I wasn’t quite as drawn to Mario RPGs like I was to the platformers. However, after enjoying several Paper Mario games, I knew I needed to give these ones a shot. And what better way to start than with the latest?

Plot/Story

I feel that the plot of this game is strong, at least for a Mario game. The mustached plumber and his brother Luigi are transported to a distant land known as Concordia, a sort of continent once united by the Uni-Tree that has since been broken into different islands by the villainous Zokket. It is up to the bros and their new friend Snoutlet (who is definitely NOT a pig) to reunite the islands by connecting them to Shipshape island, which travels through the sea along currents.

I’ve personally never seen anything like this before, and really enjoy the sense of adventure that traveling the open waters gives you. As you progress, you gradually build a huge fleet of different islands and it truly feels like you are captain of sorts. I have been told by friends that some of the concepts are similar to the Japanese Manga Series One Piece, so I can’t say things will land the same way with those that have watched it.

Gameplay

As is typical for these games, Mario and Luigi travel together, with Mario being controlled by the A button and Luigi by the B button. As you make your way around, you’ll continually come across puzzles that require both of the brothers to complete. Perhaps Luigi will need to hit a certain switch while Mario jumps across platforms, or sneak around in a barrel to conceal Mario’s movements. 

The brothers also work together inside turn-based battles, and just as in the other Mario RPG series, you must perform action commands to pull off a move. Provided neither of the bros. has fainted, they both participate in every move, so you’ll always have to watch carefully to see which buttons you need to press at any given time. They even get special, flashy moves that require “BP” to use and cannot be performed if either of them are down. 

Battle plugs make their debut here, and act as limited-time modifiers to battles. They might give your attacks fire or ice properties, automatically heal you, or make counters easier to perform. After a set number of turns they’ll need to recharge, so you’ll constantly be swapping these in and out. I’m a fan of them for sure.

While I found battles to be good fun, I do think they happen a bit too often. Enemies are abundant and quite fast, so you’ll find yourself running into a lot of them over and over, moving through areas somewhat slowly. Especially when retreading certain areas, it sometimes just felt like I couldn’t be left alone and was constantly being pulled into battles over and over when I just wanted to get somewhere. 

Enemies aren’t the only thing slowing this game down, unfortunately. The game is absolutely packed with unnecessary tutorials and pointers everywhere you go. Your companion, Snoutlet, is constantly stopping you to summarize what just happened and where you need to go next. Whenever you enter a sort of dungeon, the game is all too happy to stop you and point the camera at whatever spot you’re going to have to check out, even if there’s obvious signs telling you it’s important (such as a big red button).

Having played two other Mario RPG games in the last year, I can confidently say that this one holds your hand the most – by far. The Super Mario RPG remake could probably have benefitted from even more hints, but Paper Mario: The Thousand Year-Door found a healthy middle ground by designating many pointers to an optional (but easily accessible) feature.

Graphics

This is the first Mario & Luigi game to be in full 3D, and the developers took the opportunity to go nuts with the animation. Mario and Luigi are very stretchy, meaning that all their movements (especially attacks) have an over-the-top, cartoony feel to them. I absolutely love this and it makes the gameplay feel much more tactile. The colors are quite vibrant as well, with tints applied to certain characters. There’s no other Mario game that looks quite like this, and I can appreciate that.

However, frame rate issues work against this. From the very start of the game you’ll notice frequent dips and stutters in the performance, despite the game running at a base 30 fps. They usually are pretty minor and don’t ruin the experience, but it certainly makes the game harder to enjoy. Towards the end of the game there were specific areas that I found consistently ran slow, and even experienced frame drops in battle.   

On a more positive note, the game has, of all things, a running theme of electricity and electrical components. Most NPCs have faces resembling wall sockets, while other characters are themed after various types of connectors, such as a headphone jack. It’s not the most aesthetically pleasing thing, but it perfectly fits the running theme of connections between people and the benefits that come with them.

Faith Perspective 

Such a theme brings an obvious but valuable reflection on the importance of our relationship with others. It’s obvious that humans are meant to live in community with one another, even just considering our biology (we rely on our parents for an unusually long time). Of course, this has also been made clear in scripture. After God created Adam in The Book of Genesis, He said:

“It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”

Mario & Luigi: Brothership takes this to heart, as throughout the story you will continually meet characters who have found value in building bonds with each other in various different circumstances. This includes coworkers, neighbors, a husband and wife, a teacher and student, and of course, brothers. It reminds us that we rely on others in every aspect of our lives. It rejects the selfish desires that we crave and shows us the tragedy that results when people try to live independently of others. Even the antagonistic characters, who claim to be fighting for a world without bonds, are dependent on each other to put up a fight against the Mario Bros.

I really think that this game’s theme fits our time, too. It’s no secret that the rise of the internet has made it easier for humans to avoid contact with each other. We can (and often do) work, shop, and entertain ourselves without physically being present with anyone else. While we are still relying on others in these scenarios, we remain alone. Especially while at college, I have witnessed many students struggle to find community despite being surrounded by thousands of people their age. 

Let us remember to use technology with caution, ensuring that we are encouraging human flourishing rather than working against it. The people of Concordia seem to have a hang of it.

Conclusion

Mario & Luigi: Brothership makes for a good time, but fell a little bit short of my expectations. While the battles and exploration are pretty good fun, the game is overloaded with tutorials and despite having a fast-forward feature, it takes around 35-40 hours just to beat the main story. I found it to be less enjoyable than both the Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door remakes. Fortunately, it has a good overall message of the importance of our connections with others, which all players should take to heart. 

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