The first new Mario & Luigi game in nearly a decade is the long-awaited return to Nintendo’s wonderful sub-series of action role-playing games. Mario & Luigi: Brotherhood brings back memories of the Mario Bros. lighthearted and colorful games with stories as well as other Nintendo games The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker And Ghost trails.
What’s more surprising is how much Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain I was beaming from Mario and Luigi’s latest outing.
Mario & Luigi: Brotherhood sends Mario and Luigi on a mission to reconnect a broken world called Concordia by reconnecting the country’s disparate and separate islands. Mario and Luigi travel across the seas of Concordia on their own island, a ship called Shipshape Island. As they solve the problems of Concordia’s citizens by sailing to new islands and connecting them to Concordia’s mystical Uni-Tree, they will expand Shipshape Island with new crew members and fill it with traders and supporters of the brothers’ cause.
In other words, Shipshape Island is the mother base of Mario & Luigi: Brotherhoodan ever-growing and more powerful structure in the ocean where the citizens of Concordia (and even some from the Mushroom Kingdom) can find a new home.
During a recent hands-on demo with Mario & Luigi: Brotherhood At Nintendo in New York I got to play the upcoming Switch game for a few hours. What I played felt very familiar as a long-time fan of the Mario & Luigi series of games, but with some new tactical options that should help stick brotherhood
One of Mario & Luigi: BrotherhoodThe new innovation is a mechanic named Luigi Logic. While Mario and Luigi usually travel in pairs, Luigi Logic sends Mario’s brother on quests of his own to solve light environmental puzzles or break boxes with goodies inside. As I explored it brotherhoodOn the various islands it was clear when to use Luigi Logic; Objects in the area would light up and Luigi himself would raise an alarm if he had something to contribute.
My first stop while exploring Concordia was a place called Twistee Island. After firing Mario and Luigi from Shipshape’s cannon – a fitting form of travel for the franchise – I landed on Twistee to find the residents in distress. Along with pig-like helper Snout, I accompanied Mario and Luigi on a mission to restore the island’s life-giving tree, the Twisten Sprout. After speaking to various NPCs, I learned that the Twisten Sprout needs music and good vibes to thrive – and only local artist Groovemaster Dyode of Twistee Island can restore this wilted plant.
To get Dyode’s groove and Twistee Island’s back, I had to find some hair wax for the performer. His mood was low due to his floppy cap and only local hair wax dealer Spiralia could save the day. So began a hike on Twistee Island, where Mario and Luigi were faced with a plague of annoying fauna.
The fight against these villains takes place in turn-based and time-based battles. Mario and Luigi are armed with hammers and have the ability to trample enemies, and each of these attack types has its strengths and weaknesses. Hammers are useless against flying enemies and jumping attacks are ineffective against spiked enemies. This has been the norm for Mario & Luigi games for almost two decades.
Mario and Luigi have many more moves at their disposal, almost all of which are team moves that involve both brothers and carefully coordinated button presses. These Bros. attacks include offensive moves like kicking grenades and throwing fireballs – classic Super Mario Bros. stuff. Mario & Luigi: Brotherhood However, it brings some variety with a new system called Battle Plugs. These power-ups can give Mario and Luigi special attack and defense abilities, such as the ability to perform a Kaboom attack, which sends out a shockwave after a jump attack that damages nearby enemies, and Easy Peasy Counters, which counterattacks almost run automatically.
Players can initially only equip two Battle Plugs at a time, but can unlock additional slots over time. Battle Plugs can also unlock new abilities with the right combination, so players are encouraged to combine them. (Battle Plugs also have limited charges and need to be recharged, basically forcing players to swap them in and out.)
Mario and Luigi can craft Battle Plugs using a gathering resource called Sprite Bulbs. The more plugs you make, the more you unlock. During my hands-on experience with the game, I saw a few things including:
- Surprise Iron Ball, which throws a spiked metal ball onto the battlefield to deal damage to enemies when you land an “Excellent” timed attack
- Sure-footed protection that prevents the effects from being tripped or dazed by an opponent
- Auto Mushroom that automatically gives Mario or Luigi a life-restoring mushroom when they are low on health
- Anti-Spike Specialist, guaranteed to deliver critical hits when using a hammer against a spiked enemy
- Anti-flight specialist guaranteed to deliver critical hits when performing a jump attack against a flying enemy
- Dizzying attack that stuns enemies and incapacitates them for one turn
I also experienced a special combination of Battle Plugs: Iron Ka-Ball, which combines Kaboom Attack and Surprise Iron Ball to drop spiked metal balls on any enemies hit by a Kaboom Attack’s shockwave.
Outside of battles, Mario and Luigi can team up to perform Bros. Moves, special acrobatic moves that help them navigate the environment. In one instance, Mario and Luigi began dancing the tango, then briefly transformed into a flying saucer, helping them cross a large gap that was too wide to jump over.
After I restored Groovemaster Dyode’s hair to the perfect pompadour shape with Twistee Island hair wax – and after Mario and Luigi were tasked with dancing to Dyode’s tunes in a short rhythm game – the brothers connected the island to the Uni-Tree back again. This gives access to the citizens of Twistee Island on Shipshape and a number of side quests that I didn’t get a chance to explore but am looking forward to.
There’s a lot more to Twistee Island, including Merrygo Island, a theme park theme location, and Lottacoins Island, a Concordia economic hub apparently populated by depressed office workers. The game’s islands appear to be thematically varied, and the ocean that Mario and Luigi will explore via Shipshape looks vast – and full of secrets.
Mario & Luigi: Brotherhood plays like a solid, if somewhat familiar, entry into the Mario & Luigi series. The most enticing aspects of it are the depth of combat, a branching narrative, and a cast of colorful, electrical socket-themed characters. I have some reservations about the gameplay – the game’s performance was a bit clunky and the combat didn’t feel as fast-paced as previous handheld Mario & Luigis games – but I’m still excited for a new entry in the Mario & Luigi series.
Mario and Luigi’s Island Adventure will be released on November 7th for Nintendo Switch.
