Brought to you by Acquire, Nintendo Entertainment Planning & Development, Nintendo and Nintendo of America Inc. comes the sixth main instalment in the Mario & Luigi series, Mario & Luigi: Brothership. I was excited to give this game a whirl when it slid into my DM’s and set off on another challenging journey with my favourite duo. Amidst some of the critique surrounding the game, I was still keen on giving it a chance to see what all the commotion was about, and while I agree with certain things, I still believe Mario & Luigi: Brothership is one worth giving a chance.

It’s a beautiful, sunny day. Mario and Luigi are messing around as usual when suddenly, a mysterious portal appears and reels them in. The brothers and fellow residents of the mushroom kingdom find themselves dropped into the lovely world of Concordia. Work together and reunite the land after a dark force wreaked havoc on Concordia, splitting the islands and causing them to drift apart. Controlling Mario and Luigi, solving puzzles, completing quests, and defeating dangerous foes, in turn-based combat to assist the residents of Concordia in repairing their civilisation. Venture to the lost floating islands and reconnect them by getting to the lighthouse and pulling the plug!

Typically, in such games, controls are super easy; traditional movement keys paired with R to guard or alternating between X and Y to use your hammers makes for a quick learning experience to leap straight into the action. Throughout the game, you take charge of Mario and Luigi with alternating controls, such as A jumping as Mario and B jumping as Luigi. Multiple puzzling scenarios will surely make you use your brain power and many foes to battle it out.

The fight scenes were a bit hit-and-miss; however, they were alright as you use combo attacks between Mario and Luigi using A and B. During the battle, you can select which foe you want to attack first; after choosing the enemy, you hit A, as Mario, to make your initial attack, followed by B, then A again to perform a combo with Luigi. Some quests require you to pick up objects or help citizens by carrying them around. To do this, you can hold A, as Mario, or L, as Luigi, to pick up said items. Once you pick up the item or citizen, you can place it back down with the same buttons or pass it between the brothers.

Coin blocks and coins are scattered around the map to collect, and you can use them in the item shops. Upon visiting the various vendors scattered around the islands, you have a gear shop and a power-up shop. Amongst the power-ups, you have mushrooms that heal you 30hp, a 1-up mushroom that revives a downed brother with 50% hp and the Boo biscuit that makes you invincible against monster attacks for some time. Next, we have the gear items that help you gain specific stats, such as Discount Boots that give you points towards your jump attack or Dirt-cheap wear that gives you points towards defence, to name a few.

Apart from the ok battles, the one thing I found the most annoying was the amount of dialogue there; even if I tried running around a resident, it would pull me into a cutscene, and I was often spamming A or B to skip the text that felt like it was going on for ages. Another nuisance was having to wait as you floated around, following the current to the next island.

Upon reconnecting an island, venturing to the next one will require you to pick a path by using the – button, and then all you do is wait before blasting to the next island. All this waiting and massive lines of dialogue left me a little bored and tired, but if you soldier through, there are decent times ahead.

The game’s looks, however, were quite remarkable. The usual styling paired with beautiful, vivid colours and vast scenery helped me enjoy running around the islands and connecting them back together. The environments are plagued with various flowers, obstacles, enemies, and residents, all of which help to aid in the experience of the traditional Mario games we all love and enjoy.

Sounds are another notable mention—the happy, upbeat soundtrack, the usual jump sounds, and three-note warp-pipe descents. The music has a nice tone that adds a sense of freshness compared to what I’m used to from the rest of the series, which helps to make the game shine uniquely.

Mario and Luigi: Brothership is better than some make it out to be. It has its downsides, like a lot of annoyingly long dialogue, the fighting getting a little repetitive or having to wait a period before the next island, but if you look past those few cons, there is genuinely a good time to be had. The refreshing soundtrack, puzzling quests, and excellent scenery give you a lovely little experience worth throwing a few hours at. I admit that die-hard Mario fans may not like the game; however, for the experience or just to kill a few hours, it is worth your time.

Written by: Larry