Introduction
Basic information
Developer Name: Acquire
Full Name: Mario & Luigi: Brothership
Release Date: November 7, 2024
Released on: Nintendo Switch
Cross Play: No
Initial thoughts
When we first got Mario & Luigi: Brothership, I honestly expected this to be a perfect birthday gift for Simone. A new Mario & Luigi RPG after such a long wait sounded like something that should have been a slam dunk. The series has always had a strong identity: funny writing, timing-based battles, charming worlds, weird characters, and that special brotherly teamwork that makes Mario and Luigi feel different from a normal Mario adventure. So at the beginning, things looked promising.
The first hours were actually enjoyable. The visuals looked nice, the battle system had some good ideas, and the whole scattered island concept sounded interesting. Concordia being split apart and needing to be reconnected was a strong setup for an adventure. It gave the game an easy structure: sail around, find islands, solve problems, reconnect the world, and slowly work toward the main villain.
But then the repetition started settling in.
The game kept sending us back to the same kinds of islands. Fire islands. Ice islands. Desert islands. Similar enemies. Similar tasks. Similar loops. The scattered island concept, which initially seemed like a fun way to break the world into bite sized adventures, slowly became one of the game’s biggest problems. Instead of feeling like a grand journey, it began to feel like a checklist of separated chunks that all wanted to waste just a little more time.
Story and setting
Plot overview
The story begins with a decent idea. The world of Concordia has been split apart, and Mario and Luigi need to help reconnect the islands. The main threat is Zokket, who is responsible for spreading Glohm and causing people to become isolated and affected by this dark force. On paper, this works. It gives the adventure a clear villain, a clear problem, and a reason to explore different islands.
For a while, that is enough. The game introduces the main conflict, you travel from island to island, and the story slowly builds toward confronting Zokket. Since many Mario RPGs like to have a big villain, then sometimes a hidden final threat behind that villain, it made sense to expect a big finale after finally reaching him.
The problem is what happens after that.
After a very long journey, you finally meet Zokket, and he sits around the level range where many Mario RPGs would normally be approaching the final battle. At that point, I was ready. I thought, finally, we are near the end. Maybe there is one more boss after him from the egg. Maybe the story gives us a final twist, a chase, a last dungeon, and then the ending.
But no. The game keeps going. The egg hatches, people get sucked into a strange matrix like situation, flowers become important, and the story drags itself into another whole phase. Instead of feeling like a strong final act, it felt like the game pulled the ending away just when it should have been wrapping up.
World building and immersion
Concordia has a good concept. A broken world made of scattered islands is a strong foundation for a Mario RPG. It allows for different themes, different communities, and different little stories. The ship-shaped hub also gives the adventure a nautical identity, which makes the game stand apart from some earlier Mario & Luigi entries.
The issue is that the world does not stay fresh for long enough. Too many islands blur together. Too many areas use similar elemental themes. Too many enemies return in slightly altered versions. The game does have some nice locations, but the structure makes them feel more repetitive than they should.
Character development
Mario and Luigi are still charming as a duo, but the game does not do enough with them to carry its enormous runtime. Their brotherly teamwork remains the emotional core, and there are moments where Luigi’s personality shines through. The series has always been good at making Luigi funny, nervous, capable, and ridiculous in equal measure.
However, the supporting cast does not leave a strong enough impression to justify how long the journey becomes. Some characters are cute or funny for a while, but many exist mostly to give you tasks. That makes the world feel busier than it feels deeper.
Zokket has potential as the villain, but the pacing hurts him. By the time the story finally reaches major villain moments, the player may already be tired. That is the danger of over padding an RPG: even good ideas land worse when the player has been worn down for hours.
The story also could have benefited from a cleaner ending structure. Having Zokket redeem himself or transition more smoothly into a final boss sequence would have been more satisfying than dragging the plot into another extended phase. A Mario RPG can absolutely have a final surprise villain, but it needs to feel like a payoff, not like someone added another layer because the game was afraid to end.
Emotional impact
The emotional impact of Mario & Luigi: Brothership is strange because it begins with excitement and ends with exhaustion. At first, I wanted to love it. Simone wanted to play it. It was a birthday gift, and the first impression had enough charm to make us believe the game could become something special.
But the longer it went on, the more that excitement turned into frustration. Simone stopping at around 18 hours says a lot. This was not a case of someone simply losing interest after a short session. She gave the game a real chance. She played for many hours. But the repetition and pacing wore her down.
For me, the emotional journey became even worse because I promised to finish it. Once that promise was made, quitting was not an option. So I kept going. But instead of feeling proud, invested, or curious, I kept thinking, please let this be the end. After bosses, after major story moments, after supposed climax points, I kept waiting for the game to stop dragging itself forward.
The best emotional moment was not a story scene. It was not a character moment. It was not a boss. It was when the game finally ended. Which was after losing against the sixth final form of the endgame boss, which took me over two hours to get there, only to lose due to unfair mechanics. That is a very bad sign for an RPG.
Rating for story and setting
I have visited multiple aspects of the story, and after some thought and objective thinking, I rated the story and setting with a 3.
Gameplay and mechanics
Core gameplay mechanics
The battle mechanics themselves are not the main problem. In fact, there are good ideas here. The timing based attacks still have that Mario & Luigi identity, and the Battle Plug system is one of the better additions. When the game lets you experiment with plugs, defensive timing, brother attacks, and enemy patterns, the combat can be enjoyable.
The problem is that the game makes you do too much of it, for too long, against too many repeated enemies, with balance that often feels completely out of whack. A battle system can be good and still become tiring if the game overuses it. That is exactly what happens here.
Enemies feel too tanky. Bosses often feel like bullet sponges. Some battles are not difficult because they are clever, but because they take too long or punish you too heavily for small mistakes. Even with good gear and proper levels, enemies can still hit extremely hard. That makes progression feel inconsistent. You can prepare properly and still feel like the game is suddenly trying to slap you through the floor.
Difficulty and balance
The difficulty balance is messy. Sometimes the game feels easy enough that you wonder why battles are taking so long. Other times, enemies suddenly hit hard enough to make you question whether your gear or level even matters. Boss difficulty also feels inconsistent. Some bosses are manageable but take forever. Others feel oddly punishing without being especially fun.
The biggest issue is that many enemies and bosses feel too durable. High health does not automatically make a battle exciting. It often just makes the same actions repeat more times. When a boss has interesting patterns, a long fight can work. But when a boss mostly feels like a sponge, the battle becomes a test of patience more than skill.
Even with the best gear and proper leveling, enemies can still whoop your ass. That makes the reward structure feel weak. In an RPG, getting better gear should feel meaningful. Leveling properly should feel meaningful. If the game still constantly punishes you in ways that feel inflated, the balance starts to feel unfair rather than challenging.
Pacing of the game
This is the game’s biggest failure.
Mario & Luigi: Brothership is far too long for the amount of meaningful variety it offers. It keeps adding more islands, more backtracking, more objectives, more fights, more story extensions, and more reasons why the ending cannot happen yet. At some point, it stops feeling like an adventure and starts feeling like a hostage situation with jumping.
The pacing would have been much better if the game ended after Zokket or shortly after him. That felt like the natural climax. A final boss from the egg, a short final chase, one last dungeon, and then the ending would have made sense. Instead, the game stretches itself into another phase, and that completely damaged my patience.
Every time I thought the game was finally ending, it continued. That repeated disappointment is brutal. It makes the player stop caring about what happens next because the only question becomes, How much longer?
The problem is not simply that the game is long. Long RPGs can be fantastic. The problem is that this game feels long. It feels padded. It feels stretched. It feels like the content was not strong enough to support the runtime.
Innovation and uniqueness
The scattered island structure is the most unique idea, and it could have worked better. Reconnecting a broken world through island exploration is a strong concept. The Battle Plug system is also a good innovation for combat. These ideas show that the game was not completely lazy.
However, good ideas need good execution. The islands become repetitive. The backtracking becomes tiring. The plugs are good, but they cannot save the pacing. The game introduces interesting systems, then buries them under too much repeated content.
Controls and user interface
The controls are mostly fine. Movement works, combat inputs are responsive enough, and the game explains most systems clearly. The timing based battle system depends heavily on readable animations, and most attacks can be learned with practice.
The interface is also serviceable. Gear, items, plugs, and menus are understandable. There is nothing fundamentally broken here. The game is playable and functional.
Microtransactions
There are no microtransactions interfering with the experience, which is good. This is a full priced Nintendo RPG, and it behaves like one in that regard. No paid boosts, no battle pass nonsense, no extra currency tricks.
That said, the absence of microtransactions does not automatically make the game feel worth its time. The problem here is not monetization. The problem is structure, balance, repetition, and pacing.
Rating
After combing through many of the mechanics, the pacing, and other factors of this game, I rated the gameplay and mechanics with a 3.5
Graphics and art style
Quality of graphics and art direction
The graphics are not bad at all. In fact, this is one of the game’s stronger parts. The characters look expressive, the animations fit the Mario & Luigi style, and the move to a fully 3D presentation works better visually than I expected. Mario and Luigi have personality in their movements, and the game does capture some of the cartoon energy the series is known for.
The problem is not visual quality. The problem is visual variety.
Too many islands feel like variations of the same ideas. Ice. Fire. Desert. Repeat. Then later, enemies come back in Glohm versions, which makes the repetition even more obvious. A visual theme can be good once or twice, but when the game keeps leaning on similar elements, the world starts to feel smaller than it actually is.
Technical performances
The technical performance is acceptable, though the game is not always as smooth as it should be. For a Nintendo-published Mario RPG, expectations are naturally high. This is not some small unknown project where rough edges are easy to forgive. It is a major Mario release on Switch.
There are moments where performance and pacing together make the game feel heavier than it should. Even when the game is technically functioning, the slow flow of movement, battles, loading into encounters, repeated animations, and backtracking makes the whole experience feel sluggish.
Environment and design uniqueness
The island-hopping setup is visually and conceptually interesting at first. A broken ocean world full of disconnected islands is a good idea. Shipshape Island as a traveling hub also gives the game a distinct identity.
But the individual environments do not do enough to stay memorable. The game needed fewer islands with stronger themes, not more islands that blend together. A smaller number of more developed locations would have helped the world feel more cohesive.
Rating
It took me some time to give the graphics and art style an objective rating. There are many things to consider, but ultimately, I rated this section with a 6.0.
Sound and music
Music score and how it contributed to the game
The sound and music are not bad. The game has that familiar Mario charm, and some tracks fit the adventure well enough. Sound effects are clear, attacks have decent feedback, and the overall audio presentation is polished.
The problem is again repetition. Because the game sends you back through similar areas and drags the adventure out for so long, the music starts to lose impact. A soundtrack can be good, but if the player is tired of the areas and tired of the battles, the audio becomes part of that fatigue.
Sound effects quality
The sound effects are solid. Jumping, attacking, countering, using abilities, and moving through menus all sound appropriate. The feedback in battle helps with the timing based mechanics, which is important.
The issue is that battles take too long and happen too often. Even good sound effects can become tiring when attached to repetitive encounters. Hearing the same combat feedback again and again while fighting another durable enemy does not make the experience better.
Voice Acting
There is no traditional voice acting in the way a story heavy RPG would have it. Mario and Luigi use their usual vocal expressions, and those still have charm. Their little sounds and reactions help sell their personalities without needing full dialogue.
That works for the series. Full voice acting is not necessary here. The problem is not the lack of voice acting; the problem is that the writing and pacing do not carry the long adventure strongly enough.
Rating
After a lot of consideration, I rated the sound and music section with a 6.
Replayability
Game Length and content volume
There is a lot of content, but volume is not the same as quality. Brothership has too much content for how repetitive that content becomes. This is one of those games where the runtime itself becomes a weakness.
A tighter 20 to 25 hour adventure could have worked much better. If the game had cut repeated islands, reduced backtracking, trimmed boring side quests, and ended closer to the Zokket confrontation, it might have been a decent RPG. Instead, it stretches beyond what its systems and environments can support.
The content volume becomes tiring instead of rewarding. More islands stop feeling like more adventure. More battles stop feeling like more gameplay. More story twists stop feeling like more plot. Eventually, everything becomes another delay.
Extra Content
The extra content is there, but it rarely feels worth doing. Side quests should add flavor, character, rewards, or meaningful challenges. Too often, these feel like chores. In a game already struggling with pacing, optional chores become very easy to ignore.
Some players may enjoy completing everything, and that is fine. But for me, the extra content made the game’s problems louder. When the main story already feels too long, optional tasks need to be excellent to justify themselves. Here, they are mostly forgettable.
Replay value
The replay value is extremely low for me. I finished it because I promised Simone I would finish it. That was the motivation. Not curiosity. Not excitement. Not the desire to master the game. A promise. Even though I was unable to defeat the final boss, Simone said it was good, as this game truly frustrated me to the point I was cursing the game. But we saw the final boss, we knew what the ending would be, and that was good enough for Simone, and so a promise was fulfilled.
That says everything.
A replay would mean going through the same slow island structure, the same repetitive tasks, the same spongey fights, the same backtracking, and the same overextended ending. No thank you.
Rating
After thoughtful consideration, I decided to rate the replayability and game length of this game with a 1.
Suggestions and comparisons
Suggestions and feedback
The biggest suggestion is simple: make the next game shorter, tighter, and more cohesive. A Mario RPG does not need to be massive to be good. It needs charm, pacing, memorable locations, fun battles, and a story that knows when to end.
The island structure should have been used more carefully. Fewer islands with stronger identities would have been better than many islands that blur together. The game needed more meaningful variety, not more repeated fire, ice, desert, and Glohm versions of things.
Side quests need a complete rethink. If most side quests are just talking, fetching, and fighting, they should either be cut or made much shorter. Optional content should feel optional because it is fun, not because the main game is already too bloated.
The story also needed a cleaner final act. After Zokket, the game should have moved quickly toward the ending. One final boss, one final twist, maybe a short chase, then done. Dragging the game into another extended phase destroyed the remaining goodwill.
The balance also needs work. Bosses should be challenging because they have good patterns and smart mechanics, not because they take forever. Enemies should be dangerous in ways that feel fair, not because they suddenly hit too hard despite proper gear and levels.
Comparisons
Compared to older Mario & Luigi games, Brothership feels less focused. The older entries were not always perfect, but they usually had stronger pacing and sharper identity. They knew how to move from joke to battle to story moment without making the player feel trapped.
Compared to Super Mario RPG or Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, this game lacks tightness. Those games understand that variety and pacing matter. They have memorable locations, stronger set pieces, and better control over their runtime.
Brothership has good ideas, but it does not use them with enough discipline. It feels like a game that wanted to be a huge adventure but forgot that bigger does not automatically mean better.
Personal experiences and anecdotes
The best moment in Mario & Luigi: Brothership was when the game finally ended. That sounds harsh, but it is true.
The worst moment was when I thought we had basically beaten the game, only for the story to suddenly continue with people getting sucked into a strange matrix like situation by flowers and more plot nonsense. At that point, I was genuinely asking what this had to do with Glohm, Zokket, and the story I had been following. It felt like a twist that came too late and dragged the game into another round of backtracking when it should have been wrapping up.
I would have much preferred a cleaner Mario RPG ending. Let Zokket have his moment. Let the real bad guy come out of the egg. Give us a final boss, maybe a short chase, maybe one last dramatic sequence, and then finish. That would have been fine. Instead, the game kept pulling the finish line away.
Simone stopping around 18 hours in was the warning sign. She had enough. I took over because I said I would finish it, but the fact that it still took more than 20 hours after that is ridiculous. Every time I thought, This has to be it, the game found another reason to continue.
By the final stretch, I was not playing because I wanted to see what happened. I was playing because I wanted it to stop, despite already knowing how the game would end. A promise made is a promise kept.
Rating
Taking in all the personal experiences with Mario and Luigi Brothership, I give it a personal rating of 0.000001
Last words
Pros
- Mario and Luigi still work well as a duo.
Cons
- The game is far too long.
- The pacing is terrible.
- The adventure becomes extremely repetitive.
- There is too much backtracking.
- Many islands feel too similar.
- Fire, ice, and desert themes are overused.
- Enemy variety is disappointing.
- Glohm versions of enemies feel like lazy padding after a while.
- Bosses are often bullet sponges.
- Even good gear and proper leveling do not always feel rewarding.
- The post Zokket section feels unnecessary and frustrating.
- The world feels fragmented in a tiring way.
- The game feels too childlike and slow in places.
- The ending is more relieving than satisfying.
Mario & Luigi: Brothership started with promise. It looked nice, the concept of reconnecting Concordia was interesting, and the first hours had enough charm to make me believe this could be a strong return for the series. I wanted it to be good. Simone wanted it to be good. That is why this one became so frustrating.
The game does not fail because it has no ideas. It fails because it does not know when to stop. It stretches its island structure too far, repeats too many themes, reuses too many enemies, fills too much time with dull side quests, and drags the story beyond the point where I still cared. The battle system has decent foundations, but even that becomes exhausting when enemies are spongey, bosses take too long, and the balance keeps feeling off.
I do not think this is literally the worst game ever made. It has polish, charm, and some good mechanics. But as an RPG, it became one of the most exhausting games I have finished in a long time. The fact that the best moment was the ending tells you exactly how badly the pacing failed.
If this game had ended around Zokket, or shortly after with one clean final boss sequence, it might have kept some redeeming qualities. Instead, it kept going and going and going, until finishing it felt less like beating an adventure and more like escaping one.
If Simone had asked me to finish the final phase of the boss, I would have kept trying. But she said it was good like this, but stopping this game actually lifted a very heavy weight off my shoulders, and I moved on to a fun game.
FINAL RATING
1
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