The Mario and Luigi the series wasn’t in the best of shape after AlphaDream closed. The last up-to-date title was actually Paper jam in 2015, followed by two remakes. It was a tough, last chapter in the life of the studio.
Paper jam was the worst rated in the series (honestly, Laura Kate Dale writing for Destructoid gave it an 8 out of 10). Second remake, Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Story + Bowser Jr.’s Journey, it sold worst to the point that it became a possible contributing factor to Alphadream’s bankruptcy.
Fortunately, the series is alive Mario and Luigi: Brotherhood. Being one of the successors of the series Super Mario-RPG with its unique focus on the two title characters, I think it has a lot going for it. Brotherhood it shows it but definitely doesn’t live up to its potential.
Mario and Luigi: Brotherhood (Switch)
Developer: Buy
Publisher: Nintendo
Released: November 7, 2024
MSRP: $59.99
Brotherhood is one of the more down-to-earth premises of the series. After digesting, dreaming and crossing, in this case the two brothers are simply transported to another world in need of saving. The main attraction is that they command a floating ship-like island and must travel across the huge ocean to visit other islands and connect them together. It’s a mixture of uniqueness and banality.
The wretched world is Concordia. It was once a continent held together by the Uni-Tree, but someone came and destroyed their unifying flora. The continent crumbled and pieces flew in all directions. A once united population now struggles in isolation, and it’s up to Mario and Luigi to unite everyone. In some ways, it’s the most disgustingly overt allegory, but it still manages to get to the heart of the narrative at times.
If you don’t know Mario and Luigi series, these are RPG games focusing on the titular duo. Along Paper Mariothis is a sequel Super Mario-RPG on the SNES, which means it’s sort of JRPG-lite. It’s turn-based as you’d expect, but it involves reflex-based actions where you can press a button at just the right moment during animations to defend yourself or power up your attacks. This first appeared in Mario RPG, AND Mario and Luigi I extrapolate this to the extreme.
In battles, two brothers usually assist each other in combat and even assist each other with basic attacks. The hammer and jump attacks are fairly basic, but then you get to the Bros. attacks, which are much more diverse. To get the most out of the Bros. attack, you’ll need to master its associated mini-games, which often require reflexes, perception, and the ability to remember which brother is assigned to which button.
In terms of up-to-date features, the biggest one is “Luigi Logic”. This puzzles Luigi really strenuous about the situation and finding a solution. It’s really humorous because sometimes the solutions are just impulsive and rely solely on brute strength and determination, suggesting that Mario simply isn’t capable of thinking. But mostly it’s just the pride on Luigi’s face when he comes up with something that really adds to his charm. The dude is so damn pleased with himself it’s contagious.
Luigi Logic moments often appear in boss battles, giving you the chance to deal a lot of damage and sometimes stun the boss. They allow for some solid moments to occur that really impact the battle, and some of them are pretty cold, even if they tend to come at the worst moments for me.
The lively combat system makes it Mario and Luigi games are different from their more typical genre counterparts, but have the disadvantage of forcing you to play the same mini-games over and over again in battle after battle. Repetition can be mitigated by keeping the gameplay brief and offering palate-cleansing sections between dungeons with more battles; it’s just bad Brotherhood he doesn’t do that.
No, not at all. When I finally finished Brotherhoodabout 42 hours passed and at that point I was just done, which is not unusual for me in longer RPGs to be forthright. But Brotherhood suffers not only from repetitive battles, but also from inconsistent and bloated pacing.
The game consists of five parts and starts off well enough. You hop from island to island and they stay rather compact affairs, so you can taste the variety without getting bogged down. The Brotherhood then descends through the second and third areas. This is a protracted episode that could have been significantly shortened. Narratively, nothing much happens. Nothing that couldn’t just be thrown in as a subplot in another installment. Honestly, I would probably get upset and lose interest in this part Brotherhood if I didn’t play this game to check.
Things pick up in the fourth game and continue into the fifth, which is where the best moments happen, but then you don’t know when to stop. It’s impossible to maintain the climax for about 10 hours. The excitement doesn’t last that long. The narrative shouldn’t peak and then plateau because then it becomes lifeless. The impact loses its impact. If I had managed to survive the previous silence, I probably wouldn’t have survived the termination, but I had to survive it.
Brotherhood it’s such an uneven game. He can be incredibly witty one moment and completely clueless the next. At some points it misses something profound in its narrative and then refuses to deliver. There are a lot of places in this game that could be cut or shortened, but most of them seem like a way to make the game longer. It doesn’t give the impression of being rushed or unfinished; there is just too much of it and it gets in its own way.
Which is a shame, because there’s a lot of charm in it that helps a lot in maintaining the experience. The focus on connections and bonds works well for Luigi and his brother. There is so much brotherly devotion on display at every moment that it is almost enviable. They are presented in such a way that their coordinated stylings start to make sense.
This is perfectly expressed through the graphic style and opulent animations. Brotherhood it’s a great looking game, even without a lot of graphical power and gimmicks. It bursts with personality and adds depth to a pair of muted palettes. It’s just a shame that most of the other actors seem corny. The villains are villainous, the henchmen do a good job and, as usual, it’s the supporting character that makes me viscerally furious. On the other hand, it means that brothers shine brighter.
When all is said and done, Mario and Luigi: Brotherhood not a bad game; it’s just too much of a decent thing. If he had been restrained and planned the pace better, he could have been the best in the series. The move from a purely portable platform to consoles is great, it makes good operate of the extra power.
However, because it was allowed to grow for so long, what could have been easily overlooked inconsistencies became major annoyances. Eventually, all the problems begin to overshadow the successes and begin to escalate. What would have been a gleeful experience is washed away in a sea of gray, leaving nothing to connect with.
