Top Critic Average
Critics Recommend
Energetic Combat
Varied Exploration
Uneven Execution
Mario & Luigi: Brothership sails into a sprawling high‑seas RPG adventure with energetic turn‑based combat, varied island exploration, and the series’ trademark humor and charm, though critics note its lengthy pacing and uneven execution keep it from matching the franchise’s finest entries.
Mario & Luigi: Brothership — Greetings from Concordia! — Nintendo Switch
Mario & Luigi: Brothership – Announcement Trailer – Nintendo Switch
A relatively minor instalment, but in a series this magical, that's still good news.
Apart from its great battle system, Mario & Luigi: Brothership is an incredibly disappointing revival that suffers from boring gameplay and dialogue, a bloated runtime, shockingly bad performance, and a fundamental misunderstanding of what made the series great.
This is the first Mario & Luigi on Switch and it very much feels like the series’ first big-budget home console entry. It's so much bigger than any of the older games, not just in terms of play time, but in terms of ideas too. The only bad thing about Brothership is that it sets the bar so high there’s no going back to the originals now.
Despite a few lurches here and there and some so-so exploration, Mario & Luigi Brothership offers an enjoyable voyage with smooth sailing, and a punderful script that brings the laughs. It has a new developer and an extra dimension, but the same dedication to humor and brotherly love.
Mario & Luigi: Brothership tries to be a bigger, bolder version of the casual RPG series, but this top-heavy ship ultimately capsizes.
Mario & Luigi: Brothership succeeds at creating a loyal sequel to the previous installments in the franchise, but fails to successfully bring that franchise to the level of quality synonymous with Nintendo's console games. Slow progression, major quality-of-life issues and unbearably-boring lengths of dialogue and gameplay heavily bog down this fun and lighthearted turn-based RPG, with the final product ending up as a 50-50 split of soul-sucking boredom and family-friendly fun.
Mario & Luigi: Brothership takes this long-running RPG series to new heights in a high-seas adventure that's packed full of top-notch combat, inventive variety, a positive and thoughtful story, and lots signature comedy from the dynamic duo themselves. This is a big game, packed full of surprises and fun, and the all-new Battle Plug system, alongside lots of flashy specials, a fittingly emotive art-style, and a world that brimming with puzzles and challenges, make for a must-play in our book.
Brothership is a fun time, but has frustrating moments. It's not an easy recommendation like Paper Mario, but you'll have a good time nonetheless.
Developers of the recently released Mario and Luigi: Brothership reveal the game had a different title before it settled on its current name.
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Nintendo and Acquire reveal that the recently released Mario and Luigi: Brothership RPG could have had a very different look.
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Mario and Luigi: Brothership makes one small change to Luigi's combat controls, and many fans of the RPG series are upset about it.
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Let's-a Go!
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