Adwin McCants, staff writer

2024 has seen several comebacks that fans of the Mario franchise’s RPG spin offs have been waiting for since “Paper Mario: Sticker Star” first crashed and burned on the Nintendo 3DS in 2012. Since then, the only roleplaying adventure that’s lived up to the series’ greats has been 2013’s “Mario & Luigi: Dream Team.” Both the “Paper Mario” and “Mario & Luigi” series had a sharp decline in quality and originality. However, starting with the remakes of fan favorites like “Super Mario RPG” and “Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door,” fans gained renewed hope that Nintendo would deliver the next great Mario role playing game. 

“Mario & Luigi: Brothership” seems to be that great return to form for the primarily handheld series of role playing games. They’ve brought back what fans loved about the first four games: original characters, leveling up and a focus on storytelling. Now, is it enough to make “Brothership” a game equal to the best of the franchise? I have played 10 hours of “Mario & Luigi: Brothership,” putting me only a quarter of the way through this large and lengthy game, and during those hours I got to see what makes this new entry so divisive among fans. 

First and foremost, “Brothership” goes back to basics on the gameplay in ways that are both entertaining but also somewhat of a let down. If you’ve played the original “Mario & Luigi,” you’ll know that controlling both of the brothers to fight enemies and solve puzzles is the main appeal. However, this time the player is given quite a bit less control over Luigi. In battle, Mario and Luigi are given separate buttons to jump and use their hammers and, like always, coordination and timing are crucial to pulling off attacks and dodging enemies. The catch is, on the overworld Luigi no longer has separate action buttons. Instead, you either use moves as one entity or press the L shoulder button to make Luigi do a specific task. Everything else Luigi does like jumping and working on puzzles is automatic. This is hard to get used to for fans of the series, but for newcomers you won’t feel like anything is missing. 

Of course, it wouldn’t be a proper revival for the “Mario & Luigi” series without a compelling story, and “Brothership” delivers. Mario and Luigi get transported to a new realm, Concordia, where the world has been separated into many small islands disconnected from each other. As you journey to each island and reconnect them with each other, new information is revealed about the history of the world and the role your companion, Connie, has to do with its protection. I’m really excited to see where the story goes next! 

Overall, “Mario & Luigi: Brothership” is an enjoyable adventure that captures what it felt like playing the best moments of the series’s past, but it lacks some of what made those games so unique.