‘Mario & Luigi: Brothership’ Gives Nintendo’s Dynamic Duo More RPG Combat Options Than Ever Before

Mario and Luigi, known for their running, jumping, go-karting and more, are expanding their fighting skills — beyond “Super Smash Bros.” — in Nintendo’s upcoming video game “Mario & Luigi: Brothership.”

The iconic brothers star in the latest “Mario & Luigi” RPG coming Nov. 7 to the Switch, the first for the system. The series, consisting of six main games and two remakes, forgoes the traditional “Super Mario” platforming and instead has turn-based combat akin to “Final Fantasy,” “Yakuza: Like a Dragon” or the “South Park” video games.

In “Brothership,” Mario and Luigi find themselves away from their home in the Mushroom Kingdom on the island system of Concordia. They sail around a sprawling ocean dotted with islands full of treasure and enemies; their mission is to repair the broken-up islands by reconnecting them with their very own half-island, half-watercraft called Shipshape. Along the way, the plumbers will help the various islanders and gain access to a wealth of flashy, new abilities that make defeating enemies that much easier.

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In a hands-on demo before release, we checked out two islands early on in the game. The first saw Mario and Luigi help the music-loving inhabitants of Twistee Island put on a festive concert. Along the way, the brothers battled some low-level enemies, including some bugs, pigs and flying creatures that all had different moves sets.

Combat in “Brothership” is a mix of turn-based strategy and real-time, rhythmic button-pressing. To escape enemies unscathed and victorious, you’ll have to keep a close eye on their movement. When Mario and Luigi are roaming freely around the islands, they’ll be stopped by enemies and thrown into combat scenarios, where they must dodge attacks and perform their classic jumps and hammer throws to defeat the monstrous hordes. Each type of enemy has a unique attack pattern that will take some careful watching to evade and counter. Flying enemies will swoop down and are immune to ground attacks, while spiky foes are prickly to the touch. Landing a successful attack requires more careful timing to do the maximum damage and perform a follow-up move.

The already intricate combat further evolves with Mario and Luigi’s Bros. attacks and battle plugs. The true RPG elements of “Brothership” are revealed by Merrygo Island, where the brothers traverse a maze to rescue Princess Peach. Dive-bombing condors and lumbering, spike-covered foes have much higher health and powerful attacks, so the Nintendo mascots are put to the test. Using a special Bros. attack meter, Mario and Luigi can unleash flashy moves with a flurry of button presses that deal damage to multiple enemies. One of their Bros. attacks involve dribbling red and green Koopa shells up the field like Lionel Messi and and hurtling it toward enemies for huge damage.

The battle plugs take Mario and Luigi’s customization up another notch. The enhancements can increase damage to specific types of enemies, cause status effects like burns or confusion, dole out critical hits or automatically heal one of the brothers when his health gets lows. There are hundreds of combinations, and they can be swapped on the fly in the middle of combat. As enemies grow in level, mastering the battle plugs and their stat changes will be key to conquering foes.

The difficulty ramped up on Merrygo Island, which is only about 15% through the game. For casual platforming fans, there are tons of great options out there, like “Super Mario Bros. Wonder” or “Mario Odyssey,” and even more hardcore games, like “Super Mario Maker.” But now, RPG players who want to maximize Mario and Luigi’s combat prowess finally have a game they can sink their teeth into.