Mario & Luigi: Brothership Being Made by “Some of the Original Developers” of the Series

During last week’s Nintendo Direct, one of the biggest surprises was the announcement of Mario & Luigi: Brothership, a new entry in an RPG series that dates back to 2003. The series started with Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga on Game Boy Advance, and saw multiple entries on Nintendo handhelds, all of which were developed by the studio AlphaDream. However, AlphaDream closed its doors in 2019, leading many to assume that the Mario & Luigi series was similarly finished. That’s clearly not the case, and Nintendo has told Game File that “some of the original developers who worked on the franchise are involved in the development.” 

Unfortunately, Nintendo did not offer any additional information about the developers, stating that players will find out in the credits when Mario & Luigi: Brothership launches on November 7th. This has become something of a trend over the last few years, as Nintendo has been playing coy about a lot of the studios working on its games; last week also saw a new Zelda announced, and while Grezzo is presumably the developer, nothing has been outright confirmed. 

We don’t know which studio is working on the new Mario & Luigi game, but it bodes well that Nintendo is bringing in some veterans from the series. Titles like Superstar Saga and Bowser’s Inside Story found a passionate audience thanks to their unique gameplay and sense of humor, and fans are going to want to see Brothership maintain the heart of those previous games. Hopefully Brothership will see the best elements of the Mario & Luigi series return, while also offering an adventure that can be enjoyed by newcomers. 

Mario & Luigi: Brothership is the first wholly-new game in the series in nine years; Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam was released on 3DS in 2015, and was followed by remakes of Superstar Saga in 2017 and Bowser’s Inside Story in 2019. Brothership will mark the first game in the series to debut on Nintendo Switch. It remains to be seen whether the developers can reach the same heights as the best games in the Mario & Luigi series, but if reception is positive enough, maybe we won’t have to wait nearly as long for the next one! 

Do you plan on checking out Mario & Luigi: Brothership? Are you happy that the game is being made by some of the original developers? Share your thoughts with me directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp, on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!

[H/T: Nintendo Everything]