Preview of Mario & Luigi: Brotherly Bond

Mario & Luigi: Brotherly Bond
Nintendo/Nintendo Switch
November 7, 2024

We can’t blame those thinking about Nintendo’s next console, in this same house we’ve talked a lot about what we expect from it. successorbut it’s also worth noting that Nintendo managed to expand the final installment of its hybrid console: The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, Super Mario Party Jamboree, Emio, El Sonriente and Mario & Luigi: Brotherly Bondput together a group of very attractive Switch releases that should be the last fall of the Nintendo Switch as Nintendo’s main console.

We got to play just over an hour of the Mario and Luigi adventure, which sees the brothers leaving the Mushroom Kingdom (or Bowser’s interior) for the first time and moving to Concordia, a once-united territory until a bad guy showed up. Very bad. Mario & Luigi: Brotherly Connection divided it into many islands. This is where the jumping plumbers come in, as we must sail the seas from island to island until we manage to connect the pieces and thus allow its inhabitants to be reunited again.

Mario and Luigi have what appears to be an island-shaped base… which is also a ship. Nao Island is the point to which we return after every successful mission, where the most important characters meet and from where we will have to set a course so that when we scan the horizon we can find a new island. The process is simple and provides some entertainment, as well as greater immersion in the story than if we were limited to choosing where to go from a menu.

In the test session, we were able to play two parts of the game, about half an hour each. The first of these corresponded to one of the starting islands, an ideal point of contact for understanding the mechanics, both in and out of combat, that Mario & Luigi: Brotherly Connection offers. The goal on each island will be to reach a giant traffic jam that will bring our protagonists back to Nao Island, creating a connection between both islands. To achieve this goal, each area will require solving a number of situations, and later we will be able to return to the islands we have already seen to gain access to new areas and missions.

The first of these missions is as simple as being able to reactivate a slightly withered tree to reach a high point. As expected, this task will require a number of extra steps, which luckily we’re happy to do, because if Mario & Luigi: Brotherhood Connection achieves anything, it’ll be fun. To achieve this goal, it has several advantages: an excellent layout that makes us not want to miss dialogues – more than once really funny – an aesthetic section that looks luxurious with the console placed in the dock, and, above all, to fight with a small demand that seems luxurious.

Let’s focus on Mario & Luigi: Brotherly Connection’s combat system for a moment. Both inside and outside of battles, we can control each brother using two buttons: one for jumping and the other for using the big hammer. During combat, it is important to know how to handle weapons. timetherefore, knowing the enemies’ attacks is key to knowing when to jump with each character if we want to avoid certain attacks. Until we have this information, it is more than likely that we will have to spend several turns consuming healing items, because the creatures that attack us punish Mario and Luigi’s life bar quite heavily.

But it’s not all about dodging, although that is one of the pillars of combat – be very careful about jumping like crazy, as some enemies will attack Mario and Luigi at the same time, while others will not. Some opponent’s attacks allow us to defend ourselves in a way parrywhere the window of opportunity to press the corresponding button is narrower than in a jumping dodge, but the benefit is much greater, since we will avoid damage and significantly reduce the enemy’s life. Although if we want to defeat the enemy, there is nothing better than either of the two main attacks: jump and hammer blow. Both moves require the coordination of Mario and Luigi, so they depend on us pressing each brother’s button at the right time for the combo to be completed in full.

Although many fights are completely avoidable, since we must come into contact with the monster to start them, and the jumping of Mario and Luigi usually allows us to avoid enemies, the combat is so fun that in many cases we throw ourselves into battle headlong. In addition, after each victory we will receive the necessary experience points to increase the level and improve the characteristics of the main characters. Some attributes we can also improve with the help of items and clothes that we find on the stage or in shops.

The combat system will grow over time, as in the second part of the test version we played, we got access to a slightly more advanced game in which “tandem attacks” were already unlocked. These special moves allow Mario and Luigi to perform attacks that can deal much more damage to their enemies. Besides the spectacle of these combinations, it’s interesting how they manage to take the basic attacks and the necessary cooperation of the brothers a step further. As if that weren’t enough, another strategic tool is added to our arsenal as Luigi’s attack hits all enemies while Mario concentrates on one.

The key to maintaining interesting basic combat throughout the game lies in the depth of the system. Mario & Luigi: Brotherly Connection has combat bindings to increase all options and variables. We can equip ourselves – outside or inside combat – with two pegs that will give us about a dozen modification moves: some will protect us from certain enemies, others will give us the ability to generate an area attack, some will focus on evasive or defensive aspects. .recovery… In short, there are a lot of elements that we can play with until we find the combinations that are most profitable for us.

Besides these combat tie-ins, another of the most notable new features of Mario & Luigi: Brotherly Connection aims to make it easier to progress through the game. Luigi will have a number of ideas to help those who are stuck in certain areas, a rather colorful way of presenting tips and tricks for those who need them, and will also give more space to Luigi – a solution that always turns out to be successful. . The same button that activates these ideas is used to send good old Luigi after certain valuable objects, momentarily separating himself from the route that Mario and I have marked.

We’ll have to wait just under a month – the game will be published on November 7th on Nintendo Switch – to play the final version. Mario & Luigi: Brotherly Bondbut this quick test let us know that Nintendo plans to end the single-player phase of its hybrid console with a game that can captivate us with both its fun and its stimulating combat system. If we add to this the promise of a story with a definite hook, the promise of what little we’ve been able to see in this mission to reunite Concordia, everything seems to point to Mario and Luigi managing to catch the fall after the pirouette, how beautiful, albeit difficult .