When Mario & Luigi: Brothership was announced in the last Nintendo Direct, the internet went insane. After all, this was the first Mario & Luigi game in years, with the last remake being in 2019 and the last original title being all the way back in 2015. So its return was a welcome surprise, especially after AlphaDream’s 2019 bankruptcy and closure.

And now, with the game only two months away, it seems the marketing machine is speeding up for this one. Why? Because out of the blue, not only did they release an article with dozens of new screenshots and trailers on the Japanese website:

Mario & Luigi: Brothership Update (Official Nintendo Website)

They also released a new trailer in English too:

It’s all very exciting stuff, especially with a game people are anticipating this much.

But what’s new here? What kinds of interesting new things can we see in these trailers and screenshots?

Well, quite a lot of things actually! In fact, it might be better to ask what’s not new this time around, given how many awesome locations, characters and mechanics are showcased here.

Regardless, let’s start with the moves, since there are a few of ’em here. Most notably, Thunder Dynamo:

Yeah, this attack is insane. Mario and Luigi get out some sort of weather machine, and pump it up to create a giant thunderstorm above their foes. Then, once it’s done, the enemies get blasted with lightning from the ominous clouds above them.

It’s an incredible looking attack, and one which is sure to come in very handy for those horde battles or boss encounters.

Yet while the Bros Attacks look awesome, they’re not the ones which got a flashy upgrade.

No, Mario and Luigi’s normal attacks did too.

Since it seems like they now function kinda like Bros Attacks in their own right. The first jump or hammer swing acts as normal, but then the other bro acrobatically knocks them back towards the enemy for the second strike. It’s really awesome to see, and shows just how powerful Mario and Luigi are when they work together:

As for the locations?

Well unfortunately, we don’t get any English names for them in the trailer. But from what we can tell from the Japanese site and various wikis, and the footage we see in all the videos and screenshots, it seems like we know of the current ones so far:

Mario & Luigi: Brothership Locations

Rumbla Island

A Hailfire Peaks style area, with one side being covered in ice and snow, and the other being filled with volcanos and lava. Different species live on each side of the island, and they apparently don’t get along very well.

Twistee Island

A forest filled tourist destination centred around a large tree (the Twiss Tree)

Desolatt Island

A desert island with various old buildings and cities. Apparently, a certain type of bird has been capturing its inhabitants, most likely under the command of the Extension Corps.

Xenia Lever Island

*

An urban island that has contributed significantly to the region’s economic development.

Grangran Island

*

An island where the inhabitants like to craft objects and display them throughout the area. An object called the Gulagladish is seen as a sacred relic here.

Lottacoins Island

What appears to be a carnival or theme park area, with a maze and robotic enemies.

* These location names are translated from Japanese, and so might not be accurate to the final English release.

As for characters and enemies? Well, we’ve obviously got the birdlike creatures that keep kidnapping people, and various monsters that look like plugs and cable ends…

But we’ve also got some more… organic foes too. Like the Beanie esque creatures on Twistee Island, or the snail like creatures in another forest area. So presumably, your opponents will be a mix of electrical beings and robots (likely associated with the Extension Corps), and random hostile wildlife.

And speaking of the Extension Corps, we get to see a bit more of them here too. For instance, they’ve now got official artwork:

Plus, some more screenshots showing the bros encountering them:

Interestingly, it seems like they work with a few other members here, including a plant like character with a ground pound symbol on their head.

On a more mechanical level, we also get to see many new aspects of the game’s battle system and overworld exploration too. For instance, here’s the screen when the bros win a battle:

As you can see, it’s still similar to the originals in spirit, if not in execution. You’ve still got a flag going up a flagpole to represent progress towards a level up, the coins and exp are still shown under the characters, and Mario & Luigi leap onto the results screen to celebrate.

It’s just the format is a bit tweaked here. The flags are on the right rather than behind each bro, the exp for each is labelled in a box rather than under the respective bro, and the bros don’t stand on a podium anymore.

We personally rather like it, but we wouldn’t blame anyone who preferred the original design here.

As for the overworld stuff… well, it seems like all the Mario & Luigi trademarks are there. Save blocks exist and have the same basic design as in the other games, there are rocks you can only break with a hammer, ? blocks are littered throughout the islands and heck, there’s even a gear shop too.

So, it seems like everything you’d expect to see in a Mario & Luigi game is present and accounted for in this one too. Very nice!

Finally, there’s also some new artwork too. So, if you want some beautiful Brothership artwork for the Mario Bros, Snoutlet and Connie, here you go:

Either way, that’s everything we learnt about Mario & Luigi: Brothership from the news articles and trailers, including some of the smaller things in the background. So, what do you think of the game? Are you excited to try out Mario & Luigi: Brothership when it launches on November 7th 2024?

Leave your thoughts in the comments below, on social media, or on our Discord server today!

Sources:

• Mario & Luigi: Brothership Update (Official Nintendo Website)
• Mario & Luigi: Brothership — Greetings from Concordia! — Nintendo Switch (YouTube)
• Greetings From Concordia (Nintendo of America Twitter Post)