Is it worth a trip to Concordia?
The brothers return for a brand new adventure on the high seas! Set sail with Mario and Luigi on Shipshape Island (part ship, part island) and journey through the vast world of Concordia. Launch out of Shipshape’s cannon to visit, explore, and quest your way through islands that range from tropical rainforests to bustling cities. Meet new friends along the way, like Connie and Snoutlet (who’s definitely not a pig), and encounter familiar faces from the Mushroom Kingdom like Peach and Bowser, who may help you on your journey. You’ll have to rely on Mario and Luigi’s brotherly bond to succeed. Use Bros. Moves to get past obstacles while you explore, and powerful Bros. Attacks in a dynamic twist on turn-based combat. You’ll need every edge this ‘brothership’ will give you to save the day.
The Mario & Luigi series started its roots on Game Boy Advance with the amazing Superstar Saga and has spawned a good few sequels since, but has laid dormant since 2018’s 3DS remake of DS title “Bowser’s Inside Story”, which would be developer AlphaDream’s final ever game as they announced bankruptcy a year later. I always assumed the series would be dead and buried after that sad news, but can a new developer retain the enjoyment of the series?
It was always going to be a big task for a new developer to undertake an established franchise, especially one dating back to 2003. The team put to the task is Acquire which has some experience with RPGs already as they co-developed Square-Enix RPG “Octopath Traveller”, so it seems like a safe pair of hands on paper, but does it match that in reality?
I have to say I’m impressed that Acquire have managed to capture that Mario & Luigi feel and while the art style looks different, it’s a bold look and makes it look more like an old style Mickey Mouse cartoon or something similar. Looks are one thing, but how is the combat? Well, some things never change and they’ve managed to keep the basics intact here, but they’ve always added some new things like Luigi Logic and Plugs which keep the combat interesting.
There’s also a nice amount of side-quests to do and a good amount of areas that you will want to come back to with the right move/equipment, almost in a Metroidvania sense. The setting of Concordia is a nice one with interesting characters dotted across the separated islands and I was impressed with the story overall. The pacing might be a bit slow compared to other entries, but I still had a blast with it.
Like I said, the visual style has a nice animated look. It feels vibrant and runs at a smooth framerate, which I wasn’t expecting for a new Switch game in late 2024. The music is typical of the franchise and voice-acting is reduced to Mario and Luigi shouting each other’s names or the odd sound that you would expect.
The Verdict
I had always hoped that a new Mario & Luigi would come to pass, but I thought that dream died along with AlphaDream. I’m pleased to say that it hasn’t and while it does have some pacing issues and some of the combat changes won’t please everyone, Acquire have done an amazing job in bringing this series back to life and I for one, hope they get another chance to make another entry.