Is Mario & Luigi: Brothership a Reboot? | Theory and Analysis

Despite AlphaDream going under, Mario & Luigi are back under the helm of a new developer. But that does beg the question: will Brothership be a reboot? Will we see fan favorites like Fawful or Starlow again or will the new development team craft a Mushroom Kingdom of their own? I take a look at the evidence provided by the Nintendo Direct trailer to try and figure it out!
#mario #supermario #mariorpg

[@melissabraswell8432]

I feel like its not a reboot because in one part of the trailer there is an area that looks very similar to Mount Pajamaja from Dream Team, so maybe you can somehow explore some reimagined locations from Mario And Luigi's legacy. Plus, in the direct, they called it a new entry and not a reboot.

[@mykeyboardismelting6856]

yeah there was also a purple spiky enemy that looked very similar to one from dream team's mushrise park its called a thorb apparently

[@YoudonknowwhoIam]

Oh, so it’s a sequel? WHAT HAPPENED TO STARLOW?

[@RetroLiminal99444]

@@YoudonknowwhoIampartners in time had Stuffwell, the first companion, but in bowsers inside story, the sequel to PiT introduced Starlow.

[@gogetablack5384]

@@YoudonknowwhoIamit appears that she is in the game as a leaked screenshot of the game featured her. Nintendo just chose not to include clip of in in order to not spoil it

[@Basegud]

Well we'll just have to see about the European title: Mario and Luigi Brothership Bros.

[@Lets-A-GoOkie-Dokie]

“What’s your full name?” “Mario brothership Mario” “…” “You?” “Luigi brothership Mario” “…”

[@gogetablack5384]

Starlow was leaked in a screenshot it long time ago. So it seems to be a sequel

[@Mymy_64]

It's definitely a sequel to the series. Otherwise they probably wouldn't add a subtitle.

[@acesworld320]

Definitely

[@dannypalin9583]

This argument doesn't really work. Simply calling it Mario & Luigi would be too confusing for customers.

[@Mymy_64]

@@dannypalin9583 If its a reboot than I failed to see how. It's a game about Mario and Luigi hence the name. Plus its been 4 years since the remake(9 for the last original game) I doubt casuals would really know the series at this point.

[@PiantapediaYT]

The original already had a sub-title though, Superstar Saga

[@Mymy_64]

@@PiantapediaYT And since then, every game had one. This is no different.

[@RetroLiminal99444]

Confirmed not a reboot.

[@Nando75549]

I kinda hope they bring back the Shroobs as an optional boss like with B'sIS. But that'd be unlikely.

[@fawfulthegreat64]

To me Paper Jam ticks way more of the boxes of a reboot than this. Every other Mario & Luigi game is rich with original characters, every sequel calls back to the events of the previous games with returning characters, and then there's Paper Jam. Which is just... a typical 2010s Mario game. Besides Starlow, nothing about Paper Jam's story and characters are Mario & Luigi in the slightest. While Brothership just in this first trailer OOZES with M&L energy. To me, Paper Jam was the reboot, stripping the cast of characters back to just what can be found in the NSMB series and going for a painfully played-straight 2D Mario-tier kidnapping plot. The M&L remakes were the original vision for the series gasping for air, before AlphaDream's debt and the lack of any fandom-side excitement for the remakes (which I will never understand) shoving them back under to drown. And then Brothership finally rising from the ashes and reversing ALL of Paper Jam's insulting sanitization. As far as I'm concerned Brothership is the Mario & Luigi 5 you couldn't put a gun to my head to make me call Paper Jam.

[@Mogus_64]

The problem of every M&L game is that every character always forgets the previous adventures that happened. It's not like they've completely forgot like who's who, or stuff like that. The problem is, majority of characters have forgotten what happened in the previous games. For example, Bowser not remembering Starlow, Broque&Kylie not remembering Mario&Luigi. The truth is, since Bowser's Inside story, the timeline is changed, seriously. If you defeat the shroob bosses, it's revealed that Mario and Luigi defeated them since they are babies. Means that the game continues from PiT's baby Mario& Luigi's timeline until they are adults and the events that happened in BiS. So it explains why. But it always bothers me that the game is trying to make you forget abt the previous adventures. But the weird thing is: every game that has the Mushroom Kingdom has a very different environment/areas. I think whoever designed the areas of Mushroom Kingdom literally forgot what it looked like in the previous games (not mocking the developers) For context: Mushroom Kingdom: From BiS to PJ = Different environment (Not counting PiT bc it's not connected to BiS timeline) And the latest Brothership: PJ to Brothership = Also different environment, but this time, the castle seems identical to the one in PJ, but the environment is also different. (SPOILERS FOR BROTHERSHIP ENDING) You've been warned I'd just imagine in the next M&L game, they forgot to put the small Uni-Tree in the Mushroom Kingdom

[@tayloramann2319]

The quality of this video is absolutely phenomenal for how little subscribers and viewers you have. I wish you good luck for the future.

[@PiantapediaYT]

Thanks so much!

[@Naruhinahaven255]

I was like huh little subscribers when I check I saw you had the amount of subscribers you had I am definitely going to be following your channel and watching your future videos

[@supermariochaos7102]

I hope these future Mario and Luigi games resemble the first three with the first being a simple but fun experience the second having a dark tone and the third having a insane concept.

[@rendumguy7596]

There are two original Mario and Luigi enemies that reappear, so they can use other ML characters, and the series has such a simple "overarching" story that it would be unnecessary to reboot it.

[@aggyanubis5211]

The villains look like the Best fitness friends and their eyes look like antasmas

[@nathanblackburn1193]

I really doubt that means anything though, given the long gap between the games I don't think the devs would overload the game with call backs and references as for a lot of people this would be their first Mario & Luigi game

[@RetroLiminal99444]

⁠@@nathanblackburn1193it does mean something, it would mean the same artist made these characters

[@Number1SethRollinsFan]

This is definitely a sequel. Like it or not, Paper Jam is the 5th Mario & Luigi game and Brothership is Mario & Luigi 6! Seems to me that Peach and Bowser will be assisting Mario & Luigi as maybe some kind of special that you earn like in Super Mario RPG. How sick would it be if the Super Mario Bros. got 2 extra teammates later on in the game in the form of Wario and Waluigi? I don't know, though. It feels like it's just going to be the Super Mario Bros. in this game. Just like in SS, BIS (Bowser was separate), and DT. PIT saw the Super Mario Bros. teaming with their baby counterparts and PJ saw them teaming up with Paper Mario. My dream Mario & Luigi game would be the Super Mario Bros. teaming up with Wario and Waluigi! Maybe in a future Mario & Luigi game!

[@CanadianMapping01]

I was thinking honestly this could be a soft reboot. Especially since partners in time they were adding new buttons while this seems only mario and luigi.

[@Muskie_57]

There was only Mario and Luigi in dream team so it’s probably just a new entry

[@CanadianMapping01]

@@Muskie_57 I meant how every game adds a new mechanic like how in partner in time x and y button, bowser's inside story was bowser, dream team was the touch screen and level changing and paper jam was adding paper mario. this game seems like it going back to simple but again idk maybe it is just a sequel and we havent seen new mechanics.

[@mykeyboardismelting6856]

you can tell by the footage that their assigning hammers to X and Y so I believe there will be attacks requiring both hammer and jump commands via separate buttons

[@CanadianMapping01]

@@mykeyboardismelting6856 oh true didn’t see it nvm then

[@mykeyboardismelting6856]

​@@CanadianMapping01I checked again and I was wrong lol battle commands still use A and B for hammers but there is a scene that uses X and Y for hammers outside of battle + for the spinny bros move

[@arturocastroverde3349]

I think this is the true Mario and Luigi RPG 5, 11 years after Dream Team. Paper Jam was more of a crossover

[@sweetsilver8016]

I agree with paper-jam being more of a crossover

[@Number1SethRollinsFan]

@@arturocastroverde3349 No, Paper Jam counts. Brothership is Mario & Luigi 6. Not more of a crossover. It was a crossover. That doesn't stop it from being Mario & Luigi 5. That's like saying that Captian America: Brave New World is Captain America 3 because Captain America: Civil War was a crossover or that the 4th Tom Holland Spider-Man is actually Spider-Man 3 because No Way Home was a crossover.

[@volvoman5262]

No Even japanese name dosn't have a number

[@Number1SethRollinsFan]

@@volvoman5262 Your sentence should be all on one line, clown! *Not, even the *Doesn't Punctuate!

[@YouthPastorAndrew]

@@volvoman5262the Japanese version of brotherhood doesn’t either. It really bothers me.

[@Blastertronus]

I really hope Hi-Fi Rush is given the same treatment in the far future (in-terms of the IP being passed on to a new studio that understands it, but considering that this is Microsoft where talking about here in this comment, it’s a bit of a fat chance).

[@bowiemtl]

I go the idea this was going to be a continuation merely from the character design. The extension corps really reminds me of Antasma

[@Viewtifulyoshi]

I hope the gameplay gimmicks are toned down for this one. Don’t get me wrong. I love what BiS and DT added to the series, but a return to basics could do this series a lot of good. Maybe implementing a system similar to “Advance” from SS where attacks can evolve with repeated use.

[@TupZZ-fe1gp]

I don't really see how it'd be, it looks like we're travelling outside the mushroom kingdom so it'd be kinda hard to know if things from past games are canon or not

[@Flumpty_bumpty_egg]

I’m just glad we’re getting another Mario and Luigi game

[@antflam7473]

This is a FAR STRETCH but those extension corp guys look similar to the smithy gang in a way. They look mechanical and the lanky purple one in the middle seems to have a canon in his head sorta how smithy gangs members were based off of weapons. Either these new villains are inspired or have some sort of connection but this is just a theory.

[@VillagerFilm]

This was a great watch. Your narration is clear and precise, your editing style is silky smooth, awesome stuff! You deserve way more viewership and subscribers! ❤❤❤ And, on topic, I wouldn't mind if M&L:BS was a reboot, honestly. A lot of the series main-stays started to get old once we reached Paper Jam (looking at you Starlow) and bringing back that earlier level of experimentation I think is great for the series in my opinion. :)

[@PiantapediaYT]

Thanks so much!

[@troybell7444]

7:26 I would not count on it. I seen peach get kidnapped at certain points in the Mario and Luigi spinoff games.

[@Number1SethRollinsFan]

Why didn't you capitalize Peach's name? All names need to be capitalized!

[@troybell7444]

@@Number1SethRollinsFan auto-correct.

[@Baconator2558]

She's actually never kidnapped for the entire game in any M&L game, unlike Paper Mario. She usually is either rescued about halfway through, or she doesn't get kidnapped until about halfway through. Other times, she's in and out of being kidnapped many times throughout the game.

[@troybell7444]

@@Baconator2558 what are you talking about? Of course she’s kidnapped at certain points in every Mario and Luigi game. You didn’t play those Mario and Luigi games all the way through.

[@Baconator2558]

@@troybell7444 No, I meant that she never stays kidnapped for the whole game. Like, in most of the Paper Mario games, Peach gets kidnapped at the start of the game, and then gets rescued at the end of the game. The Mario & Luigi series never does that. She always spends a bit more time not being kidnapped throughout the game.

[@mattimusprimal637]

When Rare was bought by Microsoft, all the DK Country/64 characters (created by Rare) went back to Nintendo’s ownership. So after Alpha Dream’s closer, their creations reverted back to Nintendo.

[@Fooza05]

LM2HD was made by Tantalus btw not NLG

[@DrSmug-yj9ot]

Alphadream is dead tho, unlike Square Enix, so it's likely even if Alphadream HAD partial rights, they were scooped up by Nintendo. (Tbh, I don't think Alphadream did.)

[@zariaalhajmoustafa2573]

Ah some of the developer of Alpha dream work in this game

[@kevink2986]

This is Mario and Luigi RPG 6.

[@fernandolemus5965]

Definetly a sequel

[@nathanblackburn1193]

I think it's like a soft reboot, like it'll be 90% on its own but with a tiny bit of call backs, I personally don't want it to be littered with call backs and returning characters, I think the game should be allowed to stand on its own so all these people talking about Fawful or Antasma coming back kinda bug me (I'm not referring to any specific people btw) Plus think about it, this will be a lot of peoples first Mario & Luigi game so it doesn't make sense to have a load of call backs and returning characters especially in the main story

[@samuelpark505]

Plantapedia have to say Mario & Luigi Brothership is a new game.

[@LayeredGamer]

Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD isn’t Next Level Games, it’s Tantalus.

[@PiantapediaYT]

Yep! Nintendo have since also said that old AlphaDream staff is working on the game, so I’d say that’s bonus points for ILCA’s chances

[@shui_og]

The Mario & Luigi series got increasingly muddled towards the end. Remakes sanitized the original games' charm a bit, coinciding with the period that brought us Sticker Star during a shift away from traditional RPGs. Around the same time, we even saw a Mario & Luigi crossover with Paper Mario. Given the current RPG renaissance at Nintendo, a soft reboot that brings the series back to its roots makes a lot of sense to me.

[@crashban4t.f.s.b783]

Geno is only owned by Square Enix

[@draven5947]

Tantalus did Luigi's mansion 2 hd, not next level games

[@MrChidorinagashi10]

Why would this be a reboot... i swear yall do anything for views