The Mario & Luigi series came as a shock to players ... into the role-playing realm for the first time since Super Mario RPG. Since then, the franchise has remained a bright spot in Nintendo’s RPG lineup, with new titles and remakes of previous ones ...

Mario & Luigi: Brothership, the first new Mario & Luigi game in nearly a decade, seems content to iterate on past ideas from the franchise. Brothership brings a handful of new ideas to the Mario & Luigi formula, but only a few of them make the 20-year-old franchise feel fresh.

Mario & Luigi finally set sail on a home console for the first time ever, and my word is it a resounding success. The typical reaction-based combat of the series is back and more refined than ever, with the addition of unpredictable elements like Luigi Logic and some cool super moves with the new Bros. Attacks.

Despite a few lurches here and there and some so-so exploration, Mario & Luigi Brothership offers an enjoyable voyage with smooth sailing, and a punderful script that brings the laughs. It has a new developer and an extra dimension, but the same dedication to humor and brotherly love.

Brothership begins in the Mushroom Kingdom, but the sibling plumbers are quickly sucked into another world that needs their unique brand of help. The electricity-themed land of Concordia once existed as a single continent with a melting pot of different people.

With tight battle mechanics, engaging puzzles, and new characters that become more endearing as the story goes on, Mario & Luigi: Brothership has all the hallmarks of a great RPG. It’s still no Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, but it’s not far off.

W ay back when I used to play Mario & Luigi RPGs on the Nintendo DS, I always got a kick out of how they cleverly blended controls for both Mario and Luigi with button-mapping. As