This article has a talk page!This page details pre-release information and/or media for Mario & Luigi: Brothership.
Development Timeline#
2015
- Unknown - Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam wraps up development, and talk of the next Mario & Luigi title begins.
2019
- October 1 - The series' primary developer, AlphaDream, files for bankruptcy after years of struggling working conditions, millions in debt, and the poor sales of the 3DS remakes of Superstar Saga and Bowser's Inside Story.
- Unknown - The production team struggles to innovate with the series for a while, and at one point considers giving up on the series altogether.
2020
- Unknown - Akira Otani meets up with Hruyuki Ohashi of Acquire, and the studio is recruited as the developer of Brothership.
2024
- June 18 - Brothership is revealed on a Nintendo Direct, with the surprised reaction exceeding the developer's expectations.
- November 7 - The game is released worldwide.
Concept Art#
On December 4, 2024, Nintendo published Vol. 15 of their Ask The Developer series, with the focus being on Mario & Luigi: Brothership. Part 2 of the interview features several pieces of concept art.
Early concept art of Mario holding his hat and wearing a cape-like sweater, with both drawings having several damage marks. Acquire ended up detouring when trying to evolve the Mario & Luigi art style while making Brothership have its own unique flair, resulting in a timeframe where the game was edgier with a rugged Mario.
Another early concept continuing the idea of a rugged Mario, with this art of him reaching to an unknown light while holding Luigi's hand.
A comparison of the Mario & Luigi 3DS sprites by Alphadream (which Acquire used as a reference when making faces for the models), early versions of Mario and Luigi's models, and the models that are present in the final game. The red and green on the early models of the Bros particularly do not have the pink and blue gradient shading that the final models do (except for Luigi's "Surprised (Big)" expression).
Three early designs of Connie where she looks much more humanoid with more green analogous color schemes than her final plug-based appearance in the game. Concordia's motif of outlets and electrical plugs came into more focused once the developers realized having more humans close to Mario would make superfluous to the world.
Four early designs of Snoutlet, created to express more detailed information that the Bros' expressions alone couldn't, experimenting on various takes on the plug motif.
Other Early Ideas#
The game was once known as Mario & Luigi: Wonder. However, Acquire decided to change this once Super Mario Bros. Wonder was announced:
Otani: Actually, at the beginning, I wanted to add Wonder. Like “Mario & Luigi RPG Wonder”. But while we were making it, “Super Mario Bros. Wonder” came out first, so we couldn’t use it (laughs).
There were also going to be Luigi Logic segments for every enemy and boss in the game. However, due to the number of enemies in the game, the team decided this would be far too much work. So they decided to limit it to boss battles, and use it as a special setpiece instead.