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

Brothership adds more RPG depth to the series, but its flat writing and overabundance of gimmicks drag it down.

This structure allows for two fundamental truths that keep the combat in Brothership engaging for most of its runtime. Watching Mario and Luigi do stuff together is really charming, and putting quick-time events in turn-based battles makes the proceedings feel just a bit more exciting. Stats don’t dictate whether an attack lands, you do.

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.

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.

Players will have to activate four switches to reach the lighthouse on Raynforst in Mario and Luigi: Brothership - here's how.

Budding Wattanist, Connie, often speaks fondly of her missing mentor, Ms. Cozette, in Mario & Luigi: Brothership, but what made her disappear?