As we’ve covered many times before, Mario & Luigi Brothership did numerous things to try and revitalize the former handheld RPG series, including giving it 3D graphics for the first time. As I noted in my review, that worked, and the game absolutely stands apart from the Super Mario RPG title that spawned everything and the Paper Mario franchise that fans continue to adore. However, internally, Nintendo really wanted to ensure that the 3D graphics and the move to consoles was a big enough one for fans to notice.
In an interview with Famitsu, longtime Mario & Luigi producer Akira Otani revealed the internal conversations that went behind some of the key changes for the new game:
“Compared to the other Mario games, it is difficult for the Mario & Luigi series’ boxart and other artwork to match the in-game graphics, so we think there is a problem with the series still having low recognition from customers. We moved to the Nintendo Switch at this time, and in order to attract the attention of new players, we began development with trying to present everything in 3D.”
Things naturally evolved from there, and while we don’t have sales figures yet for Mario & Luigi Brothership, if things hold as they did for the last two RPGs that dropped on Switch, it should be doing just fine.
