Summary

  • We still don't know who's making Echoes of Wisdom or Brothership
  • Despite Nintendo's decades-long philosophy of creative encouragement, this new strategy goes against that
  • It robs devs of recognition and leaves fans feeling confused

There are plenty of business practices Nintendo does that major Western publishers should learn from. Thanks as much to Japanese labour laws as Nintendo's philosophy, mass layoffs like the sort that have plagued Western development over the past few years are exceedingly rare. Nintendo also places a higher priority on creativity and fresh ideas than cutting-edge graphics, meaning more artistic fulfilment for devs. And again, thanks to those labour laws, crunch is far less common (with accusations usually lobbied at Nintendo of America). But Nintendo could learn a thing or two from the West as well.

When we say 'Sony is making a new Astro Bot', what we mean is 'Team Asobi, the studio Sony owns, is making a new Astro Bot'. Likewise, the names Naughty Dog, Insomniac, and Sucker Punch are synonymous with The Last of Us, Marvel's Spider-Man, and Ghost of Tsushima (or for gamers of a certain age; Jak and Daxter, Ratchet & Clank, and Sly Cooper). After Summer Game Fest, we all said Xbox had a great line-up of games, but we knew that meant The Initiative, MachineGames, and Obsidian have great games coming out.

Why Won't Nintendo Say Who Is Developing Mario & Luigi: Brothership

When we say 'Nintendo is making a new Mario & Luigi', what we mean is 'we don't know who's making a new Mario & Luigi'. As was the case with Princess Peach Showtime, we won't learn who the developer of Brothership actually is until we roll credits on it. Traditionally, AlphaDream made the Mario & Luigi games, but that studio closed four years ago. It's replacement? No idea!

Nintendo has said that some of the previous team are involved, but how many is ‘some’, how involved are they, and is this a new studio set up specifically as a successor to AlphaDream, or is it an established studio that just hired one or two devs from AlphaDream? It's a strange level of secrecy that goes beyond keeping your cards close to your chest and instead relies on misdirecting your fans. It's not lying, but refusing to reveal who makes your games feels a little dishonest. Maybe it's to keep the mystique that Nintendo is really one big team, not a selection of acquired studios like with Sony and Xbox.

It's to paint this image that Nintendo's HQ is one big room where someone is making Mario on one computer, and next to them someone is making Zelda, and next to them someone is making Pokemon. Maybe someone is even making Kid Icarus in there! It's a big room! It's a dream factory! Maybe they'll make your dreams come true next!

Nintendo's Developer Practices Sets A Dangerous Precedent

This practice doesn't exactly rob the team of credit, since the company and all of its staff will literally be in the credits, but it feels like a deliberate attempt to obscure the devs behind the game so that credit falls singularly to the great mighty Nintendo. As far as the general public is concerned, Nintendo is making Mario & Luigi, Super Mario Party Jamboree, and The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, and Metroid Prime 4: Beyond. It doesn't matter that some of these devs are known, and some are still a secret. They're Nintendo games, baby. That's all they need to know.

But for the hardcore, and Nintendo owes a lot of its success to the die-hards of gaming, not knowing the studio only ushers in a small grey cloud over the bright and sunny Direct. The general public don't care either way that Grezzo is almost certainly developing Echoes of Wisdom, and I say 'almost' because that isn't confirmed either. It just looks so much like Link's Awakening that it surely must be Grezzo. If this was known for a fact, most people still wouldn't care and those who did would be excited. Nintendo doesn't have any studios that feel like albatrosses, so why hide it?

It's also curiously out of step with the rest of Nintendo's attitude to developers. Thanks to pushing creativity and more healthy development cycles, many of Nintendo's legends have stuck around and are still deified to this day. We don't know Grezzo is on Echoes of Wisdom, but Nintendo made sure we knew Eiji Aonuma, who has been with Nintendo since 1991 and Zelda since 1998, is producing. Nintendo puts a lot of stock in individual names and generally has done well at promoting from within to ensure people who know the culture are able to uphold it. But doing its best to hide who is actually making its games feels like a backwards step.

It's a step we let Nintendo get away with sometimes because, well, that's Nintendo for ya. It announced the Switch 2 in an understated tweet that simultaneously announced the June Direct. The sequel to The Super Mario Bros. Movie and the existence of the live-action Zelda movie were also both revealed via tweets. It sits on games for ages with little rhyme or reason; Fire Emblem Engage was ready months before it launched, only to arrive in the January dead zone. It does odd things, and hiding the devs of its game is just another kooky Nintendo quirk. But this seems a lot less harmless, and Nintendo needs to nip this trend in the bud and tell us who is making Brothership, and the rest of its games.

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Mario & Luigi: Brothership

RPG Adventure 4.5/5 6.0/10 Released November 7, 2024 ESRB E For Everyone Due To Mild Fantasy Violence Developer(s) Acquire Publisher(s) Nintendo Prequel(s) Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions, Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, Mario & Luigi: Partners In Time Franchise Mario & Luigi Number of Players 1
Where to play Close

WHERE TO PLAY

DIGITAL

All hands on deck for an island-hopping adventure starring Mario and Luigi

The brothers return for a brand-new adventure on the high seas! Set sail with Mario and Luigi on Shipshape Island (part ship, part island) and journey through the vast world of Concordia. Launch out of Shipshape’s cannon to visit, explore, and quest your way through islands that range from tropical rainforests to bustling cities. Meet new friends along the way, like Connie and Snoutlet (definitely not a pig), and encounter familiar faces from the Mushroom Kingdom like Peach and Bowser, who may help—or hinder—you on your journey!

You’ll have to rely on Mario and Luigi’s brotherly bond to succeed. Use Bros. Moves to get past obstacles while you explore, and powerful Bros. Attacks in a dynamic twist on turn-based combat. You’ll need every edge this “brothership” will give you to save the day!

Platform(s) Nintendo Switch Powered by Expand Collapse