Nintendo refuses to confirm studio behind Mario & Luigi: Brothership but confirms “original devs” are involved

Mario & Luigi: Brothership surprised many fans after its reveal last week on Nintendo Direct. Nintendo, however, remains reticent about the studio developing the game and has not confirmed its involvement but revealed that some original developers were behind the game’s development.

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Nintendo revealed Mario & Luigi: Brothership during the June 2024 Nintendo Direct. The announcement surprised many fans, especially since Alphadream was closed in 2019. In a recent interview with Stephen Totilo, Nintendo remained silent when asked about who was responsible for developing the now-resurrected RPG series. However, they disclosed that some original devs were involved.

When asked about the game’s developers, the gaming company told Stephen Totilo,

“For more information about the developers, please stay tuned to the game credits at release.”

– Nintendo

Nintendo is secretive about Mario & Luigi: Brothership developer

UPDATE: Nintendo tells me that "some of the original developers who worked on the franchise are involved in the development of Mario & Luigi: Brothership."

I’d asked who was making the new game, given M&L studio Alphadream’s 2019 bankruptcyhttps://t.co/xWjus2AjeV pic.twitter.com/M24FjBTiTB

— Stephen Totilo (@stephentotilo) June 22, 2024

Nintendo launched Mario & Luigi: Brothership last week during the June 2024 Nintendo Direct. The resurrection of the beloved RPG series comes after Alphadeam declared bankruptcy in 2019, which led to its closure. 

Mario & Luigi: Brothership is the RPG’s latest entry after a long hiatus, launching late into Nintendo’s Switch life span. Following the game’s reveal in June 2024 on Nintendo Direct, the team confirmed that it will be heading to Switch on 7 November 2024. The game will be featured alongside other Switch exclusives such as The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario, and Metroid Prime 4: Beyond.

Given the profound reception of past Mario RPGs like Super Mario, fans expressed their optimism over Nintendo’s ability to revive the series. Brothership will be the first game post-AlphaDream’s bankruptcy to use a “new” developer.

Fans speculate about possible developers behind the game.

Mario & Luigi: Brothership is the latest entry in Nintendo’s action RPG series since Mario $ Luigi Paperjam in 2015. Nintendo did not reveal specifics about the game. However, it described Brothership as a “sea fairing adventure that unfolds across mysterious islands with the promise of evolved moves when the game finally arrives.”

According to Totilo, Nintendo has been secretive about game developers and voice actors over the past year. For instance, Nintendo was secretive about Super Mario’s RPG developer, ArtePiazza, which fans learned about at launch.

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Fans speculate that AlphaDream’s former staff are behind this development, as many of them were retained by Nintendo after the company’s collapse. Hiroyuki Kubota, AlphaDream’s former manager, joined Monolith Soft, a Nintendo-owned studio, while Yoshihiko Maekawa supervised the Super Mario RPG remake. Fans speculate that the studio behind the Brothership development is Monolith Soft or a Nintendo subsidiary.

Cryptopolitan reporting by Collins J. Okoth