Some lucky buyers have been able to get their hands on copies of Mario & Luigi: Brothership early and it confirms a few details about the game that Nintendo hasn’t discussed. The biggest factoid is that Brothership marks another major Nintendo release that utilizes Unreal Engine. While this normally wouldn’t be a big deal, Nintendo likes to keep details of its game development a secret, but the usage of Unreal requires a logo to be plastered on the back of the box. It’s also not the first time Nintendo has dipped its toes in Unreal, with both Pikmin 4 and Princess Peach: Showtime! being two examples from 2024.
Mario & Luigi: Brothership made with Unreal Engine pic.twitter.com/e5kk2PIARY
— Nintendeal (@Nintendeal) October 21, 2024
Another interesting tidbit is that the developer of Brothership is reportedly Acquire, the studio behind both Octopath Traveler titles. This would have been confirmed in the game’s credits, and since Nintendo Wire isn’t looking to be immediately shut down by Nintendo ninjas, we won’t be showing any screencaps of that. With Brothership only a few days away, all of this information will become public knowledge in short order.
CONFIRMED: Mario & Luigi Brothership was co-developed by Acquire (Octopath Traveler, Tenchu, Way of the Samurai) pic.twitter.com/MNZvtqdcPE
— Nintendeal (@Nintendeal) October 21, 2024
I don’t personally believe that Nintendo using Unreal Engine points to some shift in the company’s design philosophy, but it is interesting how this American-made game engine has slowly infiltrated the Japanese games industry. It could also give credence to the rumors that the Switch 2 will be made to utilize all of the latest features of Unreal Engine 5, which includes ray-tracing, hardware lumens, and a bunch of other fancy terms that will mean nothing to average players. Only time will tell.
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Written by Peter Glagowski
Peter has been a freelance gaming and film critic for over seven years. His passion for Nintendo is only matched by the size of his collection.
