Nintendo is known to workshop all sorts of ideas and game titles, and this was the same case with Mario & Luigi: Brothership.
In the third chapter of the latest 'Ask the Developer' series, the development team revealed how Nintendo and Aquire had brainstormed "over 100 options" for the game's title. And if you couldn't already work it out, it incorporates the theme of brotherhood and references ShipShape Island.
Here's what associate producer Tomoki Fukushima had to say about this:
"The subtitle for this game is "Brothership". We decided on this after brainstorming over 100 options with Acquire...it fits the game's theme perfectly. It refers to their bond of brotherhood, but incorporates the word "ship" from Shipshape Island, which connects the various islands."
The same chapter also reveals how "until now" the Japanese and English titles for the Mario & Luigi series have always had different names.
Fukushima further noted how the name for the latest Switch adventure was apparently received well by Nintendo's colleagues in North America and Europe because it sounded like a play on the word "mothership":
"It was also well received by our North American and European colleagues because, in English, it also sounds like a play on the word "mothership". It's fair to say that your base, Shipshape Island, is a mothership."
Although there were supposedly more than 100 options at one stage, unfortunately, Nintendo didn't reveal any of them.
What are your thoughts about the title of this Mario & Luigi game? Do you think it's a good fit? Let us know in the comments.
[source nintendo.com]
Comments 26
Amazing that this game is about the bonds of brotherhood, but all the games before it do a much better job at portraying that.
Should have went for the original title during development - Mario and Luigi: Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Unbridled Libido
Honestly, it was a perfect name. The subtitles of Mario & Luigi games are always perfect--unless you're European, where they stupidly started throwing the word "Bros." at the end. Paper Jam is a great name. Dream Team is a great name. Bowser's Inside Story, Partners in Time--all great names.
Superstar Saga is probably the weakest name, but despite being arguably the best game in the series, Superstar Saga has the least specific theming.The plot isn't about aliens or time travel or dream hopping, which are easy themes to convey; it's a weird li'l game about weird li'l bean people whose villages are named after laughter, so how are you supposed to market that on the box? "Mario & Luigi: Two Beans in a Pod?"
I don't know when/if we'll ever get another Mario & Luigi game after this, but you can count on it having an absolute banger of a title. My bet: a game where animatronics take over the world called "Mario & Luigi: Bro Botics."
@Not_Soos I want a game called Mario & Luigi: Wario & Waluigi, one can dream... 😵💫
Honestly I think it just sounds kind of awkward.
I love it, a title about the power of bonds, working together, love, family.
If this was the best choice, there must have been some stinkers between the other 99.
I like the name very much!
Brother ship is good. It’s clever, makes sense for the duo, makes sense for the game, and it’s punny. Even is a play on mothership which again makes sense.
Imo it ticks all the boxes.
@VoidofLight yeah well they ain’t got a boat in them like this one bro 😂
Should've gone down the Sega route and called it Mario x Luigi: Brothership.
@PokemonDMG On that theme, I think it would be cool if Nintendo switched up these series in that way. Paper Luigi, Wario and Waluigi, Yoshi Microgames etc.
I don't like it, but it's fine enough not to bother me.
Band of Brothers
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
The Blues Brothers
Brother Down
Brothership…
it hold’s it’s own.. it’s comfortably in the pantheon sure
I'd also say that it fits the game's theme perfectly and is also a pun - wordplay has always been so common in Japanese entertainment (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_wordplay) and Mario games, the Super Mario-kun manga etc. are definitely no exception!
It works. Can’t really say much else really
Mario & Luigi: Stop, or my Brother Will Shoot
@chapuH "This exists."
-The Internet, probably
Perfect name if only shipshape was called the brother ship
Mario and Luigi Shipmanship lol
FullMario ALuigist Brotherhood seems like a missed opportunity
I think it’s a great title. I was confused a bit at the beginning and kept calling it something else like “ Brotherhood” but Brothership is great.👍
Brothership just sounds weird, but I get how it's emphasizing Brothers on a ship. Brotherhood would be the proper word but it wouldn't sell the theme of the game very well.
@PokemonDMG Yeah, I know a lot of people have thrown out the idea for a Wario & Waluigi game. I wouldn't be opposed, but I think it's worth noting that Nintendo almost always gives the playable characters in their games a silent role. Luigi talks in Paper Mario because he's just an NPC, but he doesn't get any lines of dialogue in Mario & Luigi games, for example. So in all likelihood, it would be a game where Wario and Waluigi don't talk, which I think would somewhat limit the humor. That's not to say it couldn't still work though, but I'm skeptical. Just let my boys talk, Nintendo!
Name is better than the game
Brotherhood was probably the word they were looking for and would make sense as it "covers" their relation whereas brothership would imply they're not really Brothers, but are actually "Bros" (which might explain the constant abbreviations) "creating (as in moving)" their relation closer to being Brothers. Which makes no sense seeing as if I remember correctly its been officially announced they are Fraternal Twins. Sssooo mmaayybee they mean Brother's(Hip) like Brothers attached at the Hip 😆
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