We Know Who's Making Mario & Luigi: Brothership 

thanks for watching 🙇‍♂️ also apologizes for the low video quality at times, will be fixed in the future

4:36 this is the most important thing to me. For all I care, the actual company making it doesn’t really matter as long as it’s the same people.

you are so real for mentioning the crunch in bdsp instead of just jumping on ilca

Regardless of who, I hope they add the bros exclaiming “Nintendo!” in the startup screen

Lizardy is the hero of the Mario and Luigi community

I find it hilarious that people were saying things like “Why don’t Nintendo share who’s making games? It doesn’t make a difference come on” And then rumors come out that It’s ILCA and all of a sudden it’s “Okay nope, not buying that game until I hear the reviews” 😅😅

...5 years since the bankrupcy of AlphaDream. FIVE YEARS?!

I’m so glad some of the original devs are working on this game meaning it will be a true Mario and Luigi game

Luxin did a great video about this, but basically the 1 employee that went to Monolith Soft is the main writer and director for Mario & Luigi series from 1-4. I definitely see Monolith at least helping with Brothership.

lizardy beeing the best investigator is an understatement

Honestly my number one hope for brothership is for Captain Goomba to finally get to fight Mario. A boss fight where you fight all 4 captains from Bowser’s minions at the same time similar to the elite trio fight from dream team would be really cool and a great conclusion to the story of the captains

I mean... Brothership looks amazing, I don't care who's creating it, I just want a game that's good

ILCA also helped to make Dragon Quest XI and Nier Automata

I like how mentioned all the right reasons what BDSP was the way it was. Not many know of that, and while I don't like what they did for it, it's still important to see the context. I truly believe that Brothership is and will be ILCA's way of showing that they make games and BDSP was only how it was due to external reasons.

While I’ll admit the concept of a Mario & Luigi game developed by the BDSP devs and helmed by Paper Jam and the Remakes’ director doesn’t personally inspire confidence, I think it’s going to work out better in practice than in theory. ILCA got shafted by TPC’s deadlines, and Kobayashi got chained up by Alphadream’s money troubles and Sticker Star-era IP restrictions. Judging from the trailer, the game actually seems fairly polished (meaning no crunch) and experimental (meaning no financial/IP restrictions). They’ve also got other strengths which might play well with each other, like ILCA being good with presentation and capturing the spirit of a series (when not crunched), and Kobiyashi actually being pretty good with gameplay (which was Paper Jam’s main strength). The only thing I’m uncertain of is the story, but I’ll take your word that his work on Bowser Jr.’s Journey was good.

Honestly the Elite 4 and Champion battles in BDSP being so well thought out (fully EV trained, held items and competitive movesets) shows that the game wasn’t just a soulless remake but that the game had real potential and that the devs knew what they were doing, they were just rushed

Honestly I agree ILCA is working on it because it lines up and at the same time I think the director of BIS and DT at MonolithSoft might be directing it

ILCA being a CG team is so perfect since Mario and Luigi has always had such a specific style, and Brothership captures it perfectly

Thank god we saw the teaser before they announced it was ILCA, or else ye internet would have shat out of fear 😮‍💨

I definitely agree with Ilca being the developers. All the other devs are either likely working on other games or have released a game recently, plus the amount of AlphaDream employees who moved to Ilca, and they confirmed the original devs would be part of it. And yeah, people don’t need to worry about the game becoming another BDSP when that was more from TPC rushing Ilca to release the game and cut corners because of their lack of care. Nintendo cares about polish and I wouldn’t even be surprised if Ilca got the Mario Wonder treatment, where there was no deadline for them to finish Brothership

In all honesty, people often pin the blame on the developers of Game Freak and ILCA for the poor state of Pokemon games when it’s really the Pokemon Company’s fault for giving them barely any time and resources. With the next Pokemon game being pushed to 2025, I hope they learned their lesson

great stuff here - i really appreciate how you highlight that just because a studio may have made one game that didn’t turn out great, fans shouldn’t write off that studio’s abilities to make a good game in the future because lots of factors could play into a game not turning out great outside of simple talent (like you mentioned, BDSP had insane crunch and the creative vision was likely hampered a LOT because of it). video games aren’t made by companies, they’re made by creative people that work at companies, and sometimes those companies have external factors or internal pressures or restrictions that affect a game’s development cycle.

Its sad that some people are only seeing this game as another Mario RPG game on switch, when it is something much more than that

i wouldn't be so quick to write off camelot. they've been saying for a while now that they'd love to work on rpgs again.

I always found it dumb how people thought the Mario & Luigi series was dead just because of AlphaDream going bankrupt when they clearly don’t own the Mario IP.

Tbh im glad we know about the REAL REASON as to why Alphadream went bankrupt. Ive seen many people make some really dumb assumptions. For example, Demeech(no hate to him,hes a good youtuber),said that the reason the bowser inside story remake sold poorly was because of New super mario bros U deluxe, wich is a REALLY dumb reason ,in my opinion, since, even before we knew it, Alphadream literally stabbed themselves in the foot, and it wasnt some super big conspiracy that they got bankrupt because of another mario game. 4:56

Just a small correction but EPD isnt a studio per se, its Nintendo itself in its own inernal division after the merger of EAD and SPD, and EPD2 and EPD6 are less of development teams or support teams but instead overseer and producer teams involved in every game not developed by Nintendo EPD with producers, directors, coordinators and so on involved in games developed by nintendo subsidiaries or nintendo contractors. Otherwise, great video as usual, its nice seeing nintendo youtubers going in depth into nintendo staff and teams, something unfortunately not common even though the information is easily found out there

I always knew this series was never dead, I just knew one day it would come back. It just took a while, I cried when I saw the trailer, after 9 years we are finally back. And you were one of the few people who really showed that the series was never dead.

I’m surprised you didn’t mention square enix (worked on Mario RPG) and Arzest (Worked on M&LBIS remake’s giant battles)

Hey bro your a true fan of this series you stood by your word and it ended up happening.

I really don't even care about Pokemon lol, so seeing that ILCA made Sand Land and One Piece Odyssey and most of the Alpha Dream staff is in it already gives me huge hopes that the franchise is in very good hands.

Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (2003) Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time (2005) Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story (2009) Mario & Luigi: Dream Team (2013) Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam (2015) Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions (2017) Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey (2018) Mario & Luigi: Brothership (2024)

Bro the FBI needs you

When it comes out, i'm gonna buy it immediately I needed this❤️😭😭😭

Even if ILCA is working on Brothership I have a lot more faith knowing that a lot of former staff from Alphadream are coming back to work on the game. Even just based off what we’ve seen so far, it looks like the game is in more than capable hands

5:28 Link’s Awakening on Switch wasn’t a “remaster,” it’s a remake. That’s like saying Disney’s 2019 Lion King is a “remaster” of the 1994 version.

I hope that, if we get a Partners In Time remake, it will be in this new style! It needs a remake the most cuz of it being the black sheep of the series.

What I need: 1. Bros dancing 2. Goated soundtrack 3. Amazing characters and great humor 4. CONTINUITY!!

Incredible research here, congratulations on your work. I'd also like to posit some other arguments in favor of ILCA, namely by eliminating another prominent name (NLG) and clarifying one detail in the video. When people brought up "missing devs from LM3 in the Battle League credits" what they meant was the design team. I'd need to look at the list to jog my memory, but as I recall, Director Bryce Holliday alongside other key LM3 designers had some sort of "design special thanks" role for Battle League. As it stands though, most of their art and engineering teams did work on the project, seemingly for some unspecified period of time per individual employee. This style of management is nothing new for AA-sized game companies: Design comes first in the game production pipeline. They write specs that go to engineering and then interface with art and animation to complete the requests. Since they define such major aspects of the project, Design at a company always has multiple prototypes and art tests with lead/senior artists in an exploration phase in order to define the direction and get their goals and scope set for projects in the future, while the rest of the company works on the current project. This is a norm adopted at companies with sub-100 headcounts like Grezzo or NLG. So the disparity you saw in those credits is nothing new, and hypothetically, they could be making one. That being said though, I personally reject the suggestion it's their project. The M&L staff are working on this game, and to me, there's a likely chance Maekawa and the M&L producers Akira Otani and Toshiharu Izuno have a hand in this. The reason why that's important is that working with foreign companies as a japanese developer is easier said then done: timezone differences, language barriers, industry standards being different-- and over on the management side, canadians are more expensive to pay than the japanese. I could go on about how Brothership's cutscenes don't use cameras the same way as NLG's games do, or that the way the cel-shaded characters are lit and rigged don't match up with other NLG games, but I think I'd rather emphasize that doing a major foreign production with developers who have been working exclusively in Japan for nearly 30 years now doesn't seem particularly likely.

All I hope is that the new developers do the system and style of Mario & Luigi right.

I really love the research and amount of time put into your work. It feels like you actually go the extra mile and do extensive research for something that doesn't even require it.

Ilca had a hand in metal gear rising btw, check the credits, they also have had so much work on better games, pokemon crunch can make any dev look bad…

The thing I’m hoping for the most in Brothership is the return of the Elite Captain Quartet in perhaps a new DLC side quest. The Captains already had a grand story in Minion Quest (which is sadly overlooked by the gameplay more often than not) and their support for Junior in Jr.’s Journey, so having all this character building being put it into action would be perfect as like a second chance for the Captains in Brothership. For my idea for the story (which would use some tweaks), the story could follow the Captains being sent to scout out the new world for Bowser while encountering many foes along the way with the Elite Trio popping in from time to time. The battle system wouldn’t be like Minion Quest and Jr.’s Journey, instead the four Captains would be assigned to one button each (A for Goomba, B for Shy Guy, Y for Boo, and X for Koopa Troopa) allowing for more attack combinations. I could go on for a while about my ideas for this new side mode, but I don’t wanna make this comment go for too long.

I want to correct on something Luxin. Miitopia is a remaster while Link's Awakening is a remake.

The BDSP games controversy was always so dumb to me. When I first saw its announcement, I went “they’re probably handing it to another developer so Game Freak will have more time to make everything else on their plate, namely Legends Arceus and SV”, and then when they came out, I went “But even with a new development team sharing the burden, that doesn’t fix the underlying issue that they don’t have enough time to let their games cook.” So people blaming the studio always looked so dumb to me.

It’s genuinely crazy how they pulled this off; I didn’t expect them to do this but it’s good to be back

I’ll just say this. Unless ILCA is filled with people who just don’t care, I don’t think they’d want to screw up a Mario & Luigi game. Cautious Optimism here.

The music is a touch to loud, but that might just be me

As a StarFox fan I get wanting to know who is developing the game.

Thank you for giving me hope again from your video about 2 months ago...

I feel like M&L is in good hands with ILCA. Devs from Alphadream returning is already giving me hope, and Miyamoto is most likely going to be either a producer or supervisor like he has been for every previous M&L game.

I feel bad for ILCA, they genuenly wanted to make good remakes of Pokemon Diamond & Pearl, yet Gamefreak fucked them up just like with everything else they touch. And now they're known as the people that made BDSP This could honestly the way for them to redeem themselves

I had given up 2 months before this trailer im so glad i was wrong

Honestly I'm sure the game will be fine regardless of who's working on it. I'm a bit more concerned that it seems like Shimomura-san isn't returning😔

Cant believe they twinkified the Smithy Gang

Did not expect someone to mention Ace Combat in a Mario & Luigi video

maybe the real alpha was the dreams we had along the way

Bro can out-sherlock sherlock holmes himself

LIZARDY VIDEO?!?!?! I scrummed so loud I scared my pet fly

"perhaps I have treated you too harshly"

I blame Nintendo and Game Freak for the Diamond and Pearl remakes, not the Devs. So this is fine for me.

Grezzo could considering ever oasis

my soul is at ease

I know this sidetracks a bit from the point of the video, but I’m so glad people are finally starting to realize The Pokémon Company is the true villain here, not Gamefreak or ILCA. With Legends ZA being a 2025 title and the creation of ILCA’s Pokémon Works division, I’m hoping some good change is finally coming about.

Am i crazy or do I think the new villains kinda feel like the smithy gang from super Mario RPG, also fighting bowser as the final boss became really tiring at this point.

If popple ain't returning i ain't buying

IM SO EXCITED FOR BROTHERSHIP

Fantastic Research in this vid!

We shall not fumble this again, we don't deserve to lose again M&L. Everyone Pre-order Brothership 🙏🙏

If Mercury Steam and EPD 7 aren’t working on Metroid 6 (or that Fusion Remake MS has wanted to do forever) I’ll eat my Switch.

for anyone interested, in japanese, ILCA is said like iruka, which means dolphin :) apparently ILCA stands for I Love Computer Art (from the japanese wikipedia page) japan loves their name puns

I’m fine if Ilca makes the game. I never personally played any of their games before but if you’re saying that a large portion of the Alphadream staff moved there and the game is already looking as good as it does I have faith they’ll deliver. The thing that worries me is that they only had a year and half to work on those Pokémon remakes and I’m really hoping that isn’t the case with Brothership because if the game has really low development time and turns out to be very mediocre and disappointing it could mean the end of the series for good. But based on the art direction, animations, and sound effects from the trailer I’m confident this game is in good hands of people who understand the series and know what they’re doing.

I was sad when Alpha dream went out of business

The only reason I’m here, is because I saw Tony Tony chopper in the thumbnail

Despite being so dissapointed by BDSP, I've always have faith in ILCA, I'm also a massive Ace Combat fan, and if my memory doesn't fail me, they did a lot of the legwork for AC7's DLC campaign, which is certified kino.

Having the remake of one of the most iconic pokemon games being your side project is such a power move

Even if brothership is lackluster, im still glad we got a switch m&l game

This does seem like a better job for ILCA. The Pokémon time crunch and likely staged unpolished game in order to promote Legends Arceus was not exactly ideal. But hey, Alphadream people reside there, which means that the important part of Alphadream returned.

I've learned so much about Nintendo's dev teams from this video. Ultimately I don't care what studio it is labelled as, since I know OG Alphadream devs have a hand in making it. But it would be nice if it is ILCA and this improves their reputation in the eyes of people who hate on them for BDSP

I’m willing to give up my ILCA bias for a new Mario Luigi game if they know what they’re doing. Hopefully the criticism from BDSP will make them not make the same mistake

Your reaction was an understatement

Please Nintendo, don't screw this up.

I just want Yoko Shimomura on the OST and i fear its not happening

Sand Land is my favorite game of the year so far, so if ILCA is involved with this I'll be more than happy.

I do not know the majority of the companies mentioned here.

I'm so glad you bring up the BDSP situation in this. I've been saying for a while now that ILCA might've been the ones responsible for making the game, but ultimately Pokémon Company was the one breathing down their necks the whole time & trying to get them to pump it out by a certain date. Yet everyone I've seen online that talks about it just decides to pin most if not all the blame on the former.

I watched your videos shortly before they announced Mario & Luigi: Brothership and I, too, didn't believe that just because AlphaDream died, that Mario & Luigi had to die, too. When any video game company loses a developer team due to bankruptcy or just that they don't want to make the games anymore, doesn't mean a video game series is dead. Nintendo lost Rareware to Microsoft, but they still own Donkey Kong. Naughty Dog stopped making Crash Bandicoot games, but then Activision took over. Square Enix didn't develop the Super Mario RPG remaster. It was ArtePiazza. ILCA could potentially be the the developers, but what about Arzest? They co-developed Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey. They could have taken over full development of the game. Whoever, the developers are, they have very big shoes to fill and they actually seem to have be doing a tremendous job! We only have seen the reveal trailer, but that's enough to give us Mario & Luigi series fans lots of excitement for the game! I myself, am super stoked for this game! I find the graphics to be a little strange, but they will grow on me. I have a history of playing games with strange graphics. I love the colourfulness of the graphics, though. I think Peach and Bowser will be assisting the Mario Bros. via a special meter like Super Mario RPG. You fill up your special meter and once it's full, you call on Peach or Bowser. It's also possible that the Mario Bros. will team up with Wario and Waluigi in this game and Wario will be assigned to the X button and Waluigi will be assigned to the Y button like Baby Mario was assigned to the X Button and Baby Luigi was assigned to the Y button. I'm not going to get my hopes up for Wario and Waluigi being in this game as playable characters, but it would be pretty cool if they were. It's been a dream of mine since Mario & Luigi: Partners In Time. That's the only game we've had 4 playable characters. If they do add Wario and Waluigi, we can have Triple Attacks and Quadruple attacks! That would be so cool! Thank you for holding onto hopes for a Mario & Luigi revival, Lizardy! Honestly, there were rumours floating around after Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario: TTYD remasters were made, that we could see a revival for Mario & Luigi and now it's a reality! Anyway, I've preordered Mario & Luigi: Brothership! So, now I just have to wait until it releases.

4chan is 2chan for international use that's why it's called 4chan 2 more

2:58 10:26 I don't think this is right, Shunsuke Kobayashi is *not* at ILCA. He's doing QA work at Pole To Win, Inc. That's his most recent credit as of 2024 (for Sand Land). Or do you have another source suggesting otherwise?

I liked BDSP, so I see no problem.

Hold on, you're telling me that when GF isn't sabotagi- I mean, being involved with a project, ILCA is capable of making actually good looking titles? Holy shit what a twist in the plot, I am so surprised and in disbelief that gamefreak/TPC was the ultimate problem after all, who could have seen this coming. Seriously they deserve a redemption arc, give them an actual development cycle and creative freedom to make a good pokemon game, cause lord knows everybody that wasn't on legends arceus' B team is incapable of doing that.

if the thumbnail is true and it is ILCA I'm not worried. they were gonna cook for bdsp before the pokemon company said "no make these exactly like the originals with no changes"

that's nice to hear! if it really is ilca and some returning devs from the original alphadream team, i just hope they do their best and aren't under the pressure of crunch. in this sense, nintendo hiding the devs before release is a pretty good idea; the kneejerk reaction the community would have could possibly be devastating, ha ha.

its me. im making it

ill always stand by this that for their first major game ever (and the timecrunch) bdsp was great. it fixed all my issues with dppt and honestly is my go to sinnoh game, even if it isnt as ideal as hgss and oras they did great for what they had so honestly i love that ILCA is getting to practice more and make more! the fact we have a company that took in a lot of alphadream employees now working on more nintendo projects is awesome, and i would love to see them work more on nintendo projects!

I adore BDSP even though it's not a masterpiece. I'm excited ICLA is working with the Mario and Luigi games. 😊 I'm sure they'll do a much better job this time and improve their reputation.

Bdsp looked like it was going to be rough just from the trailers, while brothership seems more polished from the getgo. That alone feels like a good sign for this game. Though something feels just a bit off about the presentation, but not enough to worry me. Also sand land and One piece Odyssey are very stylized, just like brothership. It tracks.

If it does turn out to be ILCA then i hope they take their time with this entry, its probably the most important one rn after years of nothing

we're all waitin for that reaction!i know i have.

Isn't sandland the thing akira toriama worked on when he died