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Here’s who made Mario & Luigi: Brothership & where its creators went

mario luigi brothership gameplay funny

Mario & Luigi: Brothership is the highly anticipated next title in the Mario & Luigi series, with many Nintendo fans wondering who was developing the game and how it would compare to older titles. Hardcore fans might also wonder what happened to longtime stewards of the series, AlphaDream.

Coming out on November 7 after plenty of leaks and reports, Mario & Luigi: Brothership will revive the spiritual successor series to Super Mario RPG. It’s a new day for the series, and not just because of the long wait since Bowser’s Inside Story. Acquire has developed Mario & Luigi: Brothership following various rumors.

Who developed Mario & Luigi: Brothership?

Mario & Luigi: Brothership is developed by Acquire.

Intellectual property details regarding Mario & Luigi: Brothership show that Acquire is the studio behind the game. Acquire is a Japanese studio founded in 1994. Its first and arguably most notable title was Tenchu: Stealth Assassins for the PlayStation. More, recently Acquire co-developed Octopath Traveler and Octopath Traveler 2 with Square Enix.

Acquire was, well, acquired by FromSoftware parent company Kadokawa Corporation in 2024. The veteran studio has worked on titles for basically every major modern gaming platform.

A lot of players have expressed excitement about Acquire’s involvement due to the Octopath games, giving hope that Mario & Luigi will have similar attention to detail and fun RPG features. But what happened to the longtime handlers of the Mario & Luigi series?

Mario And Luigi Gameplay Jpg

What happened to AlphaDream?

AlphaDream declared bankruptcy in 2019 before the release of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.

Nintendo fans were initially disappointed to learn that AlphaDream was not involved with the development of Mario & Luigi: Brothership. The studio has been behind many others in the series, including Superstar Saga, Bowser’s Inside Story, and Dream Team. Would the game remain consistent in style and story without AlphaDream? Why weren’t they involved?

Unfortunately, the popular Japanese studio declared bankruptcy in 2019. AlphaDream cited issues with high costs and low revenues in its recent efforts. The company reported having more than $4 million in debt prior to closing.

Without AlphaDream around, fans wondered what might happen to the series. Some speculated that Brothership would be developed by ILCA, the studio behind Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. With some of AlphaDream’s employees jumping ship to ILCA when the studio shut down made it seem like ILCA was a good candidate for taking on Mario & Luigi. Instead, ILCA began working more closely with both The Pokemon Company and Bandai Namco Entertainment.

It’s unclear why Nintendo hasn’t officially shared the developers, composers, and more behind Mario & Luigi: Brothership. Unfortunately, that’s par for the course with the company.

Written by Olivia Richman X Twitter Logo

Olivia is a long-time esports and gaming journalist who has covered everything from EVO and Pokemon TCG tournaments to Amouranth's escapades. She has contributed major esports publications including Dot Esports, Upcomer, Inven Global, and more. You can find her doing Yoshi's down air in Smash Bros, freezing enemies as Mei in Overwatch 2, and running around with a cat on her shoulder in The Finals.

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