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.
