Mario & Luigi: Brothership Guide - How to crack the three secret codes

The cute RPG Mario & Luigi: Brothership follows the rules of the genre almost to the letter, though at times it adds a bit of personality to things like character stats. At other times, it veers more towards what could be defined as a graphic adventure. This is the case of Lottacoins Island (the one with the office buildings) or Bulbfish Island (the one holding the mystery of the fish eggs), where apart from facing enemies and leveling up you have to do research work.

In this guide we focus on Lottacoins Island, because there are up to three secret codes to crack. If you get stuck in the offices, don't wait for the green-hatted little brother to come up with one of his brilliant Luigi Logic ideas to fix your problem - read our step-by-step tips instead. At this point in the adventure you've decided whether to send Luigi or Princess Peach as infiltrators (by willingly getting kidnapped) to find the whereabouts of the kidnapped citizens.

The code for the lift on Lottacoins Island

The first quest is essential to progress. You need to enter a code to unlock the elevator that allows you to explore the rest of the building and find the captured citizens. The clues you find along the way are fairly simple compared to later code puzzles, but here goes.

1. "Second from left: 3. All the way to the right: 7". This message has been recorded by Zokket's minions on the screen in the office on the right, up the stairs. You already have half the password as follows: X 3 X 7


2. First digit: You are given a pencil sketch at the reception desk as a clue. Like a hieroglyphic, what you have to interpret is that you have to count how many tables with a plant on top in the lobby: 5 in total.


3. Third figure: Similarly, but now you have to add up how many pencil pots and cupboard doors with knobs there are in the office of clue 1.

Have you got it? Yes, the code to unlock the lift is 5487.

Code to unlock the prison

The second code is more complicated and is used to open the prison, and even if you go running to enter 6491 because you have seen it written on the columns of the corridor that connects the two buildings, we already can tell you that it is not that one. Let's go step by step:

1. For the first number, the hieroglyph indicates that you have to count how many triangles the two cameras facing each other in the cell room where you have to enter the code see. If you get close to the screens of the surveillance cameras in this building, you can see what they see. In this case, 6 triangles.


2. The second figure is the result of the operation between the two palm trees in the corridor on the left. Less than 6, greater than 4, it can only be 5.


3. The third figure, it indeed has to do with the outer corridor and the notes in the columns, but you have to do an operation. 6+4-9+1=2


4. Finally, the fourth digit asks you to write down what the office camera sees. From their POV, in the bottom position there is a 9.

With all this, you can infer that the code to open the prison is 6529. You are about to unlock the Bros. Ball!

What is the alternative code?

Further on, near the preparations for a certain wedding, you will see another quest appear in the office island : The alternate code. It turns out that there is a second possible combination for the lift password, and that this alternative code will give you access to a treasure. Tempting, isn't it? The guy who gives you the mission asks you to investigate on the tables as soon as you enter the building on the left hand side, opposite the reception desk. This will give you the following premises:

1. The code consists of four digits. Two of them are less than 5.


2. The first one is 3 and the others are incrementing to the right.


3. There are four digits in total and all together they add up to 23.

You've already figured it out in your head: indeed, the code that meets all three conditions can only be 3479. As a reward you will get 2x extra life mushroom and 2x super syrup.