Unlocking the Power: Early Access to All Vitality Taps in Mario & Luigi: Brothership Through a Game-Changing Glitch

As the entirely new Mario & Luigi RPG in quite some time, and the leading home console installment in the series, Mario & Luigi: Brothership introduced a variety of innovative features. One such feature is Combat Plugs and Energy Taps, which you gain access to early in the game. These allow you to enhance your offense and defense during battles. You start with two Taps, but you’ll eventually acquire five.

It requires some time to acquire all five of these — but some players have discovered that there is a straightforward method to obtain every Energy Tap immediately. Initially found by Reddit user TheHeroShade on r/marioandluigi and further examined by CM30 at Gaming Reinvented, you can secure all five Energy Taps as soon as after defeating Merrygo Island.

Keep your health relatively low and interact with the tutorial NPC to trigger a tutorial on Combat Plugs. You’ll need to do this twice — once when he confirms he’s preparing a tutorial, and again when you actually complete it.

When the tutorial battle commences, all you need to do is misjudge your timed attacks so that you don’t eliminate the Seedles, allowing the enemies to defeat you. Then, select the Try Again option to restart the battle.

You should then enter the menu and navigate to the Setup Combat Plugs to verify that, indeed, you now possess five Energy Taps, enabling you to equip five Combat Plugs right from the outset. You can find a video demonstrating how to do all of this below.

You won’t lose these after facing the Lighthouse Bosses — which is when you’re expected to obtain the Taps — so effectively, you have unlocked many more options earlier in the game.

There’s always a chance that Nintendo will resolve this, as it appears to be a significant oversight, but for now, enjoy this very simple glitch and power through Brothership with a few additional options at your disposal.

What do you think of this glitch? Do you enjoy Combat Plugs in Brothership? Share your thoughts in the comments.