By Jon Scarr
Nintendo has secured Japanese Patent 7914687 for a game system that closely mirrors Shipshape Island’s drifting system in Mario & Luigi: Brothership. Published as a granted B2 patent on September 2, 2026, it covers an automatically moving base in a larger world, with destinations becoming accessible as their positions line up.
The resemblance gets unusually specific. The patent’s detailed example uses a base island, drifting islands and ocean-current routes. It even describes travelling from the base to an encountered island through a cannon-like system. Three of the patent’s four inventors appear in Nintendo’s official Brothership developer interview, while the fourth, Takafumi Ogihara, is credited as the game’s Lead Programmer.
This isn’t a newly revealed Nintendo gameplay concept. The Japanese application was published in January 2025, while its U.S. counterpart appeared eight days earlier. What’s new on September 2 is the publication of Nintendo’s granted Japanese patent.
Yesterday, we also examined a separate Nintendo patent grant that closely matches The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom and its Echo system.
A Drifting World Moves in the Background
At its simplest, the system separates where you’re actively controlling a character from a larger world map that keeps changing.
The character starts on a base island in one virtual space. On the broader map, a corresponding base-island object travels along ocean currents while other drifting-island objects move around it. That movement can continue with the passage of time even while you’re controlling the character back on the base.
The base follows predetermined routes rather than being freely steered everywhere. Multiple routes can be available, and the system allows movement from one route to another. Some routes circle back to earlier areas, which means the base and drifting islands can eventually pass through the same locations again.
Movement speed can change under certain conditions too, affecting how long it takes before another encounter becomes possible.
Position Determines Which Islands You Can Reach
That movement is what connects the world map to what you can actually reach.
When the base island and a drifting island get close enough on the larger map, an object representing that destination can appear in the local environment. That opens the opportunity to trigger an event tied to the island.
Once a nearby island is available, the character can move to a cannon-like aiming area, aim toward the island and travel to its corresponding stage.
Different drifting islands can carry different events, and repeating routes create another chance if an encounter is missed. After certain requirements are completed, an island can remain accessible without waiting for the same positional relationship to happen again.
So the world map isn’t just showing where destinations are. Its movement actively determines what you can reach and when.
The Mario & Luigi: Brothership Connection Is Unusually Specific
Nintendo describes Mario & Luigi: Brothership in strikingly similar terms.
The game takes place in Concordia, where Shipshape Island serves as Mario and Luigi’s drifting base of operations. Nintendo’s developers explained that the island moves through the ocean rather than being freely steered and approaches other islands as the adventure continues.
Nintendo’s official overview also has you plot a course on the Ocean Map. Once an island comes into reach, Mario and Luigi can launch from Shipshape Island’s cannon to travel there.
The development credits make the connection even stronger. Haruyuki Ohashi, one of Patent 7914687’s inventors, directed Brothership at Acquire. Akira Otani supervised development from Nintendo, while Tomoki Fukushima served as Associate Producer. The game’s credits also list fourth inventor Takafumi Ogihara as Lead Programmer.
Ohashi specifically discussed the challenge of making Shipshape Island travel across the ocean, while Fukushima referred to the system as Shipshape Island’s drifting system.
That combination makes the resemblance much stronger than a general RPG world-map similarity. But the patent record doesn’t identify Patent 7914687 as a Mario & Luigi: Brothership patent, and the grant doesn’t point to DLC, a sequel or another future use of the system.
The underlying system had already been public since early 2025. What changed on September 2 is that Nintendo’s Japanese patent was published as a granted B2 patent for a system that closely matches one of Mario & Luigi: Brothership’s defining travel systems.
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