In 1996, Super Mario tried life in the role-playing realm with Super Mario RPG for the SNES by Square-Enix. Fans loved the colorful adventure, and have since welcomed each new installment of the Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi RPG titles. Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story for the Nintendo DS is one more Mario-themed role-playing adventure that shouldn't be missed. It may well be the funniest, most engaging “Mario RPG” to date.
Developer: Alpha Dream
Publisher: Nintendo
ESRB Rating: E (“Everyone”) with Comic Mischief and Mild Cartoon Violence
Genre: Role-playing
Developer: Alpha Dream
Publisher: Nintendo
ESRB Rating: E (“Everyone”) with Comic Mischief and Mild Cartoon Violence
Genre: Role-playing
The Basics: A Story For Everyone
In Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, Mario and Luigi are called upon to help cure a malady afflicting the Mushroom Kingdom. This sickness, called the “blorbs,” inflates the Kingdom's mushroom inhabitants to ghastly round proportions.
Bowser crashes the council meeting after eating a “lucky mushroom” sold to him by a shady merchant. The mushroom turns Bowser into a living vacuum cleaner, and he sucks up Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, a representative for the Star Sprite race named Starlow, and significant portion of the Kingdom's population.
Bowser blacks out after the event, and when he comes to, he finds out he's been evicted from his castle by the same “merchant” who sold him the hazardous mushroom. The merchant flips his cloak and reveals himself to be the villainous, speech-challenged imp named Fawful. Fawful has plans for conquering the Mushroom Kingdom, which he expects to accomplish easily with Bowser homeless and with the Mario Brothers trapped in Bowser's gizzard.
Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story has a pretty silly backstory, but it's a lot more fun to follow than some of the more serious offerings in the genre. The game is subtitled “Bowser's Inside Story” for a reason: Bowser's role in the adventure is prominent, and as lovable as the Brothers are, Bowser's big acts and loud showmanship will steal your heart. Subtlety does not exist in Bowser's world, and it never has. He's crude, he's grabby, and he's brutish—but he cares about the welfare of his minions and his home (not that he'd outright admit it).
Bowser crashes the council meeting after eating a “lucky mushroom” sold to him by a shady merchant. The mushroom turns Bowser into a living vacuum cleaner, and he sucks up Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, a representative for the Star Sprite race named Starlow, and significant portion of the Kingdom's population.
Bowser blacks out after the event, and when he comes to, he finds out he's been evicted from his castle by the same “merchant” who sold him the hazardous mushroom. The merchant flips his cloak and reveals himself to be the villainous, speech-challenged imp named Fawful. Fawful has plans for conquering the Mushroom Kingdom, which he expects to accomplish easily with Bowser homeless and with the Mario Brothers trapped in Bowser's gizzard.
Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story has a pretty silly backstory, but it's a lot more fun to follow than some of the more serious offerings in the genre. The game is subtitled “Bowser's Inside Story” for a reason: Bowser's role in the adventure is prominent, and as lovable as the Brothers are, Bowser's big acts and loud showmanship will steal your heart. Subtlety does not exist in Bowser's world, and it never has. He's crude, he's grabby, and he's brutish—but he cares about the welfare of his minions and his home (not that he'd outright admit it).
Gameplay: Action Meets Exploration
Mario's RPG titles usually include an action element in enemy battles. Like its predecessors, Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story requires the player to counterattack and dodge enemy fire by jumping and/or hitting at opportune moments. Since each enemy has a few attacks you must learn to counter, and since most enemy encounters can be avoided, battles rarely feel repetitive.
The Brothers, who spend the majority of the game fighting the evils in Bowser's gut, can stomp on enemies, or smash them with their hammers, or employ special dual attacks that involve volleying koopa shells or hurling fireballs. If this sounds familiar to you, it's because little has changed from the previous Mario & Luigi battle systems, aside from some welcome streamlining (there are no babies to lug around this time, unlike Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time).
In battle, Bowser is, once again, the star of the game. With the Mario Brothers trapped inside him, he explores the Mushroom Kingdom and relies on his fists, his fire breath, and his minions to take down his tormentors. There is something undeniably satisfying about stomping through forests and beaches as Bowser, crushing or frying anything that gets in his way.
Once in a while, Bowser will encounter a situation that requires a little more “oomph” to overcome. The Mario Brothers help him out by visiting a relevant location in his body and boosting energy through a variety of minigames. Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story is bizarre at times, but it's rarely boring.
The Brothers, who spend the majority of the game fighting the evils in Bowser's gut, can stomp on enemies, or smash them with their hammers, or employ special dual attacks that involve volleying koopa shells or hurling fireballs. If this sounds familiar to you, it's because little has changed from the previous Mario & Luigi battle systems, aside from some welcome streamlining (there are no babies to lug around this time, unlike Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time).
In battle, Bowser is, once again, the star of the game. With the Mario Brothers trapped inside him, he explores the Mushroom Kingdom and relies on his fists, his fire breath, and his minions to take down his tormentors. There is something undeniably satisfying about stomping through forests and beaches as Bowser, crushing or frying anything that gets in his way.
Once in a while, Bowser will encounter a situation that requires a little more “oomph” to overcome. The Mario Brothers help him out by visiting a relevant location in his body and boosting energy through a variety of minigames. Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story is bizarre at times, but it's rarely boring.
Graphics and Sound: Easy to Digest
Sprite-based graphics have been dying slowly in favor of cell shading and polygon models, but there's nothing archaic about the graphics in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story. The Mario & Luigi games have always been colorful and expressive, but Bowser's Inside Story is built on some incredibly detailed spritework. The characters animate and emote fluidly, with special care taken with facial expressions and little touches that bring the characters to life (check out Luigi struggling into his overalls at the start of the Mushroom Kingdom council meeting, then subsequently falling asleep). The enemy roster, which is oriented around the Mushroom Kingdom's unique wildlife, is large, creative, and playfully nostalgic.
The game's sound is likewise rich, with catchy music and sound effects full of grunts, squeaks and squawks.
The game's sound is likewise rich, with catchy music and sound effects full of grunts, squeaks and squawks.
Conclusion: Take with Food
The Nintendo DS isn't a system that's hurting for RPG content, but you can't pass up on Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story. It's lighthearted, but packed with personality and content. Let yourself become one with Bowser's digestive system. Hard as it may be to believe, you won't regret the journey.
Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.
Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.
