Mario & Luigi:
Bowser's Inside Story
Bowser's Inside Story
AlphaDream/Nintendo
Anthony: Maybe it’s my affinity for using the disproportionately huge and buff characters in games (which almost inevitably leads to them having a boring heart of gold) that makes a game like Mario and Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story so glorious. Why? Because for once, the huge, menacing character has no heart of gold, nor is he an unnecessary and unrelenting jerk either. With this game alone, Bowser has become one of the most likeable, charming, and delightfully antihero characters this side of Sin City.
Thankfully the good news doesn’t end there. In many ways, Bowser’s Inside Story is a success on all levels. As an RPG, it has cute story, great characters, and an engaging battle system. As an action game, it has varied exploration, minigames, and an impressive variety in the battling. I loved the original Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga, enjoyed Partners in Time (though I found it to be a slight step back) and can safely say that this was the most entertaining and fun entry in the series for me.
What’s good:
- The game looks great. Character sprites in the game are colorful, expressive, and have excellent animation. Nothing looks “beautiful” per se, but everything looks very good, and the exaggerated and comical animations really liven the experience.
- The game also sounds great. Several tunes will get hopelessly stuck in your head. Mario and Luigi’s exchanges of Italian-sounding gibberish and Bowser’s bellowing of “Showtime!” will elicit smiles. Everything matches well with the environments.
- The problem I had with Partners in Time is that the experience started to feel stale and more akin to a chore as time went on. Bowser’s Inside Story doesn’t give you much time to be bored though, as enemies are very unique and creatively designed, the exploration/platforming sections are frequently broken up with minigames, and both the Bowser and Mario & Luigi sections get ample time and play differently.
- “Creativity” is a point that really needs to be pushed here. Both in fighting enemies and especially with bosses, they really worked hard this time to create a memorable experience. Learning how to dodge and counter attacks from the lowliest fat goomba to the mightiest end bosses can take real creativity and can be really impressive to witness. Combining that with the wealth of clever minigames and truly awesome Giga Bowser fights especially give you a very diverse and unique experience.
- Beyond the fact that they’ve created a very charming antihero in Bowser with the game, bringing baddie Fawful back to the fray and juxtaposing them among a bundle of funny NPCs makes for a very funny RPG. This game rivals Paper Mario 2 as being one of the funniest RPGs I’ve played; it’s chock full of good natured humor among Luigi-bashing, Bowser-posturing, and Fawful-ramblings.
What’s neutral:
- Admittedly, there are some potential problems with the accessibility of the game. Success in battles is about 10% strategy versus 90% timing and execution. New enemies, and especially bosses will typically pound your characters pretty severely until you learn how to dodge or counter their attacks. That may be a point of frustration for some, especially since a learning curve is expected, but a boss may do a new powerful attack that’s tricky to dodge, hit you, cause you to be stunned, subsequently hit you again, and before you know it you’re near death. They’re pretty generous with recovery items as usual, but it’s admittedly not near as satisfying to chug mushrooms to win, considering the game is built around learning to avoid damage altogether. Some may find the platforming element of “Press A + B” tricky jumping with Mario and Luigi a point of annoyance as well.
- The minigames are an important inclusion toward making the game feel fresh and varied throughout. That said, they are mandatory, and this means inevitably some players will dislike specific games. I found the variety to be quite enjoyable, but making a game like this absolutely runs the risk of players thinking “not this game again!”
- Replay value is mostly good, but has a sticking point or two. The game isn’t particularly long, running 20-30 hours, but it’s also so crammed full of gameplay that it can easily feel like more happened in that time than 60 hours in other RPGs. Surprisingly though, the bonus content is fairly weak, with no new game+, and only a battle arena as a side challenge. Additionally, to have any chance of beating the arena completely requires backtracking with Bowser and Mario and Luigi to access an area just to level them a bit more. That’s not a particularly fun way to spend extra game time.
What’s bad:
- There’s no excuse for the fact that they’ve not only kept the “save points” system, but frequently made the saving points bafflingly far away from each other. Pretty much any DS game these days allows you to save anywhere, and for a game that doesn’t, there’s just way too much time and distance to cover between them. Stop that, Nintendo.
Oh hey, I actually kept this pretty short. I guess things just came more easily for me in regards to the game. Graphics are great, sound is great, gameplay is great, the story is funny, and the characters ooze charm all around. It’s not long, but the amount of variety in the gameplay makes the whole thing feel like you’re been hit with a gameplay freight train, though in a good way.
What’s neutral:
- Admittedly, there are some potential problems with the accessibility of the game. Success in battles is about 10% strategy versus 90% timing and execution. New enemies, and especially bosses will typically pound your characters pretty severely until you learn how to dodge or counter their attacks. That may be a point of frustration for some, especially since a learning curve is expected, but a boss may do a new powerful attack that’s tricky to dodge, hit you, cause you to be stunned, subsequently hit you again, and before you know it you’re near death. They’re pretty generous with recovery items as usual, but it’s admittedly not near as satisfying to chug mushrooms to win, considering the game is built around learning to avoid damage altogether. Some may find the platforming element of “Press A + B” tricky jumping with Mario and Luigi a point of annoyance as well.
- The minigames are an important inclusion toward making the game feel fresh and varied throughout. That said, they are mandatory, and this means inevitably some players will dislike specific games. I found the variety to be quite enjoyable, but making a game like this absolutely runs the risk of players thinking “not this game again!”
- Replay value is mostly good, but has a sticking point or two. The game isn’t particularly long, running 20-30 hours, but it’s also so crammed full of gameplay that it can easily feel like more happened in that time than 60 hours in other RPGs. Surprisingly though, the bonus content is fairly weak, with no new game+, and only a battle arena as a side challenge. Additionally, to have any chance of beating the arena completely requires backtracking with Bowser and Mario and Luigi to access an area just to level them a bit more. That’s not a particularly fun way to spend extra game time.
What’s bad:
- There’s no excuse for the fact that they’ve not only kept the “save points” system, but frequently made the saving points bafflingly far away from each other. Pretty much any DS game these days allows you to save anywhere, and for a game that doesn’t, there’s just way too much time and distance to cover between them. Stop that, Nintendo.
Oh hey, I actually kept this pretty short. I guess things just came more easily for me in regards to the game. Graphics are great, sound is great, gameplay is great, the story is funny, and the characters ooze charm all around. It’s not long, but the amount of variety in the gameplay makes the whole thing feel like you’re been hit with a gameplay freight train, though in a good way.
If you liked any of the previous games, the Paper Mario series, or action/RPG games in general, I absolutely recommend the game. It may have potential frustrations, but as an overall experience, it’s hard to beat. Bowser’s Inside Story is just plain fun.
Lauren: As a lifelong Mario fan, I've been very impressed and amused by the many entries into the "Mario RPG" series, both on consoles and handhelds. Bowser's Inside Story definitely did not disappoint, even for someone who's not big on timing-based battles and mini-games.
The colourful graphics look great, especially on a DSi, as long as you don't mind the cartoonish style. Its backgrounds, character sprites, and animation flow together wonderfully. And as Anthony mentioned, the scenes with Giga Bowser look particularly impressive.
The music is often quite catchy, with some tunes getting caught in my head for days after playing. There's some nice original stuff here, with the occasional nod to old-school Mario games. And as always, there's not much in the way of voice acting, but the audio clips of Mario and Luigi talking Italian-style gibberish to each other are simply hilarious. Bowser's deep growls were a nice touch, too.
The gameplay is similar to that found in the first two Mario & Luigi titles. Your characters wander around the field and perform platforming actions to proceed. Enemy sprites appear on the map, and actual encounters occur in a different screen. All attacks and defensive actions require decent timing and practice to pull off. As a result, encounters with new enemies can seem somewhat tough, but after a bit of practice, they're much easier. The same goes for bosses, except you don't get quite as much practice with them.
But the real draw of Bowser's Inside Story, as with the other entries in the Mario RPG series, is the amusing dialogue. The story is silly, Fawful is as hilarious as ever, and the main characters' animations and sound clips are very cute. Of course, the story is simplistic, but refreshingly so.
Mario and Luigi lasted me about 30 hours. I ended up doing most sidequests and a lot of item-gathering, so that definitely added a few extra hours. As with most short and cute RPGs, there isn't much need to play it again, unless you're a huge fan.
Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story is a step above Partners in Time and just as fun as Superstar Saga. My only complaints are a sore hand from having to hammer on A + B frequently to jump, and some issues with the timing-based attacks, but that goes with the territory. It's a light-hearted, colourful, and funny title that any DS owner should try, as long as you don't mind some platforming in your RPGs.
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