Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story (Nintendo DS) > Reviews (3)

Honest to God, I do not know why I bought this game. I’m going back a couple of years so it was probably a typical ‘Oh, pretty!’ reaction mixed with some nostalgia about how much I used to love Mario before the days I could actually play Mario. In basic terms not good reasons to buy a game (now you see why I end up with so much crud on the DS!). Somehow however, I hit jackpot. This is an engaging, amusing and quite addictive Mario game for the DS that really shows that Nintendo do still have some life in them and that old series can be resurrected in a new format. And it can be done well. This is a game that takes full advantage of the features of the DS, somehow keeps the charm that we remember from Mario of old, chucks in some humour and whisks in some very appealing graphics. And you have a winner.

Storyline

Most of us already know the stereotypical Mario storyline – Bowser kidnaps Princess Peach, Mario goes to rescue her but by the time he’s found where she was she’s in another castle. You kind of got to the point where it seemed obvious to everyone but Mario that Peach preferred Bowser to him! Well this kind of sticks to that…but with a twist. As in everyone has been inhaled into Bowser’s body including Peach and you have to rescue her. The genius thing about the game though is that there are two interweaved stories, as Mario and Luigi it is your task to rescue Peach and try to escape Bowser’s body. But on the other hand you also have control of Bowser who is thoroughly peeved because all of this trouble has been caused by the supervillain (or not) Fawful who has plans for world domination. Not that Bowser cares about that – he just wants his castle back. Well, that and he doesn’t like the fact that Fawful has taken over his role as villain and he sees it as his role in life to smash Mario and kidnap Peach – but to be fair as he’s been thrust into the hero spot no body is going to complain overly much!

Honestly, it is as surreal as it sounds, with Mario and Luigi having to help power Bowser’s muscles in order for him to crash his way through areas or in some other way steer his body into reacting how he wants it to. It is also ridiculously amusing and very good fun. I wouldn’t usually say the plot to a Mario game is worth writing home about, but this is in its own special way the exception to the rule. It sticks with some of the clichés such as Luigi being a bit of a dolt but manages to add it’s own unique spin to everything.

Gameplay

The game is split quite evenly really between you controlling Mario and Luigi as a team and you controlling Bowser which is a rarity in itself. This is kind of Bowser’s big break. The awesome duo often can’t do anything inside Bowser’s body until Bowser himself does something that provokes a bodily change like straining to lift something or getting landed on by a huge castle. And so you are having two separate adventures with two different control schemes. Basically you control Bowser with the X and Y buttons and Mario and Luigi with the A and B buttons; at any point you can switch between the two characters by pressing the corresponding buttons.

This sounds mildly complicated but is in fact remarkably easy to get the hang of with the occasional swear word when you’ve changed characters accidentally.

As Bowser you are exploring the main world on the top screen and this tends to be a very RPG style game aspect as you wander through the various areas trying to get your own back on that ever so irritating Fawful who keeps saying ‘I HAVE CHORTLES!’. Surely there must be some rule that a guy has to speak proper English before being able to take over the world!? As Mario and Luigi you are meandering through Bowser’s body and often fixing him when he’s done something stupid, and particularly at the beginning of the game this tends to be very mini-game based with you having to complete set tasks to keep Bowser’s body in working order. But the fact that you are playing as Bowser for at least half the game on it’s own makes this a title worth having; out of all the characters in the Mario franchise he is probably the most overlooked as a playable character but this definitely goes some way to rectifying this issue.

On top of this in both sections of the game there are battles to contend with and both Bowser and the awesome duo have specific moves which they can use in battle. It is worth noting that the battles aren’t randomly generated and that once you have defeated an enemy they won’t re-spawn for a fair while which will cause many people to sigh in extreme relief. They are however turn based, which suits me perfectly as my brain can’t work quickly enough for real time battle. On your turn you can do the usual attack, use items, run or use special attacks and on the enemies turn you can dodge or counter attack if you’re quick enough. Although each battle follows a set formula they are different because each enemy will have different attacks which you need to figure out how to best counter or dodge. This leads to a certain amount of hammering from foes to begin with as you try to figure it out but does ensure that it doesn’t get overly repetitive.

As with most RPG’s, and very unlike most Mario games, you level up each character and along with the immediate stat increases that this gives you, you can also pick a stat to focus an extra boost on like attack or defence. In this way you can try to level the characters out or aim for a team that complements each other. As you level up your class will also increase which will give you more options as to what equipment you can wear and how many pieces your characters are allowed. It’s not as complicated as some of the menu systems for other RPG’s but I think it wouldn’t suit the DS, or the light hearted nature of the game.

Graphics/Sound

Graphics wise is shouldn’t actually be as impressive as it is. It’s all in 2D, all very bright colourful and cartoony. It doesn’t make any pretensions at being more than it actually is and just seems to fit the slightly surreal and engaging nature of the game. I can’t knock them as they fit the game perfectly and I don’t think they mess up once.

It’s appealing and you just can’t fault them on it.

The characters don’t often speak but when they do it is always entertaining and this game managed to keep my attention in the music through sheer nostalgia. It is Mario through and through and you can’t say fairer than that.

Extra Opinion

This is actually a stunningly good game. It’s cute, funny, well presented and above all very entertaining to play. It’s also got that spurt of originality that you see so rarely in games today – largely because most things have already been done. The mix between traditional role playing aspects of the game and the more modern Nintendo mini games is very well managed and the difficulty level is set just right to have you scratching your head for a while at points but not overly bewildered to the point where you give up. But the reason this game really stands out from the crowd is due to how surreal it is and how much license they have taken with the presentation. Your trip through Bowser’s body and the Globins you meet on route on occasions seems completely trippy, but at the same time the game seems to succeed at least partially because of it.

What probably impressed me most though is the character representation. They haven’t just gone down the line of Mario and Luigi as 2D cut outs because they are such household names and well known characters. They have again tried to add something new and entertaining to these two old favourites. The character sprites can often be seen arguing amongst themselves for example and Luigi will repeatedly try to run away rather than engaging one of the bosses. Likewise there is an element of humour and personification in Bowser as he is seen trying to be the brains of the operation but not quite managing as what he is best at is smashing things. Not only is the game itself entertaining, but the script and the character acting is as well which really does make a huge difference.

Along that line probably my favourite aspects of the game would have to be the battles where Bowser has grown to even huger than normal proportions so that he takes over the entirety of the two screens on the DS. This is usually due to Luigi and Mario having to get his endorphins running because he is very close to dying due to something in the plot – like being squashed by his own castle. These fights although simple are very satisfying indeed and one heck of a lot of fun to play. Granted his new size doesn’t offer many advantages as the enemies are just as big and nasty as he is…and often the castle that just landed on him but this extra quirk of the game really adds something to it.

There is easily 25 hours gameplay in this game, and if you’re anything like me then there is much, much more. For an RPG game that is not bad going at all and when you take into consideration that those 25 hours are quite so entertaining this is well worth looking out for under any circumstances. Whether you’re a fan of RPG’s, a fan of Mario or just looking for some entertainment this will fit what you’re looking for.

The only problem with it really is that it lacks a great deal of replay value and if you do want to replay it you’re probably going to have to leave it a couple of years (even then there’s a chance it won’t be as engrossing). But even with that I would wholeheartedly suggest buying this game because it is just so much fun. Replay doesn’t matter so much when the game was so epic first time round.

Conclusion

This is about as good a game as you could hope for. It ticks all the boxes and gives you a rollicking good ride at the same time. It uses the DS features perfectly and you couldn’t ask for more.

A shorter version of this is published at http://gameolosophy.com/games/action/sup​er-mario/bowsers-inside-story-review/