Mario and Luigi return in a new RPG. This time, they'll be getting to know Bowser inside and out.
Bowser is no stranger to failure. All he wants is to kidnap the princess and rule the Mushroom Kingdom, but two plumbers just keep getting in the way. Always one to get right back up on the horse, Bowser tries again at Peach's Castle, and unsurprisingly is thwarted by Mario and Luigi. Jettisoned from the castle, he crashes into the forest and comes across a very strange character who offers a bizarre mushroom that is promised to help Bowser finally thwart his long-time adversaries. There's been some false advertising, however, and the mushroom Bowser scarfs down is producing an unexpected side effect. Bowser suddenly starts inhaling half of the Mushroom Kingdom and its inhabitants, along with Mario and Luigi themselves! Now, the three of them are about to have an unorthodox symbiotic adventure as an old foe from the past returns.
Fans of the past two Mario and Luigi games will be delighted to know that every facet and mechanic of those games that made them so terrific are back, and this is perhaps the best game of them yet. The first thing you'll notice is how excellent the writing is. The humor is always on, and for a villain as nasty as Bowser, his characterization just oozes cool. Mario and Luigi hardly have any of their own dialogue, though, but that's part of the charm as most of their communication is executed through pantomime. Along with being inhaled with the brothers, a star named Starlow will play mediator as both parties attempt to communicate with one another.
Bowser's Inside Story actually contains two major environments that you'll be exploring. One half of the environment is the open world, displayed in a top-down fashion. You'll start off roaming the land as Bowser, and you'll see certain places inaccessible to you that you'll later be able to enter once Mario and Luigi are able to leave his body.
The other half of the game is spent inside Bowser's body, and this part is portrayed in a 2-D plaformer style. You'll start off with access to just a few parts of Bowser's body, but as he encounters certain obstacles in the open world, new areas will open up, and you'll then dungeon crawl or play mini-games to grant Bowser new abilities. Most of the time during the game, you'll also be able to swap between characters on the fly.
There are no random encounters to be had in this title, just as with any of the other Mario RPGs. You'll always be able to see your enemy, and you have the option of jumping, hammering, punching or throwing flames at them to engage them in battle with a preemptive strike. They can also attack you in the overworld, so it's best that you hit them first.
The most fun and compelling aspect of this game lies in its battle system. You'll be swapping back and forth between Bowser and the Bros., and each party has their own attacks and abilities. You'll have the opportunity to deliver more damage based on your button presses. For instance, if you time it just right, you can pull off a second jump and then hit the enemy even harder than normal.
Defending against attacks is also just as involving. Right before enemies attack you, they'll display tell-tale signs of how they will strike. You can learn these patterns and usually dodge and counter-attack if you're quick enough. Once you have your enemies' behaviors down, you can even crawl through an entire dungeon never taking a hit. Also, when you're playing as Bowser, he'll have a vaccuum ability that will let him inhale the smaller enemies to send them down to Mario and Luigi for them to dispose of directly.
There are special attacks that you'll either earn by collecting Attack Pieces spread throughout a level, or earn by freeing a group of caged Bowser's minions. Mario and Luigi's special attacks are based on button presses, while Bowser's attacks use the stylus. Depending on how well you perform during these segments, you can deliver damage rated in four rankings; Ok, Good, Great, or Excellent. Becoming proficient in knowing how to execute these special attacks will usually result in boss battles being significantly easier.
Every so often, Bowser will become crushed by a giant enemy, and then Mario and Luigi enter a shooting mini-game in an attempt to restore Bowser's life force. If they're successful, Bowser grows to Godzilla-like proportions. In these special boss battles, the DS prompts you to hold it vertically. Bowser then has new ways to attack and defend. He can punch by sliding the stylus foward, spew flames by blowing into the microphone, or shoot fireballs at airborne enemies by tapping in their direction. These fights are usually pretty epic.
There's also a new system in play when you are battling it out as Mario and Luigi, and those are the badges. When you get your first pair, a meter will appear with their respective badges at either end. Each end will begin filling up based on how successful your attacks are. When the meter is full, you simply touch it for a bonus effect. Each brother has their own type of badges. Luigi has different badges that will fill up the meter at different rates, and multiplies the effect accordingly. Mario has badges that bestowe different effects, such as HP and SP restoring, or extra coinage after battle. It's an excellent system that can help you earn money or more experience quicker, or just continue to survive in battle without having to dip into your item cache.
The presentation of the game is superb. The graphics are excellent. The sprites are charming, and the environments are full of color. The sprites have a good amount of detail to them, and although the animation is a little lacking in areas, it still moves very well. The special effects are just as cartoony as ever, and even little things such as the level up results screens have a pleasant sense of style to them.
Just as appealing as the visuals is the audio. There really isn't much voice acting in the game aside from "Mario!", "Luigi!" and Mario uttering some Italian gibberish, but it helps harken back to the days when RPGs didn't rely on hours upon hours of pre-recorded dialogue to tell their stories. The soundtrack is terrific, always fun and uplifting, and the sound effects are just as cartoony as they look.
Bowser's Inside Story is a great game through and through. Lovely graphics and sound, fantastic gameplay, fun boss battles and absolutely hilarious writing makes this DS title one that just about every owner should check out, regardless of their knowledge of past Mario RPG titles. Of course, fans of Mario RPGs simply must own this title. The only real drawback, however, is that some might find the final battle to be a little more anti-climatic than it should have been. Still, Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story is one of the best RPGs, and DS titles for that matter, available.