Looking back, it’s hard to imagine Mario, circa 1986, ever breaking loose from the platformer world he was (and arguably still is) king of. The context and structure of Mario’s universe would hardly seem adequate to play host to another genre, much less serve as the center point of roughly half a dozen RPGs spanning multiple console and handheld generations since 1996. But through a delightful combination of excellent writing and translation, clever character design, and general lightheartedness, Nintendo established the Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi franchises as legitimate contenders in the RPG world.

Don’t be fooled though, Bowser’s Inside Story is no ordinary RPG. To put it into perspective, the first Mario game in the genre, the Square-developed Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, was essentially a traditional RPG with some Mario context thrown into the mix. With the Mario and Luigi series, developer AlphaDream has taken a decidedly opposite approach, combining the full extent of the Mario world with small dashes of the most simplistic of traditional RPG elements. The result is an incredibly streamlined experience that is often challenging, but never frustrating.

As the story opens, a number of Toads in the Mushroom Kingdom have fallen victim to a mysterious new disease, known simply as “the Blorbs”, which causes them to swell up and become extremely rotund.  After Bowser crashes a meeting convened to deal with the epidemic, he is swiftly defeated by Mario and thrown out of the Castle. Bitter in his repeated defeat, Bowser accepts a “Lucky Mushroom” from a mysterious merchant in the woods. The mushroom causes Bowser to inadvertently inhale everything around him, including Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, and various structures from the Mushroom Kingdom like coin blocks and warp pipes.

Shrunken down to microscopic size, Mario and Luigi make their way through the various sections of Bowser’s body to find Peach and escape. In a surprisingly pleasant change of presentation, these segments of Bowser’s anatomy are presented and explored in a 2D view akin to a traditional Mario sidescroller. Not only do these sessions inside Bowser help to break up the sometimes monotonous experience of walking around the Mushroom Kingdom overworld, they establish a dual-party battle system that far exceeds the one found in Partners In Time. As opposed to forcing the player to control the three characters all at once, battles are divided into sections where you fight as Bowser and sections where you fight as Mario and Luigi.

That’s right, for major chunks of the game you will take control of the egotistical, blundering King of the Koopas himself. Although this isn’t Bowser’s first outing as a playable character (Super Mario RPG), or even his second (Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door), it’s without a doubt his finest yet. Just as Mario and Luigi have abilities like jumping and using their hammers, Bowser has his own personal set of actions. Though the only abilities he has the first time you take control of him are punching and breathing fire, new and better options can be unlocked over time, many with the inside help of Mario and Luigi. These abilities translate exceptionally well to battle sequences, giving Bowser a large capacity of extremely powerful moves. At later points in the game, it’s possible to rescue legions of Bowser’s army like Goombas, Koopas and more. Finding these baddies will give Bowser special battle attacks similar to those of Mario and Luigi. In addition, when fighting against certain enemies, Bowser has the ability to use his new vacuum-breath ability to suck in enemies, which you continue to battle on the inside as Mario and Luigi.

In general, the entire battle system feels more like a complete refinement than a slight upgrade over the previous two installments in the series. For comparison, I booted up an old save on Superstar Saga and tried a few battles. The first thing I noticed was how rigid many of the attacks felt in comparison with their current counterparts. The signature
“Bros. Attacks” in particular felt needlessly complex and unforgiving upon revisiting, relying on intricate button presses and forced memorization. Thankfully, those problems have been addressed and fixed over the course of two sequels. Special attacks are now unlocked by finding 10 special “Attack Pieces” strewn about specific environments. Once all ten are collected, a training video will display just how a successful attack should look and how to pull it off, and you’re given the option to practice it as many times as you’d like. The same applies to Bowser and his specials, many of which include using the touchscreen. The attacks themselves start out simple, with Mario and Luigi alternately kicking a Koopa shell for instance, and grow exponentially goofier and more effective as you progress, but never to the point of frustration.

During the course of exploring Bowser’s insides, Mario and Luigi often have the opportunity to influence him in beneficial ways. Most of the time it’s simple stuff, but there are several instances where Bowser will be somewhat, “outmatched” let’s say, and Mario and Luigi will have to help him win from the inside. This boils down to a relatively simple minigame the brothers must complete to spark Bowser’s energy and even the fight. The battle that follows involves turning the DS on its side and using a combination of touch screen controls and the DS microphone to overcome some pretty large opponents.

Cooperation is a two-way street, though, and Bowser will also often inadvertently aid Mario and Luigi as they roam around inside him. For example, a platform in a particular body section may be too high for the brothers to reach. But if Bowser takes a drink, the water will fill that section of his body, allowing Mario and Luigi to swim to new areas. You can switch between controlling the brothers or Bowser in situations like this, allowing you to turn off these effects if necessary.

In addition to refining much from the previous two games, Bowser’s Inside Story also ups the ante on what have arguably been the series’ best qualities: a comical character presentation style and hilarious dialogue. The greatest beneficiary of such a playful writing style is undoubtedly Bowser himself. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that Bowser makes for a far more immersive and entertaining character in this context than either Mario or Luigi, who both still communicate through a combination of stereotypical Italian gibberish and heavy gesticulation.

Bowser’s Inside Story also marks the triumphant return of Fawful, the cackling, fury-having, grammatically incorrect phenomenon of a villain from Superstar Saga. Fawful’s unforgettably bad quotes are really the icing on the cake when it comes to the particular brand of humor the game and the series is pushing. If you have a chance to play through the game, you’ll be treated to gems like: “Oh, I am feeling the power! It high-fives Fawful’s face!”

Bowser’s Inside Story is undoubtedly the strongest entry in an already strong series. If the quality of this game is any indication of things to come, then I welcome and anticipate any future endeavors from AlphaDream, whether on handheld or console. The number of improvements made to the core gameplay, impressive new features and the continually high level of humor make this an excellent addition to the Mario RPG family.

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Things We Liked: Exemplary writing. Refined battle system. Everything about Bowser. The furious return of Fawful.

Things We Disliked: Very linear. Bowser’s insides are slightly repetitive. Difficulty ramps up moderately on the back half of the game.

Target Audience: Fans of previous Mario RPG games. Casual RPG enthusiasts. Anyone needing a hearty laugh.

(Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story – Developer: AlphaDream. Publisher: Nintendo. Available on Nintendo DS. Buy it Now at Amazon.com. New to CFD!’s reviews? Read our explanation here.)