I’ve built this game up to be a monolith in the 4 years I’ve had it borrowed, and the 4 years it’s been rotting on my backlog. I finally beat it, and what a ride it was!

In all systems, Bowser’s Inside Story boasts a happy medium between the other two games I’ve played in the Mario & Luigi series - not too monotonous (Superstar Saga), not too convoluted (Paper Jam).

Exploration in the overworld is a little lacking for both parties. I wasn’t compelled to explore too much as Bowser, mostly compelled by the combat. As the brothers, you spend most of your time in the overworld exploring places you’ve already seen as Bowser. That’s not to say there aren’t good elements here though, some areas for the brothers are fun, like the optional content in Plack Beach and the depths of Dimble Woods. This game’s journey is at its best when real progression and environmental change is felt. I disliked having a useful fast travel system gated by having it hidden in one of a hundred breakable stage elements; I liked the unique ways for Bowser to change his environment - sneezing to blow the sails of ships by playing a minigame as the brothers, et cetera.

Combat serves all other elements of this game. It compels me to explore, find upgrades for my party, and endears me more to our protagonists and their story. Bowser is a lumbering beast who is at times a bit bratty and childish, but also quite dominative and intimidating. He’s one character, but is controlled with two buttons ala Mario and Luigi - not sacrificing complexity between both styles of combat, and painting Bowser as a more complex being himself through gameplay. His special attacks also show this, using touch-controls to make a less acrobatic Bowser still have a variety of cool, character-relevant moves to unleash on his enemies.

Enemies highlight the differences between both parties quite well. For example, the Crawfuls who need jumps and hammers to evade are easily countered by a punch from Bowser - his vacuum ability especially highlights the sheer difference in power between him and the brothers - for its use in this encounter, and many more. There are few enemies, but none of them are as simple as they let on, and are shown a lot of care through their charming animations.

Mario and Luigi boast their most interesting swathe of special attacks yet - they don’t ask too much of you, but manage to be a fun, increasingly-difficult test of a lot of things you’ve come to expect from the series - memorization, timing, button-presses, positioning, sometimes all at once. I can hardly choose a favourite because so many of them are fantastic - I really loved the ‘Jump Helmet,’ ‘You Hoo Cannon,’ ‘Spin Pipe,’ and ‘Magic Window.’ Interplay between Bowser and bros in battle is a little underwhelming, especially with how few Bowser boss-fights are co-requisite with the bros. A few more enemies acting this way, and one or two more bosses like this would have gone a long way - but overall, every encounter is really fun - as brief and as difficult as necessary. This aspect of the game is (deservedly) the most polished.

The first part of Bowser’s Inside Story focuses on Bowser’s struggles and ambitions, which later culminate in Mario and Luigi unceremoniously escaping his body. Then the game shifts to a search for three “Star Cures,” each found in a mix of settings. Finally, the game shifts to the final act with no fanfare. This is a problem, but it thankfully didn’t bother me too much when I enjoyed the journey through these acts a lot. Specifically, I love Bowser. He is depicted in such a sympathetic way, I felt his triumph and I felt his rage, I loved seeing where he’d go next and what he’d have to say about it. The kaiju-battles are particularly great at making me invested in his character - there’s a fantastic scale, weight, and motivation to them.

It’s hard to not get attached to the narrative this game weaves together. While this narrative is very meandering, it’s also a tightly paced game because of that, rarely suffering from fatigue because of its breadth of varied content. The two types of main combat + the kaiju-battles, the minigames, and the two explorable worlds, all influence each other in some way, and paired with such charming protagonists (and a great antagonist!) make for an incredibly enjoyable time from beginning to end. And it ends on a very high note, the final act is the my favourite in the game, and synthesizes all of the aforementioned content better than at any other point.

Where Bowser wanted to go, I wanted to go, who he wanted to fight, I wanted to fight, and ultimately, he stands tall as the main reason I have fallen in love with this game, through its many flaws, and its even greater amount of triumphs, having finally played it.

To start, I most definitely feel like this title was a big improvement from the past two games, especially partners in time... this game thankfully had a increase in the difficulty and had better minigames. The soundtrack, like the rest of this series, of course does well in that department. Bowser being the whole focus of this game was great, and being inside of him was such a great way to pull together bowser and the mario bros into the same story.

I gave this game a 4 but I TRULY feel like it deserves a 4.5 atleast, yet I didnt give it that because I feel like at some parts in the game, the story was kind of thrown in there to get the ball rolling, ESPECIALLY the main focus of the game. The story at times felt like they were just trying to throw in something to piece it together or as if they didn't know how to really keep the story going but I can't say too much on that topic because I want to avoid the spoiler tag.... other than that, this game was wonderful; felt like I was playing another superstar saga or an even greater sequel.

While personally not my favorite Mario & Luigi, I heavily respect it. An interesting, potentially gross take on literally being inside Bowser's body. It's done very well though, with the trademark eccentric humor that AlphaDream is known for. Just getting to play as Bowser makes it an instant majesty, and Bowser's brawns-over-brains forthrightness and arrogance makes for the setup of some truly hilarious jokes. If I were to critique it, it would simply be that the giant-Bowser battles often dragged on a little too long, making them cumbersome to have to repeat. Another critique would be that the locations of the world map itself I found to be a little dull, for example there is only one major town in the game - and I didn't find locations like Plack Beach or Dimble Woods to have much exciting landmarks like interesting buildings to explore, or just general landmarks. I think this may be to the limitations of Bowser as a playable character, which limits explore-ability a little bit due to the limits of his abilities (for example, Luigi going below gates like the Bros. could do in this game and Superstar Saga). Finally, I found the game was a bit too frugal on giving out experience points, and maybe a bit too heavy on the amount of enemies - I found it kind of took a long time to level up. Overall though, genuinely and generally a joy to play. I might just go on an AlphaDream binge now!

from my twitter media thread:

top 1 DS game and top 1 mario & luigi game and its not even close. rip alphadream i'm so sad a poorly timed remake of this phenomenal game is what killed the company. i hope we can see more of this series someday

addendum:

nothing to add. top 1 DS game still