Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story is the peak and pinnacle of the series. Both the bros and Bowser have fun to use move-sets, with Mario & Luigi having their returning attacks polished. The game combines 3D puzzles via the overworld with 2D puzzles in Bowser's body, allowing for the best of both worlds. There is also a good bit of side content, with some satisfying rewards alongside them. The story is pretty good as well, particularly in the character department. Bowser is good fun as always and his humor is great. Fawful is possibly one of the best villains in the Mario series, his personality being a breath of fresh air from the somewhat generic maniacal villain stereotype that Cackletta and Princess Shroob had. Overall, a very good turn-based RPG.

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.

Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story was the first RPG I ever played. I also have quite a bit of history with it over the years too. Back when I first had the game, I played it quite a bit and ended up getting pretty far. The further I got, the more difficult it was to progress. The game wasn't absurdly hard for me it was that my DS shoulder pads beginning to wear out from use over the years. I ended up getting to the final boss but I could never mash fast enough when dealing with a certain part. I eventually abandoned it and sold it. Eventually Nintendo announced the 3ds remake back in 2018 and while the remake itself didn't need to exist, I was excited because that meant I'd finally get another chance at beating it. I did, and it took me over 8 years to do it. Since there is extra content and a handful of things to compare, I will probably review the remake a separate time.

The story itself isn't extremely grand or convoluted but it is better than your average Mario game and will likely keep you hooked on what happens next. The dialogue is what really makes the game and all of the characters will definitely get a chuckle out of you in some capacity. Bowser is the one who steals the show in this game though, not only is Bowser a bit of a goofball but you get to see more of his personality in general which is something you don't usually get in a Mario game. He is a fully three-dimensional character and not just a "bad guy who kidnaps damsel-in-distress."

The gameplay is a lot more engaging than most RPGs. It is turn-based but unlike most turn-based games you actually have control over your attacks for better or worse based on your timing. The same goes for enemy attacks as well since you will have to memorize their patterns and have the proper timing to avoid their moves. Even outside of the traditional combat, the game gets very unique with how it utilizes the DS's features. The stylus is used in mech fights and you do use it for certain moments where you're inside Bowser. Speaking of that, the gameplay really takes advantage of the concept of the Mario Bros being stuck inside Bowser. There are a wide variety of minigames and puzzles that make the game fun and give it a sense of immersion since you're usually shown what happens to Bowser as a result of what you're doing to him on the inside.

The soundtrack is peak Yoko Shimomura and rivals her work in the Kingdom Hearts games. The most memorable song to me is In The Final which you can obviously tell by its name plays when you fight the final boss. It makes the fight all the more badass.

This game was a fantastic experience and I'm glad it was my introduction to the RPG genre. It's easily one of the best games released on the DS. If you love Mario or/and love RPGs, you won't want to miss this one.

this game is fun? but why is it so horny?
there's:
vore
inflation fetish
weight gain kink
waterworks
scat

this is the Salo of the Mario universe

Almost funny how I remembered all the insane high points from the first playthrough but upon a replay I kept running into moments of "Oh... this part..." The tutorials, the mini games, the giant battles, not all of them are bad but they're not the reason why I enjoy this game. And I did say "not all of them are bad", there are definitely ones that I could go the rest of my life never playing again.
The combat, characters, visuals, music, and creativity are exceptionally strong, but despite that this is kind of a "one-and-done" game. That isn't inherently bad, but it can feel like a slog to replay it and re-experience some of the best moments in any Mario game.

I was looking forward to finally be playing this after hearing only good things about it. And as far as presentation goes this is a 10/10. The music is amazing, the spritework is simply at its best and the writing is sharp.

The gameplay department covers a lot of diversity as well as providing the traditional Mario and Luigi formula to the mix. There's half and half segments that swaps over to stylus controls, whether you like that or not is subjective. What I personally wasn't a fan of was the continous swapping to stylus and regular controls through special attacks in any form of battle, again different strokes and the game does give you as much leisure as you need to put away your stylus before going back into the game.

While the writing is excellent and fawful is an entertaining villain he felt underutilised, as the plotline takes a backseat from the halfway point up until the endgame and really all you do is hunt for story stars and backtrack through areas you've already seen for a very good chunk of the remainder of the game. Skipping all the bean collecting and the few scattered collectatons/minigames leaves for a surprisingly short main campaign.
The dungeons however were all great and definitely the highlight and fundamentally Inside Story is super duper solid.

It was a fun run, but I also feel relieved to get away from the occasional boredom through all the less endearing exploration parts by the time I finished it.