I love this game. My favorite Mario RPG out of all of them (followed by Paper Mario 64), it's so good. It's quite story heavy, which differs quite a bit from most other Mario games, and it really builds off the previous 2 Mario & Luigi games. Returning characters, references, and just being built off of Partners in Time really makes this game work. While you do lose 2 playable characters from the last game, you do gain a new one, that being Bowser. His style of play is much different from Mario and Luigi's, which I think is for the best, as the Baby Bros. from Partners in Time were just Mario and Luigi but slightly smaller with worse stats. But Bowser, he's a powerhouse. While he can never work in tandem with the Bros., he makes up for by being able to crush every enemy in his path. Overall though, Bowser's Inside Story changes quite a bit from the last 2 games, and it is just a lot of fun, with a wonderful world. If you like Mario and RPGs, give this one a shot.

Bowser's Inside Story has one end goal: to redeem Bowser in Mario RPG's.

Bowser as a character in the Mario RPG's is a big loser, particularly up to the point of this game. Outside of his main antagonist role in Paper Mario, he's always been shafted either he's forced to work with Mario as a sidekick, such as in Mario RPG and Super Paper Mario, or he's constantly lagging behind him, out of the loop and merely a minor obstacle for Mario in his grander journey, such as in Thousand Year Door. Or, he's completely hijacked by the actual main antagonist, such as the case of the prior two Mario and Luigi's. He's a loser. I love him, but he really isn't all that.

Bowser's Inside Story seeks to repair that image. To remind you why Bowser is the self-proclaimed "King of Awesome". This is the one time in any Mario RPG where he's playable in which you really FEEL like Bowser. I wouldn't really say that Mario sidescroller imitations sell that image of Bowser. But this game does an amazing job at putting you in his shell, slamming enemies with your fists, roasting them with your fire breath, commanding your minions to do devastating damage, it all feels so good. And it helps to make this game stand out from any other Mario game, RPG or otherwise.

I've seen it said before that Bowser in BiS, is secretly the main character. That Mario and his brother get top billing, but Bowser is the real star of the show. And I kept that in mind in my repeat playthrough of this game, which I haven't beaten in quite a while. And I get it. Though Mario and Luigi do have a strong focus in this game, they don't drive the plot the way Bowser does. You don't navigate the final rooms of this game as the duo, you spend it as Bowser, every major location of the game you go through first as Bowser. Hell, those two play what is essentially a literal supporting role, helping Bowser become the badass he needs to be to save the day, stuck to those 2D sections in his body for a majority of the game, only really freely exploring the Mushroom Kingdom to look for Star Cures. And several of the locations in this game are completely optional for them. The world feels so catered to Bowser's overworld moveset that I actually find it weird to navigate the same locations with Mario and Luigi, which helps to support the perspective I brought up. It's his game, this is HIS (Inside) Story, and finally realizing that made this game so much more cool to me.

In all honesty, I really grew to appreciate how Mario and Luigi play into this story. That Bowser has to take center stage, and they perfectly acclimate to their sudden new roles. What it really adds to the relationship between the duo and their nemesis is so cool to me. That Mario and Luigi will back up their enemy when he needs help, that Bowser grows so much in this game because of his most despised adversaries. Bowser keeps trying, keeps growing, just so one day he can beat Mario. Little does he know that Mario supports him, not just because the world needs him, but because Mario will always be there to drive Bowser to keep going.

I've previously criticized this game for several elements, one of which being that Bowser is unaware of Mario's assistance until the last minute. But, for some reason, it clicked this time. Yeah, Bowser is unaware, and I really do want more interactions between them such as when they scuffle in Doctor Toadley's office, but I think for this game's story, it really did work a lot. Bowser doesn't know Mario supports him, but we do, and there's something so impactful to me every time Mario and Luigi shoot up his adrenaline to make him grow, that they're reviving their enemy so he can keep fighting. Plus, I genuinely did get emotional when Starlow tried to open up to Bowser about how he isn't alone before the final battle, that they will support him to the very end. That fucking gets to me. The ending where they send a cake to Bowser to thank him for all of his help makes me melt. Bowser may have trouble accepting the value that Mario and his friends have to him, but they appreciate everything he did for them.

That one grievance I listed, alongside my grievance about how Mario and Fawful never directly face off outside of two small interactions in cutscenes, bummed me out when I first played this game. I let that missing opportunity haunt my feelings towards the game. And I was wrong for that. I rarely ever reevaluate my thoughts on a game so severely, but there was a time where I would've considered this game below Superstar Saga, Dream Team, and Partners in Time. Still a good game, but vastly over hyped. I'm genuinely ashamed that I let my own desires tear down this amazing game, this genuine accomplishment for Mario RPG's, that solidified the gameplay of Mario and Luigi for all future entries, that actually made it hard to break the game into two without inserting some obvious debug tool disguised as equipment, that introduced super bosses to these games, the giant battles, level ranks, everything involving Bowser, I failed to appreciate not just because I was too focused on what wasn't there, but because I was simply unimpressed as this was the final Mario and Luigi I got to play after playing every prior entry years ago. You should really try not to judge games for what they're not. Rather, appreciate them for what they are, criticize them for what they are. Bowser's Inside Story is the most charming, most funny, and most engaging game of the original trilogy, the fact that I wanted more out of certain characters means that they nailed these characters so hard that I just wanted to see more of them.

I am very glad I started to play these games in proper order, going from SS and PiT to this game really made me appreciate what this game did for the Mario and Luigi series, I truly understand why this game has such a passionate following, and I am right alongside you all on that. I was blind before, but now I truly understand what Peak Fiction™ is. I don't know if I'll feel as positive towards Dream Team as I have in the past, but it'll be fun to reapproach it either way.

This is the most memory-filled M&L game for me. So many wacky characters, great writing, and you can go inside Bowser?! Awesome.
I used to think that RPGs "just wasn't my genre" but looking back at it they were TOTALLY my thing.... if it had Mario on it. I had this, Partners in Time, Paper Mario 64 and TTYD... what a liar.
It looks like I played the wheels off of it too - one file has Mario and Luigi both level 30, Bowser level 28. another file has 12.5 hours, all on level 19. There was probably another file too, judging my my 3DS time count of 55 hours.

The best Mario title, no contest. The gameplay is tight and satisfying, challenging but never unfair. The puzzles are fun and never so complex to be irritating, both in 2D and top-down. The writing and humor are top-notch throughout the whole game. The artwork is just right, and the music knocks it out of the park. Every moment hides something memorable and fun, and taking the time to get everything I possibly could out of this game was one of my favorite gaming experiences. The only thing holding this back from being perfect is the occasional hiccup with the DS features, particularly the Fawful Express requiring heavy microphone usage and that damn carrot minigame.

there are pipes in the mushroom kingdom that lead to the inside of bowser's body. there's one at the toad town mall. What are we suppose to think of this.

BIS is good. It's got a fun core gimmick thats used well throughout the game (swapping between Bowser in the overworld and M&L inside his body).

There's not much really going on under the hood combat wise outside but thats kinda M&L thing. You aren't doing much outside of using whatever your highest cost bro move and dodging attacks, but honestly its fun to press button and there's interesting attack patterns from enemies and bosses so who am I really to complain. Some bosses do have their own mechanics to keep you from just Pressing Highest Damage Skill but also pressing big damage skill also worked just as well.

If anything I wish they had gone harder with boss mechanics. Some bosses had cool thins like Bowser Swallows Boss > Swiches to M&L > Counter attacking well as M&L launches boss out > boss gets stunned giving bowser multiple rounds of free attacks, but not enough bosses did stuff like this in my opinion.

I also hated all the giant bosses, but thats less of an actual boss problem and more of I Fucking Hate Using DS gimmicks. Stop making me blow into my mic. I swear my stylus is kinda busted because I had my stylus motions just get ghosted soooo many times it drives. And this happens in a lot of things on this game, minigames that use stylus motions and shit all kinda drove me insane. It was only going back to DS/3DS that made me think I hate gameplay related console gimmicks. Please god nintendo if you can hear me no more stupid console gimmicks for switch 2, i really enjoyed that the switch 2 was just a console and i played it on my television and thats it.

Obviously theres nothing to actually write story wise its a fuckin mario game but i do like Bowser being able to talk a lot. Love that guy. They should stop being mean to him. The game has some great sprite work; I THINK i like this game's sprite work more than the remake's art style but i'd be lying if I said the remake was ugly.

Funny, looks nice, cool core gimmick, main gameplay is pretty shallow but pressing a button with a right timing to do bonus damage or dodge damage is one of life's simplest pleasures, and I fucking hate doing stupid DS console gimmicks. Give it a shot, and dont think about how the remake bombed so hard it sank alphadream almost instantly.