Review — Bowser’s Inside Story

After spending the past few weeks with it, I can say without a doubt that Bowser’s Inside Story is one of the most unusual games I’ve ever played.  Shoving food in Luigi’s mouth to make him fat enough to attack, Monty Moles who refer to you as their “brosky,” slight bits of sexual innuendo while massaging Bowser’s back… like I said, it’s kind of unusual, and as a fan of the series I wouldn’t have it any other way.  The Mario & Luigi series, and Inside Story in particular, revel in their sheer oddness, taking the characters we all grew up with and poking, prodding, and twisting them until they’re caricatures of caricatures; slapping together some of the most hilarious and silly writing you’ll find anywhere; and topping it all off with extremely solid game mechanics to create one of the most fun and quirky franchises in a decade.  Oh, and we mustn’t forget about Fawful.  He alone should be the reason you pick this game up.

It’s very easy jumping into the experience if you’ve played the previous entries, as Inside Story plays pretty much the same as the other two games in the series: you control both Mario and Luigi with the A and B buttons, respectively, moving around on the world map like you would in a top-down platformer, while attacking your enemies and dodging their attacks in battle with careful button presses.  The game also let’s you take advantage of special DS functions like breathing into the mic to unleash giant Bowser’s flames or guiding platforms and performing special moves with the stylus.  The DS-centric stuff doesn’t work perfectly, but it’s never done to an annoying degree (see: forcing you to use gimmicks non-stop) and as silly as it may sound, breathing fire while actually huffing and puffing in real life is sort of neat.

The main attraction, as the title of the game would suggest, is Bowser.  It’s hard to remember a time when Bowser was all about being an evil super villain and kidnapping princesses, because nowadays he’s a pretty laid back, cool guy.  Hell, he’s Mario’s doubles tennis partner on weekends and doesn’t even mind playing a few board games with Donkey Kong now and then.  However, I like the new, reformed Bowser, too silly to do any real damage but just threatening enough to keep the Mushroom Kingdom on its toes.  And really, come on — with his vanity, surliness, and use of the word awesome, who couldn’t love the guy?

You’ll spend most of your time early on in the game controlling Bowser in the outside world while using the Mario Bros. — who’ve been sucked into the big lizard’s innards — to help him out.  His body will change depending on what happens to him, such as certain parts of his body filling up with water when he drinks out of a fountain, giving you access to new areas.  Not every way the Bros. can help out the Koopa King is fun, as a few of the events need to be repeated and they’re not all that fun to begin with, but they’re still a nice break from the regular action.

*possible spoiler* Later on in the game you’ll be able to leave Bowser’s body, which any veteran of the series will figure out within the first hour if they keep their eyes to the ground.  This keeps the game from becoming too repetitive and allows you to explore the world in different ways, like spotting certain areas that either Bowser or the Bros. can’t reach and plotting different ways to tackle them once you’re in control of the other characters.  It’s also a very intuitive experience switching between the two, unlike, say, games that force you to use four characters at once. *cough*PartnersInTime*cough*

*end possible spoiler* I know most people don’t bring up the DS when discussing ground-breaking or jaw-dropping visuals and soundtracks, but this game goes above and beyond what you’d think the little system would be capable of (while also giving the world a reason to keep loving 2D).  It’s just so gorgeous to look at, from the animated characters to the ton of varied areas, which range from “classic Nintendo” to “oh my god why is everything so sticky,” each one filled with cool new enemies and a few interesting takes on old classics (i.e. an extremely obese Goomba carrying a lollipop).  The music is brilliant too, with a very upbeat, charming soundtrack that is very much old-school Mario while also taking cues from other RPGs (I could have sworn I was playing a Final Fantasy game at one point).

With a hilarious storyline, wonderful characters, and extremely solid game mechanics, Inside Story is, by far, one of the best Mario games, DS games, RPG games, or just plain games in general out there right now.  It’s funny, colorful, and silly, all wrapped up in a beautiful package.  If you haven’t already, buy it, hug it, and spend the next 20+ hours violating Bowser’s inner sanctum.