Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story
article by Mudstep
Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story is considered a ‘must play’ Mario Spin-off by most fans, and with good reason. It’s not just one of the most innovative and unique games developed for the DS, but even one of the most innovative and unique games in the Mario series as a whole.
I got this game on launch day when I was 4, which makes it one of the first games I’ve ever played, the first game I’ve ever beaten, and my personal introduction to the RPG genre. I could talk about this game for hours on end, but I’ve decided to focus this piece primarily on the main gimmick of the game: the bowser in the outside world and Mario and Luigi inside Bowser working together.
This gimmick is pulled off in two ways, one being in the overworld and in battle. Often times, in the game, Mario and Luigi will have to undergo certain tasks inside of Bowser’s body to affect Bowser in the overworld. For example, at various points in the game, Bowser needs a bit of extra strength to get past some specific obstacles (pulling a rope, lifting a wiggler statue, pulling a banzai bill out of the ground). The player must go into Bowser’s ‘arm center,’ and stimulate his muscles with a little minigame-of-sorts, involving hitting energy balls shot from a cannon into Bowser’s arm muscle, using Mario and Luigi’s hammers. At another point in the game, Bowser loses access to his fire-breathing ability. Mario and Luigi must go into Bowser’s flame pipe to check on the issue, and discover that a Scutlet that Bowser had ingested is blocking the flame pipe. Once the player defeats the Scutlet, the player can use Bowser’s fire-breathing again. It’s just extremely entertaining to see all of the ways AlphaDream requires Mario, Luigi, and Bowser to work together in order to progress through the game.
In battles, this gimmick works a bit differently. Bowser can use his inhale ability to suck in enemies and parts of enemies on the battlefield. Sometimes, these enemies, soon after being sucked in, are fought inside Bowser’s body by Mario and Luigi. This allows for the battle to be more dynamic and keeps it interesting. My personal favorite use of this mechanic is the final boss fight against Dark Bowser. When Bowser weakens Dark Bowser enough and sucks in the Dark Star core, Mario and Luigi will fight Dark Fawful. This acts as the phase 2 section of the fight and requires a completely different strategy, which again, keeps the battle more interesting than just trying to spam attack Dark Bowser until he’s defeated.
As I said, I could talk about this game for hours on end. Mario and Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story is definitely a must-play game in the Mario Series, and the gimmick described in this piece is just one of the countless aspects which make this game a masterpiece.
Wahoo! You are a Super Reader! But the adventure doesn’t stop here… There’s more of this project in another castle! This article is just one level in an entire Super Mario Multiverse, a galactic collaboration between writers around the world sharing a bit of our hearts and memories about our favorite Mario games. Visit the Center of the Multiverse to see more:
