It’s a well-documented fact that I am not a fan of traditional RPGs, for reasons unknown to me. If you give me the same strategy-based gameplay with a different facade, like that of Earthbound, I’ll eat it up. It’s something I’ve never really been too sure about. What I do know, however, is that Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story is now one of my all-time favorite RPGs, as well as one of my favorite DS games. And I can tell you why.
The Mario & Luigi series has always had excellent writing, and this may be the best example yet. The residents of the Mushroom Kingdom have somehow become gargantuan, rotund blobs, and this is an emergency for about five minutes, before it’s promptly forgotten about by the game. In rather short order, Mario, Luigi and crew find themselves inhaled into Bowser’s body, and the story proper picks up from there. It’s a little strange, but that doesn’t mean it’s not engaging, and the climactic finale is very exciting. It doesn’t take itself seriously most of the time, but it can when it needs to.
The script is excellent, as is usually the case. Bowser’s character is one of my favorites in the series, and he gets most of the script for himself in this game, which is a delight. He’s the perfect mix of sarcastic, egotistical, angry and irreverent. Even better is the constant presence of the game’s main villain, the absolutely hilarious Fawful. These two characters alone would make this game comedy gold, and thankfully the rest of the cast is similarly funny. The game never takes itself too seriously, but it knows not to go too far. It’s a joy to watch cutscenes as much as it is to play.
Speaking of playing, the Mario & Luigi series has a great formula going on. It takes normal RPG conventions of turn-based battle, special attacks, hit points and the like and adds a layer of interactivity to the entire mix. When you attack an enemy, tapping a button with good timing will increase your attack power. If an enemy attacks you, you can successfully input a dodge command to avoid all damage, if you’re lucky. If you use a special attack, you’ll be really challenged, as you have to memorize positions and button combinations in order to really get the most out of it. The best part of this whole system is that there’s no such thing as an unfair attack from an enemy, as with enough skill and practice, you can handle anything that comes your way.
There are two different battle systems in place, one for Mario and Luigi and one for Bowser. The bros fight as they always have, hammering and jumping on their enemies, while Bowser’s main attacks are a superpowered punch and his flaming breath. While the special attacks for the dynamic duo are all button-based, you’ll be breaking out the stylus for the Koopa King’s superpowered attacks. Additionally, Bowser has a vacuum breath attack, where he can take in some of the enemies into his stomach for the Mario Bros. to battle, and all three characters gain experience. The general switching of battle styles helps keep the game from getting stale. Also, battles aren’t random. That is always nice.
Besides the battling, which is the meat of any RPG adventure, there’s the puzzles of the overworld. If you’ve played the game before, you generally know what to expect from Bowser; the puzzles are mostly based on exploration, where you have to explore the landscape to find the right way to remove whatever obstruction is blocking your path. It’s a bit slow-paced, and not quite as fun as what the Mario Bros. end up doing. As Mario and Luigi, exploring either inside or outside of Bowser’s body, you can shrink Mario down, spin through the air, or tunnel underground to get to where you need to go, and if you’re inside Bowser, you’ll be solving more interesting puzzles in order to progress, in a style that feels like a mash-up of traditional platformer and RPG. It reminds me a bit of Super Paper Mario, now that I think about it.
This sort of exploration is broken up by the occasional mini-game; these can vary in scope and playstyle, but they’re almost always welcome and entertaining, and the game has enough that they don’t get repetitive. While Bowser doesn’t get as many mini-games as the bros, he instead is given the opportunity to turn into a gigantic version of himself for some epic large-scale touch-screen battles. It’s even more fun than it sounds.
Besides that, there’s a good amount of RPG-style customization available to you. As you level up, you’ll gain access to better and better equipment that will let you steer your characters in a certain direction, such as high HP, high defense, high strength, things like that. Bowser’s Inside Story also includes a new feature known as Badges, which give you access to certain abilities in mid-battle. As you land successive well-timed attacks, the Badge meter fills up, and once it’s full, you can tap it to unlock its effects. I personally had mine set to a powerful heal, since I’m an item hog and conserve all items I ever get for the final boss battle, but you can also give a temporary strength increase and things like that. The game is set up to cater to your specific RPG playstyle.
My personal playthrough, up until the final boss, clocked in at a little over 23 hours. There’s a bit more to be done after that, if you want to be a completionist and obtain the final rank for your characters. Most importantly, though, I never felt bored, and never dreaded any particular part of the game. I was interested for all 23 hours of the game, and when it ended I wished there was more to do.
Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story is easily one of the best games I’ve played all year, if not one of the better DS games I’ve ever gotten to play. I give this game an emphatic Yay! for anyone who wants a fun and interesting RPG adventure. Casual-to-hardcore players could find this as a good entry point for RPGs, given its interactive nature, and gaming veterans will probably appreciate it even more. I don’t see much reason to pass this one up.
