Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story

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Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story
An illustration of Mario and Luigi against a white background, peaking up from behind the game's logo while the anthropomorphic turtle monster Bowser looks in from the right and the star sprite Starlow flies in from the left
North American packaging artwork
Developer(s)AlphaDream
Publisher(s)Nintendo
Director(s)Hiroyuki Kubota
Producer(s)Toshiharu Izuno
Akira Otani
Yoshihiko Maekawa
Artist(s)Kouichi Fukazawa
Writer(s)Hiroyuki Kubota
Composer(s)Yoko Shimomura
SeriesMario & Luigi
Platform(s)Nintendo DS
Release
  • JP/ROC: February 11, 2009
  • NA: September 15, 2009[1]
  • EU: October 19, 2009
  • AU: October 22, 2009
  • KOR: July 21, 2011
Genre(s)Role-playing
Mode(s)Single-player

Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story[a] is a role-playing video game, developed by AlphaDream and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS handheld game console in 2009. It is the third game in the Mario & Luigi role-playing series, and it made use of the interactive screens of the DS in some of its gameplay mechanics while also introducing several elements that would be used in the series' future gameplay.

The game's plot involves Mario and Luigi being inhaled into the body of their long-time nemesis, Bowser. The Mario brothers learn to help Bowser, who is unaware of their presence, to combat their mutual enemy Fawful, who has taken control of the Mushroom Kingdom. The gameplay focuses on the cooperation of the trio, who use their specific abilities to solve puzzles, fight enemies and thus progress through the game. Similar to its predecessors, its role-playing style emphasizes a turn-based battle system focused on timing accuracy, and it is almost entirely comedic in nature.

The game was both critically and commercially successful, with many fans and critics considering it to be the best game in the series. It is the second best-selling Mario role-playing game, having sold over four million copies worldwide by April 2011.[2]

A sequel, titled Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, was released for the Nintendo 3DS on July 12, 2013. A remake for the Nintendo 3DS, titled Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey, was released in Japan on December 27, 2018, in North America on January 11, 2019, in Europe on January 25, 2019, and in Australia on January 26, 2019.

Gameplay[]

See also: Gameplay of Partners in Time

Gameplay alternates among three characters: Mario and Luigi, who are controlled together on the bottom screen using A and B, and Bowser, who is controlled on the top screen with X and Y. There are two main worlds: the main overworld, which is played in an overhead view, and the world inside Bowser's body, which is a 2D side-scrolling world. Although most of the game is played with Mario and Luigi inside Bowser and Bowser himself in the overworld, Mario and Luigi also have opportunities to visit the overworld via warp pipes as the game progresses. Gameplay typically alternates between controlling the brothers and controlling Bowser. Some sections involve direct interaction between the brothers and Bowser.

The battle system from the previous two games is re-used with Bowser as a playable character. Bowser's battles are similar to Mario and Luigi's, although Bowser specializes in punching and breathing fire. During Bowser's battles, he can inhale defenses and enemies from the top screen. Any inhaled enemies enter his body, where Mario and Luigi fight them. Mario, Luigi, and Bowser have their own sets of special attacks that use the touchscreen. Mario and Luigi can unlock abilities by finding attack pieces, while Bowser can earn new abilities by rescuing his caged minions or by finding living, kitten-like blocks called Blitties.

Characters have "ranks" that increase with their level. Upon reaching these milestones, that character receives a special bonus, such as an additional equipment slot, additional equipment, or being able to visit new shops. Mario and Luigi each have six ranks, while Bowser has four. The badge system from previous games has also changed; now Mario and Luigi can use certain effects by filling a meter and then touching it to activate its effect. The badge's effect, such as health recovery or raising stats, varies depending on the combination of badges equipped.

There are various minigames in which the Mario Bros. have to help out Bowser's body from the inside in order to help him progress. Examples include the "Arm Center", where the brothers hit sparklike items into a muscle to strengthen Bowser's arms; the "Leg Outpost", where they stomp on leg muscles to strengthen Bowser's legs; and the "Gut Check", where they help digest food that Bowser eats. One location, the "Rump Command", has the player accumulate adrenaline in order to supersize Bowser if he is crushed, leading to a new battle system in which the DS is held vertically and all attacks require the stylus and microphone.[3] The 3DS version substitutes button presses for the microphone but still incorporates the stylus for certain moves.

Plot[]

The game opens with a disease called "The Blorbs" spreading across the Mushroom Kingdom. Toads that become infected with the disease inflate like a balloon and roll around uncontrollably. A council meeting is immediately called at Princess Peach's Castle to discuss what can be done about the epidemic. Starlow, a representative of the Star Sprites that watch over the Mushroom Kingdom, also attends. At the meeting, it is discovered that all those affected had previously eaten a "Blorb Mushroom" given to them by a salesman, who is secretly the mad scientist Fawful. Bowser invades the castle attempting to kidnap Princess Peach but is defeated by Mario and expelled from the castle, sending him flying outward.

Bowser finds himself in Dimble Wood, where he is tricked by Fawful into eating a "Vacuum Shroom" that gives him the power to inhale things. Immediately after eating it, Bowser begins mindlessly inhaling everything in sight and goes back to the castle, where he inhales Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Starlow, and their friends into his body, the process shrinking all of them to microscopic size. After this, Bowser passes out, and with Peach now gone and the Blorbs disease incapacitating the majority of the Mushroom Kingdom, Fawful proceeds to take over Peach's castle, while his assistant, the boar-like Midbus, takes over Bowser's castle. Navigating Bowser's body, Mario and Luigi manage to revive him, and he is revealed to have no memory of his mindless rampage and consequently does not know the Mario brothers are inside his body. Bowser only communicates with Starlow, who nicknames herself "Chippy" to avoid suspicion. Bowser begins tracking down Fawful in an attempt to reclaim his castle with the assistance of the Mario Bros. and Starlow.

After leading Bowser into a trap, Fawful extracts Peach from inside of Bowser's body and takes possession of the Dark Star, an evil and powerful entity with a seal that can only be broken by Peach. When the trio finds a barricade preventing any of them from entering Peach's castle, Mario and Luigi are able to sneak out of Bowser's body together via warp pipe into Toad Town, where physician Dr. Toadley tells them they must gather the three Star Cures in order to create the Miracle Cure, a magical medicinal object that will cure the Blorbs disease and destroy the barricade. Bowser overhears this and races for the cures himself, only to be trapped in a safe by some of his minions who betrayed him to serve Fawful. Ultimately, the brothers collect all three star cures, and the Miracle Cure destroys the barricade, healing the Blorbs disease in the process.

Bowser is freed from the safe and tracks down Fawful in Peach's transformed castle. After Bowser defeats Midbus, the Dark Star's seal finally breaks. Fawful starts absorbing its power until Bowser punches him away, and it enters Bowser's body, where it leeches on his cells and absorbs his DNA. Mario and Luigi go back inside Bowser's body to stop the Dark Star, but it escapes, and uses Bowser's DNA to start to become a shadowy, powerful doppelgänger of Bowser named Dark Bowser, and searches for Fawful to reclaim the power that he stole from it to complete the transformation. Fawful, meanwhile, has begun trying to locate the Dark Star to finish taking its power, but Bowser finds and defeats him, just before Dark Bowser finds Fawful and absorbs him. This allows for it to finally complete its transformation, and its power threatens the Mushroom Kingdom. Bowser fights Dark Bowser, and inhales the Dark Star's core when it tries to get away after he wins, allowing Mario and Luigi to fight and destroy the Dark Star's core, thus destroying Dark Bowser and the Dark Star, restoring the Mushroom Kingdom to normal. Fawful, having been inhaled into Bowser as part of the Dark Star's core during the battle, initially feigns remorse, before suddenly self-destructing in a final effort to destroy the Mario Bros. The explosion causes Bowser to regurgitate them and everyone else that he had inhaled. Enraged by the discovery, Bowser proceeds to fight the Mario Bros. but is defeated and retreats back to his castle. The two castles are rebuilt, Bowser's minions return their loyalty to him and Peach sends Bowser a cake as gratitude for his unintentionally heroic efforts.

Development[]

The game was revealed at Nintendo's Tokyo Press Event, held in Japan in October 2008, under the Japanese title of Mario & Luigi RPG 3!!!.[4] The conference revealed details of the then-upcoming game, relating to the plot and gameplay mechanics, as well as the fact that it would involve extensive use of the touchscreen.[5] AlphaDream, developers of Superstar Saga and Partners in Time, developed this game along with experienced contributors to the Mario series such as Yoko Shimomura and Charles Martinet working on music and voice acting respectively. At E3 2009, it was revealed that the official English name of the game would be Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story and that it would be released in fall 2009 for North America and Europe.[6]

Reception[]

Bowser's Inside Story received critical acclaim and is the highest rated game of the Mario role-playing games, with many of the praises going to the improved gameplay, storyline, humor, and Bowser's role as the focal character. The first North American critic to review it was the magazine Nintendo Power, who scored the game a 9.5/10 saying it is "the best RPG-style Mario adventure ever made," and that "Anyone who loves the Mario characters, role-playing games, or even action games should absolutely give Bowser's Inside Story a look."[37] IGN awarded it a 9.5 as well as an Editors Choice Award. GameInformer awarded the game an 8.75 out of 10 and gave it an award for "Handheld Game of the Month". GameDaily gave the game 10/10. Official Nintendo Magazine gave the game 92%, saying "Bowser's Inside Story is the freshest, most vital RPG on the DS for ages". GameSpot gave the game a 9.0, and awarded it with an Editors' Choice award, praising the overall plot and story.[47] X-Play's Blair Herter gave the game a 5 out of 5, highly praising the plot.[48] Giant Bomb's Brad Shoemaker gave the game a 5 out of 5, and the website later named it the Best DS Game of 2009.[49][50]

Bowser's Inside Story was the top-selling game in its first week of release in Japan at 193,000 copies.[51] It sold 650,000 copies during the first half of 2009 and finished out the year as the 11th best-selling game at 717,940 copies sold in the country.[52][53] According to NPD Group, Bowser's Inside Story was the fourth best-selling game for its release month at 258,100 copies sold in the United States.[54] It continued to sell well in the following months and had sold 656,700 copies in the region by the end of December 2009.[55][56][57]

Remake[]

Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey
Bowser'sInsideStory3DS.jpg
North American packaging artwork
Developer(s)AlphaDream
Arzest (Giant Battles)
Publisher(s)Nintendo
Director(s)Shunsuke Kobayashi
Producer(s)Toshiharu Izuno
Akira Otani
Yoshihiko Maekawa
Artist(s)Kouichi Fukazawa
Writer(s)Hiroyuki Kubota
Composer(s)Yoko Shimomura
SeriesMario & Luigi
Platform(s)Nintendo 3DS
Release
  • JP: December 27, 2018
  • NA: January 11, 2019
  • EU: January 25, 2019
  • AU: January 26, 2019
Genre(s)Role-playing
Mode(s)Single-player

On March 8, 2018, Nintendo revealed a Nintendo 3DS remake of the game, entitled Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey.[b] The remake, following on from the success of the 3DS remake of Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, features updated graphics, remastered music, quality-of-life improvements, and significant changes in gameplay, such as the reworking of special moves in combat. While the majority of the game was handled in-house at AlphaDream, the "Giant Bowser" boss fights were assisted by developer Arzest and are now presented as full 3D models. In addition, the game also involves a new side story entitled Bowser Jr.'s Journey, which focuses on the story of Bowser Jr. during the events of Bowser's Inside Story, playing similar to the Minion Quest side story found in the Superstar Saga remake. It was released in Japan in December 2018, with a worldwide release following in January 2019. Additionally, it is the final Mario game published for the Nintendo 3DS family of systems.

In an interview with Game Informer shortly after the game's launch, AlphaDream producer Yoshihiko Maekawa and Nintendo producer Akira Otani stated that the main reason to remake Bowser's Inside Story for the 3DS instead of the Nintendo Switch was due to timing; they could easily build the game based on existing assets and, more critically, they wanted to retain the dual-screen elements of the original title such as the minigames and Giant Battles. The reason they skipped over a remake of Partners in Time was because they wanted to remake the best received title in the series. Additionally, they wanted to take the opportunity to explore the parent-child dynamics between Bowser and Bowser Jr., which manifested in Bowser Jr.'s Journey.[58]

While critical reception was generally positive, Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey has had a poor launch sales record, being not only the worst-selling Mario & Luigi title in the series, but also one of the worst-selling Mario games of all time since the Virtual Boy, a stark contrast to the original release which remains the best-selling entry in the subseries. In Japan, it sold under 9,500 units in the first week and dropped off the top 20 charts by the second week. In comparison, of the time period released and another re-release of an older Mario game, New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe has sold 381,469 units in a shorter period of time. Compared to other Nintendo 3DS ports of the Mario series released at a similar time frame on their first week, Luigi's Mansion and Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker sold 27,000 and 20,547 units respectively. Famitsu's sales tracker reported the game as selling a total of 34,523 copies in its lifetime, making it one of the worst-selling games in the entire Mario franchise.[59][unreliable source?]

The remake was nominated for the Freedom Tower Award for Best Remake at the New York Game Awards,[60] and for "Writing in a Comedy" at the NAVGTR Awards.[61]

Notes[]

  1. ^ Known in Japan as Mario & Luigi RPG 3!!! (マリオ&ルイージRPG3!!!, Mario ando Ruīji Āru Pī Jī Surī!!!)
  2. ^ Known in Japan as Mario & Luigi RPG 3!!! DX (マリオ&ルイージRPG3!!! DX (デラックス), Mario ando Ruīji Āru Pī Jī Surī!!! Derakkusu)

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