Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story

Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story is a 2009 game developed by AlphaDream and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS. A remake of the game was released in December 2018 for the Nintendo 3DS, nearly 10 years after the original game. The 3DS version is the thirty-first and final Mario game released for the 3DS, and so far, the last Mario & Luigi game overall. This is the second game after Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga to have a 3DS remake and unlike its predecessors, it was not released on the Wii U's Virtual Console.

Plot
A mysterious disease called the "blorbs" breaks out in the Mushroom Kingdom and is causing the toads to become round and barely able to move around. Princess Peach arranges a meeting to discuss what to do with the disease, but Bowser arrives and tries to kidnap Peach, only to get sent flying out the castle by Mario and land in Dimble Wood, where he buys a "Lucky Mushroom" from a merchant, which turns out to be a "Vacuum Shroom". This causes him to accidentally inhale everyone attending the meeting, including Mario, Luigi, and the star sprite Starlow. Bowser then passes out afterwards and the merchant is revealed to be Fawful, who takes over both the Mushroom and Koopa Kingdoms after Bowser inhaled everyone. Upon hearing that Midbus, Fawful's right hand man, has taken over Bowser's castle, he sets out to defeat the fiendish Beanish and the shelled swine with the help of the Mario Bros. and Starlow (although Bowser is unaware of their presence).

Why It Rules

 * 1) It's the first time that Bowser ever appears as the main protagonist, with some amazing dialogue on his own. It's also the fourth time where he is a playable character in a Mario RPG.
 * 2) The plot is on par with the likes of its predecessors, being absolutely incredible and featuring some moments as Elite Trio betraying Bowser (and the fact that at the end they beg him for forgiveness only makes it funnier), Chakron forces the Bros. to make an earthquake by using Snack Basket attack and during that Mario gets kidnapped by Sockops, whom is saved by his brother, or when the Dark Star steals Bowser's DNA to create Dark Bowser.
 * 3) In addition to the Koopa King, you can also play as Mario and Luigi, of course. You can switch between the Bros. and Bowser at any time by pressing the X, Y, A, and B buttons.
 * 4) Like Kirby, Bowser can inhale small enemies in battle. Unlike the pink puffball, however, Mario and Luigi can battle them inside of Bowser.
 * 5) Some of Bowser's actions in the overworld can make some areas inside him accessible for Mario and Luigi to explore (except for the part when he gets electrocuted in the Toad Town and he goes to the Toad Clinic to fight the Bros.).
 * 6) Bowser's special attacks are pretty well thought out, as they involve summoning armies of various creatures such as Bowser's minions and Broggy (Broque Monseur's pet).
 * 7) You can play as Giant Bowser to fight Giant Bosses, which are as amazing as they sound (except for the Fawful Express fight, which is considered to be more unfair than hard).
 * 8) Awesome soundtrack, especially the final boss theme "The Grand Finale" (A.K.A. In The Final), "The Wind is Blown at Cavi Cape", "Deep Castle", and "Through Thick and Thin at the Plains". And since this is an RPG, you can hear it as long as you want during your turn without any penalty.
 * 9) Special attacks don't count as items anymore and are used by consuming SP (Special Points), just like the first game in the series.
 * 10) * Speaking about special attacks, using them on enemies feels like playing mini-games involving various actions as picking up falling snacks and latter pressing A button to launch Luigi, memorizing the Bros'. placements in a spinning pipe or mashing buttons when aiming for a flying star simultaneously.
 * 11) * Bowser's special attacks involve using a touch screen, which utilizes DS perfectly such as rubbing the Broggy on the screen, sliding the stylus repeatedly or sliding Bowser's body up and down.
 * 12) The bosses are really fun, on the top of that being fights with Dark Fawful, Dark Star, second Bowser fight in Toad Town, Blizzard Midbus, Junker and Dark Star Core.
 * 13) Decent replay ability thanks to challenges such as the Challenge Mode for Mario and Luigi, which has challenges regarding Bros. Attacks and a boss rush (with Bowser X, the hardest boss in the game, at the end) and Broque Madame's house for Bowser as special attack challenges.
 * 14) Many improvements and features were added in the 3DS remake, just like in the 3DS remake of Superstar Saga.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The Giant Bowser battles can't be replayed unless you start a new save file, though this was implemented in the remake. Adding onto that, there's a lack of a boss rush for Bowser, meaning you cannot refight some bosses such as Blizzard Midbus, Dark Fawful, Sea Pipe Hero, Wiggler, and Midbus when Bowser sees him in Fawful Theater.
 * 2) The way Mario and Luigi shout each other's name when either of them faint in battle sounds a bit weird and really annoying. Fortunately, this was toned down significantly in the remake.
 * 3) While the original runs at 60 FPS, the remake only runs at 30 FPS.
 * 4) Starlow is a bit unlikable towards Luigi and Bowser, though it's a bit more justified in the latter's case.
 * 5) Cavi Cape is the smallest area in the game & only used to wake up bowser at the beginning of the game & Bowser's first battle with Midbus despite the music being nice to listen to.
 * 6) The Fawful Express is an infamously hard boss.
 * 7) While being a great evolution to the fight in Toad Town, Bowser X battle is unfair in comparison to other X Bosses (like Junker or Dark Star), and even in order to fight him you should complete a gauntlet of six X bosses.

Bowser Jr.’s Journey

 * 1) Bowser Jr. acts like a little brat, making him very unlikable due to his laziness and bossing the other Koopalings around (although he later improves himself thanks to Kamek's help).

Videos
XtsAJ9r24j4 a0p46GZ2JxE rBrMjnbp4nI&t=1318s