I Have Chortles!

When I picked up the game Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story, it was very much like the last few installments put out by Nintendo. The graphics are similar to other Mario games, with the company opting to keep the cartoonish design. The animations are still fairly limited, considering it’s on the DS, but in keeping with previous titles it serves to keep the fan base feeling comfortable with the way the animations are done. There are no cut scenes with the characters looking realistic. All of the computer based storyline moments are kept within the same graphics to keep the game fully in tact and seamless.

The story itself is rather interesting which sets up a dual control scheme. We’re introduced to Fawful, the new enemy, who speaks amusingly bad English and manages to get the one-up on everyone – pun intended. He disguises himself and feeds Bowser a mushroom that compels him to vacuum up everyone within Peach’s castle, including everyone in it. Most of the game is played out with Bowser in the outside world while Mario and Luigi are working from within Bowser’s body to achieve a variety of tasks.

Bowser returns as his boastful, bullying self. One of the best parts of this game is that he actually takes center stage of the game, allowing the player to spend a decent amount of time as him. Peach, Mario, and Luigi are all there as expected. Peach, this time, is captured by our new villain, Fawful. He speaks in a broken sort of English, uttering phrases like “I have chortles” which basically means ‘I laugh at you’. He’s charming enough to share the spotlight, and even more so that he’s the villain to our beloved Bowser.

For the most part, the gameplay itself is reminiscent of the Gamecube versions. It’s an RPG feel with turn based combat but much like Thousand Year Door, where the player takes an active role within those turns. Play alternates between Bowser and the Brothers. When playing as Bowser those turns are controlled with the X and Y buttons. While playing as the Brothers, A and B are used for each character (Mario is A, Luigi is B). Both defending and attacking use both buttons in turn in response to the enemies. Each enemy has a certain tell, giving the player a heads up about how to react. The reactions for Bowser are either to duck and use his shell for defense or to punch the enemy. For the brothers, it’s either to jump or use their hammer.

The controls start out simple enough, but it takes practice to pay attention to the enemies’ tells and then reflexes to respond to them. In the beginning they are quite easy and as the game progresses, the enemies aren’t as evident in their tells, and at some point the reaction time to dodge attacks becomes very finicky. Timing becomes difficult both because of the small screen as well as the split screen. When an enemy launches something into the air it travels to the upper screen and as they drop down, the separation between screens can make timing rather frustrating. Most of the time, reactions come either a little too early or barely too late. There were many times when I released the button as the item fell, which meant that I was too late and ended up releasing as the item hit Mario in the head. Originally this isn’t much of a problem, but later in the game and the enemies start hitting harder, the difference between 10 points can come between another turn and a game over.

Boss battles are a nice balance between skill and effort. They aren’t easy in the sense that they’re push-overs, but they each have their own tactic to beating them. The battles are evenly balanced between Bowser, Mario and Luigi, and Big Bowser. There are some battles that invoke something of a fury from Bowser and he grows to be as large as his rival which is often a building. In these battles the DS makes use of the stylus as well as the microphone. When Bowser punches, the stylus is used to build up the strength of his punches. However, when he uses his fire breath, the player blows into the microphone as long as they can to increase the damage. The combination functions well, even if blowing into the microphone makes you look like a weirdo while people are nearby.

Between battles, the player can direct Bowser through the real world to find new areas and move between necessary areas. He gradually gains abilities that unlock new areas, such as the super punch or the ground pounding jump ability. These abilities keep Bowser from wandering into areas he’s not ready for but come often enough that the need to wander back through areas isn’t that great. More often than not, wandering through an area more than once is due to storyline and not necessity. You do acquire the option to transport Bowser from one area to another between translocation points, but the usefulness is more for finding missed treasures than a real need to revisit places.

The game’s strong point and weak point comes with the variety of mini games. Throughout the game, Mario and Luigi are used to travel through Bowser’s body and help him out when he needs it. They serve to stimulate Bowser’s leg power to push harder against things, revive him if he’s been knocked out, or even to make him sneeze from flower pollen when he gets lost in the scent of them. At first the mini games are novel as you coordinate Mario and Luigi’s actions. In one game, they take turns bouncing back and forth to stimulate Bowser’s leg muscles. Timing is important as well as using the right button press as each one lands. They don’t take much time, but they do break up the game play.

The problem with mini games is that some of them can be frustrating, couple that with the fact that they’re sometimes mandatory, it becomes a serious downfall. Mini games should be a relief from the story and do something minimal to add to the story, itself. In Bowser’s Inside Story, however, the mini games become an annoyance and I find myself repeatedly saying “oh crap, not again”. One game in particular, which helps to revive Bowser, takes a fair bit of skill since every time you get hit three times, you have to start the whole mini game over again. It wouldn’t be so frustrating, but there is also no way to practice them. Going to that area of Bowser’s body when he doesn’t need the help is the equivalent of entering an empty room.

In addition to the downfalls of the mechanics of the mini games, most of the time that you have to use them are times that the story won’t advance and you can’t do anything without winning. Bowser is incapacitated and the only option is to play Mario and Luigi through that particular mini game. The only solution is to keep replaying it until you win. Otherwise, Bowser stays unconscious while Mario and Luigi can’t do anything productive in any other part of his body. In effect it’s a Do or Die Mini Game.

Overall the game is successful because it is an RPG that keeps the player engaged with what is going on at every step. The battles get progressively more challenging, almost to a fault sometimes. The graphics fit with the traditional Nintendo titles and focus more on the fun of the story and the relatively simplistic controls. Most people can pick the game up and play it without too much difficulty and the story is both simple and insignificant enough that there’s not a lot to try and figure out apart from where your next goal is. However, the reaction times during fights can be a major problem if your timing is off. Any single turn can cost around an extra 40 hit points just simply from bad timing to avoid hits. Plus, the mini games can be fun for people skilled or stubborn enough to be able to beat them, but otherwise it can make or break the experience. It’s definitely a game worth a try if you liked the previous Mario & Luigi based RPG titles, or if you like them in general. Whether it’s worth finishing is another story.



Final Score – 8/10