For the first post of 2010 I thought I would do a review of Mario & Luigi Bowser’s Inside Story. Why did I pick this for the first post of the decade? I don’t know.

I saw the first screen shots of this game around the same time they were releasing footage for New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Unfortunately like most of the world, I didn’t see through the gimmicks of the Wii release and put this DS game lower on my list.

A bad decision in retrospect, as I was in love with this game at first sight. It looked as if it was a modern Super Mario RPG. And while Super Mario RPG wasn’t the best RPG ever made. It was one of the easiest to shut your brain off and play over and over, and in that capacity it has earned its spot in my copper heart. But looking at Bowser’s Inside story didn’t’ look exactly like Mario RPG, it looked better. But would it live up to my inflated expectations?

I’m pleased to say it did, And quickly at that. The battle system is very original and while maintaining somewhat of an RPG feel, it also puts your skill at the helm so you can’t get too lazy. That goes for just about every aspect of the game. There are more than a few mini games, and in just about every dungeon you are learning completely new moves to use in and out of battle.

There is definitely some explanation in order just to set up the world. First off, your playable characters are, Mario, Luigi, and Bowser. You fight separate from each other the entire time, and in fact Bowser doesn’t even realize he’s teamed up with the Mario Bros. the entire game. So it’s like you are playing two different games simultaneously. Bowser with his motives, Mario and Luigi, with theirs.

It is like you are teamed up the whole time though, because most of Mario and Luigi’s battles are meant to help Bowser out from the inside, and even when you are focused on a Bowser dungeon, you might ingest an enemy that the Mario Bros. can help you fight. The whole battle system was brilliant and it doesn’t stop there. There are some other types of battles as well, Mario and Luigi traverse in and out of Bowser’s body throughout the game, and another aspect of the game is that Bowser can become a giant and add an entire other way of fighting. Overall the battles were amazing.

Starting with the concept of the game, Bowser swallowing most of the Mushroom Kingdom, and unifying good and bad Vs. worse. (A stranger named Fawful.) The story continues in this awesomely ludicrous fashion until the very end, and keeps you laughing the whole time. There were times that I was laughing out loud. Some of the interactions with Luigi were priceless. And everything with Bowser and his minions was solid gold.

The writing in this game was really good (Some of the best ever!). Nintendo did a great job, and they kept it short enough that I wouldn’t mind going through it again in the near future. My first play through was just under twenty hours, and if I so chose to deviate from the main story, I’m sure there would be another solid 5-10 hours of playtime to add.

Anyway, that’s what the game did right. I did have some tiny complaints on my way through.
#1 There’s far too much explaining going on. The first hour or more, while being really funny, is really boring. You don’t have any freedom, and they don’t really let you loose for a couple of hours after that. And honestly once you are let loose you don’t know what to do without the chains.

#2 There seems to be no way to game over. Some of the bosses were a little tricky, but they give you enough elite items to run through the game several times. In my opinion it was a little too easy. Although (not to sound presumptuous.) if you aren’t as seasoned a player as I am, I can see it being more challenging, and therefore even funner.

In defense of #2, I would recommend this game to anyone because it is really fun. There were just some points in the game where I felt too comfortable.

My final analysis is, 9 out of 10. The writing and the story were top notch. The battle system was really good. The finale was astounding (because they worked every battle system into the last dungeon.) The game design looked fantastic. I really loved this game.

I recommend picking it up, and where better than Amazon!

Happy New Year from Big Shiny Robot!