Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story | Journey to the Center of A Turtle

[Music] now that we are two games into this series it is safe to say that nintendo has something really special on their hands mario and luigi superstar saga set an awesome precedent for a memorable mario rpg that you can take on the go and while partners in time often gets saddled with a meh status nowadays it was still a really solid follow-up and a novel use of the ds's two screens not the touchscreen though that part sucked that one went for a darker tone which was admirable but i just don't think they went far enough with it it was still a fun ride though you know aside from baby peach crying a lot what more can you really ask for truly oh and also totally forgot about this it uses the ds's rumble pack raise your hand if you forgot the ds had an official rumble pack yeah yeah i think everybody just did so then after two successes what's next bowser that long time bad guy really does suck and i mean that in a good way i'm gonna miss that man that was e3 2009 and outside of that amazing out of context clip there's really nothing all that interesting about the pre-release hype for this third game in the series well outside of japan at least dude look at that title three exclamation points truly exciting times things definitely did feel a bit different this time around the previous titles were fun little adventures that ticked most of if not all of the boxes required to make an enjoyable portable rpg but for the third entry in this series it seemed like it was going to be a whole lot more ambitious you're not just playing as mario and luigi but bowser too finally after so many years and only a couple of small instances the big bad spiky turtle finally has some time to shine as a playable character and as for those famous brothers that the name of the series is based off of well they adventure inside of that big bad spiky turtle bro what on the surface this is already one of the most interesting concepts in the entire mario series and i know that opinion is shared by many people while partners in time is now considered to be one of the weaker games in the series bowser's inside story is considered one of if not the best and you can tell it's quality because one generation later we would get a full-on remaster and boy we'll get to that nintendo ah these openings always fill me with joy [Music] man i've always loved this title screen jingle too same thing man it is just so joy-filled the music is really catchy you can mess with the water on the touchscreen it is awesome stuff remember that i said this the plot this time around is pretty strong probably the most notable thing about it is that we actually get a lot of spoken dialogue from both mario and luigi and it is absolutely incredible but fine the actual story itself oh toad got fed so a mysterious disease the blorbs makes any toad it infects super thick and during a board meeting to discuss how to handle things bowser breaks in fails of course he does and peach can do this apparently and also introducing your new partner for this adventure starlo you remember stuffwell from the last game yeah i didn't think so basically sarlo is your new helper now and she's pretty cool i mean hey starlo got a spot on the box art stuffwell didn't get that so i think we know which one's better naturally after being jettisoned out of the castle bowser is very upset and in his despair he stumbles upon a salesman that gives him a special mushroom that gives him the superpower of massive suck really does suck bowser returns to where he initially failed inhales absolutely everything in the room and then passes out beginning one of the weirdest adventures in the entire mario franchise so like now mario and luigi are inside bowser from most of this game and bowser never knows he just hears voices coming from inside himself but he never learned that it was mario and luigi his heated rivals this story is amazing mario and luigi was already known as a comedy rpg but nothing gets wackier than this on your quest to solve the mystery of the blorbs bowser is the one who gets to explore the world while the two brothers once again travel inside of bowser and manipulate all of his insides to make him more powerful as well as take out any obstacles that i guess realistically could kill him this bug is just sitting on one of his pipes i feel like that would be a really bad trip to the hospital uh oh now bowser got fat actually mario gets fat too with like a direct airflow into his nose and luigi gets fat too with the new special move i i think alpha dream had a very common interest with their characters in this game and i don't really know how to feel about it one of the best parts about this game is it went all out with the idea of let's travel inside bowser and have things that kind of make sense in that context like inside bowser we get to fight goombas that are based on cells while outside bowser gets to deal with goombas that are based on being chubby we also get this pretty good new antagonist with midbis he's like this pig equivalent of bowser pretty cool we get assistance from a block person who needs help finding his block cats and by doing so you get to take on the help of his block dog and then there's this really creepy black woman who somehow made it into a rated e game and you even get to travel to bowsers oh no the storytelling and the pacing of said story is excellently handled constantly throwing you into new locations introducing new interesting characters and those locations you find yourself in are a lot more unique as well one of the areas plaque beach is just a sand paradise made out of teeth and one of the enemies here are pokies made out of teeth this is a very stark contrast to the more low-key and sometimes very messed up nature of partners in time before it and it is very appreciated we even get introduced to three of bowser's minions with actual names and titles their sergeant guy corporal para plunk and private goomp featuring way more unique characteristics than paper mario has been willing to dish out lately they're not major players in the story by any means but we now have brand new characters to associate with the specific sub-series i think that's really cool but easily the best part of the entire plot is of course the return of fawfal as the main antagonist he was already a fan favorite in superstar saga for his mannerisms and he did have a cameo in partners in time which was pretty cool but being the main villain now that just makes perfect sense but the really shocking thing is having actual continuity in a mario game this rarely ever happens usually every game in this franchise is a unique tale for better or for worse and having a returning character show up for more than simply being fan service is awesome and his motives are revenge and thanks to the toads now being all fattened up and also brainwashing the majority of bowser's minions his ultimate goal is to harness the power of the dark star and take over the kingdom he's still inherently a pretty funny character putting that big dumb grin on everything he now owns but his more nefarious side also feels really fleshed out here making for just an overall awesome bad guy and actually when looking back at superstar saga 3ds's mediocre bowser's minions mode the story within actually introduced a new lore that showed that fawful was planning to betray caculetta and become the ultimate bad guy all along some of those fawful robots you find at the tail end of bowser's inside story he already had those in development back in superstar saga it is the only part of that mode that isn't total garbage and boy are we ever gonna touch on this topic later the story evokes that same adventurous vibe that superstar saga had we have new locations new characters a compelling villain plenty of comedic moments it's all there with the added element of bowser really does suck god i really am gonna miss that man rather than trying to be an upgrade to the play style that the previous two games had bowser's inside story strives to follow the same vibe while also making things feel very different like for mario and luigi their segments play out as side scrollers that same level of exploration is still there occasionally throwing in some platforming as well as running into plenty of battles featuring the same tried and true battle system that we're used to but the main difference is in the perspective as well as the aesthetics really making this feel totally unique there's a bunch of mini games that pop up from time to time as well as ways to improve bowser's abilities and none of them feel forced or out of place some of them use the touchscreen and they are a much better use than the one scenario where you used it in partners in time they are perfectly for lack of a better word digestible and there's also a sweet music track that plays alongside them i love them so much it ramps up as you get near the end of the minigame and it's so good and not only that but they're also a great use of the two screen setup as well actions from the brothers on the bottom screen affect bowser in the top screen it is so much more of a natural use of this style than again what partners in time did that extra space does come into play with the battles once again but it is a whole lot less common and as for the battles themselves well there really isn't anything going on here that's different than before jumping swinging your hammer using special moves leveling up and allocating points to specific attributes it's all here and it's all enjoyable the special moves are handled differently though in my opinion the best way the series has done them yet sort of similar to getting them through the story as extensions to your natural abilities you unlock these moves by finding attack pieces spread throughout the areas that you explore in essence it is kind of the same thing but i do think the method of getting these pieces is a bit weird sometimes you get multiple pieces from a single block sometimes you get all of them in one go and at that point i don't know you may as well just find the move in one box and call it a day but regardless they are back to being performed with special points instead of an item inventory like in partners in time so that immediately makes this way better and you can all rest easy any chance of getting early stage carpal tunnel is no longer a concern throwing fireballs is nowhere near as painful and my wrists are very thankful and need i remind you once more luigi gets fat but then we have the star of the show bowser now this is where you get to explore all of the nooks and crannies of the mushroom kingdom in a totally different way you can throw heavy punches breathe fire roll into a spiky ball of doom and move about your leisure even climbing walls it's awesome it may be slower but he is a very satisfying character to play as and it's the same thing for when you're battling as him these play out basically the same but there are very different ways to approach attacking and defending those punches you can pull off aw they feel so damn powerful dude it's awesome this battle system is great you even have the option to inhale your enemies during these sometimes it simply affects the tide of battle but sometimes you bring an enemy inside of bowser for the bros to take down which is such a smart use of an absolutely insane idea and as for the special moves for bowser these utilize groups of minions that you free from their cages throughout the adventure i'm not really sure why you get a special move from only hitting one of these boxes here and multiple inside of bowser but here we are and all of these moves actually use the touchscreen and i don't know about you but i do love me some sporadic touch controls in my ds games even if it's an rpg where no one asks for it these moves are very satisfying to pull off they deal a lot of damage too so it's really a win-win all around look at this big old clump of goombas i don't know man i just think that's pretty funny i want my own clump of goombas this combination of the slower more powerful style of bowser perfectly contrasts the slightly quicker more acrobatic style of mario and luigi and near the end of the adventure you do actually get to explore the mushroom kingdom as the bros proper which lets you get into a bunch of secrets that you've stumbled across along the way that you couldn't access with bowser so really all of the bases are covered here this would also be the first time in the series we get introduced to a special battle gimmick a few times throughout the story bowser gets really big alpha dream really couldn't handle themselves and i for one am uncomfortable you turn your ds sideways and now we get to take part in a massive gimmick battle and these are just all right in my opinion all of the options you have available to you are so easy to pull off and none of it really requires any strategy it's definitely cool visually and when it comes to having memorable moments here we are bowser's fighting a building but gameplay wise this offers very little substance this would however start a trend of gimmick battles that the following two games would implement as well so all things considered on their first attempt here it's fine nothing all that great but it's fine but in some really good news unlike partners in time we have substantial side quests to go for as well mini game score challenges completing puzzles boss gauntlets that lead to a hidden boss fight beans again there's even an entirely optional boss fight with some shroobs it turns out that some of them were actually frozen in bowser's castle after the events of the last game dude i still can't believe the continuity this game is sticking to that's so cool i went and fought them before doing the final boss so they were a total cakewalk so that battle didn't really last more than like 20 seconds or so but still it's pretty cool all of these things combined this is just all awesome partners in time felt like a stripped-down adventure with nothing else to really distract yourself with but bowser's inside story is not only way more fleshed out but there is a ton of side stuff to do as well ultimately this is why bowser's inside story is so good and partners in time kind of falls flat they both have very interesting concepts but while partners in time never really reaches its full potential bowser's inside story takes an absolutely ridiculous idea and goes far beyond anything you could possibly anticipate with you going through the insides of bowser what are we doing here i'm sorry i just can't believe someone at nintendo was like we should put mario and luigi inside of bowser and then it became one of the best rpgs in the franchise i can't believe that's reality i gotta give a special mention to the game's overall presentation because man the art style and the soundtrack are so damn good this might come off as hyperbole but in my opinion this is one of the best looking sprite-based mario games ever created and the music is absolutely incredible some of yokoshima mora's best work by far and it's not even like the sprite work is simply really good and that's it but every character in this game is so expressive and full of energy and the use of the dark outlines makes everything pop out so well whether you're playing it on a real ds or looking at direct capture footage it all looks great this is all i really want when it comes to my mario rpgs personality like easily this is my favorite interpretation of bowser ever i love the more jokey side that we get with games like this and thousand year door and while sometimes bowser can be this threatening menace who is mario's main rival for a reason sometimes he can also just be a big ol lovable meatball and his design here and his mannerisms complement that perfectly again remember i'm saying these things and now it's time to approach the final moments of the adventure on mario and luigi's quest to create the miracle cure that solves the blorb crisis fawful and midbus managed to awaken the dark star infecting bowser in the process this was all done so the star can absorb bowser's dna and replicate his body and despite the mario bros best efforts it succeeds and to make matters even worse once dark fawful is dealt with because he turns dark and subsequently kind of scary looking he turns into oh god a weird spider thing gross but with their powers combined dark bowser is complete it does seem kind of cliche to simply have a darker form of bowser as the final boss i mean hell we already got this in the previous two games but the build up to it all witnessing the corruption of fawful getting to see how threatening the dark star can actually be it is in my opinion the best implementation of this idea yet it all takes place in a corrupted version of peach's castle as well again an idea that we just saw in the last game but i think it is handled way better here everything has been forfalized those smiles are all terrifying and then yes of course we have the final battle against dark bowser you know it's only like the most defining moment in the entire franchise honestly it's it's kind of perfect the location high up in the castle is great the music is unnaturally fantastic like holy cow i did not think a game like this would have music this epic but here we are pitting bowser essentially against himself makes for a really engaging boss fight and then by inhaling the dark star bug from it mario and luigi get involved as well doing battle with fawfal once again in his much more twisted spider state there is so much going on here that is just so so damn good and unlike the difficulty spike that we have with cacletta or with how long it takes to deal with princess shrub this battle with dark bowser and dark fawful it's handled perfectly once you take out dark bowser for good fawful has one more trick up his sleeve blowing himself up from within bowser to bring everyone out with him instead this just gets everybody finally out of bowser's body for good and peace has been restored to the lands for everybody except bowser who finally sees that it was mario and luigi within him the entire time and oh he's not very happy about it so now he's got to do what he's got to do mario luigi and bowser all do one more battle as the credits begin to roll and it looks like bowser lost said battle all is right with the world but hey the princess sends over a cake to make up for that or something i don't know the main hero of the game gets brutalized and then that's the happy ending what a way to go out maybe it sounds like i'm exaggerating here but this game is as close to a perfect mario rpg that you could possibly get bowser's inside story walks that fine line of cartoony humor and serious overtones so damn well without either of them ever feeling forced the art style is fantastic the music is so so good the combat is super satisfying maybe some of the later battles go on for a bit too long but that's pretty minor in the grand scheme of things this is kind of the perfect mario rpg i know people tend to give that title to thousand year door and that's totally fair both of these games overwhelmingly succeed in the tone atmosphere and all of the mechanics they set out to achieve they are both in my opinion the best that these two series have to offer with this game the mario and luigi series transcends being that portable equivalent to the console paper mario games and becomes a franchise that is worth keeping your eyes on and then they release the remaster like 10 years later to a resounding why okay so superstar saga getting a 3ds version made total sense in my opinion people were super nostalgic for it you couldn't play the game on that console there were plenty of quality of life changes that needed to be addressed as well and i mean yeah some people aren't all that keen on the art style but overall i think it's a great way to experience that game but you can already play bowser's inside story on a 3ds due to the backwards compatibility who was asking for this i already went over this in the entire video but that game was already damn near perfect partners in time is the one that needed fixing but okay here we are bowser's inside story plus bowser jr's journey great you know that bad bowser's minion side game from that last remaster well we got a sequel to it here and it's still not good so that's something they do throw in some brand new characters that are exclusive to this story so that's kinda neat but it is still so unfun that i doubt anybody will ever get the chance to see them for themselves but fine what about the main bowser's inside story portion of this package well essentially it is the same adventure but i don't really know how else to describe this the entire game just feels slower going through your options in battle takes a little bit longer loading times to get into the battles takes a little bit longer the game runs at half the original frame rate individually these things may not seem like that big of a deal but man that time definitely adds up it all just feels so sluggish by comparison if you play it on its own it's probably fine but i played both of these back to back and the remake is simply not as fun to control and i would say the frame rate plays a big part in that not only did the original run at 60fps but so did the remake of superstar saga i was fine accepting no 3d in that one for the sake of having a smooth frame rate but here we have no 3d plus a worse frame rate also while i did say that i liked how superstar saga looked on the 3ds i actually don't share that opinion with bowser's inside story that game oozed charm from every orifice imaginable including bowser's oh no but here i don't know man it's something about bowser's design it just doesn't click with me i don't think the comedic moments come off as entertaining as they did before when they were initially delivered by a pixelated meatball but i get it it's totally subjective at least now we get to see toads being fat in 3d so hey that's pretty cool also there's new title screen music and there's no water to mess around with how dare you there is a large list of minor changes made to this version of the game and some like having a map on screen at all times does make a stronger impact than others but with how good the original still is i think you're better off playing that version instead also they censored luigi's striped socks in the artwork and i for one am completely outraged bring back luigi sucks wait a second mario's right foot is also slightly larger in the 3ds art i know it's not a big deal by any stretch of the imagination but that makes the change all the more confusing oh i'll get to the bottom of this one day you have my word from what i can gather people seem to share my opinions here bowser's inside story for the ds was a massive success one of if not the best selling rpg in the mario franchise bowser's inside story plus bowser jr's journey for the 3ds is one of the worst selling games in the entire mario franchise right alongside mario's tennis on virtual boy my god that game had donkey kong jr in it i don't know how that one didn't sell well it is crazy to me that essentially the same game breaks two different sales records on completely opposite sides of the spectrum regardless of the poor sales it's not a bad game but definitely an unnecessary one it's still good because the original is also still good before its release alpha dream stated that they remade bowser's inside story instead of partners in time because they wanted to remake the best received title in the series and they also wanted to further explore the parent child's dynamic of bowser and bowser jr which we got in bowser jr's journey boy would i hate to tell him that that is literally one of the plot points of partners in time they also wanted to maintain the dual screen elements of the ds which is why they opted to make this for the 3ds instead of the switch even though a lot of these things could have probably been implemented down into one screen just fine now i don't know about you but those reasons or some could say excuses seem a bit weird the sales were bad the existence of the game simply confused people the answers the developers gave to the questions just seemed very very weird honestly that combined with the average reviews that their last original game paper jam got which we'll get to in the future don't worry it honestly didn't really come as much of a surprise to me that soon after bowser's inside story on 3ds released alpha dream would file for bankruptcy they made a lot of weird decisions the original bowser's inside story is still amazing let's not end things on a down note here play this game it is incredible easily my favorite in the series it may not be as replayable as superstar saga since it's longer and there's a lot more stuff going on but it is definitely a more fulfilling experience and it makes the idea of getting a sequel on newer hardware sound oh so exciting unlike partners in time this game never got ported to the wii u virtual console which is upsetting so the question then is what if you don't have a ds and only a 3ds then yeah still play the original it works in a 3ds just fine what are you doing why was there a 3ds version so with all that being said next up on the pipeline is mario and luigi dream team a game that heavily focuses on luigi so i'm going to take this time to practice my luigi impersonation i have a line that i want to practice with real quick let me go ahead and oh i am so screwed [Music] you

Channel: AntDude

Views: 897,812

Keywords: AntDude, Review, Video Review, Game Review, Mario & Luigi series, Mario & Luigi review, Mario & Luigi DS review, Mario & Luigi Bowser's Inside Story, Mario & Luigi Bowser's Inside Story review, Bowser's Inside Story review, Bowser's Inside Story

Id: hG_vuOmbQ7k

Length: 26min 6sec (1566 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 22 2020