It’s been forever, but welcome back to Handheld
Adventures. I kind of held off this series of reviews because my handheld games
were limited to GB and GBA games, but now I have a 3DS and can do DS and 3DS
games. I wanted to do a special game since the DS had a huge amount of unique
games for the system and a lot of them were very solid RPG gems. We finally got
the RPG’s like Dragon Quest 4, 5, 6, and 9, and 3D remakes of Final Fantasy 3
and 4. Of course, there were other titles like New Super Mario Brothers, the
two Zelda games, and Okamiden. However, out of the RPG’s, I think I found
probably the most quirky and best RPG that I could easily recommend to everyone
for the system, Mario and Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story. This RPG does a lot of
things that I like about Modern RPG’s that come from Japan. They streamline
leveling, take out random battles, keep the battles turn-based, and simplify
the tedium some RPG’s have, and of course, cut it like a fatty steak. There is
a lot of love here, like great story and humor, challenging puzzles, and quirky
enemy designs, but I am getting ahead of myself. Let us get started.
Things have gone bonkers in the Mushroom Kingdom!
The toads are growing fat! And huge! And they are rolling around destroying
things! And um…that is really it for the beginning set up. While this incidence
is happening, Peach and the higher-ups of the Mushroom Kingdom are discussing
about the incident causing the toads to blow up called the Blorbs. Bowser, for
some reason, decides to be nice for once, and come down to the meeting to see
what is going on. Of course, Bowser becomes ticked off because the Mushroom
Kingdom is shocked that BOWSER wanted to be nice for once. The Mario Brothers
beat him up and he runs away to plot his revenge. As Bowser plots his revenge,
he gets offered a mysterious mushroom from a hooded figure that is actually
Fawful, the villain from the first game, back from revenge on the kingdom. The
mushroom that Bowser swallowed ends up turning Bowser into a vacuum of sorts
and he sucks in a huge amount of things including Peach, Mario, Luigi, and
other members of the Mushroom Kingdom. It is up to Mario and Luigi to find a
way out, and for Bowser to get revenge on Fawful for being a jerk. The story is
one of the best parts of this game. It is very lighthearted, funny, and
innocent. This is a nice change of pace from other RPG’s where the tone is dark
and broody with emo-centric characters.
Of course, the Mario RPG games have been known for being pretty
lighthearted with Super Paper Mario being the exception of sorts (it’s a dark
game). Overall, Mario and Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story is enjoyable with some
of the corniest and funniest humor around. The surprising fact is that Bowser
plays a much bigger role in this game and has some of the better lines. It is
nice to see that the developers, Alpha Dream, decided to do something different
for once and make a fun lighthearted RPG so that people who are new to RPG’s
can play without much hesitation.
The usual Mario RPG-style mechanics are here. You’ve
got platforming across platforms through Bowser’s insides and throughout the
Mushroom Kingdom, timed attacks of the button press that will do more damage,
and you get the idea. Platforming is done by making Mario and Luigi jump from
platform to platform (no duh). Sometimes, you will need to make certain
platforms appear by helping Bowser with certain things, like in one area, you
have to make him stay in front of an X-ray light machine. Battles take place on
an isometric view where you will fight normal enemies and monsters that are
born from within Bowser’s body. During the game, you will find puzzle pieces to
unlock special moves that can be pulled off by Mario and his brother. The
attacks will have more oomph to them if you time your button or stylus touch on
the enemy, and it will result in more damage being dealt. Defending yourself in
this series of Mario RPG’s is much more complex. Sometimes you can
counterattack by using your mallet to smack the enemies if they charge at you,
or jump to dodge projectiles or other enemies. This means that in the end of
the battle, you might not take any damage at all. I think that’s amazing since
in past Mario RPG games, you could just lighten the blow done to you. However,
Mario and Luigi, while playing a major role pretty much take a back seat this
time to Bowser. Bowser can’t jump, but his body makes up for it. You will be
punching, dashing, and curling up into a ball to solve puzzles and to beat your
way through hordes of enemies. Bowser’s abilities differ in battle. He can
punch, breath fire, or use his minions to pull off super moves if you can find
the minions and free them. His defenses against enemy attacks are either
punching them or using his shell as a shield. At certain points, Bowser will be
able to grow gigantic, and fight giant bosses with the use of the stylus to
pull off certain moves. Either way, you will be fighting, equipping your
characters with items, and finding a way to get the Mushroom Kingdom back to
normal. Sometimes, you are required to do some kind of mini-game to help Bowser
solve some puzzles, like strengthening his muscles, knocking pollen into his
nose, and other interesting puzzles. The fighting and puzzle solving is fun,
giving new RPG gamers more action in turn-based combat, platforming for the
Mario fans, and a stupid amount of silly humor that will help you get through
the game. The game will take about 20-30 hours, which is kind of short for an
RPG, but is a good length.
Graphically, this game looks amazing. It’s
wonderfully colorful with bright pixel graphics, and the sprites have great
animation to them. A lot of work went into polishing up the presentation. The
music is also noteworthy for being incredible and catchy. You can thank
composer Yoko Shimomura. She is famous for a lot of great games like Final
Fight, Gargoyle’s Quest, Little Nemo the Dream Master, Super Mario RPG: Legend
of the Seven Stars, Legend of Mana, Tobal No.1, and the popular Kingdom Hearts
series. She does a first-rate job keeping the music intense, but lively. I also
like the creative use of the DS, or in my case, 3DS, with blowing into the
microphone, tapping the screen with the stylus, and many other gimmicks that
are fun.
However, there are a few minor gripes that I have
that bring this game down. While the mini-games are fun and can provide some
entertainment, after awhile, they get boring and tedious when the speed of the
mini-games gets accelerated. While platforming isn’t a huge hassle after you
get used to making both Mario and Luigi jump, it can get annoying because Luigi
will sometimes not make the jump if you don’t time it right, forcing you to go
down and get him to return to the area you need to get to. Don’t get me wrong,
the platforming isn’t as bad as Xenogear’s platforming, but it can still be a
pain from time to time. Another minor gripe is that the timing on attacks and
defending yourself can be difficult at times, but after while you get used to
it.
Overall, this was a blast to play through and is one
of the best RPG’s of this generation. It has a lot of RPG norms, but the added
Mario platforming and timing mechanics makes this a fresh and wonderful take on
the turn-based RPG. If you have a DS or 3DS, I say pick this game up. It is
about 30 bucks or so now, and if you are looking for a game that will last you
a good while with a lot of fun replay value, then I can recommend this great
game. No wonder you can never go wrong with Mario, he goes well with
everything. It’s like cooking anything with garlic, there is no wrong. Anyway,
I’m glad I could bring back Handheld Adventures and I hope you all enjoy this.
This game gets an 8 out of 10
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