History Videogame / MarioAndLuigiBowsersInsideStory

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bowsers_inside_story_dx.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Showtime!]]
The third game in the ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigi Mario & Luigi]]'' {{RPG}} series, released in 2009 for the UsefulNotes/NintendoDS. Its [[MarketBasedTitle Japanese name]] is ''[[ExcitedShowTitle Mario and Luigi RPG 3!!!.]]''

* InfinityMinusOneSword: A-OK Wear raises all stats by a high amount and prevents all {{Status Effect}}s. While you can only get it once you have the Star Rank and it costs a whopping '''20,000''' coins for one pair, it's possible to earn that much money by having Mario and Luigi go out and explore all the areas that Bowser explored at the beginning (as soon as Bowser rescues the Koopa Troopas). It makes the last two dungeons and the Gauntlet a lot easier.

* BreadEggsBreadedEggs: Bowser's healing items are drumsticks for HP and cheese for BP. His "Elixir"-type item that fully heals both HP and BP, introduced in the remake, is the Cheesy Drumstick.

* GameplayAndStorySegregation: At one point in the game, the Bros. have a boss fight against Bowser. In the fight, Bowser will more than likely have no stats in common with the ones he has while being controlled by the player, having far more HP than he would have by that point as well as lower power and defense. In addition, none of the gear he may have had on will be in effect, and he'll never use items (aside from a drumstick once when entering [[TurnsRed Fury mode]]) or do more than an "Ok" with his special attacks.

* HonestAxe: When Luigi is rescued from sinking by Princess Lipid, she asks Mario if he dropped him or a "treasure of everlasting wonder". You don't actually get to choose: she automatically assumes Mario wants the treasure, even though that's not the case. It takes multiple tries for Mario to convince her that yes, the one he wants is his brother.

** After being tricked by Fawful, Bowser devours the strange mushroom that grants him [[UnrealisticBlackHole the vacuum breath]] needed to defeat Mario with. Bowser basically goes DrunkWithPower at this point, and swallows up everyone. Cue [[EvilLaugh evil laughter]] before then [[{{Fainting}} collapsing]]. When he rouses from his slumber, he forgets everything. This works to the Mario Bros' advantage, as Starlow (operating under the alias "Chippy") points out, if he recalled what happened earlier, he would ''never'' cooperate with the heroes. Their journey to escape Bowser's body would be [[AnthropicPrinciple over before it started]].

* DummiedOut:
** There was a Mushroom item [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFjDTUcO0lQ that allowed the Bros. to heal Bowser during a battle inside him]] (for the Sea Pipe Statue, which could damage Bowser from the inside). It was taken out, presumably because only that ''one'' boss had that sort of attack.
** The Underground Tunnel was originally planned to be explored by Mario and Luigi too, but was taken out.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3DTjRZvhOM The Choomba enemy has sprites and attacks that it would use if it faced off against the Bros. instead of Bowser]], along with the Naplock and Dark Mechawful enemies. The Dark Mechawful's attack was unfinished, however.
** Presumably this is the case for the Nuclear Drumsticks that can be found in an item roulette within Peach's Castle. Despite having a different name, they act exactly like the TNT Drumsticks. It's possible it was originally meant to heal even more HP, or even induce the Fury status on Bowser without the need of taking damage.

* LowLevelRun: Acknowledged. Finishing the game with Mario at Level 17 or lower will give you a message admiring your dedication.

* NeverSmileAtACrocodile: The Crawful enemy is a large anthropomorphic alligator found in Bumpsy Pl. Facing it means it ''[[RussianReversal smiles at you!]]''

%%* ADayInTheLimelight: The game is as much a Bowser game as a Mario game.%%Explain.

* EatingTheEnemy: After eating the Vacuum Shroom, Bowser gains the ability to forcefully inhale other creatures and send them into his stomach, where the Bros. can fight them. This ability is essential in a lot Bowser's boss fights.

* FixedEncounters: The enemies can be seen moving around in the overworld, and battle only begins when you run into them. You can strike first with a hammer or jump to damage all enemies at once when you enter the battle screen.

** The main story in the 3DS remake features subtle references to the events of ''Bowser Jr.'s Journey'', like a chunk being taken out of the Giga-Carrot when Bowser finds it, Madame Broque confusing Bowser Jr. for Bowser, or Beef of the Brute Force Federation ending up in the bomb stockpile Bowser sets off under Fawful Theater.

--->'''Goomba''': So this big galoot here, right? He's all like, I have no seeeat! No seeat! And he won't shut up! But he won't stop, and we're all, we just can't do it buddy, OK? So we have no idea what to do. And this lug's getting surlier. He's not going away. And he has no seat! Nothing! Not a chance! So we do some solid thinking and totally fail. No big seats! I mean, we got small seats! We can do a small seat, sure, but this guy's huge, so he's not gonna fit into a small one! Please! And it's kinda bugging me, 'cause I'm on my feet all day! I mean, I'd LOVE to sit in ANY seat. It's like, hey, pal, how about you try our job just once, y'know? It'd break him in two seconds! I work hard, Boss! Really hard! And this dude just sits through life?! So spoiled! It makes me ill! All the suffering in the world, and this guy's seating problem is urgent? Nooooooo! Ooooo!

* HubLevel: Toad Square in Bowser's body, where the bros. will occasionally return to because the Toads have set up shop there and the Challenge Node is literally right next door.

-->'''Peach:''' "What are you doing here?! We're in an important meeting! The kingdom's in danger!"\\
'''Bowser:''' "Gee, PARDON ME! Guess what? I live here, Your Royal Genius! I've got as much right to be in this meeting as anyone!"

* LongSongShortScene: Bowser can go underwater in Blubble Lake to access other places around the lake shore, with the underwater area bringing a song that's used nowhere else in the game. That's not the long song; the long song is the ''remix'' of this song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFGCUxEOG_o that plays when you control Mario and Luigi inside of Bowser while he's submerged in Blubble Lake]]. Considering there's nothing in this four-room area that changes Bowser's body for the Bros., meaning there's no reason to control them, it's entirely possible to play through the game without ever hearing this song.

--->'''Goomba''': So this big galoot here, right? He's all like, I have no seeeat! No seeat! And he won't shut up! But he won't stop, and we're all, we just can't do it buddy, OK? So we have no idea what to do. And this lug's getting surlier. He's not going away. And he has no seat! Nothing! Not a chance! So we do some solid thinking and totally fail. No big seats! I mean, we got small seats! We can do a small seat, sure, but this guy's huge, so he's not gonna fit into a small one! Please! And it's kinda bugging me, 'cause I'm on my feet all day! I mean, I'd LOVE to sit in ANY seat. It's like, hey, pal, how about you try our job just once, y'know? It'd break him in two seconds! I work hard, Boss! Really hard! And this dude just sits through life?! So spoiled! It makes me ill! All the suffering in the world, and this guy's seating problem is urgent? Nooooooo! Ooooo!

%%* NeverSmileAtACrocodile: The Crawful enemy. Facing it means it ''[[RussianReversal smiles at you!]]''

* OcularGushers: Luigi does gushers of joy when Mario saves him in Bowser's body, and the Chuboombas do this when Bowser eats their lollipops.

%%* {{Pun}}:
%%--> '''Fawful:''' A nuisance barge barging in at a critical time for us!\\
%%'''Bowser:''' Nuisance barge? GWAHAHA! Buddy, you're like a nuisance SUPERTANKER!

-->'''Bowser:''' "Weird! It got dark! I feel like this sort of thing happened before... And then..." *stomped*

** Bowser's Memory ML. If you take out M first, L will revive him with a 1-UP if given a chance.

-->'''Bowser:''' "Bah! You like compost? [[IWillShowYouX I'll compost your FACE!]]"

* AmazingTechnicolorBattlefield: Bowser compliments the final boss on creating the "perfect backdrop for an awesome final battle." Said quote is actually the page quote for that page.

* ApatheticCitizens: Averted in the case of the Dimble Wood Wigglers. After Bowser ransacked the farm and the forest became a battlefield for Giant Bowser and his castle, they increased their security measures.

* BagOfSharing: Both the Bros. and Bowser share coins and items. Neither party seems to question why they have access to more money than they've been getting from enemy encounters, or why they're able to sell each other's equipment and healing items.
* BagOfSpilling: Averted in one case where the brothers decide to use a move ("Hit Mario with a hammer to make him small") from the first game when it is required, but otherwise played straight.

** It's part of Fawful's plan to extract Princess Peach from Bowser's body after tricking him into trapping her in there -- later in the game, Bowser can go back and get fat again whenever he wants (allowing Mario and Luigi to gain access to Flab Zone again, but there is no need to unless you missed collectibles).

* BeamOWar: A brief fire-breathing contest between Bowser and [[spoiler:Dark Bowser]] before the screen shatters and the final battle begins.

* BoisterousBruiser: Bowser can punch his way through anything, with a punch being one of his main moves in battle. He can also punch through rocks and cracked walls on the overworld.

* BonusBoss: There are [[spoiler:three Shroobs]] locked up in Bowser Castle that give you a Bros. Move for winning. There's also the Challenge Node in Bowser's body (somewhere around his...liver?), although the fights there are only upgraded versions of old bosses with a turn limit added. This culminates in a BossRush incidentally featuring its own BonusBoss: [[spoiler:Bowser X]].
* BossBonanza: [[spoiler:The repurposed Peach's Castle holds Junker, Blizzard Midbus, Dark Star, Super Peach's Castle, Dark Fawful, and Dark Bowser and the Dark Star Core. Starting with the Dark Star, the only plot events are these boss fights and the buildup for them, and if you just go right for these bosses and do nothing else, there won't even be any regular enemies.]]

* BrainWithAManualControl: Bowser's brain is set up half like a giant computer, and half like a library. It's very user friendly when Mario and Luigi actually reach it.

** The Mighty Meteor special attack the Bros. can obtain. It summons a meteor that can be hammered back and forth, slamming into enemies and eventually dropping an item.

** During the BossBattle with Junker, a bucket falls onto one of the Bros.'s heads and you (the player) must guide them around, avoiding being crushed by Thwomps. This is very similar to the premise of the Japan-only ''Mario & Wario'', where the fairy Wanda must successfully guide Mario through a level, while one of various items is obscuring his vision. The first and most iconic of said items is a bucket.

* ContrivedCoincidence: The first sage's plotline: [[spoiler:Bowser just so happened to swallow her from the Giga-Carrot he ate earlier in the story. The brothers then find out she's the sage they beat as a worm causing Bowser's stomachache. Once they spot her, she flees into the Energy Hold area behind a blockade of Boo blocks. Some time later, Bowser - who has no idea about the brothers in his body or who the first sage even is - wanders around Bubble Lake to get to the forest and ends up fighting a giant lighthouse robot that just so happens to have a mechanism in it needed to clear the path inside his stomach so the brothers can chase Wisdurm into the Energy Hold]].

* CreativeClosingCredits: After the final boss battle, [[spoiler:Bowser is furious to find out that Mario, Luigi and Starlow's been in his body the whole time, and picks up a fight. Cue the closing credits, where he gets KO'd as usual, and a WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue showing what happens next. After that, Bowser is shown getting a cake from Peach]].

* {{Cumulonemesis}}: The Stonks are ''poisonous'' cloud enemies.

* ADayInTheLimelight: The game is as much a Bowser game as a Super Mario game.
* DeadpanSnarker: Bowser and Starlow have moments of this, mainly toward each other.
* DeathFromAbove: Goomba Storm, when executed correctly, has Bowser [[IncendiaryExponent setting his Goombas on fire]] and sending them flying up into the air to rain upon the enemy. [[BattleCry Goo-Ra!]] Mario and Luigi's final special attack, Falling Star, also does this.

* DemonicPossession: Notably ''averted'' in this game. The final boss does not possess any of the characters, and certainly not Bowser. He does, however, fight in a form similar to that of Bowser, and part of the final boss does have Fawful's Dark Star form being fought inside Bowser by Mario and Luigi.

* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: [[spoiler:Literally, in Bowser's case, as his final attack against the Dark Star, an ancient abomination of pure dark energy, is to continuously punch it into oblivion.]]

* DualBoss: Bowser Memories M and L, the bosses of the Memory Banks as well as the opponents of Class 4 in the Challenge Node Gauntlet.
* DuelingPlayerCharacters: Midway through the game, the Mario Bros. fight Bowser after finally getting out from his insides. Bowser has all of the special attacks that he learned while in the player's command. However, he usually executes them rather poorly, despite being the only enemy capable of performing Action Commands. He also never uses defensive commands such as punching the Bros. when they hammer or ducking in his shell when they jump. To make up for this, he has far more HP during this battle than he ever had under the player's control.
* DumbMuscle:
** Bowser has just the right mix of this and [[IdiotHero Idiot]] VillainProtagonist.
** Midbus is this even more so, stating that "sense is for the weak."

* EasilyForgiven: [[spoiler:Bowser decides to release Private Goomp, Sergeant Guy and Corporal Paraplonk for betraying him for Fawful as long as they help fix the castle. Bowser ''does'' care for his minions, after a fashion.]]
* EatingTheEnemy: After eating the Vacuum Shroom, Bowser gains the ability to suck things up Kirby-style. This ability is essential in a lot Bowser's boss fights.

** [[spoiler:And against Dark Bowser. Only Bowser is allowed to take over the Mushroom Kingdom!]]
* EvilIsHammy: Fawful and Bowser are very different styles of villain, but both are undeniably {{Large Ham}}s.
* EvilIsNotAToy: [[spoiler:Subverted. The Dark Star overpowers Fawful to regain the energy he had absorbed from it, consuming Fawful along with it. However, the two seem to form a mutually beneficial relationship, with Fawful powering up Dark Bowser from within during its fight with the real Bowser, and the Dark Star's core lending its energy and assistance to Fawful in his own battle against Mario and Luigi.]]

* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:Private Goomp, Sergeant Guy, and Corporal Paraplonk were bribed (or brainwashed, it isn't clear) over to Fawful's side and they lock Bowser in his own safe. Bowser forgives them after the game, though.]]
* FakeUltimateMook: When Mario and Luigi ''finally'' get to the first areas Bowser visited, the "large" enemies are jokes, but the small enemies that Bowser instantly defeated without battle ''are'' level appropriate.
* FantasticVoyagePlot: Kind of the point of half the game. Even after gaining a way to get outside of Bowser, Mario and Luigi aren't free from this trope; Mario and Luigi enter into a giant Sockop (Shoe-like pitcher plants) at one point in Dimble Woods, called [[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3 Kuribo]] appropriately enough.

* TheFightingNarcissist: Bowser. And he is gorgeous, in his own eyes anyway. There are numerous hilarious moments of worship of his own physique, manliness and abilities.
* FinalBoss: [[spoiler:Bowser fights Dark Bowser until the latter spits out the Dark Fawful Bug. After Bowser inhales him, the Bros. fight the fusion of Fawful and the Dark Star Core]].
* FinalExamBoss: [[spoiler:Bowser X counters every Bros. Attack used by inhaling it, making you unable to access that technique until six turns afterwards. This practically requires you to master each of the ten Bros. Attacks in order to defeat him.]]

--> '''Bowser:''' And for the finale, one KO Punch!
** In the remake, every Giant Bowser fight ends with one, in which Bowser rapidly punches the boss several times, uppercuts them into the air, and gives them a MegatonPunch to finish it.
* FixedEncounters: Best of all, you can get a free strike on enemies by stomping/hammering them (as Mario and Luigi) or punching/burning them (as Bowser) in the overworld.
* {{Flanderization}}: A subtle example. Fawful's speech patterns are somewhat ''more'' broken than in ''Superstar Saga'', where he would simply talk in first release ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyI''-level sentences with some ''Zero Wing'' thrown in near the end. Here, he's more prone to ''Zero Wing''-level sentences, with the new [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment Redundancy Department]] deskboy being Midbus.

-->'''Goomba''': So this big galoot here, right? He's all like, I have no seeeat! No seeat! And he won't shut up! But he won't stop, and we're all, we just can't do it buddy, OK? So we have no idea what to do. And this lug's getting surlier. He's not going away. And he has no seat! Nothing! Not a chance! So we do some solid thinking and totally fail. No big seats! I mean, we got small seats! We can do a small seat, sure, but this guy's huge, so he's not gonna fit into a small one! Please! And it's kinda bugging me, 'cause I'm on my feet all day! I mean, I'd LOVE to sit in ANY seat. It's like, hey, pal, how about you try our job just once, y'know? It'd break him in two seconds! I work hard, Boss! Really hard! And this dude just sits through life?! So spoiled! It makes me ill! All the suffering in the world, and this guy's seating problem is urgent? Nooooooo! Ooooo!

* GambitRoulette: Fawful, predictably, slips into this territory. For instance, getting Toads infected with the Blorbs seems to have no other purpose than to draw Bowser out of his castle in concern for "his" kingdom and get beaten up by Mario, getting smacked into the forest where he'd accept the mushroom from Fawful in desperation for a means to beat Mario. [[KansasCityShuffle The Blorbs have the added effect of keeping everyone busy with the epidemic and off his tail]], effectively making his work invisible until it is too late.
* GameplayAndStorySegregation: At one point in the game, the Bros. have a boss fight against Bowser. In the fight, Bowser will more than likely have ''no'' stats in common with the ones he had while being controlled by the player, having far more HP than he would have by that point as well as lower power and defense. In addition, none of the gear he may have had on will be in effect, and he'll never use items (aside from a drumstick once when entering [[TurnsRed Fury mode]]) or do more than an "Ok" with his special attacks.

* TheGoomba: Goombules for Mario and Luigi, Chuboombas for Bowser. Both of which are based off Goombas, of course. Bowser can summon his own original Goombas for his first special attack.
* GoombaStomp: Some enemies will fire projectiles that land on Bowser, or jump on him themselves. Luckily, he can duck under his spiked shell, hurting the enemy or deflecting the projectile.
* GratuitousEnglish: Broque Monsieur (Brirock in the original) in the Japanese version as well as the French version.
* GratuitousFrench: Broque Monsieur and Broque Madame. Broque Madame even tries to take this into EverythingSoundsSexierInFrench. In Canada, the French localisation set "Monsieur [=DuBloc=]" as an authentic France Frenchperson, with all the stereotypes and language differences.

** The requirement for getting a perfect 100-point score from the puzzle minigame, made even worse by the fact that few people know about this. No matter how well you do on an individual puzzle, you will only get up to 99 points. [[spoiler:The trick is that it's an event triggered by clearing ''all'' five puzzles in less than 2 minutes. Considering the usual scores are for individual puzzles, this isn't exactly intuitive.]]
** Bowser has a self-inflicted status effect called 'Fury' that activates randomly after taking too much damage in a battle, basically [[GlassCannon doubling his attack at the cost of halving his defense]]. This mechanic is only mentioned if you ask Broque Monsieur to explain status effects, and it is entirely possible to beat the entire game having never come across Fury status at all.
* HamToHamCombat: Several times; Bowser vs. Fawful, Bowser vs. Midbus, Bowser vs. [[spoiler:Dark Bowser]].

* HubLevel: Toad Square in Bowser's body, where the bros. would frequently be returning to because the Toads have set up shop there, and the Challenge Node is literally right next door.

* HypocriticalHeartwarming: Bowser's anger at Fawful abusing his minions. 'Cause if anyone should be abusing the Koopa Troop, it's Bowser!
* IAteWhat: As previously stated, Bowser has no idea that he consumed his enemies, and isn't happy about it when he finally finds out.
* IWasToldThereWouldBeCake: [[spoiler:Peach and the Mario Bros. send one to Bowser at the end of the game as thanks for his help saving the kingdom.]]

* IncomingHam: "Did someone just page the King of Awesome?!" Bowser does this multiple times. Basically whenever someone mentions his name out-of-Koopa, he shows up.

* InfinityMinusOneSword: A-OK Wear raises all stats by a high amount and prevents all [[StatusEffect Status Effects]]. While you can only get it once you have the Star Rank and it costs a whopping '''20,000''' coins for one pair, it's possible to earn that much money by having Mario and Luigi go out and explore all the areas that Bowser explored at the beginning (as soon as Bowser rescues the Koopa Troopas). It makes the last two dungeons and the Gauntlet a lot easier.

* InsistentTerminology: DoubleSubverted with the Miracle '''Toadley''' Cure. At first, he insists Starlow refer to the Miracle Cure by its full name, but then he seems to have dropped the issue soon after. Yet if you talk to him later, he's muttering the full name under his breath.

* LaserGuidedKarma: Bowser's entire history with the second Star Cure. Before the events of the game, Bowser entered the house of a sage named Kuzzle, who greeted him amicably and challenged him to solve a jigsaw puzzle. Bowser couldn't figure it out, and in a rage attacked him, trashed the place and stole his Star Cure. But having no use for it, he put it away in a safe in his castle. Cut to the game's events, and in his efforts to reclaim the Star Cure in a time of need, he [[spoiler:gets betrayed by two groups of people he had previously treated well, is severely injured by one of them, is forced to solve a jigsaw puzzle to remember the safe's combination, and is finally locked within the safe himself]].
* LampshadeHanging: Bowser does this when he badgers his Goombas about how they are supposed to fight.
-->'''Bowser:''' [[GoombaStomp "Marching straight ahead into the enemy's feet!"]] Didn't you memorize that in Goomba boot camp?

* LethalLavaLand: The Flame Pipe. Apparently located in Bowser's lungs, it is what allows him to breathe fire.

* LittleMissSnarker: Starlow a.k.a. "Chippy" so very much. With Luigi's LovableCoward tendencies making her doubt he's a hero, and Bowser's DumbMuscle nature, she has a lot of material to snark with.
* LongSongShortScene: Bowser can go underwater in Blubble Lake to access other places around the lake shore, with the underwater area bringing a song that's used nowhere else in the game. That's not the long song; the long song is the ''remix'' of this song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFGCUxEOG_o that plays when you control Mario and Luigi inside of Bowser while he's submerged in Blubble Lake]]. Considering there's nothing in this four room area that changes Bowser's body for the Bros., meaning there's no reason to control them, it's entirely possible to play through the game without ever hearing this song.
* LostWoods: Dimble Wood itself is a dense forest, and is the first location where you get to play as Bowser. [[WhenTreesAttack Treevils]], Wigglers, and nature-oriented enemies can be found here.

* MalevolentMugshot: Everything is designed like Fawful. For some reason this includes pictures[=/=]statues of Bowser with Fawful's glasses and Peach statues with modified heads.

* MeaningfulName: Midbus is the midboss. (And the third-to-last boss.) [[DubNameChange Midboss is actually his name in Japan,]] [[VideoGame/DisgaeaHourOfDarkness but he's no Dark Adonis]].

** Both kinds of Trashure run away often, but they can be inhaled for lots of coins when they open, and they have a chance to drop good equipment (Trashures drop a ring that increases earnings from insta-defeating tiny enemies as Bowser, and Dark Trashures drop an SP-regenerating band).
** Lakitu Kings and Glam Lakitus are rare (only found in battles with certain enemies as Bowser, and must be inhaled) and flee battle if they aren't killed fast enough. However, they constantly throw coins when they attack, and either drop equipment that sells for a lot or boots that increase coinage from jumping on enemies.

** [[spoiler:The final boss battle of the game is Bowser versus the Dark Star turned into Dark Bowser, a clone of him. One of its attacks is to punch him, which must be countered by Bowser's own punch, followed by a shell slam, which must be countered by Bowser's Shell Shield. He also uses Bowser's various abilities, such as fire breath, and even (when giant) mimics a Bowser Army attack. He even has a mini helper inside his body to boost his abilities as he needs them which can be dragged out to be fought by the also mini Mario and Luigi.]]
** Bowser Memory M and Bowser Memory L are a particularly bizarre example.

-->'''Goomba''': So this big galoot here, right? He's all like, I have no seeeat! No seeat! And he won't shut up! But he won't stop, and we're all, we just can't do it buddy, OK? So we have no idea what to do. And this lug's getting surlier. He's not going away. And he has no seat! Nothing! Not a chance! So we do some solid thinking and totally fail. No big seats! I mean, we got small seats! We can do a small seat, sure, but this guy's huge, so he's not gonna fit into a small one! Please! And it's kinda bugging me, 'cause I'm on my feet all day! I mean, I'd LOVE to sit in ANY seat. It's like, hey, pal, how about you try our job just once, y'know? It'd break him in two seconds! I work hard, Boss! Really hard! And this dude just sits through life?! So spoiled! It makes me ill! All the suffering in the world, and this guy's seating problem is urgent? Nooooooo! Ooooo!

* NeverSayDie: When Midbus confronts Mario and Luigi, Starlow gives us this little gem:
-->"[[ParodiedTrope YOU GOT A KO WISH?!]]"

** [[spoiler:Fawful [[TakingYouWithMe blows himself up]] at the end of the game, which not only doesn't harm Mario, Luigi or Starlow in the slightest, but propels everyone out of Bowser's body and only gives Bowser himself a spicy taste.]]
* OcularGushers: Luigi does gushers of ''joy'' when Mario saves him in Bowser's body, and the Chuboombas do this when Bowser eats their lollipops.

* OhCrap: The usual reaction to Giant Bowser, from the Monty Moles seeing him tower above their train to the entire Toad Town screaming in horror. Also Luigi, and then Mario, freak out after [[spoiler:unfreezing the Shroobs in the Bowser's Castle basement.]]

* OneManArmy: Bowser, who goes through the entire game fighting (as far as he knows) by himself. [[spoiler:He literally has to fight through an army of a couple dozen mooks assaulting him just to make it to the FinalBoss--and this is merely one of said boss's attacks!]]

* PalmtreePanic: Plack Beach, which has an odd tooth decay theme. It's actually called "Tooth Decay Beach" [[note]]Musshība Beach[[/note]] in the Japanese version, doing away with the {{pun}} entirely.
* PlayingSick: Mario and Luigi do this to get a meeting with Doctor Toadley - cue Mario coughing and Luigi having the most hilariously exaggerated chest pains ever. [[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiDreamTeam Guess Mario is quite devious after all.]]

-->'''Bowser:''' Hey... [[spoiler:You just ACTED like me. That doesn't mean you ARE me. You're no match for the real deal, original Bowser...]]

* {{Pun}}:
--> '''Fawful:''' A nuisance barge barging in at a critical time for us!\\
'''Bowser:''' Nuisance barge? GWAHAHA! Buddy, you're like a nuisance SUPERTANKER!

%%* RecurringBoss: Midbus for Bowser. Bowser for the Mario Bros..

* SeekerWhiteBloodCells:
** One room inside Bowser features a large worm boss that is eating what appear to be white knights. After you defeat the worm, the knights ambush you and send you falling. It's not explicitly stated that these are white blood cells, but Toadbert's description of their intent matches perfectly.
** There's also Alpha Kretin, who is by no means a white blood cell, but attacks in the same way, swarming Princess Peach and then taking some kind of monster form after it's spun away by Mario and Luigi. Sadly, it also appears in the Gauntlet.

** The English localization seems to feature references to internet memes. Fawful's first line of dialogue in the game is [[AWinnerIsYou "A Winner is you!"]] and after the boss fight at the Toad Town clinic, Bowser uses the phrase "Cry more!"

* {{Smurfing}}: The Emoglobins have a globin of replacing a word or two with "globin." IS THAT NOT GLOBIN?!

** Midbus and Fawful. [[spoiler:Pork and Beans, respectively.]]
** [[RuleOfThree Broque Monsieur and Broggy.]] Say "block monster" and "blocky" with a heavy French accent. "Broque Monsieur" and "Broque Madame" are also puns on "croque-monsieur" and "croque-madame", types of French grilled sandwiches.

** If the Monty Bros. didn't come out of the Fawful Express to bomb Bowser, they would have had a ''much'' better chance of escaping and winning[[note]]Countering the bomb attack does HUGE damage to the Fawful Express, even more than an 'Excellent' fire breath[[/note]].

** [[spoiler:Dark Bowser growing via help of the Dark Fawful Bug. Thanks to this, Bowser is able to punch Dark Bowser's stomach and force him to cough up the Dark Fawful Bug.]]

** The Blorbs causes Toads to swell up into massively round forms. Humorously, there's a Toad in Toad Town who ''always'' looks like this--he's just that big!

* ThisCannotBe: [[spoiler:Dark Bowser is incredibly disappointed that his plans were brought to ruin by the original Bowser.]]
-->[[spoiler:'''Dark Bowser:''' I have fallen... To come so far... So far... To lose...]]
* ThrowTheDogABone: In the ending, [[spoiler:Bowser, after helping to put an end to Fawful, destroy the Dark Star, and find a cure for the blorbs; challenges Mario and Luigi to a fight and yet again gets the hell beaten out of him during the credits. However, as he is nursing his wounds at his castle, he receives a thank-you cake from Peach and the Mario Bros.]].

** You also have a turn limit when fighting the Challenge Node bosses.

** Not to mention [[spoiler:those Shroobs in Bowser Castle. Before, they were just low-level {{Mooks}}; here, a pack of three of them is midboss-level power. Just take a look at their stats [[http://www.mariowiki.com/Shroob#Mario_.26_Luigi:_Partners_in_Time before and after.]]]]
** Fawful goes from the second-in-command [[TheDragon Dragon]], downgraded to a shop owner, and suddenly is the primary boss of the game? In fact, one could argue he made an even better villain than his old mentor Cackletta...
* TookALevelInKindness: Despite their strained-relationship from constant bickering and stubborness, Bowser warms up ''rather fast'' to "Chippy" (Starlow), who is from their perspective, just a [[IAteWhat random person]] they accidentally swallowed up. Though quick to inform them he's no taxi service, Bowser frequently tells them of their whereabouts and his intentions, even though [[PetTheDog he doesn't need to]]. When this "Chippy" of his starts fixing up his body, the Koopa's so pleased he offers to make them an honorary minion of his. As "Chippy" begins unlocking hidden powers, Bowser [[ThatWasTheReward forcibly welcomes them]] into his army. Only when the Koopa King discovers at the story's ending Starlow was his "little minion" all along, does he flip out.
* TrainingBoss: Bowser, who is the first boss for the Mario Bros. Midbus, who is Bowser's first boss. After that, Broque Monsieur who teaches how Bowser and the Bros. can fight together.

** The Moles tend to put 'bro' in every one of their sentences, leading to things like broski.
--> '''Mole (Upon seeing Giant Bowser):''' BRO NO!

* ExpositionFairy: Starlow, known as 'Chippy' to Bowser, who tries to assist/annoy Bowser and guides the Mario Bros. around. Bowser is not amused when he finds out 'Chippy's' identity.

* SelfImposedChallenge: If you get a high enough score in the Green Shell mini-game, you will receive an accessory called the Challenge Medal. This makes all of the enemies in the game a score tougher, but nets you extra coins, effectively putting the game on hard mode.
* SequelDifficultySpike: In comparison to ''Partners in Time''. While ''[=PiT=]'' was short, linear, gave you strong special attacks constantly, and was generally easier than the first game, ''BIS'' is longer, has a wide overworld with complex dungeons, has much more varied specials that actually cost a lot to use, and has some pretty tough fights (especially with the Challenge Medal equipped).

** In Bowser's Castle, Bowser wnts to sit in Fawful Theater, but the seats are too small for him. When someone asks what the problem is, a Goomba starts a giant rant, with his text boxes going so fast they become unreadable.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: In the Lobby of the Fawful Theatre, there is a Koopa who says:
-->"You know that Tour-guide Goomba? You know her name? I'm DYING to know. The way she turns those "s" noises into "th" noises just melts me like fondue. ARGH! I CAN'T BEAR IT! I just want to put her on my shell and tote her around..."

* CartoonMeat: Tenderlings, the most common enemies in Bower's Flab Zone, are cylindrical joints of meat with a bone sticking out of each end and cartoonish eyes and feet.

* OffscreenTeleportation: When controlled by the player, Bowser cannot access Toad Town due to an InsurmountableWaistHighFence being in the way and Bower being unable to jump over it. However, when the player switches to Mario and Luigi to visit the town at one point, Bowser somehow appears there with no explanation given.

* BalloonBelly: Lots. It's part of Fawful's plan to extract Princess Peach from Bowser's body after tricking him into trapping her in there -- later in the game, Bowser can go back and get fat again whenever he wants (allowing Mario and Luigi to gain access to Flab Zone again, but there is no need to unless you missed collectibles). The Bros. use it to their advantage as part of their "Snack Basket" special, using a giant Luigi to make a quake that damages all enemies, as well as to inflate Mario with air or water for travel purposes. And of course, a bunch of Toads coming down with [[TheVirus the Blorbs.]] When it gets cured, one Toad seems to stay sick, until he says that it's how he normally looks like.

** Luigi, for one of the Mario Bros. special moves.

* BoisterousBruiser: Bowser can punch his way through anything.

* BossRush: Class 7 in the Gauntlet.

* BreadEggsBreadedEggs: Bowser's healing items are drumsticks for HP and cheese for BP. His "Elixir"-type item that fully heals both HP and BP is the Cheesy Drumstick.

* CagedInsideAMonster: Among the enemies encountered in Bowser's castle after Fawful takes it over are the Jailgoons, which resemble large living cages with feet and with a cannon and shield for arms. Each Jailgoon contains either a goomba or a [[ActionBomb bob-omb]], minions that evidently remained loyal to Bowser and that Fawful thus locked away inside the Jailgoons.

* CartoonMeat: The tenderlings, the most common enemies in Bower's Flab Zone, are cylindrical joints of meat with a bone sticking out of each end and cartoonish eyes and feet.

** There's a segment where Luigi gets stuck from the waist down inside a Sockop, a monster that looks like a green boot, a reference to the "Kuribo's Shoe" from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3''. It even lets him walk safely over thorns and other hazards like the Kuribo's Shoe. It's later revealed that one of the Sockops is ''named'' Kuribo.

* TheDragon: Midbus, to Fawful.

* EternalEngine: The Tower of Yikk.

* {{Flanderization}}: A subtle example. Fawful's speech patterns are somewhat ''more'' broken than in ''Superstar Saga'', where he would simply talk in first release ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyI''-level sentences with some ''Zero Wing'' thrown in near the end. Here, he's more prone to ''Zero Wing''-level sentences, with the new [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment Redundancy Department]] deskboy being Midbus (whom Fawful likely taught how to talk like himself.)
* FreezeFrameBonus: The main story in the 3DS remake features subtle references to the events of ''Bowser Jr.'s Journey'', like a chunk being taken out of the Giga-Carrot when Bowser finds it, Madame Broque confusing Bowser Jr. for Bowser, or Beef of the Brute Force Federation ending up in the bomb stockpile Bowser sets off under Fawful Theater.

** When Bowser wonders what made the Sea Pipe Statue so nuts, Fawful, in his typical style, answers:
-->"It is I who added the nuts to that statue!"

* GoombaStomp: Enemies try to do it to Bowser. Luckily, he can duck under his spiked shell.

* HopelessBossFight: The first Midbus fight, though it's more of a tutorial.

* HumongousMecha: Most of Giant Bowser's foes.

* AnIcePerson: Midbus becomes one of these in the last dungeon, thanks to Fawful's ray gun.

* InformedAbility: Bowser apparently knows how to give professional massages. He just doesn't ''want'' to, unless there's compelling compensation. Given that he's probably gotten massages from his minions a lot, it's likely he picked up some techniques from them.

* JustEatHim: The game would have been very short if Bowser had chewed.

* LaughablyEvil: Bowser in particular as a VillainProtagonist.

* LowLevelRun: Finishing the game with Mario at Level 17 or lower will give you a message admiring your dedication.

** A rare heroic version in that Mario and Luigi must make Bowser grow at certain points in the game.

* MotorMouth: Luigi takes the cake in some scenes where he [[SpeakingSimlish talks]].

* NeverSmileAtACrocodile: The Crawful enemy. Facing it means it ''[[RussianReversal smiles at you!]]''

* NoblewomansLaugh: Princess Lipid.

* RecurringBoss: Midbus for Bowser. Bowser for the Mario Bros..
* {{Retraux}}: At one point, Mario and Luigi go into Bowser's memory and get forced to fight old-style versions of themselves.

* RoyalWe: Princess Lipid.

* TheRuntAtTheEnd: One of the Blitties in a perfectly-executed Broggy Bonker and one of the Goombas in the Fawful Theater.

* SealedEvilInACan: The Dark Star. Doubles as an ArtifactOfDoom.

* SlippySlideyIceWorld: Bowser's airway after he inhales a breath from Blizzard Midbus.

* TrueCompanions: Bowser and his minions.

* UnexpectedShmupLevel: The Rump Command minigames.

* WhenTreesAttack: Treevils in Dimble Woods. Like most plant-based enemies, KillItWithFire.

* WombLevel: The inside of Bowser, natch.

* AdaptedOut: There's no longer a shot of Broque Monsiuer spotting Giant Bowser.

During the March 2018 Nintendo Direct, it was announced that ''Bowser's Inside Story'' would get a VideoGameRemake released in 2019 for the UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS[[note]]skipping over ''Partners in Time'' in the process[[/note]]. Like the ''Superstar Saga'' remake, [[VideoGame/BowserJrsJourney an extra strategy game mode centering around Bowser Jr.]] is included. The remake was the last ''Mario & Luigi'' title developed by [=AlphaDream=] before their bankruptcy and closure in 2019, though not the final game they released, ''period'' (that distinction goes to ''Kedama no Gonjiro: Fit & Run'', also in 2019).

During the March 2018 Nintendo Direct, it was announced that ''Bowser's Inside Story'' would get a VideoGameRemake released in 2019 for the UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS[[note]]skipping over ''Partners in Time'' in the process[[/note]]. Like the ''Superstar Saga'' remake, [[VideoGame/BowserJrsJourney an extra strategy game mode centering around Bowser Jr.]] is included.

** After a Toad in Toad Town teaches the bros how to dig up special beans, he says, "[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZelda1 They're a secret to everybody]]".

* RapidFireFisticuffs: You must continually tap the touchscreen to make Giant Bowser repeatedly punch the waterlogged Tower of Yikk. In the remake, this is done at the beginning of the FinishingMove of every giant boss.

** Parodied with the Wiggler. He tells Bowser to "take responsibility" for pulling up the Giga-Carrot by eating it for the Banzai Bill; when Bowser does, Wiggler gets mad and, rather than cough up the Bullet Bill as he promised, starts a fight! And the ''Koopa King'' needs to own up for his actions? Note that he got mad and attacked you not because you pulled the carrot up, but because you ate it, ''[[InsaneTrollLogic which he told you to do]].''

* BalloonBelly: Lots. It's part of Fawful's plan to extract Princess Peach from Bowser's body after tricking him into trapping her in there -- later in the game, Bowser can go back and get fat again whenever he wants (allowing Mario and Luigi to gain access to Flab Zone again, but there is no need to). The Bros. use it to their advantage as part of their "Snack Basket" special, using a giant Luigi to make a quake that damages all enemies, as well as to inflate Mario with air or water for travel purposes. And of course, a bunch of Toads coming down with [[TheVirus the Blorbs.]] When it gets cured, one Toad seems to stay sick, until he says that it's how he normally looks like.

* BiggerOnTheInside: Bowser's insides are seemingly much larger than how he looks outside, which may be a side effect of his inhaling power.