YMMV / Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story

• Accidental Innuendo:
  • Said by Fawful after he makes the Sea Pipe Statue go crazy: "It is I who added the nuts to that statue!"
  • The Bros. are "inside of Bowser's body" and have to "stimulate" his body parts. If you have a dirty mind, you'll be snickering all throughout this game. In particular, upon finding Bowser's funny bone near the beginning of the game, Starlow overtly says "If we can stimulate this thing, something'll happen...". Now take it out of context and try not to grin...
  • If you spend enough time in certain corners of the internet, you may notice that many plot points are seemingly based on various common fetishes: the whole game is vore-themed and the victims of Bowser's inhalation are shrunken, the Blorbs cause inflation, Giant Bowser would probably please macrophiles, and there are scenes of force-feeding and weight gain for the Chubby Chasers. Having so many of these all in one game obviously led to people making jokes about DeviantArt's users being the target audience.
• Anti-Climax Boss: The battles against Fawful and Dark Bowser become trivially easy in the remake because the Intruder Fangs, which let Bowser move twice in a row, are unlocked upon defeating the final giant boss, instead of being a reward for reaching level 40 with the Koopa King. Equipping it makes it possible to inflict enough damage to defeat them before they even get their turn.
• Base-Breaking Character: Dark Bowser is an incredibly divisive character across the fandom. Some find him a unique concept of an evil MacGuffin Turned Human who gives Bowser an Evil Counterpart, along with providing an amazing final boss fight with Evil Versus Oblivion themes, while others find him an underwhelming villain who steals the spotlight from Fawful and only exists to fulfill the status quo of having a Bowser-like figure of being the final boss.
• Best Boss Ever: In a game with tons of fun boss battles (including the Giant Bowser ones), the Final Boss fights against Dark Bowser and Fawful as the Dark Star Core are absolutely amazing, especially with the Challenge Medal (DS version only). After an awesome pre-final battle cutscene and some amazing build-up, the final battle itself is divided between both Bowsers' duel, with an epic background, some awesome and hard to dodge attacks (including summoning an entire Evil Knockoff of Bowser's army), and the "Vacuum battle" after "beating" him. Then comes Mario and Luigi's battle against the Dark Star Core, a very unique kind of Sequential Boss mixed with Shielded Core Boss and Time-Limit Boss (as you have to destroy its eyes and tentacles to damage the core, and if you don't beat him in a few turns, he'll recover and escape, forcing you to fight Dark Bowser all over again.), with a really trippy background, hard to dodge attacks, and more. All of this with one of the most epic themes in the entire Mario franchise blaring in the background, aptly titled ''The Grand Finale''. And then, after you finally defeat the core in a long, grueling and challenging fight, Bowser deals five punches into Dark Bowser, and then the final blow. Easily the perfect finale for an amazing game, and possibly one of the greatest moments not only in the Mario Role Playing Games, but the Mario franchise as a whole.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: The encounter with Princess Lipid, a weird-looking creature who speaks in old English, making her one of the few sentient creatures native to Bowser's body. She shows up midway through the Flab Zone to pull an Honest Axe joke with Luigi, introduces the brothers to the badge system, and then disappears forever without an explanation for who she is.
• Broken Base:
  • Fans have mixed opinions over "Tough Guy Alert!", the regular boss theme. Some people enjoy it for being peppy and energetic, while others find it too cheerful, often citing Soundtrack Dissonance for the more pivotal bosses such as the Dark Star and Dark Fawful (at least in the DS version), and claim that the later boss themes in Dream Team and Paper Jam do a better job of alternating between fun and tension, on top of having at least a different boss theme for the penultimate boss (Antasma in Dream Team and both Bowsers in Paper Jam).
  • Whether or not the game needed a remake. Some say that the remake can stand on its own, providing a nice upgrade to the graphics and music, along with an improved sequel to Minion Quest in Bowser Jr.'s Journey. Others believe the remake was unnecessary, considering the original game isn't exactly rare and can also be played on 3DS, and believe that the sprites and music of the original are better. One thing generally agreed to be even better is the addition of new battle themes for the Dark Star and Dark Fawful fights, which perfectly fit their Climax Boss nature and avoid any possible Soundtrack Dissonance.
• Common Knowledge: How exactly the remake caused AlphaDream's demise. While the remake undoubtedly caused the company's bankruptcy, it wasn't the sole reason, just the final nail in the coffin. The studio was quickly entering debt in attempting to shift into HD and multiplatform development, and their game sales on the 3DS were falling drastically, with that low revenue causing the debt to get even worse. Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey was simply their final shot at attempting to fix this situation by skipping over Partners in Time to remake their most successful game.
• Crack Pairing: A surprisingly popular pairing on DeviantArt is that of Bowser, the Bros.' most famous antagonist, with Starlow, this game's exposition fairy.
• Even Better Sequel: With an even stronger story, patched-up gameplay gimmicks, and Bowser getting the spotlight, many fans agree that Bowser's Inside Story manages to take what was present in Superstar Saga and improve upon it in a variety of ways.
• Evil Is Cool: Bowser as one of the main protagonists was a major selling point for this game. With his Boisterous Bruiser character, him regularly squaring up against boss-tier enemies that would make the Bros struggle, and his Giant Bowser fights, he ends up being incredibly cool to play as.
• Game-Breaker:
  • The Magic Window for the Brothers. It lasts until, and only until you screw up or every enemy is dead, and its damage would potentially be infinite if not for the player's reaction time, as the Bros. constantly speed up as the attack keeps going and the input windows become more precise. Still, it can rack up more hits than any other move in the Bros.' arsenal before its speed ramps up too much. Given a Nerf in the remake, as it stops after a time.
  • The Spin Pipe is less SP-expensive than the Magic Window, and fairly easy to do if you keep your eyes glued to the end of the pipe as it spins, and still positively devastating even in the final battles.
  • Mighty Meteor in the Gauntlet. It gives you more powerful items when used than the game means you to have available. Really useful against the Dark Star or Bowser X.
  • As far as gear combinations are concerned, DX SP Socks and a Budget Charm/Tight Belt on Mario gives you incredible special move usability, while the Delicious Gloves on Luigi provide great support by making healing items twice as effective.
  • The Giant Shell accessory makes the wearer take no damage from hits that do less than 20% damage than the wearer's overall HP. Since most attacks in the game don't do that much damage with enough defense investment, equip this on Luigi and you can focus on dodging exclusively as Mario.
  • The Daredevil Boots massively increase Mario's attack power at the cost of making the wearer a One-Hit-Point Wonder. This can be easily circumvented by also equipping the Gumption Socks, which allow the holder to Auto-Revive after a few turns without the use of a 1-Up Mushroom.
  • The Pro Badge + Powerful Badge combo grants the "KO Activated!" effect, which triples the damage dealt by the next attack upon activation. This can be used to deny bosses' access to their more dangerous attacks, as it is usually more than enough to defeat them after they turn red.
  • In the remake, the player can grant a permanent buff to the playable characters upon reaching certain levels, and some of these Rank-Up Bonuses completely shatter the game's difficulty: Beefy Bro ^note +1 Pow for each level up turns both Mario brothers into powerhouses by mid-game, while King's Grace ^note Increases the damage of Bowser's Brawl Attacks gives such a ridiculous power buff that it's possible to take down even the final boss in just two hits.
  • The remake changes the effect of the Bro Socks to completely refund the BP for Bro Attacks if you do them perfectly, potentially allowing you to use them indefinitely. This is game-breaking enough on its own, but you can combo it with the Heroic Patch, which boosts the power of Bro Attacks while increasing their BP cost... not that that matters if you have the Bro Socks!
• Genius Bonus: Many of the enemies and features inside Bowser are cleverly named, such as Napse (synapses, connections in the brain), Emoglobin (hemoglobin, the compound that allows blood cells to carry oxygen), and PEP (polypeptides.) Incidentally, those are called Shinapun (a play on shinapusu, meaning synapse), Hemogurobin (hemoglobin) and Enajī (energy) respectively in the Japanese version.
• Goddamned Boss: Fawful is not a particularly hard boss, but only 2 of his attacks can be countered, and he can heal himself with his vacuum helmet. As a result, most of the fight is simply waiting until the helmet separates itself from Fawful, after which it must be inhaled so Mario and Luigi can destroy it. Despite this, Bowser is able to attack the helmet directly with some of his Brawl Attacks, which speeds up the process.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Luigi sleeps through the beginning tutorial. The next game takes this and makes it a gameplay element.
  • Fawful's line "Beef? I am lacking in beef. Fawful is beefless" becomes much funnier after Dream Team introduced the Massif Bros., who barely talk about anything else except beef, and one of the four Hoorow disciples fought is called Beef Cloud. Then in the remake of Bowser's Inside Story, we're introduced to three new characters working for Fawful... and one of them is called Beef.
  • An unused sprite in the game is an early version of the Toad Town Fountain depicting Peach as a mermaid◊. Fifteen years later, Princess Peach: Showtime! Would make mermaid one of Peach's transformations.
• Ho Yay: Late in the game, Midbus is frozen in a block of ice and Bowser is burning up inside after swallowing the Dark Star. To alleviate his pain, the king of the Koopas locks his mouth on Midbus's snout and inhales his cold breath for an extended period of time, which many players interpret as a prolonged French kiss.
• Jerkass Woobie: Bowser doesn't seem to catch a break in this game, losing his home and his minions to Fawful. He may be a Bad Boss but his minions all leave for some really petty reasons (mostly for money and food).
• Just Here for Godzilla: Bowser himself was one of the biggest selling points for this game; while it's not the only Mario game to have him playable, it's the only one where he's one of the central characters and the main focus of the game. A few fans find that the more traditional Bros. segments aren't quite as interesting as the parts where the Koopa King is playable.
• Low-Level Run: Acknowledged. Finishing the game with Mario at Level 17 or lower will give you a message admiring your dedication.
• Magnificent Bastard: Fawful. See the main page for details.
• Memetic Mutation: "It is I who nuts to that" ^ExplanationA cropped picture of Fawful's quote upon seeing Bowser at the Sea Pipe Statue; "It is I who added the nuts to that statue!" It's generally used for reacting to a NSFW/sexy thing on the internet. The screenshot is also cropped in a way that makes it looks like Bowser is the one talking.
• Most Wonderful Sound:
  • Bowser's "SHOWTIME!!!" anytime he starts a combat encounter. It immediately sets the tone for his playstyle compared to the Mario bros - whereas those two are hyping each other up in preparation for a scrap, Bowser's more taunting his unlucky opponent and making it clear how he's going to thrash them.
  • The Arm Station cannon shooting light orbs, followed by Mario and Luigi hammering them back to the rhythm. It's the main reason why its minigame is so fondly remembered by fans.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • Mario almost gets digested alive (ironically, not inside Bowser). You can see him thrashing about in panic (the animation was bowdlerized in the remake), immersed waist-deep in digestive fluid. To rescue Mario, Luigi has to blend in with the enemies by wearing the skin of a defeated enemy. When he's found out, he's actually called out on how sick that is.
  • Bowser is locked into a safe that he can't even stand up in.
  • Some of the Fawfulized enemies. Not only do they all sport his glasses and possibly-now-creepy smile, but there are also the implications that arise for Chain Chawfuls that you can liberate by getting rid of Fawful's influence instead of just beating them up like usual.
  • Peach's Castle is the more 'unnerving' flavor. After Bowser Castle, you might expect Fawful's takeover to be relatively lighthearted. But once you pass the Dark Star blockade, you find that the castle's been completely overrun with Fawful's Elite Mooks, with not a friendly face in sight (other than the three Paratroopas), several of the enemies on the inside having been tainted with the Dark Star's power, and even the normally lush plant life in a state of decay. Both eerie musics which play outside and inside certainly don't help.
• Older Than They Think: This isn't the first time Bowser's been playable in a Mario RPG, as Super Mario RPG did it before this game was made. However, this game does put a lot more emphasis on Bowser's boss-tier strength, as he regularly fights against huge enemies that would be standalone bosses if the bros faced them. Bowser is also a central character in this game, whereas Super Mario RPG just has him as another party member with no particular focus.
• Scrappy Mechanic:
  • Not many people like the way you have to blow into the DS' mic in order to breathe fire during the Giant Bowser parts. This is especially frustrating in the battle against the Fawful Express, as this is the only attack you can do to hurt it since the train is too low to punch. The remake doesn't use the microphone on the 3DS, as it uses the touch screen for the attack now.
  • The pollen minigame has finnicky touch controls that make aiming the pollen into the correct section of the wall difficult. Also, the damaging blue pollen is made very frustrating to avoid.
• Scrappy Weapon: Bowser's Bob-omb Blitz special move is acquired in the middle of the Bowser's Castle revisit, which is unfortunate placement; Bowser gets locked out of play at the end of the dungeon, and when he returns the much stronger Magikoopa Mob attack is a short distance away. The attack is awkward to use because it involves dragging Bob-ombs across the screen to line them up with enemies, and it completely flukes if the Bob-ombs run past them, so his other special attacks are more reliable.
• Self-Imposed Challenge: 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. Averted in the 3DS version wherein it just turns the Bro that equips it into a Glass Cannon.
• Sequel Difficulty Spike: 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 (though bosses were much more durable in the American version of the 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 really tough fights (especially in the Challenge Node and/or with the Challenge Medal equipped (only in the DS version)).
• Signature Song: “The Grand Finale”, the Final Boss theme, quickly became one of the most iconic and acclaimed tracks in the entire Mario RPG subseries and is easily the most famous track from Bowser’s Inside Story.
• Surprisingly Improved Sequel: Partners in Time is generally considered a good game in its own right and by no means bad, but it's not considered to be as good as Superstar Saga and some fans consider it's weighed down by its inconsistent difficulty, Ending Fatigue, a story that doesn't use either of its major hooks (time travel and an alien invasion) as effectively as they could have, and a lack of meaningful side content. Bowser's Inside Story dramatically expands on the combat of both prior games and smooths out the difficulty, makes incredible use of its dual-gameplay gimmick between Bowser and the Bros., and has a much more engaging story that works as an effective day in the limelight for Bowser. There are also actual sidequests and bonus bosses to add replay value.
• That One Attack:
  • Junker's Thwomp attack. Jumping at the right time to avoid the falling Thwomp is tricky, and if you happen to get hit by the Thwomp, you could get dizzy and be unable to attack for a while.
  • Junker has his suction attack that can't be avoided in the original game^note  In the remake, you can button mash to get away and traps Luigi in one of his minions, disabling Bros. Attacks. If Mario falls while Luigi is trapped, it's Game Over. Mario can free Luigi by defeating the minion holding him, but said minions periodically switches which one holds Luigi, making it that much more difficult to free him (though there is a chance that the minions fail to catch Luigi when switching him, freeing him early).
  • Blizzard Midbus has an attack where he balances on top of a giant snowball, and you have to have Bowser punch a Bob-omb inside the snowball to blow it up before Midbus rolls it into you. While it's fairly simple to counter at first, Midbus later starts burying the Bob-omb deeper inside the snowball, forcing you to memorize where it is while it rolls around. Punching the Bob-omb without being able to see where it is makes the attack very tricky, especially in the remake where Midbus starts rolling the snowball faster at low health.
  • The Dark Star has a giant laser attack that has to be dodged with Starlow's help. The timing is quite a bit stricter than with Bowser's flame breath, and the Dark Star rushes her the instant the attack finishes, something that only it does.
  • Dark Fawful's rotating energy orb attack may be the deadliest of them all, as Bowser has to punch goombas at him while the orbs aren't in front of him with very strict timing (especially in the remake). It's the only time in the game Bowser doesn't directly punch or duck into his shell for a counterattack (see Underused Game Mechanic below). On top of that, he sends all of the orbs at Bowser at once if not countered, eating away a solid two-thirds of Bowser's HP. Say your prayers if he uses this attack while Bowser isn't at full health.
• That One Boss:
  • Giant Bowser's fight against the Fawful Express. Not only are the attacks powerful and hard to dodge, but you have a limited amount of time to win the battle, or it's an instant death. Also you can only use your flame because the train is too low to punch, and you have to destroy several obstacles along the way, which is a big problem if your DS microphone is wonky.
  • Junker. His first couple attacks aren't too hard to dodge, but then he sucks up Luigi and puts him in one of the Junker Cans. This puts a lot of pressure on the player, as the battle will inevitably end in a Game Over if Mario gets knocked out. The remake makes this battle a lot easier by allowing Luigi to avoid the suction altogether if the player mashes buttons hard enough.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: A number of the changes in this game's remake have garnered criticism, including the usage of unfitting voice clips for the Bros., unnecessary color changes in certain areas, Bowser's punches no longer having the "oomph" they had in the original (in part due to him no longer knocking enemies back several feet with an Excellent punch and lacking the "SHOWTIME!!!" shout at the start of the battle), and the game's frame rate being halved from 60FPS to 30FPS making animations considerably less fluid.
• Tough Act to Follow: Bowser's Inside Story is considered one of the best RPGs in the franchise for its hilarious yet engaging plot and its gameplay striking a balance between simplicity and intricacy. Its reception even rivals Superstar Saga, Super Mario RPG, and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. Many fans agree that Dream Team and Paper Jam don't measure up as sequels for various reasons.
• Underused Game Mechanic:
  • Only the Sea Pipe Statue can damage Bowser while inside his body; even Durmite, despite draining Bowser for energy, doesn't actually deal damage to him. The statue doesn't even deal that much damage, making the mechanic essentially ignorable. A Dummied Out mushroom that the Bros. could use to heal Bowser from the inside suggests that the devs had planned to do more with this idea, before scrapping it for some reason.
  • Bowser's boss battle against Dark Fawful has a counterattack where you have to punch Goombas at the boss, using timing to avoid hitting their defensive measures. This is the only time in the game where Bowser defends against an enemy in a way that doesn't involve either directly punching them or ducking under his shell to dodge or block their attack.
  • Similarly for Mario and Luigi, whenever there's an attack that's near impossible for them to dodge, Starlow appears and allows the bros to grab on to her and lift them up to the ceiling before the attack is executed. This only happens three times in the game, all of which are bosses (The Second Bowser fight, The Dark Star and Dark Bowser's Dark Star Core)
• Unintentional Period Piece: The English translation. References to old games and Internet memes, such as Fawful's first line in the entire game being "A Winner Is You!" and the Fawfulcopter enemy being a reference to the ROFLcopter, date the English translation of the game to the late Noughties. Tropes Are Tools, however - Fawful's dialogue is incredibly memorable and serves him well in characterizing him as an extremely weird but still dangerous fellow.
• Viewer Gender Confusion: It's mentioned twice in the game, once in a line in the Trash Pit ("NOT how to treat a lady!"), and variously during the Flab Zone quizzes, that Starlow is a girl. Few people seem to remember this. Even the writer of the strategy guide for Mario & Luigi: Dream Team consistently refers to Starlow as a boy.

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