A very busy day at the warehouse, but one I was happy to be on my end of. Not only was work busy, but Mom Brain was in and out of the hospital. I popped over to visit and take care of her for a bit, with more of that tomorrow (later today, I should say). She's doing well, and is very happy for all the kind words you sent. I'm going to get some rest so I can make sure I keep up this pace! See you all in a few, short hours.

Hey, there, folks. Sorry for the inconsistency of review posting lately. RMC's had a lot on his plate these days, as I'm sure many of you have read, so sometimes it takes a few days to get my reviews up after I write them, but do know that I have been dedicated toward making sure I have a review done Sunday before I hit the sack. Thus far I believe I've only had to skip one week and will do my best to put out a review every week when possible, but there will be times when it will take a couple weeks to produce one. Again, thanks for the support you've sent my way. I'll be reviewing Dead Space: Extraction next week, so look forward to that. In the meantime, here's a second look at one of Nintendo's biggest DS titles this year. Anyway, happy belated Halloween, everyone!

Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story

-The Obligatory Unskippable Tutorial-
Obtained: Purchased through GameFly
Time Played: About 27 Hours
Completion: Cleared story, finished most of the side-missions

-The Belly of the Beast-
Let's just say it straight, as I'm sure many of you have already heard: if you love this series and were a little disappointed by Partners in Time, put your fears to rest, because Bowser's Inside Story is probably the best Mario and Luigi RPG to date. With that out of way, let's explore exactly why that is the case, as well as what problems the series has yet to shake off.

For starters, the game has a completely ridiculous concept (well, even more ridiculous than usual): the Mario Bros. are sucked into Bowser's body by accident when he eats a strange mushroom given to him by cult favorite, Fawful. Fawful steps right up to assume the role of lead villain this time around, and it's a pure delight to see him finally getting his dues. But on top of this, Bowser, too, assumes a lead position in the cast. Sure, he was playable in Mario RPG and Super Paper Mario, but here he's, in many ways, more important to the story. After all, everything the Mario Bros. do revolves around facilitating Bowser's abilities to rise to the adversity he faces in his quest of revenge against Fawful.

Of particular note is the writing. It has been said and will continue to be said, but Nintendo's Treehouse did a simply superb job here -- the writing as a whole is delightfully charming and funny, with plenty of laugh-out-loud moments, especially for long-standing Mario fans. The game is packed with wit and oddities, as well as tons of references to previous Mario games, from Yoshi's Island to Mario and Wario to more obvious ones like Super Mario World and Super Mario Bros. 3. Sometimes these references are through dialogue and others are in combat animations, but it's a delight to see such homage paid to the fans. And again, Bowser's starring role results in a lot of amusing interactions between him and other characters. I found myself constantly looking forward to what would happen next just to see what ridiculous ideas would be rolled out and was satisfied throughout.

Of course, what would a Mario RPG be without a deft mixture of action inserted into turn-based battles, right? The battle system here is even more slick and enjoyable than before. Enemies as a whole exhibit trickier patterns, attacking and counterattacking is fluid, and special attacks are varied in execution, leading to different types of reflex testing, from split-second recognition to keeping your eye on one spot to even short-term memorization. Bowser's specials all utilize the touch screen as well, and involve sliding, tapping, and drawing lines. Boss battles can especially get fun with their varying forms of attacks, including some specific weaknesses in many cases. And I don't mean weaknesses in the sense of types of attacks so much as types of attacks in conjunction with timing -- sometimes a certain kind of counterattack may be needed to trigger a weakness.

The game's story concept of the Mario Bros. traversing the Koopa King's entrails, Magic Schoolbus style, is radically bizarre and original for a video game, and fortunately, this also co-relates to excellent pacing and progression as a whole. Throughout most of the adventure, Bowser's Inside Story manages to offer a steady stream of new gameplay elements. Switching between the Bros. and Bowser, offering each new abilities over time, and mixing it up with the occasional minigame. Fortunately, hardly any of these elements end up feeling unpolished or overused. The best example of this are the gigantic boss battles that are fought by flipping the DS sideways and using the stylus to control Bowser's attacks and defense. Not only does this switch things up, but each of the handful of battles in this style require different strategies to complete. Overall, gameplay generally moves at a consistent pacing and most things end about as soon as they start to get old. My personal favorite moments of the game, which I actually could have seen some more of, were boss battles that involved Bowser fighting something, having to use his Kirby-like suction powers at the right time to suck something inside his body where the Mario Bros. had to take it out, which in turn changed something in the battle outside. There was also one portion of the game in which doing something as Bowser to change his body not only affected the physical environments but actually changed the way an enemy functioned, turning it into a completely new enemy. I wish some more things like this had been done, as it was a pleasant surprise.

Along with a fairly meaty and dense portable quest, there are plenty of sidequests to do, more than I expect from a Mario and Luigi game. These mainly involve the new Challenge Node, part of which offers up optional bosses that are beefed up versions of ones you've fought, generally with some new attack patterns. You really have to get their patterns down and deliver a solid offense, as they even strip your items down to pre-set basics AND smack you with a turn-based time limit. Add in a mode that tests you to consecutively execute your special attacks as many times as possible in a row and you've got some extra content to round out the more dedicated gamers out there wanting to test themselves.

So, the game's got all of the fixings for an incredible portable RPG experience packed with timed button presses for action-style combat. It's got an adequate and varied assortment of minigames and extra diversions to boot, hilarious writing, charming visuals and a much better soundtrack than Partners in Time (including a cool effect that shifts the music's style when you play inside Bowser's body). So what holds the game back from being as good as it gets for Mario RPGs?

Well, let's cut to the main qualm most folks end up having with this particular brand of Mario RPG: tutorials. Yes, they exist, yes, they often can't be skipped entirely, even if they are returning abilities, and yes, it's annoying. But it's only annoying for the 60-120 seconds it takes to endure them and you're generally back into the action. It's nice that they are there for less-inclined players but sometimes they can really hold your hand too much for comfort. At least Bowser complains about it himself at one point or another, adding some tongue-in-cheek to the proceedings. Pressing the shoulder button to switch between abilities can sometimes be a little awkward but I can't think of any other way to get around that and it never feels too cumbersome as to slow you down.

Another thing I feel compelled to nitpick about is the enemy and location variety. I'm not sure if it's my memories playing tricks on me or what, but I feel like other Mario RPGs have had more variety in their locations than this title. And for crying out loud, how many times have we traversed a completely rearranged Mushroom Kingdom at this point? I also must admit that by the time I reached the end of an area, I was about sick of the limited number of enemies I had to keep fighting over and over again. It doesn't end up feeling too redudant, I suppose, but it was the first time in a Mario RPG where I actually would avoid enemies in any given area before I left it because I just didn't feel like going through the exact same motions again.

The last thing I'd like to touch on is the item and equipment system. While I do admit it is, overall, probably better than the first two games in terms of equipment, the items are terribly lacking. All they do, literally, is heal your HP and special attack points, revive a fallen Mario Brother, and heal you from a status effect. As far as in-combat items, that is literally all there is. Even the last game offered you some items that temporarily boosted stats. And since the game's Challenge Mode doesn't even let you use these items, I ended up holding onto a lot of my powerful healing items and never needing them. The only exceptions are Retry Clocks, which can restart a battle right then and there should you lose (which are welcome and convenient, saving you from replaying a few minutes of game you've already played) and Beans. Yes, underground beans come back yet again, this time incrementally increasing a few of your stats. Why there are not Beans that increase, say, Spped or Defense, and only Power, I'm not sure.

The equipment system, on the other hand, is a lot more satisfying overall. As your characters level up they'll eventually gain three equipment slots, which can be used to assign three different types of equipment. You'll generally want one of these to be a piece of "Armor," but the other two slots can be occupied by various sorts, but you can't equip two of the same kind. This leads to a bit of strategy: I have two pairs of Socks I really like -- one restores HP every turn and the other gives me more Coins when I win a battle without getting hit. I have to choose one or the other. I liked this more deep equipment system compared to the previous two games. Also, there is a new Badge system, which involves filling a gauge based on performance in battle (it reminded me of the Star Power gained from the audience in Paper Mario 2). This was a cool idea and adds some extra strategy to your setup, but is painfully limited in scope, with only a handful of badges to utilize.

As for the story, while it is hilarious, partway through the game it sadly degenerates into a "OMG Magical Star Thingy of Ultimate Power" that haunts every single damned Mario RPG plotline, including the "You must collect the pieces of X Magical Artifact to defeat the great evil." Not gonna lie, I was a touch disappointed that this happened after a few hours of being blissfully free of this cliche, but I do admit the culmination in the end is still pretty amusing. Lastly, let's talk about Starlow, who goes by the name of "Chippy" for the sake of Bowser not recognizing her true identity. She can at times be really irksome in her handholding and advising, often negating the thought of what is already a pretty straight-forward puzzle. That said, she did rub off on me a bit, if only because some of the game's funniest moments involve her (oftentimes criticizing Luigi's now trademark wussy-pants attitude), including a few appearances in combat itself.

Obviously, I'm really nitpicking here, being a big fan of overarcing Mario RPGs and waiting for one to come along and push Thousand-Year-Door from its pedestal as "Best Mario RPG" in my book. But as much as I love SuperStar Saga, I have to admit that this game had more slick and polished gameplay and more laugh-out-loud moments than the original GBA title. I will say that there may not be any single moment quite as classic as the infamous "Bait-N'-Switch" from SuperStar Saga (you know what I'm talking about) but overall, the game left me with a few more stitches and definitely had more engaging combat.

-The Miracle Cure-
Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story is, as a whole, the best of the M&L spinoff series thus far. Its wacky, off the wall concept lends itself to interesting and entertaining gameplay and oodles of chuckles. There's plenty to accomplish with new tasks and abilities getting dished out regularly. Bowser as the main story-driving character and Fawful as his antagonist are great touches that really help show the comic potential of the two characters. It's also got more than enough content to warrant a purchase. Easily one of the best titles that has ever been inserted into my DS to date. If you've been neglecting your DS, do yourself a favor and embark on this memorable, comic adventure.

-High Score-
9/10