Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story for Nintendo DS Reviews by Gamers

Having played all three M + L titles I can say without reservation that this is the best one. While the story isn't amazing, why would you play a Mario game for it's story? Still, simply having Fawful do his best to take over the Mushroom Kingdom is a good enough incentive for me.

The gameplay is basically the same as the first two titles as far as Mario and Luigi go. That isn't a bad thing, but for the next title I think that both bros should be given a third attack option. Still, being able to avoid and counterattack enemies is light years ahead of any other JRPG. The reason you'll want to keep playing is for Bowser; while over the years the Koopa King has been 'wimpified', BIS was able to convince me that if it weren't for the sake of narrative, Bowser could indeed defeat the Mario Bros. Yes, he's that strong, and you'll feel that strong while playing as him.

Music is good, and the voice samples are enjoyable. Controls are great and being in Bowser's body is a very interesting gameplay mechanic. Also, while many journalists have commented that the game has a lot of humor I have to respectfully disagree with some of their comments. The game has a few moments that will make you laugh out loud sure, and give more than it's fair share of smiles, but it isn't quite gut busting, especially in the later parts of the game when the absurdity seems common place.

Overall a great title that should be in any DS owner's library, if for no other reason than having a giant godzilla Bowser to fight battle robots with.

Mario, Luigi, and Bowser have been going at it since the beginning of time, but this time we get to know how Bowser sees it. The basic plot is that the Peach's castle becomes infected with the "Blorbs" and causes Mario and Luigi to end up inside Bowser's stomach. Now you must work together to find out who and why. But it's a Mario game so it's not too complicated.
While this game is a turn-based RPG, unlike other turn-based games you take an active role in battle and must manually avoid enemy attacks while timing your own to get an Excellent score. If you've played any Paper Mario games or even Mario RPG, this should be familiar to you. If not, it's easy to learn since you'll be doing it all game.

Pros: It's funny! The Mario & Luigi series is one that doesn't take itself seriously. Since Mario and Luigi can't really talk, Bowser's the one with all the wisecracks. More Luigi cheap shots, brother babble, and even a Godzilla reference.
It's long. It took me around 20 hours to beat and get most everything. Of course you'll be having too much fun to notice.
Graphics are clean, colorful, and vivid. Bowser's stomach looks more colorful than I would've thought.
Controls are simple.
The music is fitting and some of it is catchy. The brothers' gibberish is cute and Bowser growls like he usually does.

Cons: It's easy if you've played the earlier games. Enemies hit hard but they're easy to beat if you remember their attacks. Even if you're weak as long as you dodge enemy attacks you'll live as long as the battle.
Linear. There's not much reason to replay it unless you want to get the highest ranks, beat all the minigames, and find all the beans. If you replay you can't really customize the brothers or Bowser to be super powerful unless you constantly get Excellent attacks.
Although it's funny up to the middle you get used to it near the end.

I recommend a rental to see if you'd like to play the game over and over. Overall, a must play for DS owners!