Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story

Mario & Luigi RPG 3 (tentative title, Japanese Mario & Luigi RPG 3!!!) is the upcoming third title in the Mario & Luigi series, for the Nintendo DS. It was confirmed on October 2 at the Fall 2008 Nintendo Conference and is currently slated for release February 11, 2009 in Japan. Unlike Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time for the Nintendo DS, this game will make greater use of the DS's touch controls and microphone.

Plot
After the Mushroom Kingdom's citizens begin to fall victim to the mysterious "Metakoro Disease," Princess Peach calls a meeting, which is attended by Mario and Luigi. A new character, Yellow Star, has discovered the cause of the disease. Meanwhile, Bowser gets an item called the "Lucky Mushroom," which is actually a trap set by Fawful. It allows Fawful to control Bowser's actions, and gives Bowser the ability to inhale everything. Bowser goes to Peach's meeting and inhales everyone there. From this point, players can control both Bowser and the Marios, who are inside his body. While Bowser and Peach are preoccupied, Fawful takes control of both their castles.

Overworld
While Mario and Luigi adventure through Bowser's body, Bowser is walking around the overworld. Mario and Luigi can have influence on Bowser. They can pinch nerves to make Bowser panic. They can also touch Bowser's muscles to give him a power-up. Equally, Bowser can change the course of the Marios' adventure. For example, he can flood them by drinking from a fountain.

Overworld icons have slightly changed. They now display the health of the character. Bowser uses two buttons in the overworld, X to punch, and Y for firebreath. Mario uses A to jump, use his hammer or do a Spin Jump. Luigi uses B to jump, use the hammer or hiting Mario with his hammer, making Mario flat and little. It also seems that while Bowser explores a 3-D overworld, Mario and Luigi explore a 2-D world inside Bowser's body, much like a traditional platformer.

Mario and Luigi Battle System
Bowser will get the vacuum ability only after the player advances further through the game. He can then swallow enemies to make Mario and Luigi fight them in his belly. The battle system with both Bowser and Mario & Luigi is similar to the battles from previous titles. There are now six categories of attack during battle, as opposed to Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time ' s five, or Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga ' s four. These are Jump, Hammer, Bros. Items, Items, Attacks Parts and Escape. The Marios can defend with their jump and their hammers. The Jump makes Mario and/or Luigi jump to dodge an attack or to counter-attack. The Hammer is used to counter-attack. The music played while battling is the same as the music played during the debut trailer, as seen in the Japanese site.

A new element has been added to battles, a gauge at the bottom of the screen with Mario and Luigi's heads on either end. When Mario or Luigi attacks successfully, that brother's end of the bar fills slightly. When they meet in the middle, "Attack Parts" may be used. These must be found in two parts and can be put together to create new special abilities like "Sweet Basket", in which Luigi eats a lot of candy, filling himself up to the point that Mario can toss him at enemies like a ball.

Bowser's Battle System
Bowser has almost the same battle system as Mario and Luigi's, but with a few differences. He has different options: Punch replaces Jump, Fire Breath replaces Hammer and Enemy Attack replaces Attacks Parts. He doesn't have Bros. Items. Bowser's defenses are the Punch and the Shell. Bowser's Punch can counter-attack an enemy. His spiky Shell can hit enemies that try to jump on his head.

Enemy Attacks are special attacks that use members of Bowser' army, like Goombas, Bob-Ombs or Koopas. These use the stylus. These characters need to be liberated to unlock these attacks.

Bowser will also have his very own battle system when he fights alone against equally-sized enemies. During these battles, the player holds the DS sideways like a book, and can perform moves with the touch screen and microphone. Sweeping the touch pen across the touch screen will make Bowser execute a Mega Punch against his enemy, while breathing into the microphone will make him breath fire. These battles are real-time battles.

Playable

 * Mario
 * Luigi
 * Bowser

NPCs

 * Princess Peach
 * Toadsworth
 * Toadbert
 * Yellow Star (Chippy)
 * Kamek
 * Toads
 * Fawful
 * Brirock, a human like creature who seems to be made from ? Blocks. He is fought by Bowser, which leaves him thinking he's an enemy.
 * Blodog, Brirock's pet.

Enemies

 * Goombas (An enemy to Mario and Luigi. Bowser uses them in battle)
 * Koopas (An enemy to the Mario Bros. They obey Bowser)
 * A new Goomba-like species that is pink-orange with black eyes (in Bowser's Stomach)
 * A round dumpy creature that looks like a Flurry and holds a club (in Bowser's Stomach). A giant version seems to exist as well.
 * A Treasure Chest with Banjo-Kazooie like eyes
 * Two different types of trees with eyes.
 * Spinies with normal spiky shell but goop-like body with blue-green color (in Bowser's Stomach)
 * An insect creature that resembles Fawful.
 * A Monty Mole-like creature with a resemblance to Fawful.
 * A living piece of meat (in Bowser's Stomach).
 * A blue Blooper.
 * A Giant Goomba with a lollipop.
 * A bone-like Thwomp (in Bowser's Stomach)
 * Some kind of giant bean
 * A mad Wiggler
 * A Birdo-Squiggler mix
 * A Fawful T-Rex. It's Japanese name is Getageta.
 * A Fawful-like ant with a drill for an abdomen. It's Japanese name is Geranko.
 * A gigantic insect
 * Snifit Sunflowers
 * A magmatic Giant Goomba.
 * A green Sworm with Fawful's eyes in a Chain-Chomp with Fawful's face.
 * Brirock is fought at one point.
 * A Thwomp with some kind of cold (it is shown with a runny nose and an ice pack on it's head)
 * A Goomba in a cage with a cannon and shield for arms
 * An fried-egg-like creature (in Bowser's Stomach)
 * An anthropomorphic pig under the orders of Fawful. He robotized Bowser's castle and guards it.
 * Bowser's own castle

Unknown

 * A new type of Shy Guy
 * A new type of Paratroopa with a bucket on its head.
 * A new type of Goomba that wears clothes.

Solo Pictures
NOTE: Other solo artworks for this game which are not shown here were previously seen for Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time.

Trivia

 * This is the first time in the RPGs that a sequel has been released on the same system as it's predecessor.

Other Links

 * Japanese Site of Mario & Luigi RPG 3!!!