Dark Bowser

"Soon this kingdom will vanish along with all who dwell within. And you, too, will sleep eternally in the dark power's embrace!"

- Dark Bowser

Dark Bowser is the form the Dark Star takes after absorbing enough of Bowser's DNA, who acts as Bowser's final boss in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story and its Nintendo 3DS remake, Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey. His voice is a slowed-down version of Bowser's, and he has all the powers the original has, along with many dark variations as well. He is fought alongside Mario and Luigi's final boss, the Dark Star Core.

History
While the Dark Star was gathering DNA from the Airway inside Bowser's body, Mario and Luigi pursue it to try to stop it before it could complete a profile of Bowser's body. It manages to get his Punch, Fire Breath, Body Slam, and presumably even more moves before Mario and Luigi could fight it.

The brothers battle the Dark Star and manage to defeat it, but at this point, the Dark Star has absorbed every piece of DNA that it needed, so it leaves Bowser's body and transforms into Dark Bowser, albeit in a ghost-like state because the Dark Star was missing DNA from Bowser's legs. After trying to absorb dark power by inhaling an unconscious Princess Peach, to no avail, Dark Bowser searches her castle for dark power to complete the missing info. He finds Dark Fawful searching for the half of the Dark Star's power he had not absorbed. After Bowser defeats Fawful (which results in him devolving into a bug-like form), Dark Bowser inhales him, thus completing himself, and becoming solid in the process.

The newly completed Dark Bowser leaves the room, in the process opening the way to the secret tower of Peach's Castle. Bowser pursues him, and when he confronts his dark form, the two Bowsers both execute flame breath attacks that clash with each other, initiating the prologue to the final battle. Bowser eventually overwhelms Dark Bowser, who retreats higher into the tower in his inflammed spike ball, forcing Bowser into the same position in the process. Bowser, with the help of Mario and Luigi in the Chest Station, is able to defeat his dark form in a shell collision match, but the dark being manages to retreat again.

Just above the arena is the roof of the tower. Bowser follows a path to an arena, where Dark Bowser waits with a still unconscious Peach (who is now inexplicably outside of him). Dark Bowser, commenting on the dark power needing to be freed, unleashes a dark hurricane over the Mushroom Kingdom. In the original version, Broque Monsieur, the Koopa Paratroopa Trio and some Toads and Goombas trapped in bubbles are shown circling around the arena. Starlow attempts to encourage Bowser and reveal Mario and Luigi and her true identity, but the windstorm is too loud for him to hear her. Dark Bowser and Bowser then fire their Flame Breath at each other, initiating the final battle.

Once Mario and Luigi defeat the Dark Star Core inside Bowser, Dark Bowser becomes unstable. This allows Bowser to finish him off with a "KO punch". Dark Bowser, after saying his last words to Bowser, explodes, releasing the dying Dark Star, which flies above Peach's Castle and explodes, reverting the kingdom back to normal.

Physical description
Dark Bowser has all of the original Bowser's physique and build, but is detailed very differently. All of his scales and shell are colored dark blue, and his snout, plastron/underbelly, horns and spikes are noticeably paler than Bowser's. His eyes are identical to the Dark Star's own, but he seems to entirely lack Bowser's eyebrows. The rings around his spikes and horns are colored black, and the most noticeable difference between Bowser and Dark Bowser is that Dark Bowser has a black mohawk in place of Bowser's hair. His sprites also have dark orbs float across his body.

In his incomplete state, he retains his details, but appears as a ghostly figure with a purple coloration (without his eyes), whilst pulsating a brighter purple. His animations are also distinctive in that his idle sprite has misplaced pixels to give an effect resembling video noise, and his talking animations have a noticeable jitter to them. He also entirely lacks legs and a tail until he is fully complete.

Speech
While Dark Bowser is incomplete, his speech is halted and can only speak one sentence at a time. However, upon his completion, he starts to speak fully and does not use contractions.

In the Japanese version, his speech is halted and written entirely in katakana while he is incomplete. When Dark Bowser inhales Dark Fawful and is completed, he begins to speak in more natural Japanese, with kanji and no pauses.

Aside from text dialogue, Dark Bowser's roars and grunts are provided by Kenny James, who also voices the original Bowser.

Powers & abilities
While incomplete, the only powers Dark Bowser is shown to possess are floating, punching and inhaling. Once he inhales Dark Fawful after he is reduced to a bug-like form and turns complete, Dark Bowser showcases even more powers that are similar to the original Bowser's; exhaling/shooting fire out of his mouth, curling up into a spike ball, etc. Dark Bowser also has the ability of spreading darkness throughout large areas of land, seen before the final boss fight with him, which also traps any residents inside dark bubbles.

During the final battle, Dark Bowser has the ability to create boulders, cages and energy balls as the means to attack Bowser. With the help of Dark Fawful, who is inside him, Dark Bowser can recover any and all damages given to him, seen once Bowser reduces his HP to zero, and even grow larger (with his belly being his only weak spot, which makes him cough up Dark Fawful and revert him back to normal size). Also, Dark Bowser makes use of dark variations of Bowser's own minions, sending them after Bowser when he turns giant.

However, if the Dark Star Core takes too much damage, Dark Bowser will become weakened and unstable, which is what ultimately allowed Bowser to finish him off during their fight.

Battle
One of Dark Bowser's attacks is throwing a boulder into the air and blasting it apart with fire, causing rocks to fall from the sky. Bowser must duck with his shell to avoid taking damage. However, he must also punch one of the rocks in front of him at Dark Bowser, who is charging a massive blast of dark fire. When the rock lands in his mouth, the attack's energy recoils and he inflicts damage on himself from the inside. If Bowser does not do this, however, he takes damage from the blast.

Another attack involves him punching Bowser repeatedly. Bowser must counter with his own punch, making their fists clash and negating any intended damage. Afterward, Dark Bowser will jump into the air as a spike ball and try to land on Bowser. Bowser must duck in his shell to protect himself. He can then counterattack by quickly throwing a punch at Dark Bowser after Bowser ducks.

Another attack traps Bowser in a cage and raises it into the sky. Dark Bowser will then charge up an energy ball to launch at Bowser. Bowser must try, by punching repeatedly, to destroy the cage's lock before he gets hit by the energy ball (he should have just enough time to do this). He can also swing the cage off its hinges by ducking into his shell to damage Dark Bowser, however, this method takes longer and requires precise timing while swinging. In the remake, the cage will swing automatically, rather than requiring Bowser to duck in his shell, and by continuously punching as soon as the attack begins, the timing will usually be right to land on Dark Bowser upon breaking the cage.

After taking enough damage, Dark Bowser will fall to the ground; he is then fully healed by the ingested Dark Fawful and will grow larger. He will always follow this up (assuming Bowser did not make Dark Bowser's HP fall to 0 via counter-attacking) by tossing a mixed ball of dark versions of Bowser's minions (Goombas, Koopa Troopas, Thwomps, Bob-ombs, and Bullet Bills) at him. The ball pushes Bowser back several meters, after which he must walk back through the minions while dodging or countering their attacks (punching the Goombas, Koopa Troopas, Bob-ombs and low-altitude Bullet Bills, and ducking under the high-altitude Bullet Bills and Thwomps). When near to the battlefield, Dark Bowser again curls up into a spike ball and tries to slam into him from above. Bowser must defend with his shell, then do it again as Dark Bowser prepares the next spike ball slam. Bowser can avoid the second attack just by walking. This is changed in the remake, however; the player has to duck for the second attack as well.

When it is his turn, Bowser has to attack his stomach so that he spits up the Dark Star Core and causing Dark Bowser to shrink back to normal size. Bowser must then inhale Dark Fawful; Dark Bowser will try to counteract with his own inhaling technique. If he fails to do so, Bowser will have to start this process all over again. Once he has successfully inhaled Dark Fawful, the Mario Brothers must fight the dark being inside his body. If Mario and Luigi fail to defeat Dark Fawful and Dark Star Core within several turns, he will escape and return back into Dark Bowser's body, forcing the process to be repeated. Only upon Dark Fawful's defeat can Bowser give his shadowy doppelganger the final blows. Once defeated, Dark Bowser dissolves, leaving only the Dark Star, which rises into the air and explodes, restoring the Mushroom Kingdom to normal.

Quotes

 * "Your body, I have copied... Your power, I have copied..."
 * "Not enough... Not enough...power..."
 * "Not enough dark power... Power has been drained..."
 * "I am not complete..."
 * "Who... Who will give...the dark power... Her... No..."
 * "That voice... Yes... I know that voice... That is the being who drained me of my power..."
 * "Where... Dark power... Being who drains... Where... Where..."
 * "There..."
 * "FWAHAHAHA! Awake at last! The dark power is complete!"
 * "I have copied all that is you. You are no longer necessary."
 * "The dark power slept so long, and now it wakes... It must be freed... BEHOLD!"
 * "Still here? Has the dark power not yet crushed your puny hopes? Soon this kingdom will vanish along with all who dwell within. And you, too, will sleep eternally in the dark power's embrace!"
 * "Huuh huuh huuh... Haah haah haargh... I have fallen...To come so far...so far...to lose..."
 * "Dark...Even with the dark power completed...The unthinkable happened..."

Trivia

 * Dark Bowser is the third final boss in the Mario & Luigi series that is a different form of Bowser, the first two being Bowletta and Shrowser, and the fourth and fifth being Dreamy Bowser and Shiny RoboBowser. However, he is the only one who is not actually Bowser, instead being the Dark Star taking on the appearance of Bowser, due to Bowser himself being playable in the game.

Finster-Bowser Bowser Oscuro