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 Bowser's final boss in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story. He has all the powers Bowser has, along with many dark powers. He is far more evil than the original Bowser; while Bowser simply desires to take over the Mushroom Kingdom, Dark Bowser wants to destroy it outright.

''Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story
When the evil Dark Star entered Bowser's body, it began absorbing pieces of his DNA. Mario and Luigi tried to stop it, even defeating it in battle, but the dark artifact had already collected enough DNA to form a shadowy clone of Bowser. However, the clone was not quite complete; when Dark Bowser emerged from its template's body, it had a ghostly appearance, missing its legs and being engulfed in a shimmering purple aura.

The spectral Dark Bowser begins searching the castle for the last fragment of its power: Dark Fawful, ironically conducting his own search for the Dark Star. After Bowser defeats Dark Fawful, the latter adopts a tiny buglike form that is inhaled by Dark Bowser to restore his full power.

With his form complete, Dark Bowser retreats to a secret tower in the castle, but Bowser pursues him. An exchange of fireballs forces both to curl up into a spike ball and attempt to ram each other into submission. Bowser overwhelms his dark doppelganger, who retreats to the top of the tower with Princess Peach in tow. From here, Dark Bowser engulfs the whole Mushroom Kingdom in dark clouds, even pushing Bowser back with his sheer evil power.

However, the encouragement of Chippy and the Mario Bros. strengthens Bowser's resolve; he defies Dark Bowser and engages him in a final battle. The Koopa King forced his shadowy copy to regurgitate Dark Fawful before inhaling it himself and allowing the Mario Bros. to defeat it. With its core destroyed, Dark Bowser becomes unstable, and Bowser finishes it off with a series of powerful punches. Defeated, Dark Bowser dissolved, and the Dark Star rose into the air and exploded, restoring the Mushroom Kingdom to normal.

Battle
Dark Bowser has few attacks, but they all have multiple stages and potentially devastating damage.

One attack sees Dark Bowser throwing a boulder into the air and blasting it with a dark fireball, causing burning rocks to fall from the sky in one of three positions. To avoid damage, Bowser must use his shell to deflect the rocks falling towards him (the middle position). At the same time, however, Dark Bowser is charging up a massive fire blast that cannot be dodged-to stop it, Bowser must punch one of the rocks falling in the right-hand position. If successful, the rock flies into Dark Bowser's mouth, causing his fire breath to backfire and dealing some damage. Another attack involves Dark Bowser punching Bowser repeatedly. To stop the attack, Bowser must counter with his own punch, creating a shock wave that blows the combatants away from each other. After this, Dark Bowser will jump into the air, curl into a spiked ball, and try to land on Bowser. The Koopa King must retract into his shell to avoid taking damage-if the player is quick enough, he can punch Dark Bowser when the latter uncurls. Dark Bowser's third attack traps Bowser in a cage of dark lightning, hanging in the air. Bowser must escape the cage before Dark Bowser can hit him with a massive energy ball. To escape, Bowser can repeatedly punch the cage's lock or swing the cage off its hinges with repeated uses of his shell defense-the latter requires precise timing, but also gives Bowser a free hit on Dark Bowser if he escapes.

Giant Dark Bowser
When his HP is depleted, Dark Bowser collapses. Unfortunately, Dark Fawful heals him completely, making the dark doppelganger grow larger in the process. In this form, his only attack is to toss a mixed ball of "Dark Minions" at Bowser, pushing him back a great distance before exploding into its component creatures. To continue the fight, Bowser must make his way back to the battlefield, fending off Dark Bowser's horde of minions, including:


 * Dark Goombas: Run straight ahead, trying to ram Bowser. Defeat with a punch.
 * Dark Koopa Troopas: Charge at Bowser within their shells. Punch them to knock them into any other grounded enemies behind them.
 * Dark Thwomps: Hover overhead and drop on Bowser when he approaches. Use his shell to block the hits.
 * Dark Bob-ombs: Quickly run at Bowser and explode. Defeated with a punch, possibly catching enemies behind them in the explosion.
 * Dark Bullet Bills: Fly at Bowser from one of two heights. Low-flying ones can be punched away, and high-flying ones can be dodged by ducking into his shell.

When Bowser has almost returned to the battlefield, Dark Bowser drops from off screen in spike ball form. Bowser must hide under his shell to avoid the blow, repeating the defense when Dark Bowser attempts to slam him again.

After surviving the onslaught of Dark Minions, Bowser must punch Dark Bowser in the stomach, forcing the latter to spit up Fawful and return to his normal size. On his next turn, Bowser must inhale the buglike former Beanish, fighting against Dark Bowser's attempt to do the same. Successfully inhaling Fawful pulls him into Bowser's body, where the Mario Brothers must fight him to destroy the Dark Star Core. Only upon Dark Fawful's defeat can Bowser give his shadowy doppelganger the final blow.

Trivia

 * Dark Bowser is the third final boss that Bowser has a direct hand in defeating, after Smithy and Super Dimentio from Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars and Super Paper Mario, respectively (although using Bowser for either of these battles was optional). The Mario Bros. also defeated Elder Princess Shroob, from Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, by deflecting Bowser's fireballs up at her (Bowser was unknowingly possessed by the alien princess and she was using him to try and defeat the Mario Bros.).
 * Bowser's fight with Dark Bowser is reminiscent of the final battle in Paper Mario, as both take place on a large circular arena above Princess Peach's castle.
 * In the North American version, while Dark Bowser is plugged up, he will grow and shake, whereas in the Japanese version, he just grows.
 * Like Chakron, when Dark Bowser is defeated, he offers no EXP.
 * Dark Bowser, along with the Dark Star Core, is the only boss that can be fought multiple times on the same save file. There is no Save Block after defeating Dark Bowser, so the player can commence the battle over and over again.
 * Dark Bowser is the third final boss that is a different form of Bowser, the first two being Bowletta and Shrowser.
 * This is the second time the evil spirit of the main antagonist was fought inside Bowser's body. The first time was in Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga against Cackletta's Soul inside of Bowletta's mouth, as proven by the teeth and the flames. The second time is against the Dark Fawful Bug in Bowser's stomach. He is the remains of Dark Fawful. Also, in both of these battles the Mario Bros. are fighting the real final boss, as opposed to Bowser, who is fighting Dark Bowser, which was created by Dark Fawful.