Platform: Nintendo DS
Genre: Action/RPG/Sidescroller
ESRB: E (Everyone)
Release date: September 15, 2009

This time around in Nintendo's ever popular Mario Bros series, Bowser is tricked by Fawful into eating a mushroom that causes him to inhale Princess Peach, Mario, Luigi, and a bunch of toads. On a side note, an infection known as the "Blorbs" is infecting the people of the Mushroom kingdom - and needs to be cured.

During the game you will play as both Mario and Luigi inside of Bowser, as well as controlling Bowser from the outside. Often, Mario and Luigi will need to help Bowser out by doing a variety of things, such as stimulating his muscles when he is lifting up a heavy obstacle.



To be quite honest, all Mario stories are rather similar - and if we were to lay it out, it would sound as though a five year old were explaining a dream. With that said, this story does go slightly off of the beaten track in that you are actually working with Bowser in order to rescue the princess - but he doesn't know that for most of the story.

The story begins with Bowser being tricked by long time rival Fawful into eating a mushroom that causes him to inhale everything - and  that just happens to include Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, as well as a host of others - both good and bad. Fawful then proceeds to seal Bowser in a cave, and when he awakens, he finds that Fawful is taking his castle; and furthermore that he plans to eventually overtake the Mushroom Kingdom. Throughout the rest of the story, you play as Mario, Luigi, and Bowser - all cooperating, for once - attempting to retake Bowsers castle, save the Princess and the Mushroom kingdom from Fawful.

The story is presented very well, though sometimes, the text does get a little excessive. There is plenty of humor throughout the story, for both older and newer Nintendo fans - and you'll probably find yourself chuckling a few times as you play through the game.

As with most of its previous RPG games, Nintendo has done an excellent job of designing the game - they have an excellent battle system, a funny plot, a ton of puzzles, and a ton of other snippets that add up to a great game.

First off, lets talk about the controls. Originally, I was worried that the controls would feel unnatural and clunky, as you are controlling two (I'm counting the Mario Brothers as one) very different characters. However, after playing the game, I am happy to say that the controls are very fluid and feel natural. A is used to control Mario's actions, B for Luigi's, and X & Y are reserved for Bowser, as he has two actions (punching and breathing fire) rather than just one (jumping). Of course, the D-Pad is used for moving.
 
Gameplay in this game is very straightforward, and Nintendo does a very good job of taking the typical RPG game to the next level. The battle system is fairly straightforward, and is similar to that of previous Mario Bros RPG titles, in that it takes skill on the player's part to be able to successfully combat your foes, a good example being Mario and Luigi's jump attack. If you simply select the attack and watch, you may deal a couple of points of damage. However, if you push either A or B just before hitting the target, you deal way more damage, and get a change at a second jump immediately after bouncing off of your enemy.

Also, lets say that Bowser is fighting an enemy, and it spawns a smaller enemy to help it (which happens quite often, annoyingly enough). Instead of taking both on, Bowser can inhale the smaller enemy and have Mario and Luigi fight it inside of his body. You will also encounter a variety of very clever puzzles throughout the game, and most of them force you to have Mario and Luigi interact with Bowser in some pretty unique ways.

The amount of gameplay in this title is astounding - even after beating the main storyline you will find an almost endless amount of side-quests.




The graphics in this game aren't anything to brag about, but they are a step up. The levels are generally very nicely designed, and though many stock animations are repeated over and over, you really don't notice with the ever creative backgrounds and textures exploited in each level.

Overall, this really isn't that much of an important aspect of the game, but the graphics are very nicely done, and they do add somewhat to the overall fun level of the game.




The music, of course, is a mixture of traditional Nintendo tunes with some more modern and upbeat ones. While simple, the music and sound effects fit the game very well.

I usually like to play games with sound off, but this game has a decent and amusing soundtrack, so I had my speakers cranked up for the majority of the storyline.

1-Story: 8.5/10
2-Gameplay/Controls: 9/10
3-Graphics: 8.5/10
4-Music/Sound: 8.5/10
5-Replay Value: 7.5/10

Total Score: 8.3/10

CONCLUSION: This game is an absolute blast to play, with its unique storyline, amusing gameplay, cool effects, and easy controls.


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