Mario & Luigi - Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey (Europe)
Nintendo 3DS
🇩🇪🇬🇧🇪🇸🇫🇷🇮🇹
Reviewed in 2019
78
✪ Reviewed on June 5, 2023
72
Mario & Luigi Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr's Journey on 3DS, remake of the DS masterpiece with an exclusive Bowser Jr mode. The inside of Bowser's body as a playground. Brilliant humour and innovative gameplay. A must.
Your verdict
Category
RPG1 player7+
Description
Mario and Luigi explore inside Bowser's body while he fights outside, with an all-new storyline featuring Bowser Jr. Published by Nintendo, released in Europe in January 2019. Turn-based combat with evasion timing, giant Bowser control, new Bowser Jr.'s Journey mode. Multilingual version.
Mario & Luigi - Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey review
4/5
Art direction
★★★★★
"Striking"
4/5
Music
★★★★★
"Excellent"
3/5
Story
★★★★★
"Solid"
The strongest idea is to turn a body into scenery. The interior levels are drawn as caverns of muscle and tissue, with striated pink walls, coloured ducts serving as corridors, air pockets standing in for rooms, and organs handled as monumental landmarks. The whole thing stays surprisingly readable, because each system of the body gets its own dominant hue.
Two sound scales alternate constantly. The colossus advances on low brass, heavy percussion and a slow tempo that convey his mass; the two tiny brothers immediately start up a fast, high, almost thin theme played by woodwind and harpsichord. Since the story shifts from one to the other every few minutes, the soundtrack maintains a permanent effect of audio zoom.
Gameplay
"Excellent"
Fun
"Mild"
Addictiveness
"Obsessive"
Switching between the brothers above ground and Bowser inside his own body, syncing attacks to split-second timing and solving puzzles as a duo makes for an action RPG whose every zany idea brings back the smile. The timing-based battles and the humor keep you going. The pacing drags at times, but the constant inventiveness pulls you in to the very end.
Difficulty
"Balanced"
Lifespan
"Massive"
Exploring the inside of Bowser's body while steering him on the outside makes for a double-sided adventure, funny and inventive. To the long main quest is added Bowser Jr.'s brand-new mode, which noticeably extends the content. That humour, pace and extra material explain the generous length of this remake, appreciated by RPG fans.
Technical info
💾0,63 GB📅25/01/2019
Published by Nintendo
Mario & Luigi - Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey (3DS) price, value & rarity
Is Mario & Luigi - Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey still worth playing in 2026?
An enriched remake of the third Mario & Luigi RPG, this title keeps its brilliant idea, alternating the brothers exploring the inside of Bowser's body and Bowser himself acting outside, in turn based battles paced by timing. The added mode centred on Bowser Jr., more strategic, broadens the offering. The funny writing and the precision of the fights have lost none of their effectiveness. For a fan of accessible, inventive RPGs or a fan of the Mario world, the title remains one of the series' peaks, as tasty as ever.
