Mike's latest writing challenge was something I have never really tried before. I would always just shoot for the amount of words I thought I needed or I would just go wild. It was interesting to take my ideas from the first cut and work that into the second and third cuts. 

Most interesting was bringing up "bean-collecting" in the third cut, which is something I didn't point out in the first or second cut. I found that simply listing that was the best way to convey variety in the shortest amount of words. 

Either way, this was fun.

First cut: 494 words

Starting with Superstar Saga on the Gameboy Advance, the Mario & Luigi series shined in its animation, humor, and an engaging-but-simple battle system. Mario & Luigi 3: Bower's Inside Story takes all these things and amplifies or refines them. 

It can't be overstated that the most appealing aspect of this game is its humor. The world-famous dynamic between Mario and his younger brother Luigi is capitalized on for the sake of hilarity and to connect you with the characters. Mario and Luigi don't talk outside of a "bibity-boobity spahgetti-lasgna" gibberish talk that is translated by other characters, but they have a ton of personality thanks to great animation.  

The animation is the highlight of the entire game. While exposition is happening between characters you can often just skip past them and watch as Luigi tries to do a yoga pose without falling over or attempts to tickle the yoga master to make him fall over. I chortled at least a dozen times while playing, but -- more than just laughing -- I felt more connected to these characters than I ever have before in a video game. Especially Luigi. He is always afraid and sad that he isn't as brave as Mario. This is played up perfectly as key points throughout the game. 

Bowser is back as a playable character and he really steels the spotlight. Where the plumbers are silly and heroic -- Bowser is silly and stupid. He is the George W. Bush of video game characters only much less hated. His motto, "when in doubt, punch something," gets him in a number of absurd predicaments, but he always finds a way out of them; though Mario and Luigi are usually to thank for that. The gameplay is equally split between the Bowser segments and the Mario and Luigi segments (about 10 hours a piece). 

The battle system has always been great in any Mario-branded RPG, and the same is true with this one. Bowser adds a lot of variety, because not only does he possess a punch and breath of fire, but his special moves are done with the touch screen. Not all the touch screen special moves work, but as I got used to them they definitely were a lot of fun. Occasionally, Bowser will piss off some gigantic enemy or get into some terrible circumstance and the brothers will be forced to work around the King of the Koopa's body to to help him out. The help comes in the form of mini-games that Mario and Luigi play that lead to super-strength, super-size, or some other super for Bowser. Again, the animation is the big stand-out. 

My only complaint is that some of the characters rely too heavily on silly voices for their humor, which is something that Fawful -- the big bad this time around -- perfected in the first game. It is also a bit long at 20 hours, but it actually goes by pretty fast.

Second Cut: 250 words

From the beginning the Mario & Luigi series has been about great animation, humor, and light-RPG elements. Mario & Luigi 3: Bowser's Inside Story improves all that while adding variety.