| “ | Long, long ago, a star sleeping deep below the Mushroom Kingdom was dug up. It was not benevolent. It was a frightful star that hid a great evil. The Dark Star. It was said that if an evil entity found the Dark Star, the world would plunge into darkness. That evil-hearted entity would rule the world. Fearing that, the Star Sprites that watch over us sacrificed much over many years. They sealed the Dark Star deep under the earth the Toad Town. | „ |
| ~ Princess Peach telling the story of the Dark Star. |
| “ | 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 |
The Dark Star, later known as Dark Bowser (in Japanese: ダークスター, Dāku Sutā), is the overarching antagonist of the 2009 Nintendo videogame Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story. It is an ancient artifact of terrible power that was sealed away beneath Toad Town. After it was reawakened by Fawful, it absorbs Bowser's DNA and transforms into Dark Bowser.
Description
Appearance
When the Dark Star is in its dormant state, it appears as a violet sphere with a black star-shaped mark on its front. When it's active, it gains two pupil-less red eyes and eight black spikes that are constantly rotating around its sides.
Upon absorbing Bowser's DNA, the Dark Star became an almost exact duplicate of him, except that his limbs, head and shell are violet, the mouth, underbelly, spikes and horns are a dull white, his eyes are red with a thick, black rim and no pupils, and his hair is a black mohawk. At first, Dark Bowser appeared ghost-like with a wisp instead of legs, but when it reabsorbed its lost power, he became whole and gained legs.
Personality
At first, the Dark Star could only express its personality through actions alone, but after becoming Dark Bowser, it became capable of voicing it’s desires. In any case, the Dark Star has a dark and almost emotionless personality with it's ultimate desire being to plunge the world and everyone in it into eternal darkness. When some of its power was drained, the Dark Star will become obsessed with finding and reabsorbing it, or occupy itself by finding other forms of power to absorb, such as a tyrant's genetic code.
Abilities, Powers and Weaknesses
The Dark Star possessed immense umbrakinetic powers. It can create illusions of itself, turn invisible, bring shadows to life, shoot dark thunderbolts, make multi-colored energy balls, and create a huge wave of dark energy. It can also create small clones of itself called Dark Satellmites which can shoot dark beams and become kamikaze bombs if damaged too much. The Dark Star is even invincible in its active state, but can be reverted to its dormant state if hit with a powerful attack such as it own kamikaze bombs. Though vulnerable, the Dark Star's dormant state can still be dangerous, as it can still shoot dark bolts and can become a black hole if defeated.
As Dark Bowser, the Dark Star retains its old powers while also possessing the original Bowser's, creating a deadly combination of the two. He has immense strength, can produce powerful dark flames that can shatter rock, create dark energy balls, entrap his opponents in dark energy cages. If defeated, Dark Fawful within him can heal him back to full health and make him twice as large. In this state, he can conjure an army of dark minions such as Goombas, Koopas, Bob-bombs, Bullet Bills and Thwomps. But this also leaves him vulnerable, as all it takes is one punch to the gut to force him back to regular size and cough up Dark Fawful, and should he be defeated, Dark Bowser will be weakened enough to finish off.
History
Past
The Dark Star
Long ago, archaeologists unearth a mysterious artifact that housed a terrible evil. The artifact soon came to life as the Dark Star and began attacking the Mushroom Kingdom in an attempt to plunge it into darkness. To protect the kingdom and the world from the Dark Star's power, Star Sprites sealed the artifact beneath Toad Town with Princess Peach being the only one capable of breaking the seal.
Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story
By the time of the game's events, Fawful finds out about the Dark Star and begins formulating a convoluted plan to obtain it, which he eventually does. Fawful then uses Princess Peach to break the seal placed on the Dark Star and awaken its full power, which he planned to absorb using his Vacuum Helmet. However, when the seal was broken, Bowser knocks Fawful away after he managed to take only half of it's power, allowing the Dark Star to enter Bowser's body and absorb some of his DNA. When Starlow sees the artifact, she immediately tells the Mario Bros. to go after it. After the pair defeat it in battle, the Dark Star exits Bowser and attempts to take his form, but is unable to fully achieve its new appearance without the power that was stolen by Fawful.
The Dark Star soon finds Fawful and inhales him, restoring its lost energy and finishes the transformation into Dark Bowser. It then kidnapped Princess Peach before fleeing to the top of her castle so it can once again try to plunge the world into darkness. Bowser unknowingly works together with the Mario Bros. to stop his dark doppelganger by forcing him to cough up his core (which had become attached to Fawful) and swallowing it for the brothers to destroy. Despite all his power, Dark Bowser was unable to prevent his core's destruction and was defeated by Bowser in a couple of final punches. Afterwards, Dark Bowser reverted back into its Dark Star form before it soared into the sky and explodes into tiny shards, saving the world from its evil and ending the threat if posed to the Mushroom Kingdom for good. Any last remains of the Dark Star were destroyed when Fawful tried to kill the Mario Bros in a suicidal explosion.
Boss Fight
When it is first fought, the Dark Star is inside Bowser's body, faced within the Airway area. It can attack by creating duplicates. After their creation, the Dark Star and its duplicates will charge. Mario and Luigi have to use their hammers to find off this attack. Blocking a Dark Star copy will knock out any Dark Star copy that follows behind, as well. King Boo has a similar move when he is fought in Mario and Luigi: Paper Jam.
The Dark Star can also create Dark Satellmites at the start of its turn. After the Dark Star's turn, the Dark Satellmites can either heal the Dark Star or fire a laser from their face, although the latter can be avoided with a jump. Once their stamina is drained, the Satellmites will become dazed (Treat as paralysis, though the Satellmite can no longer be targeted), eventually turning into an inactive Dark Star ball in the game's 3DS remake on the initiative count 1, losing all initiative ties.
The Dark Star can also fire colored orbs that will fall on the brothers. This can be dodged by jumping. Another attack is a giant laser that must be avoided by grabbing onto Starlow's feet as she flies overhead, though if the brothers are still grabbing on after the attack is over, the Dark Star will charge. The brothers must release their hold to escape before the Dark Star hits them.
The Dark Star can also bring the brothers' shadows to life. Mario and Luigi have to jump to make sure their shadows are undamaged, as any damage the shadows take will be transferred to their respective brother. After its health is cut down to half or lower, more shadows will be created.
The Dark Star will unleash a kamikaze move if there are dazed or inactive Dark Satellmites in its army. The disabled Dark Satellmite grabs the bomb, then jumps into the air. It then becomes an inactive Dark Star ball and drops down, dropping the bomb onto the brothers. The Dark Satellmite and its bomb go over their target normally, but the brothers can use their hammer to knock either projectile into the star. Hitting the bomb damages the brothers with no effect on the Dark Star himself, but hitting the Dark Satellmite will send the creature's corpse into the Dark Star, weakening him. After sending two of its Dark Satellmites into him, the Dark Star will be immobilized for one turn (treat as paralysis, though the Dark Star can counterattack with a laser that can be jumped, but gets exhausted quickly and backs down afterwards).
After it loses all its stamina (Overkill damage has no effect), the Dark Star will launch a vacuum breath move to deal massive damage. Mario and Luigi have to mash their buttons to escape. After it is done, the Dark Star is defeated.
In the final battle, the Dark Star and Fawful are one. It retains the laser attack, but loses the rest. Instead, it can drag an arrow on the ground (This can be jumped.) and then fire the arrow at a brother depending on the rotation (clockwise for Mario and counterclockwise for Luigi). The Mario Bros. have to use their hammer to deflect the arrow, lest it explodes, dealing massive damage to them. There is an alternative attack in the remake, where orbs are dragged in the first part, but the second half is the same.
Once the Dark Star is destroyed, Dark Bowser is defeated.
Quotes
| “ | Dark Bowser: "Your body, I have copied... Your power, I have copied..." Bowser: "Now who's this jerk!? You're biting my style!? Not on my watch, buddy!" Dark Bowser: "Not enough... Not enough power... Bowser: "What? Not enough?" Dark Bowser: "Not enough dark power... Power has been drained... I am not complete... Dark Bowser: "Drained?" |
„ |
| ~ The Dark Star's first words as it reforms into an incomplete Dark Bowser, explainng to Bowser that some of his power was taken. |
| “ | Who... Who will give... the dark power... Her... No... | „ |
| ~ Dark Bowser attempting to find its missing power, then assuming Princess Peach had it and taking her before realizing that she didn't have it. |
| “ | That voice... Yes... I know that voice... That is the being who drained me of my power... | „ |
| ~ Dark Bowser recognizing Fawful's cackling and realizing that he has the rest of his power. |
| “ | Where... Dark power... Being who drains... Where... Where... | „ |
| ~ Dark Bowser searching for Fawful |
| “ | There... | „ |
| ~ Dark Bowser finding Fawful before inhaling him. |
| “ | FWAHAHAHA! Awake at last! The dark power is complete! | „ |
| ~ Dark Bowser having inhaled the Dark Star Core and becoming complete. |
| “ | I have copied all that is you. You are no longer necessary. | „ |
| ~ Dark Bowser to Bowser before attempting to destroy him. |
| “ | The dark power slept so long, and now it wakes... It must be freed... BEHOLD! | „ |
| ~ Dark Bowser when confronted atop Peach's Castle and when unleashing a storm of darkness. |
| “ | Dark Bowser: "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!" Bowser: "GWAHAHA! Great dark hurricane! Seriously, perfect backdrop for an awesome final battle! You really sweat the details! Listen up! You're saying the kingdom will vanish? NOT TODAY! THIS KINGDOM IS ALL MINE! SO YOU VANISH!" |
„ |
| ~ Dark Bowser to Bowser before the final battle. |
| “ | "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..." | „ |
| ~ Dark Bowser's final words before it's destruction. |
Audio
Dark Star Power
Destroy the Dark Power!
In The Final
Gallery
Images
Videos
Trivia
- Bowser says that Dark Bowser is male, but he refers to the Dark Star with neuter pronouns.
- If Mario and Luigi let go of Starlow immediately after the Dark Star's beam attack, it will not ram the top screen.
- The Dark Star gives 9,999 experience upon defeat, which is much more than any other boss or enemy in Bowser's Inside Story.
- In the 3DS remake, the Dark Star is given its own theme titled "Destroy the Dark Power!" whereas the original uses the standard battle theme of the game.
- Despite this, Dark Star X uses the standard boss theme.
 Villains
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Marioverse Sour Bunch Others Paperverse Movies Television Books Pakkun Mogura |
Chō Dossun |
Poko-tachi no sensuikan |
Ultra Pukupuku |
Battra Hanachan |
Kāmenētā |
Bowser (KC Mario) |
Wario (KC Mario) See Also | ||