When Bowser had Luigi captured, he did everything in his power to be an intimidating and uncomfortable presence. He breaks Luigi’s boundaries– poking, prodding, squeezing, and yanking on him just to prove just how helpless he was. When Bowser finds out about Luigi’s family, he does everything he can to hurt them, and after he tortured the information he wanted out of him he threw Luigi aside to be just another condemned amongst hundreds of others; an inconsequential speck in a violent spectacle.

Then there’s Luigi’s treatment of captured Bowser: he speaks to him kindly, pays him visits, ensures he has good accommodations, and treats him like a friend. He looks worried when he accidentally startles him, complements his artwork, and is overall very considerate toward his feelings. When Luigi finds out Bowser has a son, he immediately tries to befriend him despite Junior being the aggressor. Even when Bowser attempts to escape and attacks Mario, Luigi chooses inaction over handling Bowser with any sort of roughness, and takes great pains to hold him in a way that makes him feel free and comfortable.

It almost feels reactionary; like Luigi knows he can’t change his own terrible experiences, so he copes by treating Bowser the way he wishes he was treated.

I'm real tired of folks using this assumption to mischaracterize Mario as a Diet Wario.

Mario is a blue-collar plumber. That's his WHOLE character design. He's a humble man who wears his work uniform even when visiting royalty, and lacks the resources or the showmanship necessary to host giant go-kart competitions named after himself. He's also reactive, not proactive. We never see him initiate anything: if Peach doesn't invite him for cake or Bowser doesn't invade, he's content living a peaceful life with Luigi. These are all REALLY important aspects of Mario's character, because without them he's almost indistinguishable from Wario. Wario is the proactive seeker of fortune and fame who puts his name on everything. If Mario ALSO does that, then Wario has no reason to exist.

A good rule of thumb: if it's something Wario would say or do, then Mario WOULDN'T.

The spinoffs aren't parties BY Mario, they're parties FOR Mario, organized and funded by the people he's helped, primarily Princess Peach. You think Bowser would peacefully participate in an event hosted by Mario? Never. But if PEACH was hosting, then of COURSE he'd show up, invited or not.

Well, analyzing is a bit of a stretch. I moreso just want to highlight my favourite small interaction from this game!

After the main incident that kickstarts the plot of this game, which is Bowser inhaling most of our main cast (no, I'm not kidding. Bowser's Inside Story is a literal title LOL) we control Mario as he tries to find the others.

After reuniting with Starlow, the first person he finds, of course, is Luigi. And yes, this is what inside of Bowser looks like. Just don't think too hard on it.

Luigi jumps back up, takes a couple of glances around their current predicament, and...

-immediately bursts into tears and falls onto his knees, clinging onto Mario. Aww.

Very clear example of Luigi being prone to crying when overwhelmed! But of course, there's no judgement on Mario's end. Hell, the moment isn't even really played for laughs narrative wise, considering Starlow doesn't chime in until after the fact.

Instead, we just get Mario being happy to comfort Luigi. He holds him back and gently pats him while he cries. Mario doesn't think any less of Luigi for have a brief emotional breakdown; they're in a scary and unfamiliar situation! Most people would be rattled and upset, especially someone who is as anxious and scares easily like Luigi, but he at least has someone to comfort him. It's a very sweet moment.

In the remake this scene is largely the same, albeit with different graphics. They do add one cute detail which I find very fun.

The scene is interrupted by some enemies spawning. In the remake, Mario straightens up and repeatedly taps Luigi's back, noticeably quicker than the gentle pats he was giving earlier, to get his attention.

We get a very quick reaction animation of Luigi turning his head while still holding onto Mario, which I just find, so cute. It's a very blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment, but it's attention to detail that adds some good personality that I adore out of this series.

Link to the scene in the original Bowser's Inside Story game

Princess Peach has always been my favorite childhood crush when I fell in love the with the Mario franchise and games despite her many kidnappings by Bowser.

Princess Peach has been my definition of a princess in my childhood alongside Rapunzel, Cinderella, Snow White, & some of the Barbie movies I saw.

When The Super Mario Bros Movie. Trailer dropped back in 2022, this version of Princess Peach now a badass really changed my life and the way I view the character of Princess Peach when I look back on her on the video games is kinda hard to associate the movie with the actual canon games.

Anya Taylor Joy’s voice direction of Peach makes me really fall in love with this version of her and Anya Taylor Joy herself she sounds like a natural born leader like any princess should be but somehow still compassionate and caring just like her original video game counterpart.

What I’ve really love about this version of Peach is that not only that she is skilled in combat as she showed Mario through the training course but that doesn’t make her arrogant but she remains kind and compassionate to all of her friends especially to Mario.

My favorite part about Movie Peach is that she declares that she’ll never marry Bowser as she took out the Ice Flower just to freeze him and that scene really made me simp for her even more alongside her using her motorcycle in the Mario Kart Rainbow Road scene.

I’ve even imagined and used Princess Peach in my stories that are filled with new adventures and even meeting new friends in different crossovers alongside Daisy, Rosalina, & the new princess Belle Bottom.

Movie Princess Peach will always be my Princess Peach now for the time being no disrespect on the game version of Princess Peach but this version of Peach made me realize how sexiest I was to some female characters such as Amy Rose and Cream The Rabbit who was my favorite character in the Sonic franchise and it was made me realize how these types of female characters that I love can empower different types of women.

Thinking about how Mario had every logical reason to not go on the adventure to save his brother, actually. Princess Peach, a well established and powerful monarch who had just body slammed him like he was nothing, assured that she was out to stop Bowser, implying that she would be saving Luigi as well, but Mario demands to be brought along.

Peach goes further by explaining in no uncertain terms she is going up against someone unhinged and extremely dangerous– a fellow royal who has the entire Mushroom Kingdom shuddering at the mere mention of his name. Mario is not much to look at, and is utterly unfamiliar with this new world and its rules. He is a plumber, not a warrior. For all she knows, he'd be more a liability than an asset.

Mario is a little intimidated, but ultimately unswayed.

He accepts Peach's ultimatum. He puts himself through the most grueling and painful obstacle course, trying over and over all night, eating powerups to the point of vomiting, not because he's his brother's only hope... but he couldn't stand the idea of not being there when he needed him.

Because he couldn't possibly leave his sibling's safety to a stranger.

Because Luigi wouldn't be in this situation if it wasn't for him.

Because the sooner they were back together, the sooner they would be okay.

They're on the same wavelength all throughout, completely in sync, communicating through nothing but little glances... save for one instance.

Before they head in separate directions... Mario to charge the army head-on while Luigi clears the area of civilians... they nod to each other.

Mario nods first, giving Luigi permission to break away. Luigi nods back, as if promising he won't be gone for long, and when Luigi rejoins Mario shortly afterward Mario is gauging his movements, making sure his little brother is safely at his side before focusing back on the fight.