The Dark Star is the final antagonist in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story and its remake, Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey. It is a sentient artifact of incredible dark power that Fawful seeks out to aid in his quest for global domination, with the second half of the game focusing on Mario, Luigi, and Bowser each trying to stop both him and the evil artifact. The Dark Star first appears as a medium-sized violet orb, with a red-eyed black star similar to a Ztar on the front.
As a boss, the Dark Star gives the most experience points of any enemy in the game when defeated. A more powerful variant, Dark Star X, can be fought in The Gauntlet after Mario and Luigi first defeat the Dark Star.
Long before the events of Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, the Dark Star was discovered by Toad archaeologists in the Mushroom Kingdom. Shortly after it was discovered, the Dark Star viciously attacked the kingdom, but was sealed away by the Star Sprites and kept beneath the depths of the world in Toad Town. It was said that if any great evil being found the Dark Star and allowed it to attack the kingdom once again, the evil entity would receive enormous power and will rule the world, plunging it into darkness. No one can break the seal on the Dark Star, except for the Mushroom Kingdom's ruler, Princess Peach.
Fawful plots to use the artifact in order to fulfill his plans for global domination. He removes Peach from Bowser's body and kidnaps her, allowing him to break the seal on the Dark Star, which he steals from the Toad Town Caves after circumventing the security system. Fawful first uses its power to barricade the entrance to Peach's Castle, allowing him to use it as a stronghold. Mario and Luigi eventually assemble all three Star Cures from the Star Sages into the Miracle Cure, using it to break the barricade, as well as curing the blorbs that Fawful had created earlier; this allows them, and later Bowser, to infiltrate the castle in order to stop Fawful and the Dark Star.
Fawful then places the Dark Star into a machine that he designed to transfer Princess Peach's power into it, which would awaken it and allow him to harness its power; when Bowser finally confronts Fawful and Midbus, Fawful turns his minion into Blizzard Midbus to stop the Koopa King. Once Bowser defeats Midbus, however, Fawful then attempts to absorb the Dark Star's power; while doing so, Bowser seemingly punches through him, causing him to vanish. As Bowser laughs at how good it feels "finally punching out that weirdo", the partially-drained Dark Star awakens and escapes from the machine, circling Bowser before forcing its way down his throat and into his chest; this causes Bowser to experience heartburn-like pains, which he relieves by inhaling some of the frigid air from Blizzard Midbus's snout, allowing Mario, Luigi, and Starlow to enter the previously inaccessible Airway in pursuit of the Dark Star.
Within the Airway, the Mario Bros. repeatedly try and fail to trap the Dark Star, which eludes their grasp by copying Bowser's DNA in order to enhance its own powers; this ranges from punching to breathing purple fire and body slamming the barriers, and Starlow soon begins to suspect as much. Eventually, the Mario Bros. confront the Dark Star at the very back of the Airway and battle it; despite the Bros. defeating the Dark Star, it simply escapes from Bowser's body and transforms into a Bowser-esque apparition.
When Dark Fawful is defeated by Bowser and flees the Conference Hall, Dark Bowser inhales him, and the Dark Star inside his body merges with Fawful's bug form, completing Dark Bowser and creating the Dark Star Core; this fact is not revealed until the final battle. When Dark Bowser is KOd, the Dark Star Core's powers allow him to recover and double in size; once Bowser punches the enlarged Dark Bowser's stomach, he expels Dark Fawful, who Bowser can then inhale into his body. Within Bowser's body, Mario and Luigi confront Dark Fawful, who transforms into the Dark Star Core, and manage to progressively weaken them before attacking the Dark Star directly, eventually defeating them both.
After the Dark Star Core takes enough damage, it explodes inside Bowser's body, which causes Dark Bowser to become unstable and allows Bowser to finish him off. Dark Bowser then reverts back into the Dark Star, which rises above Peach's Castle and explodes, restoring the Mushroom Kingdom to normal. Dark Fawful manages to survive long enough to make one last attempt at destroying Mario and Luigi by self-destructing, but this undoes the effects of the Vacuum Shroom Fawful had given Bowser at the very beginning, safely expelling Mario, Luigi and the Toads from Bowser's body.
In addition to reprising its role in the Nintendo 3DS remake, Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey, the Dark Star is indirectly referenced in Bowser Jr.'s Journey, with Dark Bowser's spread of darkness occurring around the time Bowser Jr., the Koopalings, and Kamek arrived to stop the Best Fitness Friends at Bowser's Castle. The group also witnesses the Dark Star's ultimate destruction at Bowser's hands from afar, shortly after the Best Fitness Friends are themselves defeated.
The Dark Star now has its own boss battle theme called "Destroy the Dark Power!", and is one of two such bosses to be given a new theme, with the other being Dark Fawful; however, Dark Star X still uses the standard boss theme.
In the Legacy of Chris Thorndyke,
And he is also voiced by David Lodge in the English dub and he will be voiced by Ryuzaburo Otomo in the Japanese dub.
THEMES[]
- Dark Bowser DX (Mario and Luigi RPG 7: Bowser's Inside Story and Bowser Jr.'s Journey) - Bowser's Transformation to Giga Bowser
- Giga Bowser (Super Smash Bros. Melee) - Vs. Bowser - Phase 2
- Open your Heart (Sonic Adventure DX) - Vs. Bowser - Phase 3