Bowser's Dark Story is a ROM hack/mod of Paper Mario. The game is an alternative take on the story, from the perspective that tells how it would be if Bowser won against Mario and conquered the Mushroom Kingdom. The player controls the villain, Bowser, through an adventure, finding allies and battling enemies.
Later, when Bowser defeats Dark Fawful, he becomes a small blob of dark power, the Dark Fawful Bug, and escapes. The still incomplete Dark Bowser absorbs Fawful and uses the power he took to complete his body.
The Dark Star's final appearance is during the final battle. After Bowser deals critical damage to Dark Bowser, what remains of Fawful heals him fully and causes him to double in size. At this point, Bowser attacks Dark Bowser's belly, causing him to expel Dark Fawful. Bowser absorbs Dark Fawful for the Mario bros. to handle. Here, he transforms into a giant insectoid mass of dark power, still with his manic grin and now crimson eyes. His only weakness is the Dark Star Core, which sits on an antenna high above his head. As with the final bosses in the previous two games, Mario and Luigi must progressively disable the different parts of Dark Fawful before attacking this weakness. It is likely that it still has a distinct intelligence from Fawful's, since he is visibly displeased whenever it decides to flee. It is eventually destroyed along with Dark Bowser.
Dark Bowser is the form the Dark Star takes after absorbing enough of Bowser's DNA, who acts as Bowser's final boss in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story and its Nintendo 3DS remake, Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey. His voice is a slowed-down version of Bowser's, and he has all the powers the original has, along with many dark variations as well. He is fought alongside Mario and Luigi's final boss, the Dark Star Core.
The brothers battle the Dark Star and manage to defeat it, but at this point, the Dark Star has absorbed every piece of DNA that it needed, so it leaves Bowser's body and transforms into Dark Bowser, albeit in a ghost-like state because the Dark Star was missing DNA from Bowser's legs. After trying to absorb dark power by inhaling an unconscious Princess Peach, to no avail, Dark Bowser searches her castle for dark power to complete the missing info. He finds Dark Fawful searching for the half of the Dark Star's power he had not absorbed. After Bowser defeats Fawful (which results in him devolving into a bug-like form), Dark Bowser inhales him, thus completing himself, and becoming solid in the process.
The newly completed Dark Bowser leaves the room, in the process opening the way to the secret tower of Peach's Castle. Bowser pursues him, and when he confronts his dark form, the two Bowsers both execute flame breath attacks that clash with each other, initiating the prologue to the final battle. Bowser eventually overwhelms Dark Bowser, who retreats higher into the tower in his inflammed spike ball, forcing Bowser into the same position in the process. Bowser, with the help of Mario and Luigi in the Chest Station, is able to defeat his dark form in a shell collision match, but the dark being manages to retreat again.
Just above the arena is the roof of the tower. Bowser follows a path to an arena, where Dark Bowser waits with a still unconscious Peach (who is now inexplicably outside of him). Dark Bowser, commenting on the dark power needing to be freed, unleashes a dark hurricane over the Mushroom Kingdom. In the original version, Broque Monsieur, the Koopa Paratroopa Trio and some Toads and Goombas trapped in bubbles are shown circling around the arena. Starlow attempts to encourage Bowser and reveal Mario and Luigi and her true identity, but the windstorm is too loud for him to hear her. Dark Bowser and Bowser then fire their Flame Breath at each other, initiating the final battle.
Dark Bowser has all of the original Bowser's physique and build, but is detailed very differently. All of his scales and shell are colored dark blue, and his snout, plastron/underbelly, horns and spikes are noticeably paler than Bowser's. His eyes are identical to the Dark Star's own, but he seems to entirely lack Bowser's eyebrows. The rings around his spikes and horns are colored black, and the most noticeable difference between Bowser and Dark Bowser is that Dark Bowser has a black mohawk in place of Bowser's hair. His sprites also have dark orbs float across his body.
While incomplete, the only powers Dark Bowser is shown to possess are floating, punching and inhaling. Once he inhales Dark Fawful after he is reduced to a bug-like form and turns complete, Dark Bowser showcases even more powers that are similar to the original Bowser's; exhaling/shooting fire out of his mouth, curling up into a spike ball, etc. Dark Bowser also has the ability of spreading darkness throughout large areas of land, seen before the final boss fight with him, which also traps any residents inside dark bubbles.
During the final battle, Dark Bowser has the ability to create boulders, cages and energy balls as the means to attack Bowser. With the help of Dark Fawful, who is inside him, Dark Bowser can recover any and all damages given to him, seen once Bowser reduces his HP to zero, and even grow larger (with his belly being his only weak spot, which makes him cough up Dark Fawful and revert him back to normal size). Also, Dark Bowser makes use of dark variations of Bowser's own minions, sending them after Bowser when he turns giant.
One of Dark Bowser's attacks is throwing a boulder into the air and blasting it apart with fire, causing rocks to fall from the sky. Bowser must duck with his shell to avoid taking damage. However, he must also punch one of the rocks in front of him at Dark Bowser, who is charging a massive blast of dark fire. When the rock lands in his mouth, the attack's energy recoils and he inflicts damage on himself from the inside. If Bowser does not do this, however, he takes damage from the blast.
After taking enough damage, Dark Bowser will fall to the ground; he is then fully healed by the ingested Dark Fawful and will grow larger. He will always follow this up (assuming Bowser did not make Dark Bowser's HP fall to 0 via counter-attacking) by tossing a mixed ball of dark versions of Bowser's minions (Goombas, Koopa Troopas, Thwomps, Bob-ombs, and Bullet Bills) at him. The ball pushes Bowser back several meters, after which he must walk back through the minions while dodging or countering their attacks (punching the Goombas, Koopa Troopas, Bob-ombs and low-altitude Bullet Bills, and ducking under the high-altitude Bullet Bills and Thwomps). When near to the battlefield, Dark Bowser again curls up into a spike ball and tries to slam into him from above. Bowser must defend with his shell, then do it again as Dark Bowser prepares the next spike ball slam. Bowser can avoid the second attack just by walking. This is changed in the remake, however; the player has to duck for the second attack as well.
When it is his turn, Bowser has to attack his stomach so that he spits up the Dark Star Core and causing Dark Bowser to shrink back to normal size. Bowser must then inhale Dark Fawful; Dark Bowser will try to counteract with his own inhaling technique. If he fails to do so, Bowser will have to start this process all over again. Once he has successfully inhaled Dark Fawful, the Mario Brothers must fight the dark being inside his body. If Mario and Luigi fail to defeat Dark Fawful and Dark Star Core within several turns, he will escape and return back into Dark Bowser's body, forcing the process to be repeated. Only upon Dark Fawful's defeat can Bowser give his shadowy doppelganger the final blows. Once defeated, Dark Bowser dissolves, leaving only the Dark Star, which rises into the air and explodes, restoring the Mushroom Kingdom to normal.
Dark Bowser has all of Bowser's abilities along with a few of its own. He can breathe blue fire, inhale, punch and curl into a ball. He also can create a large boulder, toss it into the sky, and break it apart with a fireball, causing flaming rocks to fall from the sky. He can also entrap Bowser in a cage of black lightning and throw a large energy ball at him. When defeated, he is instantly revived by the Dark Fawful Bug and grows larger. He then throws a ball of dark enemies at Bowser, knocking him back and forcing him to fight the enemies to get to Dark Bowser he has 1000 Hp.
Dark Bowser is the final boss and a darker counterpart of Bowser who appears in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story and its remake Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey, as one of the main antagonists. It absorbs Dark Fawful and becomes full with the Dark Star power.
When the Dark Star absorbs some of Bowser's genetic code, it becomes a form of Dark Bowser, missing the legs due to Fawful having some of the Dark Star power. Later in the story, after Bowser defeats Dark Fawful, Dark Bowser finds Dark Fawful as a bug and inhales him, becoming a whole dark power, due to having the entire Dark Star power. They then go into a spike ball match. If Bowser wins, he may go to the top of the castle in a match with Dark Bowser.
When Dark Bowser is dueled in a battle, Bowser must first attack. Afterwards, Dark Bowser attacks with giant rocks at Bowser and Bowser must punch one at Dark Bowser to prevent Dark Bowser from breathing fire on him and by him gaining the damage instead. Dark Bowser's next attack is locking Bowser in a cage and Bowser must punch the cage lock multiple times to escape the cage so he cannot be hit by Dark Bowser's dark aura attack. Dark Bowser's final attack in his regular form involves him attacking Bowser repeatedly until he faints unless they punch simultaneously to collide their punches. Then, Dark Bowser attempts to use his spike ball attack on Bowser to try to faint Bowser. Bowser must crouch down to avoid it.
When Bowser KOs Dark Bowser, Dark Fawful revives Dark Bowser and Dark Bowser then is able to attack again, but then grows bigger and throws many different types of minions including Goombas, Bullet Bills, Koopas, Thwomps and Bob-ombs in three different patterns during each turn. Dark Bowser then tries to use his spike ball attack on Bowser after Bowser tries to walk along crouching, and punching the dark minions. Bowser must crouch in his shell to avoid Dark Bowser from injuring him. Bowser then must attack Dark Bowser's belly to release Dark Fawful from Dark Bowser's body so Bowser can inhale Dark Fawful for Mario and Luigi to defeat. Dark Bowser also attempts to inhale Dark Fawful so that Mario and Luigi won't be able to fight Dark Fawful.
dafc88bca6