Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story

When I first purchased Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga, I fell in love. I found the story to be a perfect satire of the Mario universe, the gameplay to be fun and engaging (but also quite challenging) and the graphics to be a breath of fresh air for the system. The series has continued to evolve while remaining true to these three points. The second game came out in the series for the ds in 2005 and added two new playable characters effectively using up all of the buttons on ds. In regards to the story, I don't think that it was quite as well executed as the first one. I don't think it was as funny either. Now the third game has come out and I feel its the perfect mix of extra content, gameplay, humor and story. 
Due to a vacuum mushroom that the evil villain Fawful fed to Bowser, he inadvertently sucks up most of the mushroom kingdom. The game is then played from the perspective of the two screens. Top controls Bowser, and the bottom controls the brothers. Respectively, x,y are for Bowser, and a,b are for the brothers. This simple control scheme works so well because switching between the three characters, and thereby the two screens, is as easy is just pressing a button. Most puzzles are cleverly placed that require you to complete a certain task inside of Boswer that ultimately allows him to accomplish something on the top screen. I never felt that any of these puzzles were misplaced. I think the developers and writer's thought through the whole game and planned out everything really well. As IGN said in their review, "It's absolutely bizarre and surreal, and well worth playing just to see how all the crazy tangents come together in the end." The entire game had me laughing out loud. It's really funny watching these characters all poke fun at themselves constantly.    
Graphically the game is a sight to behold. Nintendo has really pushed the 2-D capabilities of the system. There is a ridiculous level of animation involved in everything. From the characters on screen characters in the overworld, to their respective counterparts in battle. Little things like one of the brothers feeding a 1-up mushroom to the other while gently lifting their head during battle shows you the attention to detail. Grass gently sways in the wind in the overworld, and everything looks colorful and vibrant. 
This is a game that should be played by anyone who owns a DS, who likes RPG's, or who likes Mario and anyone in the Mushroom Kingdom. Essentially, that means everyone should play this game. It's really that good. It's a pleasure to look at and will have you laughing at your side the entire way through.