Fawful Express
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| Fawful Express | |
|---|---|
 Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story sprite | |
| General information | |
| Owner | Fawful (Creator) Monty Bros. (Conductors) |
| Appearances | |
| First appearance | Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story (2009) |
| Latest appearance | Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey (2018) |
The Fawful Express is a train created by Fawful that appears in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story and its Nintendo 3DS enhanced remake, Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey. It is a large red train which bares a striking resemblance to Fawful (including his face on the front of it).
History
Bowser sees the Fawful Express when it arrives at the Treasure Chamber in his castle. Bowser then sees the Monty Bros. (which were a group of Monty Moles he encountered prior in the Underground Tunnel) exiting out of the Fawful Express. The Monty Bros. explain that they were bribed by Fawful to work for him and became elite members of the Fawful Foundation upon doing so. Project K was also bought out by the Fawful Foundation to be turned into a railway for the Fawful Express. Bowser is then tricked by The Elite Trio to walk into the train tracks, only for the Monty Bros. to then drive the train into Bowser and crush him into several boulders. This forces Mario and Luigi to make Bowser giant.
After becoming giant, Bowser faces off against the Fawful Express after the Monty Bros. bloat about doing a good job getting rid of Bowser. In the 3DS remake, there is an additional scene in the cutscene prior to the Fawful Express battle where the Monty Bros. attempt to take down Giant Bowser, but immediately stop when they realize that he is too large to take down.
In-battle the Monty Bros. turns the Fawful Express around, and attempt to reach the rickety bridge in 100 "kilomoles" (a pun on kilometers). If Bowser does not defeat the train by the time it reaches the bridge, he falls into the gorge, resulting in a Game Over. The Fawful Express is too small to be able to punch, so the only way to defeat the train is with Bowser's fire breath. The Fawful Express also makes a certain amount of stops during the chase, during which Bowser has two whole turns to act, and the train having one attack. After Bowser's second turn, it will move to the next station.
In the first two stations, the Fawful Express will unleash small hordes of Choombas, which will charge into Bowser. He must use the stylus to tap on one of the three dots that appear on the screen to squash the Choombas. Occasionally, a Super Mushroom can appear, which Bowser can collect if he does not stomp on it. After the two stations, the Fawful Express will reach a small spiky mountain, where it will fire a missile over and at Bowser. Similar to the Tower of Yikk, Bowser must repeatedly tap the mountain to punch it until it crumbles to evade the missile.
The Fawful Express then hides inside a living mountain, called Fawful Mountain, which Bowser must defeat in order to move on with the main battle. The Monty Bros. can repair the Fawful Express while in the mountain, but if Bowser burns the mountain with fire breath, the train inside will also lose some health. After the Fawful Mountain is destroyed, the Fawful Express flees to another spiky mountain, which Bowser must also destroy with the second missile being much faster.
The final two stations feature an attack where the Monty Bros., now with jetpacks and yellow masks, carry Fawful Bob-ombs to harm Bowser. Bowser must time his punch so that he hits the lead Monty Bro. while the other Monty Bros. are all aligned, causing all of them to drop their bombs and heavily damage the Fawful Express. In the original, the Monty Bros. simply went back inside the Fawful Express after doing the attack, while in the 3DS remake this is not shown. The final station is Grand Central, and Bowser has two more turns to attack before time is up. If he wins, the Fawful Express explodes, and several chunks of debris crush the Monty Bros. and kill them.
In Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey, after defeating the Fawful Express, the Monty Bros. (along with several other Monty Moles) will get out of the Fawful Express before Bowser picks it up. One of the Monty Bros. lands on Bowser's nose when escaping the Fawful Express late, though they still manage to escape like the rest of the Monty Moles. Bowser then throws the Fawful Express onto the bridge, causing the bridge to fall apart and the train to fall into the gorge.
Stats
Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story
Fawful Express | |||||
| Level | HP | POW | DEF | SPEED | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 | 885 (1,328) | 294 (735) | 130 (195) | 30 (45) | |
| Location(s) | Battled by | Experience | Coins | Item drop | |
| Bowser's Castle | Super Bowser | 3,500 | 1,000 (1,500) | Star Candy - 100% | |
| Fire | Burn | Dizzy | Stat down | KO | |
| Normal | Immune | Immune | Normal | Immune | |
| Notice: The second set of numbers next to the enemy's HP, POW, DEF, SPEED and Coins are stat increases from the Challenge Medal accessory; a 50% increase for HP, DEF, SPEED and Coins earned, and a 150% increase for POW. | |||||
Gallery
Sprites and models
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Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story unused sprite
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Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story unused damaged sprite
Screenshots
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Bowser's encounter with the Fawful Express in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story
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Bowser battling the Fawful Express in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story
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Splash screen of the Fawful Express in The Gauntlet in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey
Names in other languages
| Language | Name | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Japanese | ゲラエクスプレス Gera Ekusupuresu |
From「ゲラコビッツ」(Gerakobittsu, Fawful) and "express" |
| French (American) | Faffreux Express | Faffreux (F + Affreux (Awful), which is Fawful's Canadian name) + Express |
| French (Europe) | Gracowitz Express | From Gracowitz, which is Fawful's French name and Express |
| German | Krankexpress | "Krank" from Fawful's German name "Krankfried" and the English "Express" |
| Italian | Sogghigno Express | From Fawful's Italian name, Sogghigno |
| Spanish (Americas) | Expreso Fawful | Fawful Express |
| Spanish (Europe) | Gracoexpress | From Grácovitz, which is Fawful's European Spanish name and Express |
Trivia
- In the files for the original Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, there exists an unused normal and damaged sprite of the Fawful Express with a slightly different design from that of the final game.
- The Fawful Express battle is very similar to the battle with The Zeekeeper battle in Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, as both battles have the player chase after the boss before stopping for a chance to attack.
- The Fawful Express is the only Giant Bowser boss battle to not have the opening directly show Bowser becoming larger (it instead shows the inside of the conductor's cabin with the Monty Bros. gloating about their success, and then reveals Bowser became large offscreen).
- Likewise, it is also the only Giant Bowser boss fight where the circumstances for Bowser having the giant form did not involve him being stepped on or crushed from above (he was instead smashed into a boulder).
- In the Prima Guide, it is confirmed that the Fawful Express was planned by the Monty Bros. to give Fawful easy transportation around the Mushroom Kingdom.[1]
- In the Gauntlet, sometimes it is impossible to defeat the Fawful Express due to the fast speed of the game, most notably when Bowser automatically punches the spiky mountain at a normal speed, even if the player repeatedly taps the screen.
- In the 3Ds remake, the Monty Bros. call the Fawful Express "brosephine" (another word that means sister).
References
- ^ "Bowser must stop the train before it escapes, thwarting the Montys’ plan to give Fawful easy transportation to anywhere in the Mushroom Kingdom." - Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story Prima Guide page 189
