Bowser's Last Stand is a puzzle platforming RPG video game developed by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance.

It was first released in Japan on February 23, 2002, and was released in North America on August 23, 2002 and in Europe on September 23rd 2002. 

It is one of the only Mario games to have received a PEGI 12 rating in Europe and a ESRB E10+ rating in North America.

It is the first and only Mario game in which the player plays as Bowser.

The game contained a lengthy plot praised by critics for it's rich story.

Along with the usual platforming there are also puzzles, dialogue, items, key items and enemy encounters. 

Most of the characters from previous Mario games are featured here.

There are various characters to play as including King Bowser, Kamek, King Boo and Bowser Jr.

The game is played from a 2.5D perspective with camera zoom like in "Super Mario Advance: Return of the Man in Red" but with improved controls.

Bowser's character design is altered a bit as he has brass knuckles, a black leather jacket and spikier hair. While Kamek was relatively unaltered except for a spiked collar.

The game also had a different graphical style than most traditional Mario games, similar to "Super Mario Advance: Return of the Man in Red" the game had more gritty visuals, however "Bowser's Last Stand" had a more gothic feel to it. 

Kamek fights with his wand or a magic sword weapon while Bowser has a whip and hammer. Though the game supports unarmed play as Bowser can fight with his fists, shell and claws if the player unequips his items in the inventory menu.

Bowser's world consists of five worlds, each world is themed with a different part of Bowser's life story told throughout. 

While, the player will encounter familiar locations from previous Mario games, as well as a number of new areas in Bowser's world.

Though, the main life theme and dark themes are ever apparent throughout the game, eventually the player will make it to the Mushroom Kingdom towards the endgame. 

The story of the game comes to an end after the completion of the final challenge. Which leaves the game on a cliffhanger, though due to poor sales, it is unclear if the story will ever be continued.

The game was met with critical acclaim and sold extremely well for a Nintendo Game Boy Advance game.

Critics praised the story, visuals and the music. While, it received criticism for the control and camera.

In 2017, the game received a re-release for the Nintendo Switch and it was received positively for its graphics and control, though it was considered to be rather short and had been censored in a many areas.

Audio:

The music for Bowser's Last Stand was composed by Koji Kondo and Kazumi Totaka who would go on to compose for future Mario games.

The soundtrack for Bowser's Last Stand also consists of some cut themes from Super Mario World which had not been included in other Mario Games.
Critics praised it's use of the Gameboy Advance's sound hardware using many tricks which later became a mainstay for future Nintendo Gameboy Advance titles.

A notable instance in the game is the spoken words of Bowser.

In a departure from most of the previous Mario games, Bowser speaks coherently and fluently using audio samples, which resulted in needing a substantial amount of cartridge space for a Gameboy Advance game.

To do this, the game implemented a chiptune-esque soundtrack for some of music with help from Noriko Matsueda to save on space.

The Gameboy Advance version's music also made use of a special chip inside the cartridge with the codename "Nintendo UTRSound." 

Gamespot praised the game's soundtrack stating:

"Koji Kondo's music makes full use of Nintendo's latest sound chip, the UTRSound. Although UTRSound is usually used to calculate the sound level of a game (and to run audio in the background.) the game makes full use of it, which is especially noticeable when playing "Bowser's Last Stand."

While, Destructoid gave it a perfect score of 5 stars stating:

"Bowser's Last Stand might be Nintendo at their finest. It's a big, fat solid Mario game with hours and hours of adventure to play.
It's also the best soundtrack for a Mario game yet. The only other ones that come close are 'Super Mario 64',  and 'Super Mario World.' Bowser's Last Stand is everything you've been waiting for since 'Super Mario Sunshine.' The game isn't just great, it's overflowing with potential. Bowser's Last Stand is just like the original Super Mario Bros, only much, much better. It plays and sounds great, has an incredibly deep, engrossing story, and is jam-packed with secrets. It's a must-play."

IGN criticized the game for its low challenge, but praised it for its voice-acting and music stating:

"To help make up for the shortcomings of a low challenge (or seemingly non-existent challenge at times), the game is peppered with dialogue from the legendary Bowser, voiced by Troy Baker. Baker has a voice that's hard to forget, and while he does run into a bit of a dry spell at times, he carries off the baddie role admirably."

IGN was met with backlash from readers for it's review noticeable quotes are "It is one of the most hardcore Mario games to date.", "IGN's review has had a devastating impact on sales. And it is a game far from having no challenge.", "I am so sick of IGN hating every video game released year by year but praising FPS cash-grab junk." and "IGN is far from reputable games journalism and should not be trusted."

Controversy: 

Bowser's Last Stand garnered controversy when the European version of the game received much backlash and was pulled by Retailers for being too violent for children. As a result, the game's cover and packaging were altered to remove all references to military, war and violent themes.

Because of international news the game had a hard time selling in North America as guardians would often not purchase the game out of concern, despite the critical success.