The Gauntlet

Mario and Luigi battling Dark Star X in the Gauntlet from Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story (left) and Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey (right).

The Gauntlet is an area in the Challenge Node that appears in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story and its Nintendo 3DS version. It is where Mario and Luigi can face harder versions of seven bosses whom they have battled over the course of the game; the Emoglobin near the entrance explains that they mined the Bros.' memories to create stronger versions of bosses previously encountered. All of the boss rematches are denoted with the letter "X" (e.g. Durmite X for Durmite), and use faster and more powerful variants of attacks from their base movesets. A similar area called the Battle Ring appears in Mario & Luigi: Dream Team and Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam.

For Mario and Luigi's battles, there are seven classes, with each representing one of the seven bosses that the Bros. fought previously; each class is only available once Mario and Luigi have defeated the respective boss, and costs a certain amount of coins to fight, with the Emoglobin also giving a recommended level for Mario and Luigi to reach before trying a given class. The prices for each class steadily rises as more are unlocked; clearing a given class allows Mario and Luigi to play it again for free whenever they want, and saves a record of the fewest amount of turns spent.

After selecting a class, the Emoglobin menu offers an opportunity for Mario and Luigi to review the battle's rules and switch their badges, even if the Bros. should enter this area before receiving them from Princess Lipid; switching badges will reset their in-battle meter. Upon starting the class, the Emoglobin either creates or transforms into the boss in question, and the battle begins. Each fight takes place in a boxing ring-like arena that can be seen in the background of the pre-battle menu. The battle must be cleared in a certain amount of the Bros.' turns, displayed both in the pre-battle menu and on the screen during battle; if this turn counter expires or both Mario and Luigi are KOed, they lose and are forced to try again. Defeating the boss rewards the Bros. with a coin payout equal to five times the starting price in the original; in the remake the payout is reduced to three times the price, but they are also rewarded with an additional item. A trophy of the boss is also displayed on the top screen in the class selection menu. The Giant bosses in the remake reward twice the amount of coins paid alongside gear for Bowser, and have no turn limits.

The seventh class is only unlocked when the other six are cleared, featuring a boss rush of all six previous classes and culminating with Bowser X as the seventh and final battle in the set. In the remake, defeating Bowser X also unlocks the songs "The Grand Finale", "Battle Time!" and "A Journey to Remember" in the music player.

The following Mario Bros. Bosses can be fought in The Gauntlet:

Image	Class	Boss	Accompanying enemies	Coins required	Recommended level	Turn limit	Prize (DS / 3DS)
	Class 1	Durmite X	Straw X, Biffidus X	200	18+	5	1000 coins / 600 coins, Sequel Scarf
	Class 2	Kretin X		400	22+	15	2000 coins / 1200 coins, Advice Patch
	Class 3	Wisdurm X	Magic Rod X	800	26+	18	4000 coins / 2400 coins, Speed Star
	Class 4	Bowser Memory MLX		1200	30+	10	6000 coins / 3600 coins, Expert Badge
	Class 5	Junker X	Junker Can X	1800	35+	15	9000 coins / 5400 coins, Challenge Medal
	Class 6	Dark Star X	Dark Satellmite X	2500	40+	12	12500 coins / 7500 coins, Excellent Wear
	Class 7*	All of the previous classes plus Bowser X		5000	50+ (DS)	35	25000 coins / 15000 coins, Golden Shell
					45+ (3DS)

^* - Player must beat all previous classes in order to unlock.

In Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey, Giant Bowser's bosses can be refought here as well. They are faster and more powerful, and no mushrooms appear during the battles. They are, as follows:

Image	Class	Boss	Coins required	Prize
	Class 1	Bowser's Castle	200	400 coins, Stamina Shell
	Class 2	Tower of Yikk	400	800 coins, Greedy Ring
	Class 3	Fawful Express	800	1600 coins, Gaudy Fangs
	Class 4	Super Peach's Castle of Fury	1200	2400 coins, Breath Fangs

Prima Official Game Guide description

• "The Gauntlet is where the Bros. must prove their strength in combat. The contest is divided into six classes, each with a different boss pulled from Mario's memory. The reconfigured bosses are a bit tougher and put up a greater challenge. And as if that does not make the contest difficult enough, there are two special restrictions put on each battle. One, the heroes must KO the enemy within a specified number of turns, Two, the Bros. can only use a select handful of items provided for the specific battle."

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning	Notes
Japanese	バトルコロシアム[?] Batoru Koroshiamu	Battle Colosseum
Italian	Arena[?]	Arena
Korean	배틀 콜로세움[?] Baeteul Kolose'um	Battle Colloseum
Spanish (NOA)	Guantelete[?]	Gauntlet
Spanish (NOE)	Coliseo Batalla[?]	Battle Colosseum

See also

• Battle Ring (Mario & Luigi: Dream Team)
• Battle Ring (Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam)