Bowser
 |
| Bowser | |
|---|---|
| Mario series character | |
| File:Bowser No Background.png Bowser, the King of the Koopas | |
| First game | Super Mario Bros. (1985) |
| Created by | Shigeru Miyamoto |
Bowser, alternately referred to as King Bowser, King Koopa and known in Japan as Koopa (クッパ, Kuppa) or Great Demon King Koopa (大魔王 クッパ, Daimaou Kuppa), is a video game character in Nintendo's Mario universe. His full name is given as Bowser Koopa.
Bowser is the main villain and the archenemy of Mario in the Super Mario series of video games. He is the leader and most powerful of the turtle-like Koopa race. Although Bowser has joined forces with Mario in a few games, he never ceases to attempt to kidnap Princess Peach and conquer the Mushroom Kingdom since his first appearance in Super Mario Bros. As the central villain of one of the world's most popular video game franchises, Bowser is easily one of the most recognizable video game villains ever. He has eight children, known as Koopalings, who assist him in his various schemes.
Bowser is depicted fairly consistently as nasty and brutish, also possessing some sarcastic wit. He does have some capacity to do good, but only does so rarely, typically when another villain enters the story and he teams up with Mario to get rid of him or her. Bowser is known for breathing fire (either in streams or balls), living in huge lava-filled castles, and a distinct booming laugh. In multiplayer games, he's always the biggest character, and therefore the slowest and most powerful.
He appears to hold at least some level of affection towards Princess Peach, as evidenced in Super Mario Sunshine, where he told Bowser Jr. that Peach was his mother and Mario stole her away; Paper Mario, where if you read his diary, you discover he has a crush on Peach; and in Super Paper Mario, he was more than happy to marry her when Count Bleck forced them to wed. However, he often tries (and sometimes succeeds) to hurt her if she attempts to run away.
Appearance
Bowser resembles a creature with tortoise and dragon elements. He is most likely based on a Kappa. His current appearance depicts him as wearing silver-spiked chokers on his neck, wrists, and shoulders, and it is also noted that Nintendo gave him a distinct shell from the other Koopas in the Mushroom Kingdom by adding spikes to his back (which often makes trying to stomp on him a painful experience.) This feature is only shared by Bowser's children and his elite Koopatrol guards from the Paper Mario series. One other feature Bowser possesses that no other Koopa does (excluding Mario Party's Koopa Kids) is a pair of devil-like horns. His son Bowser Jr. has horn buds, but interestingly none of the first seven Koopalings have any horns whatsoever. Aside from his first appearance in Super Mario Bros., Bowser also sports a fiery red mohawk-like mane atop his head (in Super Mario Bros. his hair was removed due to graphics limitations; it is also absent in the animated TV series since the producers followed Bowser's design from the game sprites). In addition, Bowser sports spikes on his tail. His size often varies greatly (see the Bowser's size section for more details). In Mario Strikers Charged, he has a golden shell when his team is an away team, but as part of the home team he has a red shell. Special to this appearance, Bowser wears metallic claws, giving him a sinister appearance.
Name issues
Bowser has been known by different names over the years, much like Princess Peach and Sega's Doctor Eggman. In Japan, he has always been known as simply "Koopa" (or "Kuppa" in transliterating the katakana used to write his name). In the Japanese manual for the original Super Mario Bros., his name is shown to be Daimaō: Koopa ("Great Demon King: Koopa"). When Super Mario Bros. was released outside of Japan, he went by the name of Bowser, King of the Koopas. "Koopa" was given to the turtle enemies (who would be Bowser's direct subjects.) The reason for the name change is unknown.
The American cartoons and the Super Mario Bros. film consistently refer to Bowser as King Koopa and almost never as "Bowser". Bowser's children refer to him mostly as King Dad in the cartoons.
In the character credits of the Game & Watch Gallery games, the Japanese names were retained, and as such, Bowser is referred to as "Koopa".
In the How to draw Nintendo Characters book, Bowser is named Kerog.
Appearances in video games
Platformers
In his first appearance, Bowser appears at the end of each of the eight worlds (Level X-4). These areas are "dungeon stages" and are characterized by white brick platforms, ample lava and spinning sticks of fire that can burn Mario or Luigi. Bowser waits at the end, on a bridge over a pool of lava. By grabbing the axe at the right end of the bridge, Mario or Luigi can cut the rope at the end, making the bridge collapse and sending Bowser into the pit of lava below. Alternatively, Bowser can also be defeated by repeatedly shooting him with fireballs (jumps didn't work on him thanks to the horn on his head). Many people think that Bowser appears at the end of each world, but it is in fact one of his many henchmen disguised as Bowser, as revealed when defeated with fireballs, as they will revert back to their original form before falling into the lava. Due to graphic limitations, the in-game Bowser does not seem to have hair, although the official artwork for the game, as well as the remake in Super Mario All-Stars, depicted him with it. Bowser throws hammers in Super Mario Bros., similar to the Hammer Bros. (except thrown in volleys), but this ability has largely been dropped; exceptions being throwing hammers with magic in Super Princess Peach, and that he did throw a couple of hammers at the beginning of Super Mario RPG, and uses them as his primary attack in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga when he is teaming up with Popple, while the Dry Bones version of Bowser in New Super Mario Bros throws bones in a similar manner.
Though Bowser appears in the Japanese sequel to Super Mario Bros. (a title known outside Japan as Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels) he appears and behaves identically to his original incarnation. Only in Super Mario Bros. 3 did Bowser return with a new plot and a new look. For the first time in the games, players saw Bowser with a mane of red hair, a look that has remained with Bowser ever since. This time, Bowser only appears at the end of the final level: his castle at the end of World 8, where Mario and Luigi have to trick him into crashing through his floor in order to defeat him (although he could also be defeated with several fireballs or hammers.) This game also introduces Bowser's first seven children, the Koopalings. Despite the presence of offspring, Nintendo has never explained if Bowser has had a wife. It was once revealed in Nintendo Power of the UK that Bowser's wife and the mother of the Koopalings is Clawdia, Queen of the Koopas. Clawdia has not made an appearance in any Mario games to date.
Bowser's next appearance in a standard 2-D Mario platform adventure was Super Mario World. There, Bowser appears only as the boss of the last level: his castle in the Valley of Bowser. Bowser's children, the Koopalings, again make an appearance. Here, Nintendo introduces something that would continue to be associated with Bowser through the rest of his video game appearances: Bowser riding the Koopa Clown Car. Fireballs proved to be useless this time around, and the player had to defeat him by stunning his Mechakoopas and tossing them back at him.
In Super Mario 64 and Super Mario 64 DS, Bowser invades Peach's castle and imprisons its inhabitants in the walls with the magic of the stolen Power Stars. Mario (and in Super Mario 64 DS, Mario, Luigi and Wario as well, the player starts off as Yoshi) tracks Bowser down by collecting the stars, one by one. In the end, Mario must defeat Bowser by catching him by the tail and tossing him into spiked bombs stationed around the ring in which Bowser fought. In these games, Bowser appears noticeably taller and more menacing than in previous games.
In Luigi's Mansion, Madame Clairvoya tells Luigi that Bowser has been "soundly defeated" by Mario, and speculates that King Boo might have revived him, suggesting that Bowser was presumed destroyed following his latest clash with Mario. His demise is an unconfirmed event however, as the Bowser-like entity of Luigi's Mansion, although possibly Bowser, is never identified, and is merely piloted as a suit by King Boo, whom is the final boss and ultimate villain of the game. Interestingly enough, at the end of the game, the Bowser-like spirit is also trapped in the painting with King Boo.
In Super Mario Sunshine, Bowser cons his newly-introduced son, Bowser Jr., into disguising himself as Mario and painting the resort of Isle Delfino with graffiti. The plot ultimately ends in Bowser Jr. kidnapping Peach. The young Koopa explains to Mario that Bowser told him Peach was his mother. In the end, Mario battles both Bowser and Bowser Jr., both in a giant onsen, high atop Corona Mountain. When Mario wins, the father and son watch from a distance, and Bowser apologizes for his deception; his son dismisses it, saying he already knew and only wished to fight Mario again, which pleases Bowser. Once again, Bowser has grown much larger than he has been in previous games.
In Super Princess Peach Bowser, after hearing about a mysterious and powerful artifact hidden on Vibe Island, decides to search for this artifact, he also builds his summer villa there. Eventually, Bowser finds the artifact, the Vibe Scepter, which is capable of controlling and manipulating the emotions of others. Bowser proceeded to intrust a Goomba with the Vibe Scepter, he then ordered this Goomba, as well as a brigade of Hammer Brothers to attack Princess Peach's Castle. Bowser's raiding party succeeds in capturing Mario, Luigi and several Toads. Unfortunately for Bowser, his Goomba minion proved incapable of handling the Vibe Scepter's power and ended-up casting a spell all-over Vibe Island, unleashing chaos throughout. After all of the Toads and Luigi are rescued, Princess Peach and her umbrella ally, Perry, can face Bowser, who, with the power of the Vibe Scepter, can increase his power; regardless, Bowser is still defeated and Mario is freed by the princess.
In New Super Mario Bros., Bowser is the first boss. He is fought the same way as in the original Super Mario Bros. (except the axe is replaced with a generic switch which performs the same function), but this time, the lava he falls in disfigures him into a Dry Bones-esque skeleton. The reanimated Bowser skeleton, also called Dry Bowser or Skeleton Bowser, is later fought in the first World 8 castle, before Bowser Jr. resurrects his father in a potion-filled cauldron just in time for the game's final showdown. Bowser is a bit smarter this time around, and will attempt to lunge at the player when the player gets behind him.
Bowser also appeared in the Nintendo DS game Yoshi's Island DS as the game's main antagonist. In this game, Bowser travels back in time in search of seven legendary stars that can apparently give him the power to rule the universe. The search for these stars lead Bowser to kidnap babies all across the planet thinking that the stars are located in the hearts of certain babies. Bowser appears as the game's final boss, right after his younger self.
Bowser's most recent appearance is in the Wii game Super Paper Mario. In it, he actually marries Princess Peach when she was forced by the mysterious Count Bleck and Nastasia. However, the union between them reveals the Chaos Heart, which would produce The Void that would threaten all of existence. He reluctantly joins up with Mario and Peach (as well as Luigi, who joined later on) to stop the evil Count Bleck and his minions.
Appearances as Baby Bowser
Looking simply at the release dates, Bowser's first run-in with Mario is Super Mario Bros. However, if one looks at the storyline of the video games, Bowser and Mario's first meeting is in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. This game takes place before any of the other adventures. In fact, Mario, Luigi and Bowser are all still babies. Kamek, a Magikoopa who seems to be a sort of parental figure for Baby Bowser, divines that the delivery of two twin brothers will end in tragedy for the Koopas, so he flies off on his broomstick to intercept the stork on his way to drop off Baby Mario and Baby Luigi. Though Kamek is the primary villain in the game, Baby Bowser is the game's final boss. Kamek's last-ditch attempt at victory is casting a spell that makes Baby Bowser grow to colossal proportions; Yoshi defeats him nevertheless.
Baby Bowser appears again in the spiritual sequel to Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, Yoshi's Story. The Yoshis must fight the young king in his private chambers, where he's keeping their Super Happy Tree.
Though Baby Bowser looks a lot like Bowser Jr., the characters are separate. However, it's presumable that the developers' design for Baby Bowser later influenced Bowser Jr.'s design. Bowser Jr. has a bandana around his neck, as often depicted in Super Mario Sunshine, in which it is blue and sports a design that looks like Mario's moustache. He uses it to transform into Shadow Mario. Later on, though, Jr.'s bandana had a design of a red lip with sharp teeth. This design was used in the later spin-off games, and the games ahead of that as well. Baby Bowser either does not have a bandana, or has a blank one.
In Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, Baby Bowser (who is sometimes called "Prince Bowser" and now, having presumably aged a bit since Yoshi's Island, resembles Bowser Jr.) appears at the beginning of the game trying to abduct Baby Peach (thus having the game reveal that his constant kidnappings started happening years before Super Mario Bros.), only to be thwarted by the Baby Mario Bros. Because the alien invaders known as the Shroobs are considered a major threat to both him and the Mario Bros., they team up temporarily. Shortly after the present-day Mario Bros. from the future show up, Baby Bowser resumes causing trouble for them, like stealing the two recovered pieces of the Cobalt Star and taking credit for saving Yoshi's Island. Later, at Thwomp Volcano, the present-day Bowser and the young Bowser meet, arguing about who gets to claim the volcano as a new castle. They eventually teamed up against the Mario brothers and their young selves, fighting in a similar piggyback style. An eruption blasts the duo out of the volcano. Bowser winds up back in present day Peach's Castle, while Baby Bowser ends up inside the Shroob Mother Ship. When it gets shot down, he completes the Cobalt Star and is turned into a mushroom by the Elder Princess Shroob as a result. He is eventually restored by Baby Luigi's tears at the end of the game. Also as a note, Baby Bowser treats Baby Mario and Baby Luigi like little kids (making himself sound like an adult), calling them "stupid". This could be because he is older than the tots, which can be assumed from his perfect grammar usage. Baby Bowser is voiced by Dolores Rogers.
Baby Bowser is a playable character in the Nintendo DS game Yoshi's Island DS. His character design is the same as in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, except with minor tweaks to make him look more like Bowser Jr., likely to show that he had aged over the original game. He is available after World 4-5, but only appears in certain levels, with the ability to breathe fireballs to melt ice or destroy enemies. At the end of the game, he is also revealed to be the final boss, alongside his adult self who had traveled back in time.
He briefly appears in Yoshi Touch and Go. When Yoshi and Baby Mario get over 3000m/y in challenge mode, instead of Kamek swooping down and taking the baby, he will knock them both off the screen and Baby Bowser will be seen sat on the broomstick, laughing with Kamek.
Baby Bowser is apparently a bit older than the other babies as he does not wear diapers and is perfectly capable of walking (though he prefers to ride Yoshi). He is also the only baby who openly converses with other characters, although in Yoshi's Island, he spoke with a slight lisp.
Interestingly, the earliest appearance of the Baby Bowser character was not in a game, but rather in the cartoon series The Super Mario Bros. Super Show. In the episode in question, "Two Plumbers and a Baby", the adult Bowser appears wearing baby clothes and known as "King Goo Goo Gaga Koopa". He plots to turn people into babies using the Fountain of Youth and make them into slaves. At the end of the episode, he himself falls into the fountain, turning himself into an actual baby. Upset, he walks off, swearing revenge. Baby Bowser later appeared in an episode of The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 called "Toddler Terrors of Time Travel". Here, the adult Bowser and his son, Ludwig von Koopa attempt to travel to the past to prevent Mario and Luigi from ever coming to the Mushroom Kingdom, but the Mario Bros. and Toad stow away on their Airship in an attempt to stop them. As a result of some turbulence caused by the Koopa King's lack of patience, Ludwig's time-travel device de-ages the bodies of him, Bowser, Mario, Luigi, and Toad into baby bodies (their minds are not affected by the change, as evidenced by the fact that they can still speak normal English). The design of this version of Baby Bowser is inconsistent between these two appearances and, of course, looks nothing at all like the later Nintendo designs.
Appearances as Giga Bowser
Super Smash Bros. Melee marked the first appearance of the character named Giga Bowser. After the player defeats Bowser (under the conditions described below), Bowser's trophy floats back up to the arena, gets hit by a lightning bolt and transforms into Giga Bowser. In this form, he has several abilities that the regular Bowser doesn't (such as ice/fire/lightning/shadow damage capabilities), and appears far larger and more intimidating, with longer limbs, and (which he is most noted for) a manic looking face. He seems to be partially themed off the last fight in Paper Mario. Paper Mario's final fight has Bowser struck by magical lightning, making him grow to immense proportions, increasing his offensive and defensive powers, and giving him more than enough power to defeat Mario, similar to what happens to the Bowser trophy in Super Smash Bros. Melee.
He appears when one clears Adventure mode on 'Normal' difficulty or harder in under 18 minutes (continues may be used once). He also appears as a trophy (see picture). The final Event Match, called "The Showdown", pits the player against Giga Bowser, Mewtwo and Ganondorf. Giga Bowser does not appear outside of the Smash Bros. series, and is not considered part of regular Mario canon; his damage symbol is the Smash Brothers logo rather than the Mushroom shared by Mario, Luigi, Bowser, Peach and Dr. Mario. When fighting him, a distorted version of the "Final Destination" theme plays. This version of the "Final Destination" theme cannot be found in the Sound Check.
RPGs
In Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, Bowser teams up with Mario, Peach, and their two new friends Mallow and Geno in order to get his castle back from an interdimensional invader named Smithy. To avoid embarrassment, Bowser tries to make Mario believe that he is joining the Koopa Troop, not vice versa; in RPG fashion, Bowser is portrayed following the strongman archetype as he is geared toward physical strength rather than magic attacks, though this can be altered by level up bonuses. This, along with the newly released Super Paper Mario, are the only games in the series in which Mario and Bowser have intentionally worked together, aside from Superstar Saga, and the only Mario RPGs in which Bowser becomes part of Mario's party. Bowser is often shown to have immense jealousy over any other villain who is a powerful authority figure besides him, such as Cackletta, Smithy, and Grodus, and will occasionally, if necessary, work with Mario to help defeat the said villain. An example of said jealousy can be seen in Superstar Saga when Cackletta makes herself known. Bowser remarks: "You! You're the fiend that stole Peach's voice! How dare you think of such a cool evil plan?"
Bowser appears as the central villain of Paper Mario. In this adventure, Bowser steals the Star Rod, a device that grants wishes, and uses it to lift Mushroom Castle into the sky. The Star Rod makes Bowser especially powerful, enough so that with it he was able to easily defeat Mario in the game's opening, so Mario has to collect the powers of the seven Star Spirits before he can fight him again. Bowser's partner in crime in this adventure is Kammy Koopa, a female Koopa witch. Also, it is revealed that Bowser has a crush on Peach after reading pages in the Koopa King's diary.
In Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, he tries to kidnap Peach, but the evil bean witch, Cackletta, has gotten there first and stolen her voice, and so ends up in a complicated adventure to help Mario and Luigi (the latter whom Bowser barely recognizes in the game) get her voice back so he can kidnap her. Initially, his new Koopa Cruiser gets destroyed by Fawful, Cackletta's servant, causing him to fall into a cannon in the Beanbean side of Stardust Fields. Tolstar, the self-proclaimed king of Stardust Fields, decides to let the Mario Bros. pay 100 Beanbean Coins in order to release Bowser, who is stuck in the cannon. This eventually leads to a fight between Tolstar and the Mario Bros., which ends with one of the Starshade Bros. firing Bowser out of the cannon. Later, Bowser becomes a rookie servant of a strong-throated thief named Popple as a result of a concussion-induced amnesia. When Bowser finally realises who he is, he is holding on to the Beanstar he and Popple were trying to steal at time, which breaks apart into four pieces and sends Bowser falling back down to Stardust Fields. Ultimately, Bowser becomes possessed by the disembodied spirit of Cackletta. This fusion of Bowser's body and Cackletta's soul produces Bowletta, a gender-vague villain with brute strength and magic powers. Bowletta also states that Bowsers body is a very powerful and destructive tool for her plans. Bowser is eventually freed when Mario and Luigi destroy Cackletta's spirit for good.
Both Bowser and Kammy Koopa return for Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, in which they play more of a comedic role than a villainous one. Bowser is enraged when he discovers that someone other than he has captured Princess Peach and sets out on a mission of his own to find her as well as collect the seven Crystal Stars. He does so after being informed by Kammy about Mario's quest to collect them, and presumes that they would make the perfect world-conquering tools: however, he is beaten to the punch at every turn. He is playable in this game, though only in his own side scrolling stages that came up occasionally between chapters. These stages hilariously mimic those Mario ventured through in the original Super Mario Bros., and later on became the basis for the game's sequel, Super Paper Mario. Bowser and Kammy finally catch up to Mario in the game's final moments. Ironically, the ensuing fight ends up giving the leader of the X-Nauts, Grodus, a chance to steal Peach away to the chamber of the Shadow Queen, which he immediately takes advantage of.
Bowser appears again in Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, arriving at Peach's Castle in the present to kidnap Princess Peach (who was actually Princess Shroob in disguise, trying to take over the Mushroom Kingdom in the present). However, upon his escape, Bowser accidentally falls into a time-hole into the past, where he encounters his younger self at Thwomp Volcano. His dull-witedness is shown in this game as he is the only character in the game who meets his younger self without a hint of recognition (but he does mention that Baby Bowser reminded him when he was little). The Bowsers at first bicker and insult each other, the older claiming that the younger will amount to nothing and the younger claiming that the older was raised by Chain Chomps. Shortly after the older takes the younger as an apprentice and they then fight and lose to the Mario Bros. In the end they are separated by an attack by the Shroobs. The older calls to the younger to always become stronger and eviler, with the younger promising to someday become eviler and stronger than the older Bowser. Bowser winds up unconscious back at present day Peach's Castle. He is the real final boss after eating the Elder Princess Shroob, creating Shrowser. The Mario Bros. deflected his attacks until he was defeated.
In the RPGs, Bowser's personality is very comical, portraying him as being very oafish, nearly bumbling, although he is shown more evil when he is the central villain. He even occasionally is shown to be a crybaby when under pressure, such as being stuck in a cannon in Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga or when he was unable to break into Booster's castle by his own self. However, he is still Mario's enemy and while he is not the final boss in most of Mario RPGs (except for Paper Mario and powered up by Princess Shroob in Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time), he is a major boss in all of them.
Spinoffs
Bowser also appears in secondary Mario games. His first appearance is in Super Mario Kart and he has appeared in every Mario Kart game since. He also appears in the Mario sport games, such as Mario Golf, Mario Tennis, Mario Superstar Baseball, Super Mario Strikers (in which he was not a playable character), and Mario Strikers Charged (in which he is confirmed to be a captain, thus a playable character). In these games he is not the villain, but rather a selectable character that the player can choose. He is the heaviest character that wields excellent power but is generally the slowest.
In Yoshi Topsy-Turvy, Bowser is terrorizing Eggland. Its inhabitants, the Egglings, fled to Yoshi's Island, where Bowser gives chase. After Bowser has finally caught up with the Egglings and kept them in place with a spell, Hongo the Book Spirit locks him away in the Forbidden Pop-Up Book. However, he also trapped all of Yoshi's Island in the book as well, forcing Yoshi to try to lock Bowser away himself to convince Hongo to let his island out of the book.
Bowser appears in Super Smash Bros. Melee, a game that features Nintendo characters fighting each other. He is one of the most powerful fighters in the game, but has little speed and mediocre jumping ability. His background symbol is the Super Mushroom, which is also used by Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Dr. Mario. His attacks include his fire breath, claw smash, headbutt, Bowser Bomb, and the surprisingly quick Whirling Fortress in which he retracts inside his shell and spins to cover horizontal distance. His bulk also allows him to perform a belly-to-belly bodyslam. It is unknown if he does appear in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
Bowser also appears as a villain in the Mario Party games, usually the main villain. He's even introduced a new character in recent games named Koopa Kid, who has the ability to become three separate ones. Whether Bowser is the father of Koopa Kid or not is unknown, but it is suggested in Mario Party 7 when he says "Koopa Kids! You have failed me! No playing with your Mario action figure for a month!"
Cameo appearances
- A giant Bowser also cameos in the SNES port of the original SimCity when a monster disaster strikes, parodying Godzilla.
- Bowser appeared in the NES version of Tetris, playing an accordion alongside other Nintendo characters such as Samus, Link and Pit.
- He appears in Super Mario Strikers as a disruption. He tilts the field, breathes fire, and throws items around randomly.
- Talon (who resembles Mario, and even has an "M" on his hat on official game art) and Malon both wear Bowser-like brooches in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Also, in the courtyard where Link meets Zelda, portraits of some Mario characters can be seen through one window. One portrait is of Bowser.
- Bowser also was briefly mentioned in Gex: Enter the Gecko on the PlayStation (although, ironically, there was no mention of him in the Nintendo 64 version).
- An image of Bowser appears on a box of matches in the game Pikmin 2 for the Nintendo GameCube.
- A radio-controlled toy Bowser in a kart can be found or unlocked in the videogame Nintendogs. The toy tends to frighten dogs.
- In the game Tetris DS, level 10 of Standard mode features Mario fighting Bowser as a backdrop. This is repeated every 20 levels afterwards (levels 30, 50, 70, and so on).
- In one of the 118-118 British television adverts, one of the buildings is clearly named 'King Koopa Cafe'.
- One of Ganondorf's outfits in Super Smash Bros. Melee has a likeness of Bowser on the chestplate.
Appearances outside of video games
Bowser's first appearance in any Mario media outside of the games came in the obscure Mario anime movie, Super Mario Bros.: Peach-Hime Kyushutsu Dai Sakusen!. Here, he was voiced, oddly enough, by deep-voiced Japanese female soul singer Akiko Wada. Bowser was then featured as the villain of all three of the Japanese folk tales adapted for the Super Mario Bros. 3 OVA films, even the Wicked Queen in Snow White ("Shirayukihime").
Before American game players could even consider him a regular in the games, Bowser was the regular antagonist for The Super Mario Bros. Super Show. Although he usually went by the "King Koopa" moniker, Bowser frequently took on a new alter-ego, depending on whatever the episode was parodying (a la Yosemite Sam). Although he had only appeared in one game released thus far in North America, Bowser not only commanded his own troops, but also those of Wart from Super Mario Bros. 2.
In this series, Bowser was drawn completely different from the artwork for the games. Here, like the in-game sprite of Bowser in the first game, he had no hair and instead he had wore a crown on the top of his head. He also had green scales all over his body, except his belly, which was colored a darker shade of yellow than in the game artwork. Bowser also never appeared to breathe fire (though he did hold fire in his hands and was able to control it). Also in the first series, he used an array of weapons called Koopa Scepters that could turn whatever it blasted into something else, such as bricks or ice. In spite of the discrepancies from his official game artwork appearance, this version of Bowser frequently appeared in Mario merchandise over the course of the cartoons' run. Interesting, Bowser's character design closely resembles Wart in body and his crown.
A live portrayal of the cartoon version of Bowser was featured as part of the Ice Capades that same year. Here, he is portrayed by Christopher Hewett (a point so obvious that one of the hosts of the show points out that he "looks like Mr. Belvedere"), wearing a rather poor costume with no mask.
Even more obscure than his Ice Capades appearance was Bowser's role as, ironically, the host of a short-lived children's show. King Koopa's Kool Kartoons featured a man wearing the same Bowser costume as the one at the Ice Capades, except this time, the costume actually had a mask that resembled King Koopa's face. In each episode, this man would play public domain cartoon shorts for a live audience of children and would then give them gift certificates and/or various NES products. Perhaps because the show was only broadcast in Southern California during the holiday season of 1989, little information is known about it, such as why Bowser would be hosting a Bozo the Clown-esque show in the first place.
Bowser's next media appearance was as the regular antagonist in the Mario comics published as part of the Nintendo Comics System, which used the same design as the cartoons. These comics state Bowser's full name to be King Bowser Koopa.
Back in the world of Mario's cartoons, Bowser continued to antagonize the Mushroom Kingdom regularly on The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3, this time with the help of his seven children. (According to the DVD releases, he had escaped from the Banishment Zone, but this is never mentioned in any episode.) Although Bowser liked to think of himself as a really nasty villain, he cared very much for his children, often doing whatever he could to please them (especially the constantly-whining Kootie Pie). It has often been said in press material, such as the DVD releases of the show, that Bowser had been stuck in a place called the Banishment Zone between the events of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show and this, but such information is never actually stated in the shows themselves. Bowser would stay the main villain on the Super Mario World cartoon, although there his appearances were less frequent.
Bowser returned to American-published comics with a manga-like serial based on Super Mario World that ran in Nintendo Power throughout 1992. The storyline to Super Mario Adventures was apparently inspired by the aforementioned anime movie, as it also featured Bowser intending to marry Princess Toadstool in order to take over her kingdom. This time, he had also captured many Yoshis and had a hypnotist Magikoopa brainwash them into carrying his gigantic wedding cake. But even after having the same Magikoopa hypnotize the Princess into agreeing to marry him, Bowser still did not emerge victorious.
Books based on the 'choose your adventure' theme were then released, in which the reader guided various Mario characters through some sort of adventure. Bowser was almost always the villain in the books, scheming a new plan for power.
Bowser was then featured as the villain of the Super Mario Bros. movie, where he was the tyrannical ruler of the parallel city of Dinohattan. In the movie, Bowser - portrayed by Dennis Hopper - had the appearance of a human evolved from a Tyrannosaurus rex. Not content with ruling one dimension, Bowser was constantly in search of a piece of meteorite that he planned to use to bring him to Earth to conquer it. In the end, not only does Bowser fail in his attempted takeover, he is also zapped by his own de-evolution guns, first de-evolving him into a T-Rex, and then into nothing more than primeval ooze.
In the British 118 commercials, the cafe is clearly named King Koopa's. It probably was called this because the 2 "heroes" look distinctively like the Mario Brothers.
Bowser's children
In Super Mario Bros. 3, Bowser is for the first time joined by his seven children, the Koopalings. Their names are puns on real-life historical figures and celebrities: Ludwig von Koopa, Lemmy Koopa, Roy Koopa, Iggy Koopa, Wendy O. Koopa, Morton Koopa Jr., and Larry Koopa. On their cartoon shows, they lost their original names to be weird names including Kooky, Hip, Bully, Hop, Kootie Pie, Big Mouth, and Cheatsy, respectively.
The Koopalings continued to accompany Bowser for Super Mario World, Mario Is Missing, and Yoshi's Safari, as well as the cartoon shows and comic books, but mysteriously disappeared afterwards. They did, however, make a returning appearance as mini-bosses in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga.
In Super Mario Sunshine, Bowser is joined by what appears to be his eighth child, Bowser Jr., who later goes on to serve as his partner in subsequent Mario sports games. Bowser Jr. closely resembles a younger Bowser.
Throughout the Mario Party series, Bowser is accompanied by a seemingly infinite number of little Koopas whom he resembles, dubbed "Mini Bowsers" until Mario Party 4, at which point they were called "Koopa Kids". Starting at Mario Party 5, 3 differently-colored Koopa Kids (Blue, Red, and Green K. Kid) appeared. In the console games, there was only one of each color, but Mario Party Advance featured many in the Koopa Kid mini-games. The real relationship between Bowser and these Koopa Kids from the Mario Party series is unclear presently. It is expected that they simply work for Bowser because they call him "Mr. Bowser". Also, in Mario Party 7, after a Koopa Kid has done his deed he says, "Mr. Bowser will totally give me a raise after this."
Koopa Clown Car
The Koopa Clown Car, also sometimes referred to by fans as the Clown Copter (or the Koopa Kopter), is Bowser's favored mode of transportation [citation needed]. First used in Super Mario World, it resembles a manic white and yellow clown face with a green propeller on its underside.
The Clown Car has also been featured in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, Paper Mario, Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Mario Party 5, Mario Party 7, Mario Party 8, and the intro to Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour. It was also used in the Super Mario World cartoon episode "Send in the Clown", which, fittingly, revolved around a phony circus that Bowser was staging. In Mario Kart DS, Bowser has a kart, called the "Hurricane", which resembles an airplane painted in the same clown style. The Clown Car - with Bowser inside - is a trophy in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Baby Bowser was seen using the Koopa Clown Car in Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time. In the live action motion picture there is a scene with Bowser fighting Mario from large bucket-like device hanging on chains, from it he fired his trademark fireballs at Mario and Luigi. This has been said to be a reference to the clown car.
Bowser's size
Nintendo tends to be inconsistent with Bowser's size. He is usually seen about seven feet tall, but in Super Mario Bros. (his first appearance), he is no taller than Mario. However, in Super Mario 64/DS, Super Mario Strikers, Luigi's Mansion and Super Mario Sunshine, Bowser is easily large enough to swallow Mario whole (in the latter in particular, he is gargantuan, though the "Bowser" in Luigi's Mansion was only a phantom). Yet in games such as Mario Tennis and Super Smash Bros. Melee, in which he appears as a playable character, Bowser is once again only slightly larger than Mario. In Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars and the Paper Mario games Bowser is only slightly larger than Mario - big, but not big enough for him to eat Mario.
Bowser has also exhibited the changing of his size in game several times over the years. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door contains short segments featuring Bowser in a sidescrolling adventure much like the original Super Mario Bros. In them, Bowser could increase or decrease in size just by eating pieces of meat or taking damage. In the previous game, Paper Mario, he is several times larger than normal when fought as the last boss. Also, in Mario Party 5 he gains size when jumping on the player when he or she lands on a Bowser space. In addition, Bowser uses the Vibe Scepter in Super Princess Peach to grow to emormous proportions before the final boss battle. Bowser's larger form may also be referenced by his larger, super forms in Paper Mario and Mario Party 5, as well as his mutant version, Giga Bowser, in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Lastly, when his bones are thrown into a large cauldron before the final boss fight in New Super Mario Bros., he emerges twice as large as before, probably due to the strange purple liquid inside. The latter is likely the "official" explanation for Bowser's shifting size, as it also addresses the issue of his revival between previous outings (resurrection from falling into lava). In Super Mario Sunshine, he appears in an immense size, but is seen normal sized in the ending cutscene.
Bowser's voice
The first person to ever provide a voice for Bowser was Wada Akiko, a famous female soul singer, who voiced him in the anime OVA Super Mario Bros.: Peach-Hime Kyushutsu Dai Sakusen!.
Bowser's vocals in most games from Super Mario 64 to Mario Party 5 consisted simply of processed roars, growls and grumbles. He was also given a distinct, booming laugh in Super Mario 64 (the same sound effect, interestingly, was sped up greatly and used as the Boos' laugh), although still no speech. However in the following, more recent games (arranged in alphabetical order) he speaks English and is voiced by Scott Burns:
- Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time
- Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
- Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour
- Mario Hoops 3-on-3
- Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
- Mario Kart DS
- Mario Party 4
- Mario Party 5
- Mario Party 6
- Mario Party 7
- Mario Power Tennis
- Mario Superstar Baseball
- Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
- Super Mario Sunshine
- Super Princess Peach
In these games, Bowser's speech is often combined with his roars from previous titles, except for Super Mario Sunshine where Bowser was actually given full voice acting and spoke in complete sentences, as Bowser Jr. did.
According to Internet Movie Database, Bowser was portrayed by Frank Welker in New Super Mario Bros..
In Super Paper Mario, Nintendo assigned Eric Newsome as a new voice for Bowser.[1]
In the cartoons, Bowser is voiced by Harvey Atkin, and in the film, he is portrayed by Dennis Hopper.
References
- ^ Super Paper Mario credits.
External links
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- Articles lacking sources from December 2006
- Fictional baseball players
- Fictional basketball players
- Fictional characters who can change their size
- Fictional characters with superhuman strength
- Fictional dragons
- Fictional football (soccer) players
- Fictional golfers
- Fictional kings
- Fictional racecar drivers
- Fictional tennis players
- Koopas
- Super Smash Bros. fighters
- Video game bosses
- Video game anti-heroes
- Characters introduced in 1985