Bowser (クッパ Kuppa), sometimes known as King Koopa (Japanese: 大魔王クッパ, Daimaō Kuppa, which can be translated into "Great Demon King Koopa" or "Great Sorcerer King Koopa", the latter meaning being used in the manual of Super Mario Bros.), is a major character and the main antagonist of Nintendo's Mario and Hello Yoshi franchise. He is the leader and most powerful of the Koopas, a race of evil-driven turtles, and has been the archenemy of Mario ever since his debut in Super Mario Bros. He has repeatedly kidnapped or attempted to kidnap Princess Peach with the ultimate goal of defeating Mario and taking over the Mushroom Kingdom, though he has also attempted to conquer various other realms and even the entire universe. Despite his villainous nature, he has occasionally helped Mario and other heroes against common threats and participates with them in their numerous sporting events in spin-off games.
Bowser's personality varies from game to game but it is always dominated by contempt, selfishness and other negative traits.
Characteristics[]
When Bowser was created, he was a typical villain without much personality beyond simply wanting to take over the Mushroom Kingdom. Later games started showing various different aspects of Bowser's character, depending on the nature of the plot. While his platformer role continues to be that of a simple antagonist, his Mario Party antics typically depict him being more angry, childish, and mischievous than dangerous, and his portrayals in the RPGs ranging from a threatening, yet humorous villain to a playable anti-hero. Even when Bowser is acting as a protagonist in a game, however, he continues to insist he is an evil character, and his reasons for helping the protagonists are typically his own selfishness.
Bowser's personality is explored most extensively in the various RPGs, starting with the first one, Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, in which Bowser loses his castle to a greater villain. As well as the grief he expresses over his castle, Bowser is shown to be as sad as the other playable characters about Geno's body breaking down, and at one point, his boasting takes the form of a haiku. As in later RPGs, however, most of Bowser's actions in the game are self-centered, with his motivation for joining the heroes solely being to reclaim his stolen castle and prevent another villain from taking over the world that he himself desires. This reasoning is also behind Bowser's alliance with Mario and the others in Super Paper Mario, after the somewhat oblivious Koopa is reminded that he can't conquer anything if the other villain's plans to destroy all worlds comes to fruition. While Bowser is shown to take pride in his villainy and boasts of being a quality "final boss" throughout the adventure, he seemingly sacrifices himself to save Mario and the others, and even argues with his rival O'Chunks to save himself while Bowser held the crumbling roof above them (although it is later revealed that they both survived). He is also shown to be as horrified as the others when witnessing the Sammer's Kingdom's destruction, a sharp contrast to his attitude in the Super Mario Galaxy platformers, where he is willing to create his own galaxy at the expense of the universe.
As in Super Mario Galaxy, most other platformers leave Bowser as a typical villain, as does the most recent RPG, Paper Mario: Color Splash. The original Paper Mario also casts Bowser as the main antagonist, however like Super Mario RPG that came before it, this portrayal is more well-rounded, introducing a humorous side to Bowser alongside his evilness, and revealing that he has a crush on Yoshi (until season 18). Bowser's affection for the princess is later showcased in Super Paper Mario, with the two being forcibly wed in the game by the main antagonist; while the princess disavows the ceremony, Bowser happily and persistently acts as if they are indeed spouses. Bowser's relationship with Peach also comes into play in Super Mario Sunshine, in which Bowser's son apparently believes her to be his mother, although at the end of the game, Bowser sadly admits that he had lied to his child about his parentage. Aside from this, Bowser has never shown remorse for his troublesome actions and the havoc they often cause, but he is often saddened by his own losses. In Super Mario Galaxy, his only regret is his failure to create his own realm, and in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, he is upset about having to damage his own captured castle as he tried to reclaim it from Fawful. By contrast, in Mario Party 4, Bowser grudgingly giving the player a present and wishing them a happy birthday as he leaves in shame, moving one of the Koopa Kids to wonder if there might be more to Bowser than he leads others to believe, as Bowser claimed to be somewhat happy.
Unlike the platformers and the other Paper Mario titles, Bowser's role is reduced to a dim-witted comic relief villain in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, where he tries and fails to collect the Crystal Stars before Mario. The first two Mario & Luigi titles also cast Bowser as a comical recurring secondary villain, with Partners in Time having him team up with Baby Bowser, whom he did not even recognize as being his infant self. Despite being the central character of Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, the third Mario & Luigi game reveals nothing new about Bowser's character, but it does provide an overview of his personality to date. His reasons for saving the world from Fawful and the Dark Star involve pride, selfishness, and possessiveness toward Peach. He is extremely conceited and boastful about himself and his accomplishments, and he resents having to ask nicely for help from Starlow. He acts as a leader to his troops and forgives them for joining Fawful, but his usual rashness and his penchant for destruction and violence come to a head when he flies into a rage upon discovering that Mario and Luigi had been helping him the entire time from within his body. He attacks them and is promptly defeated, mere moments after the three had worked together to save the world. In Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, however, he was given more competence as well as made into more of a threat, including having Kamek disguising himself as Princess Peach to drop the Mario Bros. guard, anticipating they would try to pursue Yoshi, and later backstabbed Phantasma, anticipating the latter would try to possess him or backstab him in turn. He later implied similar designs with his Paper self, and vice-versa, in Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam. In Paper Mario: Color Splash, Bowser, owing to his being possessed by the black paint for most of the game, was given a far darker personality, namely making clear his intention of "painting the world black", and even going as far as to not only drain Peach's color and hang her colorless form up for display, but when Mario and Huey arrived to fight him in his chambers, he even cracked a dark joke about Peach claiming she was "framed" when he caught her sending messages to Mario. However, after Mario weakened the black paint's hold on Bowser enough for Bowser's usual self to surface, Bowser, understandably, is deeply confused as to Mario's presence, and is clearly unaware of what he was doing all this time.
While his range of emotions varies from game to game, it is his nearsightedness, frustration, anger, arrogance, and contempt that typifies Bowser in all his appearances, whether he is a reluctant protagonist or a straightforward villain who cares only about conquering lands and destroying his opposition.
General information[]
Personality[]
When Bowser was created, he was a typical villain without much personality beyond simply wanting to take over the Mushroom Kingdom. Later games started showing various different aspects of Bowser's character, depending on the nature of the plot. While his platformer role continues to be that of a simple antagonist, his Mario Party antics typically depict him being more angry, childish, and mischievous than dangerous, and his portrayals in the RPGs ranging from a threatening, yet humorous (a part that diminishes in more recent installments of the Mario & Luigi series) villain to a playable anti-hero. Even when Bowser is acting as a protagonist in a game, however, he continues to insist he is an evil, malevolent character, and his reasons for helping Mario are typically for his own selfish agendas. Before a battle, Bowser often releases a loud, full-throated roar as intimidation. Like Wario, Bowser is usually thought of as unintelligent, but can be cunning and deceptive as well.
Bowser's personality is explored most extensively in the various RPGs, starting with the first one, Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, in which Bowser loses his castle to another villain. As well as the grief he expresses over his castle, Bowser is shown to be as sad as the other playable characters about Geno's body breaking down, and at one point, his boasting takes the form of a haiku. He was also shown to be very concerned about his self-image, as he was shown to be very reluctant to divulge exactly what he meant by having "bigger fish to fry" than kidnapping Princess Toadstool, even considering lying about "taking a vacation" to avoid the humiliation of admitting to his being forced outside of his own castle. As in later RPGs, however, most of Bowser's actions in the game are self-centered, with his motivation for working with the protagonists ranging to reclaiming his stolen castle, kidnapping Peach himself, or preventing another villain from taking over the world which he himself desires. This last reasoning is also behind Bowser's alliance with Mario and the others in Super Paper Mario, after the somewhat oblivious Koopa is reminded that he cannot conquer anything if Count Bleck's genocidal plan on all worlds comes to fruition. While Bowser is shown to take pride in his villainy and boasts of being a quality "final boss" throughout the adventure, he seemingly sacrifices himself to save Mario and the others, and even argues with his rival O'Chunks to save himself while Bowser held the crumbling roof above them (although it is later revealed that they both survived). He is also shown to be as horrified as the rest of the party when witnessing Sammer's Kingdom's destruction (deeming such an evil act as "overkill"), and when learning of King Olly's true aim of wishing genocide upon Toads, Bowser expressed disgust at the goal and made clear that, while he has done his fair share of evil and nasty stuff, even he would never attempt to outright exterminate Toads; a sharp contrast to his attitude in the Super Mario Galaxy games, where he is willing to create his own galaxy at the expense of the universe, as well as in Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam, where he threatens to destroy the paper world.
As in Super Mario Galaxy, most other platformers leave Bowser as a typical villain, as does the RPG Paper Mario: Sticker Star. The original Paper Mario also casts Bowser as the main antagonist; however, like Super Mario RPG that came before it, this portrayal is more well-rounded, introducing a humorous side to Bowser alongside his evilness, and revealing that he has a crush on Peach. Bowser's affection for the princess is later showcased in Super Paper Mario, with the two being forcibly wed in the game by Count Bleck; while the princess disavows the ceremony, Bowser happily and persistently acts as if they are indeed spouses. Bowser's relationship with Peach also comes into play in Super Mario Sunshine, in which Bowser's son apparently believes her to be his mother, although at the end of the game, Bowser sadly admits that he had lied to his child about his parentage. Aside from this, Bowser has never shown remorse for his troublesome actions and the havoc they often cause, but he is often saddened by his own losses. In Super Mario Galaxy, his only regret is his failure to create his own realm, and in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, he is dismayed at having to damage his own captured castle while he trying to reclaim it from Fawful. By contrast, in Mario Party 4, Bowser grudgingly giving the player a present and wishing them a happy birthday as he leaves in shame, moving one of the Koopa Kids to wonder if there might be more to Bowser than he leads others to believe, as Bowser claimed to be somewhat happy.
Unlike the platformers and the other Paper Mario titles, Bowser's role is reduced to a dim-witted, bumbling comic relief villain in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, where he encounters frequent comical failures in his attempts to collect the Crystal Stars before Mario. The first two Mario & Luigi titles also cast Bowser as a comical recurring villain, with Partners in Time having him team up with Baby Bowser, whom he did not even recognize as being his infant self. Despite being the central character of Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, the third Mario & Luigi game reveals nothing new about Bowser's character, but it does provide an overview of his personality to date. His reasons for saving the world from Fawful and the Dark Star involve pride, selfishness, and possessiveness toward Peach, as well as a stated interest in taking over Fawful's plans for himself. He is extremely conceited and boastful about himself and his accomplishments, and he resents having to ask nicely for help from Starlow. He acts as a leader to his troops, and even forgives three of them for defecting to Fawful and allows them back in the Koopa Troop. In the remake, it also elaborates on Bowser's crashing the emergency meeting, revealing that he did so because his kingdom also was affected by the Blorbs outbreak. Bowser's usual rashness and his penchant for destruction and violence come to a head when he flies into a rage upon discovering that Mario and Luigi had been aiding him inside his body the entire time (believing they were partying around inside him) and attacks them, only to be promptly defeated, mere moments after the three of them had worked together to save the world.
In Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, while retaining much of his personality from the previous game, he was given more competence and made into more of a serious threat; he has Kamek disguise himself as Princess Peach to drop the Mario Bros.' guard, presuming they would try to pursue Peach, and later backstabbed Antasma, anticipating the latter would try to the same on him in turn. He later implied similar designs with his Paper self, and vice-versa, in Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam. However, he surprisingly was willing to work under Master Hand and have an equal partnership with Dr. Eggman. In Paper Mario: Color Splash, Bowser, owing to his being possessed by the black paint for most of the game, was given a far darker personality, namely making clear his intention of "painting the world black", and even going as far as to drain Peach's color and hang her colorless form up for display; when Mario and Huey arrived to fight him in his chambers, he even cracked a dark joke about Peach claiming she was "framed" when he caught her sending messages to Mario. It was also revealed that he deliberately sent a drained Toad via mail to Peach and Mario in order to lure them, and specifically Peach, over to Prism Island so he could abduct her. However, after Mario weakened the black paint's hold on Bowser enough for the latter's usual self to surface, Bowser is deeply and understandably confused as to Mario's presence, clearly unaware of what he was doing all this time.
Bowser can be quite amiable sometimes, with his harsh and raging demeanor softening up towards his minions, and is even capable of being civil to foes in some degrees. He shows genuine affection and pride for his son; both he and his paper self were vehemently angry at Mario, Luigi, and Paper Mario for defeating Bowser Jr. and Paper Bowser Jr. in Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam. In Super Mario Odyssey, along with planning his forced wedding with Peach extensively (wearing a tuxedo, having his mane groomed, and having her wear the stolen Lochlady Dress), he even comments on Mario's costume before their final battle. Depending on the clothes worn, this could prompt anything from a humorously scared response (as seen with the Skeleton Suit, Zombie Outfit, and even costumes like the Clown Outfit and Boxer Shorts) to a genuine compliment on his dress sense, though he will always note that Mario wasn't invited regardless. In Super Mario Party, he participates in the party with no malicious tricks or intents (not even having Kamek, who he put as a judge, tip the scales in his favor) and congratulates the player who becomes the Superstar in a rare form of good sportsmanship. In Paper Mario: The Origami King, Bowser expresses disgust at the way the Folded Soldiers treat him and his minions, to the extent where he pleads them to put down his minions and set him free.
While his range of emotions varies from game to game, it is his nearsightedness, frustration, anger, arrogance, and contempt that typifies Bowser in all his appearances, whether he is a reluctant protagonist or a straightforward villain who cares only about conquering lands and destroying his opposition.
Physical appearance[]
Bowser is a huge, burly, green-shelled Koopa with spikes, horns, and hair. His bushy eyebrows and mane are fittingly a bright, fiery red-orange and has bright red eyes. He sports two small horns, many spikes on his shell (similar to a Spiny) with brown-orange spike-rings, as well as along his tail (minus the spike-rings). He wears several spiked collars around his neck and arms. He has three claws on each of his massive padded feet, which support his impressive girth. He has three claw-tipped fingers and a thumb on each hand, and his arms are noticeably burly, indicating his vast physical strength. While his face and his shell are green, his underbelly and snout are beige colored (occasionally depicted as being closer to tan or even yellow), and his tail and limbs are an orange-tinged yellow. The exact coloration of Bowser's head varies depending on the media: while official 2D artwork and most of his in-game appearances have his head and shell match in color, the majority of the official 3D artwork, trailers, merchandise as well as Mario & Luigi games show him with a light green head, similar to Bowser Jr.'s appearance.
Bowser's appearance is based upon a combination of the many species of Koopa, including Koopa Troopas, Spinies, and Hammer Bros. According to Prima's Super Mario Galaxy guide, the appearance of Bowser and the Koopas are also based on kappa of Japanese mythology, although this has not been officially stated by Shigeru Miyamoto.[15]
Bowser's appearance has evolved over time. In the box artwork for Super Mario Bros. he has an appearance similar to that of an ox in homage to Journey to the West antagonist Gyū-Maō ("Ox Demon King"), with bluish face and scales, yellow hair and black eyebrows, as well as a less reptile-like face. With the contribution of Yoichi Kotabe, Bowser is redesigned between the release of Super Mario Bros. and the release of the Famicom version of Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels. During this redesign he is given blue eyes, as well as red hair and red eyebrows. Despite that, some artwork for Super Mario Bros. 3, while featuring Bowser's redesigned appearance as well as the blue eyes, retains the yellow hair and black eyebrows while also showing him wearing a cape. His eyes are changed to red again in Super Mario World. The brown rings around the spikes and horns are first seen in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven stars and are seen again in Super Mario 64, it must be noted that in the latter game his scales are orange rather than yellow and the horns and spikes are yellow. In Super Mario Sunshine, Bowser's appearance is very similar to the current appearance and only minor changes in appearance occur from that game until now.
Bowser's appearance does not always follow the design of the time, and the same illustrations were often modified when used in subsequently released material. Two illustration made by Yoichi Kotabe[16] were slightly modified and colored with different colors. The first image is used in the manual of Super Mario Bros. 3, with Bowser having red hair and eyebrows and closed eyes, but also in Super Mario Bros. pinball machine, with him having blue eyes, and in Super Mario Bros. Mushroom World, with him having blue eyes and holding a wand. There is even a version of it in which he has red eyes. The second image is used in the promotional pamphlet of Super Mario: The Lost Levels, in which Bowser has yellow hair, yellow eyebrows and blue eyes, without rings around the spikes, and in other artwork related to that game, in which he has red eyes, hair and eyebrows, orange claws on the feet and with white rings around the spikes. Similarly, graphical limitations in the original Super Mario Bros. lead to Bowser not having hair. His in-game model in Super Mario 64 has feet which are not padded, although in artwork for that game he has padded feet. Similarly, in Super Smash Bros. Melee his feet are not padded, although in his Classic mode trophy he has padded feet. Furthermore, in the Paper Mario series and in artwork for the Mario & Luigi series he has black eyes like the other characters and in the first three episodes of the latter series his feet (and consequently those of Baby Bowser) are not padded.
The creators of the Mario cartoons wished to follow the graphic design of Super Mario Bros., and so their portrayal of King Koopa had him almost completely green in color and lacking hair, with a crown atop his head instead. His stomach was a deeper yellow than in later game depictions, and the whites of his eyes were also yellow; he also had a more crocodile-like snout, which was also colored green. He was also given a single pair of spiked bands on his wrists, with the spikes on said bands being yellow in color.
Nintendo Comics System used the same design as the cartoons for the Mario comics, and different installations in the Nintendo Adventure Books used either it or Bowser's game depiction, interchangeably. By comparison, the two Mario anime (the three OVAs and Super Mario Bros.: Peach-hime Kyushutsu Dai Sakusen!) are relatively true to the games' depiction of Bowser. It must be noticed that in them his eyes are blue instead of red, as in Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels and Super Mario Bros. 3. Similarly, in the three OVAs he also frequently wears a cape, like he did in artwork for Super Mario Bros. 3. On the other hand, in Super Mario World: Mario to Yoshi no Bōken Land he has red eyes, and his appearance on overall is similar to the appearance of Bowser in artwork for Super Mario World.
Speech[]
In the NES and SNES Mario games, Bowser did not have voice acting, with the manual of Super Mario Bros. 3 nonetheless showing that he was able to speak. The 1986 Japanese Super Mario Bros. film gave Bowser voice acting for the first time in history, with the Amada Anime Mario Series (1987-1989) following in suite. Neither the movie nor the series were officially subtitled nor dubbed in English, thus the first time Bowser was heard speaking in English was in the 1989 DIC Entertainment Mario cartoon titled The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!, in which he was portrayed by Harvey Atkin, giving him a Brooklyn accent. This trait was carried over in DIC's 1990 and 1991 cartoons titled The Adventures Of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World. He eventually received voice acting in the PC version of Mario is Missing!, although he would not receive full-fledged voice acting until a decade later. Afterwards, he received a limited degree of voice acting in the games starting with Super Mario 64, although it was for the most part limited to roars and occasional laughter, with in-game text describing what he is saying to Mario. He later received full-fledged voice acting in Super Mario Sunshine, where he was given a gruff, yet slightly goofy-sounding voice. In games released after this, his voice clips are generally the same mixture of both, recently being more frequently growling and roars with in-game text indicating what he is actually saying. A notable exception is the localizations of The Cat Mario Show, where Bowser speaks full sentences that were localized and dubbed in all the main European languages as well. Overall, Bowser has a bass voice.
Powers and abilities[]
Bowser possess various abilities, the more prominent of which being his fire breath. He can produce continuous flares or flurries of individual fireballs, and as seen in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and Super Paper Mario, he can even use his fire breath underwater. He has been shown to cause fiery rain in Super Mario World and New Super Mario Bros U, while in Super Mario 64 and New Super Mario Bros., he can produce blue flames that home in on Mario. Bowser is very proud of his fire breath, and is immensely displeased to find himself temporarily unable to use his flames in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story. In the PC version of Mario is Missing!, Bowser is immune to fireballs, however this is not the case in most other games. Similarly, while lava defeats Bowser in many games, including the original Super Mario Bros., or New Super Mario Bros. (in which it skeletonizes him into Dry Bowser), in other titles, he appears to be resistant to it, such as New Super Mario Bros. Wii. In addition, in Mario is Missing!, Bowser ends up launched at high velocity into the snow in Antarctica, resulting in him freezing solid and then shattering (though it should be noted that this was only the case in the SNES version. In the DOS and Macintosh versions, Bowser is instead booted into the snow yet clearly survives), and in Mario's Time Machine, Bowser in the best endings is sent back to the Cretacious Period and ends up stepped on by a T-Rex, squishing him into a puddle, although his moving and blinking eyes suggests he survived (this is only the case in the PC and SNES versions, however).
Bowser's near immunity and the fact that he always recovers from his defeats is another hallmark of his capabilities. As well as being submerged in lava, Bowser has also fallen great distances, been blown up, crushed, electrocuted, flash frozen and shattered, yet not one of these defeats has been permanent, with Luigi once remarking that "Bowser's survived far worse" after the Koopa appeared to sacrifice himself to save the others from a collapsing roof in Super Paper Mario. Bowser's playable side-scrolling sections in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door show him to have infinite lives, which may explain his durability.
Another hallmark of the Koopa King is Bowser's raw physical strength and power. Bowser is often the most powerful character in sports games, and in Super Paper Mario, his attack stat as twice that of the other heroes. He can easily break through boulders and topple enemies many times his own size, and in Mario & Luigi Bowser's Inside Story, when Mario and Luigi stimulate his muscles with minigames, Bowser can move islands and lift giant stone statues, among other things. Like his fire breath, Bowser takes pride in his strength, and is quick to use punches, claw swipes, tackles, stomps, body slams and other physical attacks in battle.
Unlike his strength, Bowser's speed and agility is not consistent between games. Bowser is usually slower than Mario, like in Super Paper Mario, the Super Smash Bros. games and most sports titles, although despite being the slowest runner in the Mario & Sonic summer Olympics, with a 2/10 stat, in the winter games, he has an 8/10 stat. In Super Mario 64 Bowser can jump incredible heights and make short charges as Mario, and while he can't climb ladders in Super Paper Mario, both it and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door show him to be a good swimmer, although the later reveals that he dislikes the activity.
In the original Super Mario Bros., Bowser throws hammers at Mario, like a Hammer Bro, and this ability reappears in various games, including Super Princess Peach, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga and New Super Mario Bros. 2. Several games also show Bowser causing shockwaves with his ground pounding, and he can also duck into his spiked shell and spin or roll around to attack. In Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, Bowser can attack his enemies using bites, with the latter game giving him the ability to poison others with his fangs, while the former gives him a poisonous claw attack. Like these poisonous moves, another uncommonly seen skill is Bowser's lightning power, which only appears in Hotel Mario and the opening cutscene of Super Mario Galaxy. Both games also make use of Bowser's teleporting ability, as he uses it to bring Peach to his hotel in Hotel Mario and teleports away after his first two defeats in Super Mario Galaxy; he also teleports across the battlefield if the player comes near him in Super Mario 64.
According to the Super Mario Bros. instruction booklet, Bowser is a skilled user in dark magic, using it turn the citizens of the Mushroom Kingdom into blocks and other items. While this aspect of Bowser's abilities is not seen in many other games, he makes use of similar magic to shrink players in Mario Party 4 and turn a Koopa Troopa into a frog in Mario Party 2. He also teleports himself away after being beaten at the Bowser's Star Reactor and Bowser's Dark Matter Plant in Super Mario Galaxy. Finallly, Bowser can transform himself, such as turning into a giant boulder during his final fights with Mario in Super Mario Galaxy, or changing into Giga Bowser in the Super Smash Bros. games, which grants him numerous new powers, such as the ability to freeze opponents. In the anime film, Super Mario Bros.: Pīchi-hime Kyushutsu Dai Sakusen! he has the ability to shapeshift into anything he desires, and he can drastically change his size in various games.
Size[]
Like his speed, Bowser's size changes between games, and often varies between or during battles in single titles. In Super Princess Peach, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Paper Mario: Sticker Star, Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, and various Mario Party titles, Bowser uses an assortment of magical artifacts and items to turn himself temporarily giant for his final showdowns with Mario, and starts out giant in Super Mario Sunshine, shrinking back down to regular proportions after his defeat. Kamek and the Koopalings use spells to turn Bowser gigantic in New Super Mario Bros. Wii and New Super Mario Bros. 2, respectively, and Kamek also makes Baby Bowser giant in Yoshi's Island. In Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, Mario and Luigi can make Bowser temporarily giant by supercharging him with adrenaline; Bowser X and Dark Bowser can become giant for a short while as well. Other games also show him to have modest increases in size from one boss battle to another, such as New Super Mario Bros. and Paper Mario. In the playable Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door intermissions, eating Meat gradually increases Bowser's size, and like the other characters, Bowser can grow with the aid of Super Mushrooms in the Super Smash Bros. games. There are also Super Smash Bros. Events that feature Bowser as being larger than normal, and while his "normal" size varies from game to game, usually he's about twice Mario's height, or a head taller than Peach, and is always much bulkier than the other characters.
Relationships[]
Although technically a younger version of himself, Bowser has interacted with Baby Bowser during two occasions of time travel. In Yoshi's Island DS, Baby Bowser insults his future self, who then rashly blasts him out of the castle; later, however, Bowser becomes outraged when he discovers his younger self being bested by the Yoshis. In Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, the two Bowsers do not recognize each other and argue about the ownership of Thwomp Volcano, eventually putting their differences aside to work together to try and defeat Mario, Luigi and their own baby selves. After their defeat, Bowser's parting advice to Baby Bowser is to "Get stronger and more evil".
Bowser's best relationships are Sly and Gobbo, the Bowser's best friends
Bowser's minions all hold Bowser in high regards and loyally serve him out of respect, rather than fear, although most are mindful of his fiery temper. Bowser does not take betrayal well and will not hesitate to attack deserters as enemies, although he has been shown to be forgiving at times, such as letting the trio of Corporal Paraplonk, Private Goomp and Sergeant Guy return to service after they betrayed him for Fawful in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story. Bowser has also been shown to treat minions in a fatherly fashion, namely towards the Koopa Kids in the Mario Party series (who, despite their similar appearances are not related to Bowser), although they treat him as a boss only. One minion who treats Bowser fairly informally at times is Kammy Koopa, who loyally and tirelessly puts up with his constant stream of derision when working together during the first two Paper Mario games. In her tattle , Goombella wonders whether it is harder for Bowser to put up with Kammy or vice-versa, but despite his verbal abuse, Bowser often takes Kammy's advice to heart.
Family[]
Both the original Japanese and English versions of the game Super Mario Bros. 3 introduced Bowser's seven children, the Koopalings.[17][18] They were also depicted as his children in the DIC cartoons and various comics released shortly after Super Mario Bros. 3. However, less attention was drawn to their relationship over time, and many years later, in 2002, Super Mario Sunshine introduced Bowser Jr., Bowser's youngest child who, unlike the Koopalings, resembles Bowser greatly. Bowser Jr. is considered the heir to the throne since the Koopalings have made a return to the series with their 1988 origin eliminated for the most part.
Before the introduction of Bowser Jr., Ludwig von Koopa was once said to be Bowser's second in command in a Nintendo Power guide. Bowser has always been very proud of the Koopalings' close loyalty to him, and while the dynamics between them was openly familial in the cartoons and comics, in the games, Bowser seemed to treat them more as minions to an extent and frequently used them to battle Mario. He also uses Bowser Jr. as a pawn in his schemes, even going so far as to lying that Peach was the child's mother to give him extra incentive to defeat Mario for taking her away from their "family". However, in a rare moment of humility, Bowser eventually decides to tell his son the truth about Peach, but Bowser Jr. had known all along, and simply wanted to fight Mario to be like his father. Bowser does indeed care about his son, and the two share closer ties than he and his Koopalings, with Bowser Jr. often acting as Bowser's default partner in sports and spin-off games. On the Koopalings' end, the Koopalings were also shown to be extremely devoted to Bowser, with their loyalty to the Koopa King being immense enough that they're willing to serve Bowser even when the latter is not actually himself, as evidenced by their servitude to "Bowser" in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga and Paper Mario: Color Splash (who had actually been Bowletta and Black Bowser, forms taken when Bowser was possessed by Cackletta and the black paint, respectively).
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island introduced Kamek, the Magikoopa who raised Bowser from infancy and who has been seen interacting with him the most throughout the series. As seen in subsequent Yoshi series games and Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, Kamek takes great care of Baby Bowser and worries for his safety, with his devout loyalty continuing into Bowser's adulthood. Kamek's Psychopath line in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars even implies that he considers Bowser to be like a son to him, as despite his brain-washing by the enemies, he thinks "That's... my child?" when faced with Bowser in battle. The only time a rift has been shown between the two is in Mario Party Advance; after winning a minigame Kamek explains that he took leave of Koopa Troop when Bowser disappointed him by taking the title of "Game Master", rather than earning it, although the two reconciled in the end. Aside from that incident, the two get along well, and Bowser seems to show much more respect to his elderly guardian than to any other of his subordinates.
Bowser mentions his actual father in few issues of the Nintendo Comics System, with the implications being that he is a wanted criminal on the run. Similarly, Bowser's motherdoes not appear in any games, but was introduced in The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! episode "Do You Princess Toadstool Take This Koopa...?", which showed her to be a bossy and bullying woman who resented her son for remaining a bachelor. Bowser also mentions a grandfather named Poopa La Koopa in the Super Show episode "Butch Mario & the Luigi Kid", saying his motto was "Cheat, beat, and be merry!". In the "Raiders of the Lost Mushroom", Bowser says a paternal paternal "great-great grandkoop" of his built the Temple of Koopa to hide the Lost Mushroom, which he then left to Bowser. In an episode of The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3, Morton brings up one of the Koopalings' great grandmothers. The family was shown to have a pet rabbit named Pookie in the Nintendo Comics System, which was often abused until its eventual escape from Bowser's Castle in the comic "Bowser Knows Best". In the Nintendo Adventure Book Flown the Koopa, an unnamed Magikoopa stated to be Bowser's third cousin twice removed is featured as the main antagonist; this character also appears in the later books Unjust Desserts and Brain Drain, though has only a minor role in both. Finally, in both an episode of the Super Show and the song "Ignorance is Bliss", Bowser mentions a younger sister who is, according to him, a bookworm.
Voice Actors[]
- Harvey Atkin (Formerly)
- Scott Burns (Formerly)
- Kenny James (Current)
- Masaharu Satou (Japan dub)
Trivia[]
- While Bowser is generally referred to as "Koopa" in Japan, there are occasions where his localized name is alluded to. For example, in the Japanese version of Mario Kart Wii, the Flame Runner is known as the Super Bowser. Because all regional releases of Super Mario Sunshine use the English voice acting, Peach calls Bowser Jr. "Bowser's son," and Bowser himself calls his family the "royal Koopa line," meaning that Koopa is also his surname in Japan. Bowser Koopa is rarely directly given as his full name, but it has occurred in some officially licensed material such as the White Knuckle Scorin' album comic, as well as certain cartoon episodes and comic issues.
- All 8-bit sprites have only three colors, but Bowser's sprite from Super Mario Bros. appears to have four. This is because the black background is what gives Bowser his black spiked collars around his wrists. Due to this, using cheat codes so Bowser appears in a non-castle level will look like his hands are separated from his arms. This occurs again in Super Mario Bros. 3 where Bowser's sprite is designed to exploit the black background to give him an outline.
- Even though Bowser's suit in Super Mario Odyssey is referred to as a tuxedo, it resembles more of a colonial-style greatcoat than a traditional tuxedo.
