Bowser

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This article is about the Nintendo character. For other meanings, see Bowser (disambiguation).

Bowser, known in full as King Bowser Koopa, and known in Japan as Koopa or Kuppa, (written as クッパ in Japanese), is a fictional turtle-like creature from Nintendo's Mario series, and is Mario and Luigi's arch-nemesis. Although Bowser has joined forces with the good guys 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 one of the most recognizable video game villains ever. He rules over the Koopa Kingdom and has eight Koopa Kids, who help him steal and wreak havoc in the Mushroom Kingdom.

In all of his various incarnations throughout the Super Mario Bros. series, he has been depicted as obsessed with Princess Peach. Though he has repeatedly tried to kidnap her, Bowser has never declared what he plans to do with her once she is in his grasp, although the most likely theory is that Bowser is in love with Peach and wants to make her his wife. According to Mario Party Advance he "has the hots for Peach", and in Paper Mario, he talks affectionately to her in several scenes, and is said to have made a wish to the Star Spirits that went "I want Princess Peach to like me". He even wrote in his diary that he loves Peach, which Peach reads later in the game and says "Eeeeeew...". In the Super Mario Brothers movie (which is not considered canon), Koopa wanted the Princess to merge his world (the Mushroom Kingdom, or Dinosaur Land) with Earth, so he could rule both worlds. Bowser is depicted fairly consistently as nasty, brutish, and not particularly bright, though still a bit of a sarcastic wit. In Mario Party 5, Bowser reveals his optimistic nature, as upon the player defeating him and granting his wish for a worthy competitior, he says he tends to look at the good side of things. It is odd to note that in some games he appears to be quite intelligent, although he is always evil.


Contents

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Name issues

Bowser has been known by different names over the years, much like Princess Peach and Sega's Dr. Eggman, which have since amalgamated into his current title. In Japan, he has always been known as simply "Koopa." In the manual for the original Super Mario Bros., however, his full name is shown to be "Big Demon Koopa." When Super Mario Bros. came out in the US, he was given the more American name of "Bowser, King of the Koopas".

Confusingly, the American cartoons, and the Super Mario Bros. movie consistently referred to Bowser as King Koopa and almost never "Bowser". Somewhere along the line the two names merged, and he is now known in America as being Bowser Koopa, with "Koopa" as surname of Bowser.

Further confusion comes from the fact that one of his sons is named Morton Koopa, Jr. As the term 'Junior' is normally applied to a son that has the same name as his father, it implies that Morton may be Bowser's name. But in all actuality, Morton Koopa Jr. is just a reference to actor Morton Downey, Jr. in the same way that Ludwig von Koopa is a reference to Ludwig van Beethoven.

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Appearances in video games

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The platformers

Image:Bowser (smb1).png In his first appearance, Bowser appeared at the end of the 8th world (Level 8-4). Most people think that Bowser appears at the end of each world, but it is infact one of his many henchmen disguised as Bowser. These areas where "Bowser" appeared were "dungeon stages" — characterized by white brick platforms, ample lava and spinning sticks of fire that could burn Mario or Luigi. Bowser waited 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 could cut the rope at the end, making the bridge collapse and sending Bowser into the pit of lava below. Alternatively, Bowser could also be killed by repeatedly shooting him with fireballs. Due to graphics limitations, the in-game Bowser does not seem to have hair, although the official artwork for the game depicted him with it.

Image:Bowser (smb1)-snes-allstars.png Though Bowser appeared in the Japanese sequel to Super Mario Bros. (a title known in the United States as Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels), he appeared and behaved 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 (his sprites in the previous games did not have hair, although the official artwork depicted him with it). This time, Bowser only appeared at the end of the final level — his castle at the end of World 8 — where Mario and Luigi had to trick him into crashing through his floor in order to defeat him.

This game also introduces Bowser's seven children, the Koopalings. Despite the presence of offspring, Nintendo has never explained if Bowser has had a wife, though it was once revealed in the Nintendo Official Magazine U.K. that his wife's name was Clawdia, which would suggest that perhaps Bowser wants Peach for a more sinister purpose, but eventually fell in love with her.

Bowser's final appearance in a standard 2-D Mario platform adventure is 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 rode the Koopa Clown Car.

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, Luigi, Wario and Yoshi as well — track 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.

At the end of Paper Mario, Bowser is presumed dead, and this is only strengthened by his appearance as a giant suit worn by King Boo in Luigi's Mansion. This theory, though at a time, plausible, was disproved very quickly.

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, only wishing to fight Mario again, which pleases his father.

In Paper Mario, it is revealed that Bowser has a crush on Peach after reading pages in the Koopa King's diary. The player can also find this out in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door by talking to one of the enemies in the first Bowser stage they get to play.

In Super Smash Bros. Melee, Bowser is a starting character. His attacks are slow, but very powerful, easily capable of knocking people out of the level. He is also a very heavy character, meaning he cannot run very fast or jump very high, but is not knocked out as easily as other, lighter characters. However, once you have a good sense for his playing style and are fluent in his moves, he is quite deadly, especially in Sudden Death matches.

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Appearances as Baby Bowser

Chronologically, Bowser's first run-in with Mario is Super Mario Bros. However, if one looks at the storylines 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 (a correct assumption), 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 immense proportions.

Baby Bowser appears again in the 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 influenced the later design of Bowser Jr. Bowser Jr. has a bandana around his neck, as oftenly depicted in Super Mario Sunshine, which he uses to transform into a Mario look-alike. Baby Bowser does not have one.

In Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, Baby Bowser (for some reason having the appearance of Bowser Jr., with the horns, as well as Junior's voice) appears at the beginning of the game trying to abduct Baby Peach, 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 showed up, Baby Bowser resumed 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. 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 as a result. He is eventually restored by Baby Luigi's tears at the end of the game. As for his present day self, he eats the mushroom Princess Shroob got turned into and attacked the Mario Bros. as Shrowser, but he was defeated. Also as a note, Baby Bowser treats Baby Mario and Baby Luigi like little kids (making himself sound like an adult), like calling them stupid. Baby Bowser is voiced by Dolores Rogers.

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The 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 extra-dimensional invader named Smithy (or Kajido in Japan). To avoid embarrassment, Bowser tries to make Mario believe that he is joining the Koopa Troop, not vice versa. This is the only other game in the series in which Mario and Bowser have intentionally worked together, aside from Superstar Saga, and the only Mario RPG game in which Bowser is a member of your party. Bowser is often shown to have immense jealousy over any other villain who is a powerful authority figure besides him, such as Cackletta and Smithy, and will occasionally, if necessary, work with Mario to help defeat said villain.

In Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, he tries to kidnap Peach but somebody else has gotten there first and so ends up in a complicated adventure to help Mario get her back so he can kidnap her. Initially, he becomes a servant of a strong-throated thief named Popple, with Bowser referred to as Rookie as a result of a concussion-induced amnesia. Ultimately, Bowser becomes possessed by the disembodied spirit of the evil bean witch, Cackletta. This fusion of Bowser's body and Cackletta's soul produces Bowletta, a gender-vague villain with brute strength and magic powers. Bowser is eventually freed when Mario and Luigi destroy Cackletta's spirit for good.

Bowser appears as the central villain of Paper Mario. In this adventure, Bowser steals the Star Rod, a mystical device that grants wishes, and uses it to lift Mushroom Castle into the sky. The Star Rod makes Bowser especially powerful, 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.

Both Bowser and Kammy 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, only to be beaten to the punch at every turn. He is playable in this game, although unlike in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, he has his own sidescrolling stage that came up occasionally between chapters. These stages hilariously mimic those Mario ventured through in the original Super Mario Bros. Bowser and Kammy finally catch up to Mario in the game's final moments. Ironically, the ensuing fight ends up giving the evil Sir Grodus a chance to steal Peach away to the chamber of the Shadow Queen. Bowser certainly wouldn't be happy with what happened after that...

Bowser appears as a boss in Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, teaming up with his younger self against the Mario Brothers. He is the real final boss after eating Princess Shroob, creating Shrowser. His lack of intelligence is shown in this game as he is the only character in the game who meets his younger self without a hint of recognition. 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 then fight and lose to the Mario Bros. In the end they are seperated by an attack by the Shroobs. The older calls to the younger to always become stronger and eviler and the younger promising to someday become eviler and stronger than the older Bowser.

In the RPGs, Bowser's personality is very comical, portraying him as a sort of oafish anti-hero. 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. However, he is still Mario's enemy and while he is not the final boss in the Mario RPGs (except for Paper Mario) he a major boss in all of them.

Also, in every Mario & Luigi Handheld RPG so far, Bowser was unwillinly become possessed by an evil female creature (unhuman) after becoming wounded (i.e. being blasted over ten miles then landing headfirst on to a mountain full of security lasers, being blasted out of a volcano by UFO lasers then falling into a far away time hole then ending up on a ledge in Peach's Castle, then rolling off the ledge and being dragged to the throne room).

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Spinoffs

Bowser also appears in secondary Mario games. His first appearance was 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, and Super Mario Strikers (which he was not playable in). Finally, he appeared in Super Smash Bros. Melee, a game that features Nintendo characters fighting each other. In these games he is not the villain, but rather a selectable character that the player can choose. In all of the games, he is one of the heaviest characters that wields great power but is generally slower than the others.

In Super Smash Bros. Melee, Bowser had an alternate boss form named Giga Bowser. This form is much larger than Bowser, and has a more intimidating figure, however, Giga Bowser is not appreciably heavier or stronger (except in Adventure mode, when he, as well as the other ending Bowser, is given a handicap), but his attacks are much longer-ranged, some of his attacks have elemental side-effects and different knockback/damage qualities, and he cannot be grabbed. This transformation is not canon, although Bowser has gone through a similar transformation in size and power in Paper Mario and Mario Party 5 to fight as the last boss, minus the more intimidating figure.

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Cameo appearances

  • A giant Bowser also cameos in the SNES port of the original SimCity when a monster disaster strikes, parodying Godzilla. (A possible reference to this is made in Super Smash Brothers: Melee, where Bowser is playable. One of the Event Matches is entitled Gargantuans, and features a giant Bowser fighting a giant Donkey Kong in the level Fourside, which is a large city)
  • Bowser appeared as the final boss in Tetris Attack.
  • Bowser also appeared in the NES Tetris playing an instrument along other Nintendo Characters like Samus and Link.
  • Bowser has yet to become playable in the Mario Party series (except in the "Beach Volley Folly" minigame in Mario Party 4), however, and it is likely that he never will be, although a couple of the games allow the player to select Koopa Kid.
  • He appears in Super Mario Strikers as a disruption.
  • Talon and Malon both wear Bowser medallions 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 N64 version).
  • A radio-controlled toy Bowser in a kart can be found in the Chihuahua & Friends version of Nintendogs. The toy tends to frighten dogs.
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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. It was in this OVA that started the idea of Bowser having unrequited affections for Peach, as he kidnaps her with the intention of forced marriage. 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 Shirayukihime.

Image:CartoonBowser.jpg 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 (ala Yosemite Sam). Although he had only appeared in one game released thus far in 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 than in the artwork for the games. Here, like the in-game Bowser of the first game, he had no hair, and he wore a crown in place of his red hair, not to mention he had green scales all over his body, except in the case of his belly, which was colored a darker shade of yellow than in the game artwork, and he never appeared to breathe fire. 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.

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. In this ice show, Bowser plans to use the NES he's stuck in to infect computers with a deadly virus (though that probably couldn't happen in real life). Interestingly, in the ice show, Bowser states that he only tries out villainous schemes like world domination just because he likes to cause trouble.

Even more obscure than his Ice Capades appearance, Bowser was, ironically, the host of a 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 being the regular antagonist in the Mario comics published as part of the Nintendo Comics System, which used the same design as the cartoons. It was these comics that confirmed 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 kids. Although Bowser liked to think of himself as a really nasty villain, he cared very much for his kids, often doing whatever he could to please them (especially the constantly-whining Kootie Pie). 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 Peach 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 Peach into agreeing to marry him, Bowser still didn't emerge victorious.

Books based on the 'choose your adventure theme' were releasing, in which the reader guided various Mario characters through some sort of adventure. Bowser was almost always the villain in the books, scheming some new plan for power. Among others, he made a 'monster mixer', which could combine his troops together into hybrids, and a plan to use a magic spell to merge the 7 wands into 1 super-wand with several times the 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 though, 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 nothing more than primeval ooze.

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Bowser's children

In Super Mario Bros. 3, Bowser is for the first time joined by his seven children, the Koopalings. Their names are Ludwig Von Koopa, Iggy Koopa, Lemmy Koopa, Roy Koopa, Wendy O. Koopa, Morton Koopa Jr., and Larry Koopa. On their cartoon shows, their names were changed to Kooky, Hip, Hop, Bully, Kootie Pie, Big Mouth, and Cheatsy, respectively. It was revealed in the Nintendo Official Magazine U.K. that their mother is called Clawdia.

Image:SevenKoopalings.jpgThe 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. According to a recent Nintendo Power interview, they may also appear in New Super Mario Bros.

In Super Mario Sunshine, Bowser is joined by what appears to be his eighth kid, Bowser Jr., who later goes on to serve as his partner in subsequent Mario sports games.

Throughout the Mario Party series, Bowser is accompanied by a seemingly infinite number of little Koopas whom resemble him, dubbed "Baby 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 the Koopa Kids is unclear presently. Some fans speculate that he had one child that he cloned using the Koopa magic referenced in the manual to Super Mario Bros. Others suggest that they are simply clones of Bowser himself. Technically speaking, if Koopas are anything like Yoshis, then Bowser could have simply produced eggs containing the Koopa Kids.

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Koopa Clown Car

Image:KoopaClownCar.jpg The Koopa Clown Car, also sometimes referred to by fans as the Clown Copter, is Bowser's favored mode of transportation, which makes sense, given his speed. First used in the SNES game Super Mario World, it resembles a manic white clown face with a green propeller on its underside. Top speeds and maneuverability are unknown, but if the Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour opening movie is to be believed, it can just make running pace, with Bowser inside. The Clown Car is very spacious: it can hold Bowser, a kidnapped princess and her supply of Mushrooms, a couple of Mecha-Koopas, and some giant black steel balls (about the size of the entire vehicle) to deal with any bothersome plumbers, or a few Bob-ombs.

The Clown Car has also been featured in Super Mario RPG, Paper Mario, Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Mario Party 7, and as mentioned before, 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 which resembles an airplane painted in the same clown style. Also, the Clown Car has a trophy with Bowser inside in Super Smash Bros. Melee.

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Bowser's voice

Bowser was voiced by Issac Marshall in Super Mario 64 and Mario Kart 64, as well as Mario Party, 2, 3, 4, & "Mario Party 5" and he was also voiced by Scott Burns(I) in the following titles (in alphabetic order):

In the cartoons, Bowser was voiced by Harvey Atkin, and in the movie, he was portrayed by Dennis Hopper.



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