King Bowser
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Bowser | |
|---|---|
 Bowser, the King of the Koopas. |
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| Game series | Mario series |
| First game | Super Mario Bros. (1985) |
| Creator(s) | Shigeru Miyamoto |
| Voice actor(s) (English) | Harvey Atkin (TV) (1989-1991) Dennis Hopper (Film) (1993) Scott Burns (VG) (2002-present) Frank Welker (New Super Mario Bros.) (2006) |
| Voice actor(s) (Japanese) | Wada Akiko |
Bowser (クッパ Kuppa?, Koopa), alternately referred to as King Koopa, full name Bowser Koopa, is a fictional character, the leader of the turtle-like Koopa race he is in fact the most powerful koopa, featured in Nintendo's series of video games featuring Mario, where he is usually the major antagonist. (He is ultimately Mario's archenemy.) 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 Koopalings who help him steal and wreak havoc in the Mushroom Kingdom.
Bowser is depicted fairly consistently as nasty and brutish, though possessing of some sarcastic wit. However, in a few games he has shown some (limited) capacity for good, such as in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars and Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga. According to Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door however, he likes to be considered the "King of Evil", but more often than not comes across as quite oafish. He also has shown jealousy of other villains in Superstar Saga and Paper Mario 2; in the former, he tells Cackletta "How dare you come up with such a cool evil plan!" and in the latter, he spends much of the game trying to kidnap Princess Peach from the invading X-Nauts, enraged that they copied his shtick, in fact saying, "Under NO circumstances is ANYONE allowed to kidnap her without MY say-so!" He says a similar line in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars that could easily be missed unless Mario tries to take the alternate route out of Marrymore after saving Peach - "No one, NO ONE, is authorized to kidnap the Princess except ME! It just wouldn't be right!" However, he does have a soft spot for Peach, as shown in Paper Mario and Mario Party Advance.
Bowser is able to speak English (for example in Super Mario Sunshine), and has a distinct booming laugh, but much of the time seems to only produce reptilian roaring and grunting noises.
Bowser owns a huge castle, and while its appearance and layout changes slightly from game to game they are all quite similar; booby traps everywhere, pits full of lava, usually a few Thwomps, and heavily guarded. It appears his castle is situated to the North-West of the Mushroom Kingdom, in the heart of the Koopa Kingdom. It is apparently able to transform to fly and can become a battleship (as in Paper Mario and Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga). Strangely, in Super Mario World, Bowser's Castle seems to be underneath Dinosaur Land in the Valley of Bowser. It is likely he has multiple castles, or that Dinosaur Land has some kind of Warp Point that connects it to the Koopa Kingdom. In Paper Mario, Bowser's castle is directly under Peach's, which allows him to lift it into the sky, holding everyone in it hostage. In all of the Mario Kart games, Bowser's Castle is a course; Super Mario Kart and Mario Kart: Super Circuit have multiple examples. The track is different on each occasion, but they all share similar features.
The instruction manual to the original Super Mario Bros. describes Bowser as a sorcerer who had used his magic to transform the denizens of the Mushroom Kingdom into parts of the very environment Mario traverses through (thus explaining the faces on the hills and clouds in the background, and the fact that blocks yield coins and items). This concept has apparently been dropped in following Mario games, as Bowser has rarely shown any proper 'magical' abilities since (except in Super Mario RPG and Super Mario 64 where he does appear to utilise magic in combat, in addition to trapping the denizens of the Mushroom Kingdom inside the walls of Princess Peach's palace). One consistent ability of Bowser, though, is the ability to breathe fire, either in a continuous, flamethrower style or as fireballs.
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[edit] Appearance
Bowser resembles a creature with tortoise and dragon elements. He is most likely a Kappa (folklore). In fact, the name Koopa may be a pun on Kappa. He wears 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. 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 below). In the forthcoming Mario Strikers Charged, he has a golden shell, but artwork in-game shows a red shell.
[edit] Name issues
Bowser has been known by different names over the years, much like Princess Peach and Sega's Dr. Eggman. In Japan, he has always been known as simply "Koopa" (or "Kuppa"). In the manual for the original Super Mario Bros., however, his full name is shown to be "Big Demon Koopa." or "Daimaou: Kuppa" ("Great Demon King: Kuppa (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, known in Japan as "Nokonoko".
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, therefore his full name is King Bowser Koopa.[citation needed]
In the character credits of the Game & Watch Gallery games the Japanese names were retained, and as such Bowser was referred to as "Kuppa".
[edit] Appearances in video games
[edit] Platformers
In his first appearance, Bowser appeared at the end of the the 8th world (Level 8-4). These areas where characters similar to 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 defeated by repeatedly shooting him with fireballs. 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 graphics 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 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 (while the Dry Bones version of Bowser in New Super Mario Bros throws bones in a similar manner).
Though Bowser appeared in the Japanese sequel to Super Mario Bros. (a title known outside Japan 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. 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 first seven children, the Koopalings. Despite the presence of offspring, Nintendo has never explained if Bowser has had a wife.
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 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, 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 on how King Boo could have revived Bowser. At the end of the game, King Boo fights Luigi with what appears to be Bowser's own body, or, at the very least, a very convincing Bowser disguise. The game hints to the latter due to the fact, this Bowser's head comes off easily and floats when it is decapitated, can spit ice which Bowser could never do, and is hollow inside. Strangely, after Luigi captures King Boo, both King Boo and Bowser machine (or possibly Bowser's spirit) are imprisoned in a portrait at the end of the game.
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 New Super Mario Bros., Bowser is the first boss. He is fought the same way as in the original Super Mario Bros., but this time, the lava he falls in disfigures him into a Dry Bones-esque skeleton. The reanimated Bowser skeleton 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's most recent appearance has been 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 games final boss, right after his child self.
[edit] 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 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 colossal proportions; Yoshi defeats him nevertheless.
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 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, 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, 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 Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time but without the bandana. 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.
Baby Bowser is apparently a bit older than the other babies: he wears no 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.
[edit] Appearances as Giga Bowser
Super Smash Brothers Melee marked the first appearance of the character named Giga Bowser. Bowser gets hit with a mysterious force and turns into Giga Bowser. In this form, he has several abilities that the regular Bowser doesn't, and appears far larger and more intimidating. He appears when one clears Adventure mode on 'normal' difficulty or harder without countinuing, and in under 18 minutes. He also appears as a trophy (see picture). The final Event Match, called "The Showdown", also 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 even in the game: his damage symbol is the Smash Brothers logo rather than the Mushroom shared by Mario, Luigi, Bowser, Peach and Dr. Mario.
[edit] 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. To avoid embarrassment, Bowser tries to make Mario believe that he is joining the Koopa Troop, not vice versa. This is the only 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, Smithy, and Grodus, and will occasionally, if necessary, work with Mario to help defeat the said villain.
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. Also, 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. At the end of Paper Mario, Bowser is presumed dead, and this is only strengthened by him thought to be "totally destroyed" (however, he appears at the end of the parade during the credits and in the sequels).
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 against 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. Bowser is eventually freed when Mario and Luigi destroy Cackletta's spirit for good. The final battle with Cackletta's soul can make one wonder what kind of dimensions Bowser's body has, since Bowletta swallows Mario and Luigi, while collectively they are almost Bowletta's size. And the stomach is a long hallway with fires, Bowser statues and lightning clouds in the background.
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, 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. (In these stages, it is possible for Bowser to become incredibly huge through repeated collection of meat, allowing him to smash straight through blocks and end-of-level flagpoles. Similar abilities later appeared in New Super Mario Bros., where they were granted to Mario via the Mega Mushroom.) Though Bowser does not even know about the X-Nauts, it is presumed that he and Sir Grodus would be enemies. Bowser and Kammy finally catch up to Mario in the game's final moments. Ironically, the ensuing fight ends up giving Grodus a chance to steal Peach away to the chamber of the Shadow Queen, which he immediately takes advantage of.
Bowser appears 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 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 (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 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 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.
Interestingly, in both Mario & Luigi RPGs, Bowser was unwillingly possessed by an evil female creature after becoming wounded. However, it should be noted that the Elder Princess Shroob didn't possess him, but he merely ate her and gained her power.
[edit] 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, 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 Super Princess Peach, Bowser modifies his behavior of kidnapping Peach and kidnaps Mario, Luigi and several Toads instead, with the help of a magic wand, called the Vibe Scepter, that controls emotions. 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. He is the heaviest character that wields excellent power but is generally the slowest.
In Super Smash Bros. Melee, Bowser is a starter character. His attacks are slow but very powerful, easily capable of knocking people out of the level. In this game, Bowser is darker colored and appears more intimidating. He is also a very heavy character, meaning he cannot run very fast or jump very high, but he is not knocked out as easily as lighter characters. Due to his heaviness, he can use attacks like the "buttbomb" or a bodyslam, where he grabs an enemy and falls on them face-first. Once the player has a good sense for his playing style and is fluent in his moves, he can be quite deadly, especially in Sudden Death matches. However, he is often on the bottom of the tier list, and is not often used in tournaments. He is the final boss in the game's Adventure Mode and is almost doubled in size, as though he had gotten the Super Mushroom. If Adventure Mode is completed in under 18 minutes on Normal difficulty or higher, there will be an even harder boss called Giga Bowser, Adventure Mode's real final boss. It is currently unknown if Bowser will appear in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
[edit] Cameo appearances
- A giant Bowser also cameos in the SNES port of the original SimCity when a monster disaster strikes, parodizing Godzilla.
- Bowser appeared in the NES version of Tetris, playing an accordion alongside other Nintendo characters such as Samus, Link and Pit.
- Bowser has become playable in the Mario Party series (started in the "Beach Volley Folly" minigame in Mario Party 4)
- He appears in Super Mario Strikers as a disruption. He tilts the field, breathes fire, and throws items around randomly.
- Talon 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 N64 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'.
[edit] 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 is a common misconception that this OVA is what started the idea of Bowser having unrequited affections for Peach, as he kidnaps her with the intention of forced marriage, however this plot point is also mentioned in the Super Mario Bros. manual[citation needed]. 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 ("Snow White").
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 (however, Mario called him by his full name, "Bowser Koopa," a couple of times), 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 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 Bowser of the first game, he had no hair and instead wore a crown atop 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). 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. 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 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. 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 children, 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 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. Among his schemes included the creation of a 'monster mixer', which could combine his troops together into hybrids, and a plan to use a magic spell to merge the seven wands into one super-wand with several times the power. [citation needed]
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.
[edit] 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, their names were changed to 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.
According to Nintedo Power of UK, Bowser's wife and the mother of these children is Clawdia, Queen of the Koopas. Clawdia hasn't made an appearance in any games, but is expected to eventually by many people. Although, this was truley a joke and not expected to be taken seiriously.[citation needed]
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, to the point where he could almost be considered a clone. Whether or not this is the case remains to be seen.
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 the call him "Mr. Bowser". Further more these games are by Hudson Soft.
[edit] 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. First used in the SNES game 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, 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. 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.
[edit] Bowser's Size
Nintendo tends to be inconsistent with Bowser's size. In Super Mario Bros., his first appearance, he is no taller than Super Mario. However, in Super Mario 64/DS and Super Mario Sunshine, Bowser is easily large enough to swallow Mario whole (in the latter in particular, he is gargantuan). 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. Bowser's larger form may also be referenced by his larger, super forms in Paper Mario and Mario Party 5 (which could help answer the question regarding his size in that he drinks a potion to grow larger), as well as his mutant version, Giga Bowser, in Super Smash Bros. Melee. In Luigi's Mansion, the Bowser costume worn by King Boo is almost twice as large as Bowser was in Super Mario 64. In Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars Bowser is only slightly larger than Mario - big, but not big enough for him to eat Mario. 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 New Super Mario Bros., this is complicated even further: he originally appears only slightly larger than Mario, but after being restored from being a Dry Bones during the final boss battle, he is again gargatuan. Also, in Mario Party 5 he gains size when jumping on the player when he or she lands on a Bowser space.
[edit] Bowser's voice
The first person to ever provide a voice for Bowser was Wada Akiko, who voiced him in the anime OVA Peach-hime Kyushutsu Dai Sakusen. Ironically, not only is this particular voice actor female, but she was famous in Japan as a soul singer.
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 Hoops 3-on-3
- Super Princess Peach
- Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time
- Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
- Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour
- Mario Kart DS
- Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
- Mario Party 4
- Mario Party 5
- Mario Party 6
- Mario Party 7
- Mario Superstar Baseball
- Mario Power Tennis
- Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
- Super Mario Sunshine
In these games, Bowser's speech is often combined with his roars from previous titles. He is voiced by Frank Welker in New Super Mario Bros.
In the cartoons, Bowser was voiced by Harvey Atkin, and in the movie, he was portrayed by Dennis Hopper.
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