Bowser

Bowser
A.K.A	King Koopa, King Bowser
Species	Koopa
Gender	Male
First appearance	Super Mario Bros. (1985, NES)
Latest Appearance	Mario & Sonic at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games (2019, Nintendo Switch)
Created by	Shigeru Miyamoto
Voiced by	None

Bowser (also known as King Koopa or King Bowser) is the primary antagonist in the Mario series as well as the main antagonist in Super Mario 64 and Super Mario 64 DS. He is most notable for being Mario's nemesis and for frequently kidnapping Princess Peach.

Physical Appearance

Bowser is a large species of Koopa. His skin is mostly yellow, but is sometimes shown as orange in official artwork. His head is colored green and is considerably large. He has a strong jawline, and several sharp, but straight teeth in his mouth. His eyes are red. His eyebrows are large, bushy, and also red. There is a medium amount of red hair on the back of his head, and two ox-like horns on each side.

His stomach is a lighter hue of brown, and what seems to be his abdominals are clearly outlined. Bowser also sports a Koopa shell that covers his back. The claws on his hands and feet are both white. Interestingly, his feet claws are duller compared to his sharp hand claws. Furthermore, Bowser only has 3 toes on each foot compared to four fingers on each hand. He also wears metal bracelets around his elbows and wrists.

In the first game, Bowser's model is polygonal and made up of only a few moving parts - his four limbs, his mouth, and his head. His eyes and eyebrows are also flat textures. In the DS version, Bowser looks much more like he does in his official artwork, and every part of his body is now fully modeled.

Game Appearances

Bowser is the main boss of the game; therefore, he only appears three times, each after Mario has collected enough stars on a respective floor.

• Bowser in the Dark World (Ground floor)
• Bowser in the Fire Sea (Basement)
• Bowser in the Sky (Upper Floor)

Attacks

Bowser is particularly strong and has three distinct attacks:

• Bowser will stand still and breathe a line of fire at Mario.
• If Mario and Bowser's distance is long enough, Bowser will start running and try to ram into Mario, like a Bully.
• Bowser may jump into the air and try to stomp on Mario.

Gallery

Bowser in the Dark World

Intro

Bowser encountering Mario.

Bowser: "Tough luck, Mario! Princess Toadstool isn't here...Bwa ha ha!! Go ahead..just try to grab me by the tail!"

Bowser: "You'll never be able to swing ME around! A wimp like you won't throw me out of here! Never! Ha!"

Bowser in the Nintendo DS remake.

Bowser's upgraded graphics.

Battle

Bowser looking at Mario.

Bowser still looking at Mario.

Bowser facing straight.

Bowser knowing Mario is behind him.

Bowser takes a deep breath and...

...spits fire at Mario!

As Bowser said earlier, Mario can grab him by the tail and...

...swing him around!

The player can do this by keeping the punch-button pressed and rotating the control pad. Once Bowser is aligned with a bomb and has enough velocity, release the punch-button to throw him.

Bowser in the Fire Sea

Bowser facing Mario a second time.

Bowser in the Sky

Intro

Bowser confronts Mario one last time!

Bowser: "Mario! You again! Well that's just fine..I've been looking for something to fry with my fire breath!"

Bowser: "Your Star Power is useless against me! Your friends are all trapped within the walls..."

Bowser: "And you'll never see the Princess again! Bwa ha ha ha!"

Battle

Bowser looks at Mario.

Bowser charges at Mario.

Bowser about to attack Mario.

Painting

Occasionally paintings of Bowser can be found in the castle.

Some of them start out as Peach paintings which transform into Bowser when Mario approaches them, while others stay the way they are (most notable in the room before Bowser in the Dark World).

The Bowser painting at the end of the hallway leading to the third and final Bowser level.