Bowser

Bowser
'Mario' character
File:Bowser-Nintendo.png Bowser, king of the Koopas, as he appears in Mario Party 7
First game	Super Mario Bros. (1985)
Created by	Shigeru Miyamoto

Morton Bowser Koopa, also known as King Koopa or simply just Bowser, is a video game character and the primary antagonist of Nintendo's Mario series. In Japan, he is called Koopa (クッパ, Kuppa).

Bowser is Mario's archenemy. He is the leader and most powerful of the turtle-like Koopa race. Although he is considered an antagonist due to his ambition to kidnap Princess Peach and conquer the Mushroom Kingdom, Bowser has allied with Mario in a few games. In games where he teams up with Mario to face a proverbial common enemy, he is often arrogant and egotistical, often joining for selfish reasons (such as to get his castle back from invaders or retrieve Peach's stolen voice so he can kidnap her again).

Creation and conception

Bowser was the creation of Nintendo designer and producer, Shigeru Miyamoto. Miyamoto had first first envisioned Bowser as an ox, basing him off of the Ox King from the Toei Animation film Alakazam the Great. However, Nintendo designer Takashi Tezuka pointed out to Miyamoto that the character looked more like turtle than an ox. Miyamoto and Tezuka then began to work together to define Bower's appearance. Since the character was in the turtle family with the Koopa Troopas, the two began to base his new appearance off them creating a new illustration. In his final design, Miyamoto commented that he could make Bowser "look cool now".

Miyamoto named him 大魔王 クッパ Daimaō Kuppa meaning "Great Demon King Koopa". Kuppa came from the Japanese name for 국밥, gukbap, a Korean dish. Miyamoto had also considered the names ユッケ Yukke and ビビンバ Bibinba, also Japanese names of Korean dishes (육회 yukhoe and 비빔밥 bibimbap respectively). Interestingly enough, the Korean name for the character Bowser/Kuppa is not Gukbap, but 쿠파 Kupa, which is essentially a phonetic round-trip translation. Kuppa is also said to be a pun on 河童 kappa.

Characteristics

Bowser is said to be "King of the Koopas", the race of turtle-like creatures that co-exist with the Toads that inhabit the Mushroom Kingdom. In many games, particularly the RPG series, Bowser more accurately resembles a crime boss than a king. In these games, many Koopas tend to be friendly towards Mario, whereas the Koopas that are evil or are followers of Bowser are labeled "Koopa Troopas".

Bowser is most well-known for his repeated kidnappings of Princess Peach. The reason for these kidnappings has changed dramatically over the years, from the fact the Princess is the only one who can undo Bowser's black magic, to the fact he has some love and devotion towards her. Usually, he can use her to take over the Mushroom Kingdom or, in some cases, the world or the universe.

Early on, Bowser was solely created as a monstrous main villain. However, as video game technology improved, Bowser developed a personality, namely in RPGs like Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars and Paper Mario. Bowser is depicted as being fixated on defeating Mario, but also as an oafish, blustery character with no other plans than kidnapping the Princess and waiting for Mario. He also appears to be blindly confident in his own chances of victory. In a number of games, although Bowser is shown to hate Mario, he in fact possesses a degree of respect for him, and even appears as a playable antihero.

Bowser's appearance has been tweaked several times throughout the series, but most of the basic overall look has been consistent. Early versions were more turtle-like, resembling a large Meiolania standing on its hind legs, and with all the attributes of other enemies combined (fire spitting, spines and hammer throwing). Later revisions gave him a much more bipedal, draconic appearance, with a big cat-like face and powerful fire breath. Bowser's size tends to vary from game to game, sometimes only slightly taller than Mario (mostly in sports and spin-off titles), and other times being enormous (mostly in the main titles), though he is usually around seven feet tall.

Bowser's abilities greatly vary from game to game. His most common physical traits are the ability to breathe fire, spinning around at Mario inside his shell, and being extremely resilient. He is in fact generally immune to standard attacks. His mobility greatly varies. In games where Bowser is playable, he's always depicted as extremely slow. When he's an enemy, he's sometimes faster and more agile than Mario. Outside his common abilities, some individual games generally give attacks that aren't seen in others, such as being able to create shockwaves or flaming boomerangs. His sharp claws have also been extremely useful in battle.

Bowser is shown to have eight children. Seven of them, the so-called Koopalings, debuted in Super Mario Bros. 3, where they function as bosses at the end of every one of the game's worlds. Each Koopaling has his or her own airship, which are levels where the player has to navigate through before encountering the Koopaling. The seven kids reappeared as bosses in Super Mario World (having castles instead of airships), Mario Is Missing!, Yoshi's Safari, and Hotel Mario. Their last appearance were as minibosses in the final stage of Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga. Super Mario Sunshine introduced an eighth child, Bowser Jr., who wreaks havoc on Isle Delfino.

Appearances

Video games

Bowser's first appearance was in Super Mario Bros. as the main villain who kidnaps Princess Peach and as the boss of the 8th world. Although he appears to be the boss character of Worlds 1–7 (level 4), this is not the case. Bowser uses his black magic to transform seven regular enemies, such as Goombas and Buzzy Beetles into replicas of himself called False Bowsers (defeating one of his decoys with fireballs reveals its true self). He reappears in Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels under the same role. He also appears in Super Mario Bros. 3, and along with the seven Koopalings, he kidnaps Peach again and wreaks havoc within various kingdoms. The seven underlings reappear again in Super Mario World, where they kidnap Peach while she and Mario are on vacation on Yoshi's Island, and then they make two more appearances in Hotel Mario and Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga.

Bowser makes his first full 3D appearance in Super Mario 64 (his first actual 3D appearance being Super Mario RPG) where he invades Princess Peach Toadstool's castle and seals much of it with the magic of the stolen Power Stars. He returns in Super Mario Sunshine, in which his son, Bowser Jr., who is disguised as an evil version of Mario, kidnaps Peach. Bowser himself eventually appears in the final boss battle of the game. In Super Mario Galaxy, Bowser kidnaps Peach and takes her to the center of the universe to recreate it. In New Super Mario Bros., Bowser is the boss of the first world, and after being defeated, he falls into lava and becomes a Dry Bones-esque skeleton called Dry Bowser. He is eventually restored and acts as the final world's boss. Dry Bowser is also an unlockable character in Mario Kart Wii.

Bowser makes various appearances in the Mario RPGs. In Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, he allies with Mario to regain his castle, which is stolen by the main antagonist, Smithy. Despite being Mario's sworn enemy, Bowser seems to get along with Mario and his friends during the adventure after joining them, even going so far as to protect Mario several times. He even goes so far as to demand Mario help Peach return home, as anyone besides him kidnapping her "just wouldn't be right". He plays minor antagonistic and supporting roles in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga and its sequel, Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time. Bowser also makes an appearence in Mario and Luigi RPG 3 (the sequel to PiT)as a playable character, this game is not yet released in the US. He is the main antagonist of Paper Mario, a minor antagonist in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and a playable character in Super Paper Mario.

Bowser also appears in various spin-off games, such as Mario Is Missing!, Yoshi Topsy-Turvy, Paper Mario and Super Princess Peach, as the main antagonist. He appears as a playable character in the Mario Kart series and various Mario Sport titles, such as Mario Golf and Mario Tennis. Bowser also appears as the main villain in many of the Mario Party games, with the exception of Mario Party 3 in which he is portrayed as comically inept. He plays an active role in their story modes and antagonizes the characters during gameplay. He is also a playable character in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games. He is high on power, but has very low speed and skill.

Bowser is a selectable character within Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Brawl. He is the largest and heaviest character in both games and he makes use of his bulk, fire breathing, and claws. The games also feature a different form not seen in any Mario series game called "Giga Bowser", a darker and more monstrous form with added power elements to his attacks.

Bowser appears as a child in various games. Known as Baby Bowser, he antagonizes the Baby Mario brothers and various members of the Yoshi species. He first appears in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island where Kamek predicts the brothers will become problems in the future, so he attempts to kidnap them. The first half of the fight is in Baby Bowser's playroom. The second half takes place in the ruins of the castle. In the sequel, Yoshi's Island DS, Baby Bowser joins with Mario and a group of Yoshi in order to regain his castle from his future self that travels back in time. He is also an antagonist along with his future self in Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, and steals the Super Happy Tree from a group of Yoshi in Yoshi's Story.

His first appearance as a playable character was in Super Mario Kart. After this, he has appeared in many spin-off games, such as the Mario Golf, Mario Tennis, Mario Hoops 3-on-3, Mario Superstar Baseball, Mario Super Sluggers, Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Brawl. In the end, Bowser remains the only major Mario cast member to not have appeared as the star of his own game to date.

In the early 3D Mario games, Bowser is voiced by Isaac Marshall. Marshall's voice for Bowser consisted of various roars, grunts and growls. Marshall continued to provide his voice until Super Mario Sunshine in 2002, when he was replaced by Scott Burns. Burns was the first to provide spoken dialogue for Bowser. However, voice clips done by Marshall were used in some later games for Bowser's roar.

In the new game Mario Strikers Charged, Bowser is a selectable character along with his son, Bowser Jr.

Other media

Bowser's first appearance in any Mario media outside the games was in the Mario anime film, Super Mario Bros.: Peach-Hime Kyushutsu Dai Sakusen!, in which he is voiced by Akiko Wada. He then appeared in the Super Mario Bros. 3 OVA films. His first American appearances were as the antagonist in The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!, The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3, and Super Mario World, in which he is voiced by Harvey Atkin. In the series, he is one of the characters able to talk.

Bowser also appears as the regular antagonist in the Mario comics published as part of the Nintendo Comics System, and other pieces of writing. He is the villain of the Super Mario Bros. film, where he is played by Dennis Hopper and acts as the antagonist - a human descended directly from dinosaurs - of the parallel-universe city of Dinohattan (the film's version of the Mushroom Kingdom). Bowser has been played by Christopher Hewett in the 1989 Ice Capades.

Reception

Due largely to the success of the Mario franchise, Bowser has become one of the most iconic and easily recognizable video game antagonists of all time. He frequently appears in lists for greatest video game antagonists. IGN placed him at #10 (out of 10), Gamepro placed him at #9 (out of 47), and MMOABC placed him at #4 (out of 10, with 4 additional honorable mentions). GameSpot listed him at #9 in their "Top 10 Video Game Villains" article, stating "Of all the villains to make an appearance on this list, Bowser...has got to be the most interesting," later adding "While some people say Bowser's life may have gotten into a rut, the man has simply refined his game down to an everyday thing. He's focused, he's dedicated, and worst of all, he's patient." Bowser ranked in the first slot on Game Daily's top 10 Nintendo characters that deserve their own games list, explaining if Yoshi and Wario get their own games, Bowser should to due to his being one of gaming's most nefarious villains. In GameDaily's top 10 Smash Bros. characters list, he ranked sixth.

External links

Bowser at Super Mario Wiki