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The best nintendo character here. That Im about to talk about.
Count Bleck, Floro Sapiens, whatever... Stomping fools is my business! Show me a fool, I'll stomp it! I don't even need a reason!”
—Bowser, Super Paper Mario
King Bowser Koopa (Japanese 大魔王クッパ Daimaō Kuppa "Great Demon King Koopa", in English also Lord Bowser, King Koopa commonly in other media) is the main antagonist of the Mario series, the supreme leader of the Koopa Troop, King of the Koopas, and the arch-nemesis of Mario. He has repeatedly, kidnapped or attempted to kidnap Princess Peach and take over the Mushroom Kingdom. He has on other occasions attempted to conquer the entire Mushroom World, as well as the entire universe.
Since his debut, Bowser has been in nearly every Mario game, including the main series, spin-offs, and crossovers. Besides being a primary villain, Bowser has at times played an anti-villain in several Mario RPGs, with the exception of Paper Mario.
The character was created by Shigeru Miyamoto as the villain of Super Mario Bros. Miyamoto stated that they considered naming him either Kuppa, Yukke, or Bibinba, which are all Korean dishes as they are known in Japanese. At the end, Kuppa was chosen[1]. For the later North American release of the game, which also introduced the anglicized spelling Koopa, the character was renamed Bowser.
During the development of Super Mario Bros., Miyamoto considered asking a manga artist or illustrator to do the art for the game. However, time was running short, so he drew the game's original box-art himself. This artwork included Bowser (whom Miyamoto depicted notably different from later designs), with gray-blue skin and lacking horns. For the character's appearance, Miyamoto drew inspiration from an anime film adaptation of the Chinese novel Journey to the West, renamed Alakazam the Great during the film's American localization. He liked the film's main antagonist Gyū-Maō (lit. "Ox Demon King") (King Gruesome in the dub), so loosely based Bowser on an ox as an homage.[2]
Yoichi Kotabe, an animation artist, later joined Nintendo and was asked to do new illustrations for the Mario series. His only reference was the package illustration for Super Mario Bros., so Kotabe asked Miyamoto many questions on how to draw the characters. However, designing Bowser caused problems, since Miyamoto hadn't drawn him often. He brought up that he liked the Ox King from the film, and this was how he imagined Bowser, but Nintendo designer Takashi Tezuka pointed out that Bowser should be a turtle. Through their discussions, Bowser's appearance gradually came together. Since he was now in the turtle family with the Koopa Troopas, they partly based Bowser's new appearance on them. Finally, the new design was created, and Miyamoto congratulated himself by saying "Wow, I can really make Bowser look cool now!"[2]
Bowser's first chronological appearance in-universe was as Baby Bowser in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. At this age, he was shown to have similar powers as when an adult.
Baby Bowser awakens from his nap, sees Yoshi, and decides he wants to ride the "green donkey." However, he notices Baby Mario is riding Yoshi so he attacks them to get Baby Mario off. Yoshi ends up defeating Baby Bowser, even when Kamek turns him into a giant. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island was also his first meeting with Mario. Baby Bowser later stole the Super Happy Tree from the Yoshis and turned Yoshi's Island into a pop-up book in Yoshi's Story, but was defeated again by a newborn Yoshi. Both incidents quickly define the young Bowser as a selfish character lacking empathy.
In Super Mario 64 and its remake, Super Mario 64 DS, Bowser invaded Princess Peach's Castle and stole the Power Stars. He used them to create worlds inside many of the paintings and walls of the castle. Peach and many of her Toads were also trapped in the paintings of the castle and could only be freed by Mario regaining all of the Power Stars.
To ensure that Mario did not disrupt his plans again, Bowser sealed off the doors in the castle with the stars and even created doors that would only open with his keys. Unfortunately for Bowser, he did not lock one door, leading to his undoing as Mario was able to collect stars from the painting beyond that door, and then open other doors and systematically sweep through the castle towards Bowser.
In these games, Bowser was battled three times: once in the Dark World, once in the Fire Sea and once in the Sky. Every single time, Mario defeats Bowser by grabbing his tail and throwing him into one of several spiked-bombs surrounding the battle arena. During the Fire Sea battle, Bowser also warps from one section of the platform to another, and pounds the platform to make it go off balance. In the third and final battle, Mario had to throw Bowser into a spiked-bomb three times before he was defeated. Bowser even managed to double Mario's load by breaking apart the vast platform they were on into the shape of a star, making tossing him a difficult venture. He also attacked Mario by chasing him. Bowser was able to escape, but Mario saved Princess Peach and restored peace to the castle with the power of the stars.
Well thats all the wiki stuff I'll post but man theres alot about this guy. He is and always will be my favorite nintendo character.
Last edited by Aran The Hedgehog on Wed Jun 29, 2011 1:06 pm; edited 1 time in total
