Bowser

Bowser, sometimes known as King Koopa, is a major character and the main antagonist of the Mario franchise.

Bowser is a large, powerful, fire-breathing Koopa who leads the Koopa Troop, an antagonistic organization of turtle-like creatures, and has been the archenemy of Mario since his debut in Super Mario Bros. He has repeatedly kidnapped or attempted to kidnap Princess Peach with the ultimate goal of defeating Mario and taking over the Mushroom Kingdom.

In the Unlikely Heroes Chronicles fics, Bowser is a member of the Unlikely Heroes. Bowser is currently an ally to the Heroes Coalitions, and was once a member of the Freedom Heroes.

Appearance
Bowser is a huge, burly, green-shelled Koopa with spikes, horns, and hair. His bushy eyebrows and mane are fittingly a bright, fiery red-orange and has bright red eyes. He sports two small horns, many spikes on his shell (similar to a Spiny) with brown-orange spike-rings, as well as along his tail (minus the spike-rings). He wears several spiked collars around his neck and arms. He has three claws on each of his massive padded feet, four claw-tipped fingers including a thumb on each hand, and his arms are noticeably burly, indicating his vast physical strength. While his face and his shell are green, his plastron and muzzle are beige colored (occasionally depicted as being closer to tan or even yellow), and his tail and limbs are an orange-tinged yellow. The exact coloration of Bowser's head varies depending on the media: while official 2D artwork and most of his in-game appearances have his head and shell match in color, the majority of the official 3D artwork, trailers, merchandise as well as Mario & Luigi games show him with a light green head, similar to Bowser Jr.'s appearance. In his various appearances, his red/orange hair is depicted in a loose cockscomb, the only exception to this being in Super Mario Odyssey, where he instead has his hair groomed in a perm-like fashion for the wedding until he is defeated for the second time.

According to Prima's Super Mario Galaxy guide, the appearance of Bowser and the Koopas are also based on kappa of Japanese mythology, although this has not been officially stated by Shigeru Miyamoto.

Bowser's appearance has evolved over time. In the box artwork for Super Mario Bros. he has an appearance similar to that of an ox in homage to Journey to the West antagonist Gyū-Maō ("Ox Demon King"), with bluish face and scales, yellow hair and black eyebrows, as well as a less reptilian face. With the contribution of Yoichi Kotabe, Bowser is redesigned between the release of Super Mario Bros. and the release of the Famicom version of Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels. During this redesign he is given blue eyes, as well as red hair and red eyebrows. Despite that, some artwork for Super Mario Bros. 3, while featuring Bowser's redesigned appearance as well as the blue eyes, retains the yellow hair and black eyebrows while also showing him wearing a cape. His eyes are changed to red again in Super Mario World. The brown rings around the spikes and horns are first seen in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven stars and are seen again in Super Mario 64, though in the latter game the horns and spikes are yellow. In Super Mario Sunshine, Bowser's appearance is very similar to the current appearance, with a few minor inconsistencies, such as his plastron traveling all the way up his neck.

Bowser's appearance does not always follow the design of the time, and the same illustrations were often modified when used in subsequently released material. Two illustration made by Yoichi Kotabe were slightly modified and colored with different colors. The first image is used in the manual of Super Mario Bros. 3, with Bowser having red hair and eyebrows and closed eyes, but also in Super Mario Bros. pinball machine, with him having blue eyes, and in Super Mario Bros. Mushroom World, with him having blue eyes and holding a wand. There is even a version of it in which he has red eyes. The second image is used in the promotional pamphlet of Super Mario: The Lost Levels, in which Bowser has yellow hair, yellow eyebrows and blue eyes, without rings around the spikes, and in other artwork related to that game, in which he has red eyes, hair and eyebrows, orange claws on the feet and with white rings around the spikes. Similarly, graphical limitations in the original Super Mario Bros. lead to Bowser not having hair. His in-game model in Super Mario 64 has feet which are not padded, although in artwork for that game he has padded feet. Similarly, in Super Smash Bros. Melee his feet are not padded, although in his Classic mode trophy he has padded feet. Furthermore, in the Paper Mario series and in artwork for the Mario & Luigi series he has black eyes like the other characters and in the first three episodes of the latter series his feet (and consequently those of Baby Bowser) are not padded.

The creators of the Mario cartoons wished to follow the graphic design of Super Mario Bros., and so their portrayal of King Koopa had him almost completely green in color and lacking hair, with a crown atop his head instead. His stomach was a deeper yellow than in later game depictions, and the whites of his eyes were also yellow; he also had a more crocodile-like snout, which was also colored green. He was also given a single pair of spiked bands on his wrists, with the spikes on said bands being yellow in color.

Nintendo Comics System used the same design as the cartoons for the Mario comics, and different installations in the Nintendo Adventure Books used either it or Bowser's game depiction, interchangeably. The cartoon, Nintendo Comics System and Nintendo Adventure Books designs were later reused to a certain extent for Bowser's green palette swap in Super Smash Bros. for the 3DS and Wii U (as well as being based on a palette swap for him in Mario Golf). By comparison, the two Mario anime (the three OVAs and Super Mario Bros.: Peach-hime Kyushutsu Dai Sakusen!) are relatively true to the games' depiction of Bowser. It must be noticed that in them his eyes are blue instead of red, as in Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels and Super Mario Bros. 3. Similarly, in the three OVAs he also frequently wears a cape, like he did in artwork for Super Mario Bros. 3. On the other hand, in Super Mario World: Mario to Yoshi no Bōken Land he has red eyes, and his appearance on overall is similar to the appearance of Bowser in artwork for Super Mario World.

In the Super Smash Bros. series, he had various palette swaps (4 in Super Smash Bros. Melee, 6 in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and 8 in Super Smash Bros. for 3DS / Wii U). His red palette swap in Melee and Brawl, and to a certain extent 3DS / Wii U, was based on one of his palette swaps in Mario Golf (although the latter two games also had it resembling Bowser's in-game sprite from the NES version of Mario is Missing), while his blue palette swap was based on how he appeared on the Japanese box art for Super Mario Bros. His white appearance in Brawl and gray appearance in 3DS / Wii U was likewise based on Morton Koopa Jr. prior to his New Super Mario Bros. Wii redesign. His green appearance was based on one of his palette swaps from Mario Golf, his in-game sprite for Super Mario World, and to a certain extent his appearance in the DiC cartoons and Nintendo Comic Systems and his in-game sprite from the original Super Mario Bros. game. His blue palette swap in 3DS / Wii U was primarily based on Blue Bowser from Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels, although it also to a certain extent resembles a palette swap of his from Mario Golf.

As another trait exclusive to the Super Smash Bros. series, Bowser's body has better defined scales, and exclusively in Super Smash Bros. Melee, Bowser's arms are muscular, and he also has defined biceps. Starting from Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Bowser is less bulky and slightly scalier, better resembling his appearance in contemporary Mariogames. Starting from Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 3DS / Wii U, Bowser is also upright and even less detailed than before. In Ultimate, Bowser's color scheme is darker and more monotone (traits taken from Melee), while his horns, spikes, hair, and scales will feature simple detailing (traits taken from Brawl).

Although Bowser doesn't generally wear clothing, there are a few instances where he does: The Japanese artwork for Super Mario Bros. 3 depicts Bowser wearing a purple cape. In addition, Bowser, or rather, King Koopa, frequently uses disguises in the DiC cartoons (mostly based on pop-culture icons), and in Mario Party 2, similar to how the playable characters wore themed outfits befitting the various boards (ie, a Pirate for Pirate Land, a Cowboy in Western Land, a Space Cadet in Space Land, an archaeologist in Mystery Land, and a Witch/Wizard in Horror Land), Bowser wore various outfits and adopted aliases befitting the themes of all the game boards except for Space Land (as he instead just pilots a space vehicle without wearing an actual costume). In addition, in a few cases when he's about to marry Peach, such as Super Mario Adventures, Super Paper Mario and Super Mario Odyssey, he wears white Groom's outfits having each times different features such as the shoes, or lack thereof, and the bow tie.

Personality
When Bowser was created, he was a typical villain without much personality beyond simply wanting to take over the Mushroom Kingdom. Later games started showing various different aspects of Bowser's character, depending on the nature of the plot. While his platformer role continues to be that of a simple antagonist, his Mario Party antics typically depict him being more angry, childish, and mischievous than dangerous, and his portrayals in the RPGs ranging from a threatening, yet humorous villain to a playable anti-hero. Even when Bowser is acting as a protagonist in a game, however, he continues to insist he is an evil character, and his reasons for helping the protagonists are typically his own selfishness. Before a battle, Bowser often releases a loud, full-throated roar.

Bowser's personality is explored most extensively in the various RPGs, starting with the first one, Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, in which Bowser loses his castle to another villain. As well as the grief he expresses over his castle, Bowser is shown to be as sad as the other playable characters about Geno's body breaking down, and at one point, his boasting takes the form of a haiku. As in later RPGs, however, most of Bowser's actions in the game are self-centered, with his motivation for joining the heroes solely being to reclaim his stolen castle and prevent another villain from taking over the world that he himself desires. This reasoning is also behind Bowser's alliance with Mario and the others in Super Paper Mario, after the somewhat oblivious Koopa is reminded that he can't conquer anything if the other villain's plans to destroy all worlds comes to fruition. While Bowser is shown to take pride in his villainy and boasts of being a quality "final boss" throughout the adventure, he seemingly sacrifices himself to save Mario and the others, and even argues with his rival O'Chunks to save himself while Bowser held the crumbling roof above them (although it is later revealed that they both survived). He is also shown to be as horrified as the others when witnessing the Sammer's Kingdom's destruction, a sharp contrast to his attitude in the Super Mario Galaxy platformers, where he is willing to create his own galaxy at the expense of the universe.

As in Super Mario Galaxy, most other platformers leave Bowser as a typical villain, as does the most recent RPG, Paper Mario: Color Splash. The original Paper Mario also casts Bowser as the main antagonist, however like Super Mario RPG that came before it, this portrayal is more well-rounded, introducing a humorous side to Bowser alongside his evilness, and revealing that he has a crush on Peach. Bowser's affection for the princess is later showcased in Super Paper Mario, with the two being forcibly wed in the game by the main antagonist; while the princess disavows the ceremony, Bowser happily and persistently acts as if they are indeed spouses. Bowser's relationship with Peach also comes into play in Super Mario Sunshine, in which Bowser's son apparently believes her to be his mother, although at the end of the game, Bowser sadly admits that he had lied to his child about his parentage. Aside from this, Bowser has never shown remorse for his troublesome actions and the havoc they often cause, but he is often saddened by his own losses. In Super Mario Galaxy, his only regret is his failure to create his own realm, and in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, he is upset about having to damage his own captured castle as he tried to reclaim it from Fawful. By contrast, in Mario Party 4, Bowser grudgingly giving the player a present and wishing them a happy birthday as he leaves in shame, moving one of the Koopa Kids to wonder if there might be more to Bowser than he leads others to believe, as Bowser claimed to be somewhat happy.

Unlike the platformers and the other Paper Mario titles, Bowser's role is reduced to a dim-witted comic relief villain in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, where he tries and fails to collect the Crystal Stars before Mario. The first two Mario & Luigi titles also cast Bowser as a comical recurring villain, with Partners in Time having him team up with Baby Bowser, whom he did not even recognize as being his infant self. Despite being the central character of Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, the third Mario & Luigi game reveals nothing new about Bowser's character, but it does provide an overview of his personality to date. His reasons for saving the world from Fawful and the Dark Star involve pride, selfishness, and possessiveness toward Peach. He is extremely conceited and boastful about himself and his accomplishments, and he resents having to ask nicely for help from Starlow. He acts as a leader to his troops and forgives them for joining Fawful, but his usual rashness and his penchant for destruction and violence come to a head when he flies into a rage upon discovering that Mario and Luigi had been helping him the entire time from within his body. He attacks them and is promptly defeated, mere moments after the three had worked together to save the world. In Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, however, he was given more competence as well as made into more of a threat, including having Kamek disguising himself as Princess Peach to drop the Mario Bros.' guard, anticipating they would try to pursue Peach, and later backstabbed Antasma, anticipating the latter would try to possess him or backstab him in turn. He later implied similar designs with his Paper self, and vice-versa, in Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam. In Paper Mario: Color Splash, Bowser, owing to his being possessed by the black paint for most of the game, was given a far darker personality, namely making clear his intention of "painting the world black", and even going as far as to not only drain Peach's color and hang her colorless form up for display, but when Mario and Huey arrived to fight him in his chambers, he even cracked a dark joke about Peach claiming she was "framed" when he caught her sending messages to Mario. It was also revealed that he deliberately sent a drained Toad via mail to Peach and Mario in order to lure them, and specifically Peach, over to Prism Island so he could abduct her. However, after Mario weakened the black paint's hold on Bowser enough for Bowser's usual self to surface, Bowser, understandably, is deeply confused as to Mario's presence, and is clearly unaware of what he was doing all this time.

While his range of emotions varies from game to game, it is his nearsightedness, frustration, anger, arrogance, and contempt that typifies Bowser in all his appearances, whether he is a reluctant protagonist or a straightforward villain who cares only about conquering lands and destroying his opposition.

Abilities
Bowser possesses various abilities, the more prominent of which being his fire breath. He can produce continuous flares or flurries of individual fireballs, and as seen in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and Super Paper Mario, he can even use his fire breath underwater. He has been shown to cause fiery rain in Super Mario World and New Super Mario Bros U, while in Super Mario 64 and New Super Mario Bros., he can produce blue flames that home in on Mario. Bowser is very proud of his fire breath, and is immensely displeased to find himself temporarily unable to use his flames in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story. In the PC version of Mario is Missing!, Bowser is immune to fireballs, however this is not the case in most other games. Similarly, while lava defeats Bowser in many games, including the original Super Mario Bros., or New Super Mario Bros. (in which it skeletonizes him into Dry Bowser), in other titles, he appears to be resistant to it, such as New Super Mario Bros. Wii. In addition, in the SNES version of Mario is Missing!, Bowser ends up launched at high velocity into the snow in Antarctica, resulting in him freezing solid and then shattering, and in the PC and SNES versions of Mario's Time Machine, Bowser in the best endings is sent back to the Cretacious Period and ends up stepped on by a T-Rex, squishing him into a puddle, although his moving and blinking eyes suggests he survived.

Bowser's near immunity and the fact that he always recovers from his defeats is another hallmark of his capabilities. As well as being submerged in lava, Bowser has also fallen great distances, been blown up, crushed, electrocuted, flash frozen and shattered, yet not one of these defeats has been permanent, with Luigi once remarking that "Bowser's survived far worse" after the Koopa appeared to sacrifice himself to save the others from a collapsing roof in Super Paper Mario. Bowser's playable side-scrolling sections in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door show him to have infinite lives, which may explain his durability.

Another hallmark of the Koopa King is Bowser's raw physical strength and power. Bowser is often the most powerful character in sports games, and in Super Paper Mario, his attack stat as twice that of the other heroes. He can easily break through boulders and topple enemies many times his own size, and in Mario & Luigi Bowser's Inside Story, when Mario and Luigi stimulate his muscles with minigames, Bowser can move islands and lift giant stone statues, among other things. Like his fire breath, Bowser takes pride in his strength, and is quick to use punches, claw swipes, tackles, stomps, body slams and other physical attacks in battle.

Unlike his strength, Bowser's speed and agility is not consistent between games. Bowser is usually slower than Mario, like in Super Paper Mario, the Super Smash Bros. games and most sports titles, although despite being the slowest runner in the Mario & Sonic summer Olympics, with a 2/10 stat, in the winter games, he has an 8/10 stat. In Super Mario 64 Bowser can jump incredible heights and make short charges as Mario, and while he can't climb ladders in Super Paper Mario, both it and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door show him to be a good swimmer, although the later reveals that he dislikes the activity.

In the original Super Mario Bros., Bowser throws hammers at Mario, like a Hammer Bro, and this ability reappears in various games, including Super Princess Peach, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga and New Super Mario Bros. 2. Several games also show Bowser causing shockwaves with his ground pounding, and he can also duck into his spiked shell and spin or roll around to attack. In Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, Bowser can attack his enemies using bites, with the latter game giving him the ability to poison others with his fangs, while the former gives him a poisonous claw attack. Like these poisonous moves, another uncommonly seen skill is Bowser's lightning power, which only appears in Hotel Mario and the opening cutscene of Super Mario Galaxy. Both games also make use of Bowser's teleporting ability, as he uses it to bring Peach to his hotel in Hotel Mario and teleports away after his first two defeats in Super Mario Galaxy; he also teleports across the battlefield if the player comes near him in Super Mario 64.

According to the Super Mario Bros. instruction booklet, Bowser is a skilled user in dark magic, using it turn the citizens of the Mushroom Kingdom into blocks and other items. While this aspect of Bowser's abilities is not seen in many other games, he makes use of similar magic to shrink players in Mario Party 4 and turn a Koopa Troopa into a frog in Mario Party 2. He also teleports himself away after being beaten at the Bowser's Star Reactor and Bowser's Dark Matter Plant in Super Mario Galaxy. Finallly, Bowser can transform himself, such as turning into a giant boulder during his final fights with Mario in Super Mario Galaxy, or changing into Giga Bowser in the Super Smash Bros. games, which grants him numerous new powers, such as the ability to freeze opponents. In the anime film, Super Mario Bros.: Pīchi-hime Kyushutsu Dai Sakusen! he has the ability to shapeshift into anything he desires, and he can drastically change his size in various games.

Trivia

 * While Bowser is generally referred to as "Koopa" in Japan, there are occasions where his localized name is alluded to. For example, in the Japanese version of Mario Kart Wii, the Flame Runner is known as the Super Bowser. Because all regional releases of Super Mario Sunshine use the English voice acting, Peach calls Bowser Jr. "Bowser's son," and Bowser himself calls his family the "royal Koopa line," meaning that Koopa is also his surname in Japan. Bowser Koopa is rarely directly given as his full name, but it has occurred in some officially licensed material such as the White Knuckle Scorin' album comic, as well as certain cartoon episodes and comic issues.
 * All 8-bit sprites have only three colors, but Bowser's sprite from Super Mario Bros. appears to have four. This is because the black background is what gives Bowser his black spiked collars around his wrists. Due to this, using cheat codes so Bowser appears in a non-castle level will look like his hands are separated from his arms. This occurs again in Super Mario Bros. 3 where Bowser's sprite is designed to exploit the black background to give him an outline.
 * Even though Bowser's suit in Super Mario Odyssey is referred to as a tuxedo, it resembles more of a colonial-style greatcoat than a traditional tuxedo.