Bowser

Bowser
Universe	Super Mario
Appears in	Super Smash Bros. Melee Super Smash Bros. Brawl Super Smash Bros. 4 Super Smash Bros. Tourney Super Smash Bros. Tourney 2: The New Challengers
Availability	Starter
Bonus Costume	No Bonus Costume
English voice actor	Beau Billingslea
Japanese voice actor	Masaharu Sato
French voice actor	Francisco Gil
German voice actor	Dieter Maise
Arabic voice actor	Ali Qasim
Mandarin Chinese voice actor	Zhiwei He

How Bowser joined the Tourney

Bowser was introduced in the seminal Super Mario Bros. for NES, with most of his traditional character traits introduced along with it: his storyline role as a comically monstrous villain who always goes out of his way to kidnap the Mushroom Kingdom princess, Peach Toadstool, his gameplay role as a boss enemy for Mario to defeat, his fire-breathing abilities, his immeasurable army of henchmen such as mushroom-headed Goombas and turtle-like Koopa Troopas, and so on. Super Mario Bros. holds the Guinness World Record for best-selling video game, at 40 million copies, essentially guaranteeing worldwide fame for all characters who appeared in the game, Bowser included. He has appeared in some form in almost every Mario game to date, along with more members of his "family", mainly his eight children, Bowser Jr. and the seven "Koopalings".

Character Select Screen Animation

When highlighted

Hides in his Koopa shell.

After the announcer calls his name

Bowser spins in his shell then appears before the zoomed camera with "Top this, turkey-mouth!".

Special Attacks

Fire Breath (Neutral)

Bowser continuously exhales a stream of fire in front of him, which gradually decreases in length over time.

Flying Slam (Side)

Bowser grabs the opponent with his claw. If this move connects, Bowser will perform a flying suplex.

Whirling Fortress (Up)

Bowser sneaks to his shell as he spins and goes upwards. Known for the defensive and maneuvering attributes it adds to Bowser's game, it fills several holes in Bowser's otherwise slow metagame, being widely regarded as the only reason Bowser is playable competitively. It is similar in execution to Donkey Kong's Spinning Kong, being a move that causes the user to quickly spin around as a mostly-horizontal recovery. Several unique properties make it highly beneficial to play:

Bowser Bomb (Down)

If Bowser is in midair when using this move, he slams to the ground with a butt-stomp. If he's on the ground doing this, he will leap forward diagonally before performing the butt-stomp.

Insane Fire Breath (Hyper Smash)

Bowser jumps high and release a very large storm of fire from his mouth.

Giga Bowser (Final Smash)

This causes Bowser to turn into Giga Bowser from Super Smash Bros. Melee, gaining immense strength. While in this form, he's invulnerable to knockback, but can still receive hitstun and damage, which may leave Bowser severely weakened and open to KOs after the Final Smash. The transformation lasts about 12 seconds. He gains no new abilities while as Giga Bowser, though his existing abilities become more powerful, and most gain elemental side effects.

Victory Animations

1. Bowser steps forward, builds up a little and roars.
2. Bowser spins around in his shell and comes out laughing.
   • Bowser spins around in his shell and comes out saying "MARIO!". (Mario victories only)
3. Bowser takes two steps forward while swiping with his claws twice before saying "Kinda high in cholesterol...".

On-Screen Appearance

Bowser emerges from a wall of flames then says "I haven't done anything really rotten in a long time.".

Trivia

• Bowser was initially going to fully speak only in the cutscenes, but later it was confirmed that Bowser would speak during actual gameplay as well; thus making Super Smash Bros. Tourney his second full fledged speaking appearance, following Super Mario Sunshine. He shares this trait with his son. He along with Toad, Toadette, Peach, Daisy, Baby Peach, Baby Daisy, and the aforementioned Bowser Jr. are the only Mario characters who are capable of original quotes AND are voiced by whoever voiced them in the Mario series video games. Anna Williams was the cause of his very first original quote.
  • Despite having a speaking role, his Star KO scream remains unchanged from Brawl.
• Bowser shares all of his voice actors with his skeletal counterpart.
• Bowser shares his Japanese voice actor with Thanos and Clayface.
• Bowser is the first King to be confirmed to appear in Super Smash Bros. Tourney.
• In Super Smash Bros. 4, Bowser's fighting stance was upright, whereas Giga Bowser's fighting stance is his feral stance from Brawl. This is reversed in Super Smash Bros. Tourney and the sequel, where Bowser goes back to his feral stance from Brawl and Giga Bowser has Bowser's upright fighting stance in Super Smash Bros. 4.
• When Bowser is present in any of the gameplay of SSBT or SSBT2, his voice from various Mario series games, namely Mario Party 8, Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour, and Mario Super Sluggers, can be heard in the background. This makes Bowser one of the only veterans with the power to harm the game's music.
• Bowser's quotes in Tourney are a mix of those from the Super Mario Bros. Super Show, The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3, the Super Mario World American cartoon, and some original quotes. He shares this trait with Princess Peach.
• Bowser's select pose strongly resembles his second victory pose.
• Sakura is Bowser's Super Smash Bros. Tourney rival due to the fact that he captured Ryu via mind-control. His second rival in both games is also Sakura. In Tourney 2, he gains a midgame opponent going by the name of Claudio.