Bowser (SSBB)

“	The king of Koopas is a destructive heavyweight.	”
—Brawl instruction manual

Bowser in Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Universe	Mario
Alternate form	Giga Bowser
Other playable appearances	in Melee in SSB4
Availability	Starter
Final Smash	Giga Bowser
Tier	F (33)

Confirmed on the Smash Bros. DOJO!! website on July 3, 2007, Bowser (クッパ, Koopa) is the primary antagonist of the Mario series, returning from his Super Smash Bros. series debut in Super Smash Bros. Melee.

Currently, Bowser is 33rd on the tier list in the low tier, an improvement from his bottom tier position in Melee. Compared to his Melee self, Bowser is a faster and much more mobile character, at the expense of slightly less power. Despite the slight power nerf, Bowser is still one of the most powerful characters in Brawl, possessing a moveset full of potential finishers, several of which can even reliably KO under 100%. Along with his trademark power, Bowser is still the heaviest character, with strong momentum cancelling to complement it, giving Bowser one of the best endurance potentials in Brawl. Additionally, Bowser has a great aerial grab in Flying Slam, that also gives him access to the Koopa hopping technique to improve his mobility and approach, along with great reach throughout his moveset, a 10 frame advantage on grab releases that gives him grab release options on nearly every character, and a powerful, five frame move in Whirling Fortress that can be immediately used out of shield to escape pressure. Despite his speed buffs, Bowser is still one of the slowest characters in Brawl, and he can have a difficult time keeping up with several characters. He is also still one of the largest characters, which combines with his massive weight to make him very vulnerable to combos and chain throws, some of which are infinite or a zero-death. Additionally, Bowser possesses an easily gimpable recovery that gains barely any vertical height, and he lacks an effective projectile, which along with his very large size and not so great movement speed, makes it difficult for Bowser to break opposing camping. His flaws overpower his strengths, resulting in mostly terrible matchups, and when combined with his lack of representation in tournaments, some of the worst tournament results of any character.

Attributes

In addition to being the largest character model in the game, Bowser is the heaviest playable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. This makes him difficult to KO, yet an easier target to hit. Because of his heavy weight, Bowser's recovery has significant horizontal range but marginal vertical movement. He has very poor ground shield game, second slowest roll and slowest spot dodge. He also has the ability to crawl, but due to his large size, it is very inefficient in avoiding incoming projectiles or other attacks. As with other large characters, Bowser's strengths lie in his KO ability and not his speed. He sports a wide variety of powerful attacks both in the air and on the ground. For example, Bowser's forward smash is one of the strongest smash attacks, that has the highest damage output of any smash attack in Brawl, and such high knockback that it is able to eat through almost any launch resistance frames save for Wario's forward smash, Pikmin Order or Donkey Kong's fully-charged Giant Punch. However, this KO ability comes at the price of high lag, both on startup and ending. Due to his average speed and reliance on power KOs, Bowser can struggle somewhat in the low damage game as he lacks diverse ways of racking up damage on the opponent. This can be remedied with his neutral special, Fire Breath and his advantage of 10 frames when ground releasing and 30 frames when air releasing makes him able to do great chain grabs or combos into his strongest attacks. He can also regrab anyone by ground releasing except Donkey Kong (because of Donkey Kong's unusual short ground release animation). The Fire Breath serves the multiple roles for Bowser such as racking up damage on the opponent as well as preventing an opponent's approach and a functional edge guard. Bowser also has a potent Sacrificial KO, the Flying Slam. This move allows Bowser to grab an opponent, then leap into the air and fall back to the ground with Bowser on top of them. Thus, the opponent will always be KOed first. If this move is used through a Blast Line, both Bowser and the opponent will be KOed. It's also useful in the Classic and All-Star Modes, making for an easy KO when only one opponent is left. Given Bowser's difficulty racking up damage, this can be a useful move when the opponent is far ahead of Bowser in the damage count. However, opponents can control Flying Slam when Bowser is at higher or even equal damage, preventing "Bowsercide", or forcing it. Bowser's standard attack can even cancel out incoming projectiles, including Samus' and Lucario's standard specials. This is effective as it allows the player to conserve Bowser's shield as well as provide quicker reaction times after blocking enemy projectiles.

However, given Bowser's extreme heavy weight and decent falling speed it makes him open for infinite chain grabs like Wario's and King Dedede's. Also, his horizontal recovery, Whirling Fortress, is worse than Donkey Kong's Spinning Kong and gives poor vertical distance, although is a very good Out-of-shield move.

Changes from Melee to Brawl

While Bowser is slightly weaker, he got a significant mobility and speed buff, overall buffing him from Melee to Brawl.

• He is overall a faster and more mobile character.
• Bowser is slightly heavier.
• Bowser's walking speed is slightly improved.
• Bowser's air speed is drastically faster, with it going from tied for 5th worst out of 26 characters in Melee, to tied for 11th best out of 39 characters in Brawl.
• Jumping height has been increased.
• Bowser's arms are longer, which results in his arm based attacks having better reach, especially his forward tilt, which now has about twice the reach and produces larger hitboxes.
• First hit of down tilt is significantly more powerful, and can now reliably KO around 125%.
• His forward smash consists of two hits, and can deal 9% more damage uncharged when both hits connect. It's additionally slightly faster.
• His up smash has more vertical reach.
• His down smash is more difficult to SDI out of.
• His back aerial is stronger, deals more damage, and is now a reliable KO move outside edge-guarding situations, though it no longer semi-spikes as easily.
• His up aerial is faster.
• Fire Breath can be angled up and down. It additionally no longer entirely diminishes when used for a prolonged period.
• Whirling Fortress goes slightly higher in midair.
• Bowser Bomb produces a hitbox when rising from the ground, to hit opponents into the falling hitbox. It is also much more powerful and can now reliably KO under 100%.
• The introduction of buffering makes Bowser's 10 frame advantage on grab release viably usable now, giving him effective grab release followups on the entire cast but himself.
• Bowser's attacks generally deal less knockback outside a few noted exceptions, making him a weaker character overall.
• Forward tilt deals 3% less damage.
• Up tilt can no longer hit opponents directly in front of him.
• Forward smash has a smaller hitbox, and now its tipper hitbox is a sourspot that produces significantly weaker knockback, instead of just sending the opponent at a vertical angle. Additionally, the new hit added to the beginning of the move can hit opponents away from the second more powerful blow at KO damages.
• Up smash lost its 2 intangibility frames after the initial hitbox.
• Neutral aerial now has a sourspot hitbox.
• Forward aerial now has sourspot hitboxes on Bowser's arm, requiring spacing to land the move at its full power. The sourspot deals slightly less damage.
• His up aerial produces smaller hitboxes and thus has less reach.
• Bowser has a new side special move, the Flying Slam. It gives Bowser a faster, much less laggy, and more versatile special grab, that also gives him access to Koopa Hopping and a suicide KO move. However, the Flying Slam throw does not setup followups as well as Bowser's forward Koopa Klaw throw, nor KOs as effectively as the Koopa Klaw back throw.
• Bowser can now crawl, though since Bowser's crouch barely reduces his height, it has barely any practical use.

Bowser's purely cosmetic changes are a new voice actor (Eric Newsome) rather than having recycled voice clips from Super Mario 64, different sounds in his tilts and jab, and more realistic roars (as opposed to his usual cartoonish roars). He also has two new palette swaps: brown and a combination of black and white.

Moveset

For a visual representation of Bowser's attack hitboxes, see this page.

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack		Double Claw	5%	Two quick claw swipes. Relatively safe move, as the arm Bowser is swiping with is intangible while the hitboxes are out.
			5%
Forward tilt		Backhand Knuckle	11%	Bowser gives a backhanded punch while leaning his body forward. Can be aimed up or down. Has decent KO potential at later percentages. If angled down, has a decent chance of tripping. Bowser's lower arm is intangible while the hitboxes are out.
Up tilt		Vertical Claw	12%	Swats the air above him. A decent juggling move. This is also a very powerful KO move and can KO lightweights very early given its surprising speed. Like his forward tilt, Bowser's lower arm cannot be injured while the hitboxes are out.
Down tilt		Claw Trip	14% (hit 1), 11% (hit 2)	Claw swipes while crouched. Does two hits; unlike most multi-hit moves, the first hit is the stronger one. High knockback for its kind with speed make this another speedy KO move. Like his neutral combo, the active arm cannot be injured.
Dash attack		Dashing Headbutt	11% (clean), 8% (late)	Running headbutt. Has good vertical knockback. Horrid ending lag makes this move easily punishable.
Forward smash		Horn Lunge	10% (hit 1), 23%/21% (hit 2)	Bowser rears back and then performs a very strong headbutt. This is the most damaging forward smash in the game. If used correctly, the second hit can prevent shield grabbing. When fully charged and both hits connect, it can KO at 45%.
Up smash		Shell Slam	20%/15% (hit 1), 12%/10% (hit 2)	Bowser hunkers down on all fours and jumps straight up, hitting with his shell. Hitting with the sides of the attack does less damage. Opponents who only shield his jump may be hit by his landing (this only applies to grounded opponents). Very high knockback (one of the strongest up smashes in the game)
Down smash		Shell Blender	2% (hits 1-6), 9% (hit 7)	Bowser retracts into his shell and spins around. Multi-hit attack that does up to seven hits. Very high knockback and is difficult to DI out of.
Neutral aerial		Shell Spin	13% (clean), 9% (late)	Bowser spins around inside his shell. Low knockback and very low KO potential.
Forward aerial		Air Claw	13% (hand), 12% (arm), 11% (shoulder)	A rather quick slash forwards. Decent knockback with surprising speed.
Back aerial		Shell Bulge	15% (clean), 7% (late)	Bowser thrusts out his shell behind him, dealing massive damage and above average knockback. Low startup, but high ending lag and landing lag if not auto-cancelled.
Up aerial		Upper Headbutt	17%	Bowser swings his head upward with a little but noticeable startup lag but little ending lag in the air. Very high damage and knockback make it one of the best up aerials in the game power-wise (2nd strongest up air in the game). It is hindered, however, by its low hitbox duration.
Down aerial		Inverted Spin	3% (hits 1-9), 2% (landing)	Bowser retracts into his shell and spins himself into the ground. Limited shockwave if hits the ground. The last hit can Meteor Smash, but it's weak and overall not recommended. Often used for SHFFs due to its high damage output and extra hit upon landing.
Grab			—
Pummel		Headbutt	3%	Hits foe with his head. Very slow pummel.
Forward throw		Big Heave	10%	Launches foe forward using his head. Decent knockback, but will rarely KO.
Back throw		Big Hurl	10%	Exactly identical to Bowser's forward throw, but has a faster execution.
Up throw		Spike Slice	1% (hits 1-8), 2% (throw)	Bowser tosses foe upwards, retreats into his shell, and spins, damaging the foe with his spikes. Damage also applies to bystanders. Decent but set knockback.
Down throw		Flatten	12% (hit 1), 0% (throw)	Sets opponent on floor, then flings himself forward, performing a body slam on his opponent. Low knockback even with scaling. The full damage of the attack is also applied to bystanders; the throw itself does no damage.
Forward roll Back roll Spot dodge Air dodge		—	—
Techs		—	—
Floor attack (front) Floor getups (front)		Worm	6%	Bowser leaps forward to strike with his head, then back to kick behind, and finally up into a standing position.
Floor attack (back) Floor getups (back)		Claw Spin	6%	Bowser gets up while swinging his hand around.
Floor attack (trip) Floor getups (trip)		Floor Spin	5%	Bowser gets up while facing backwards, and does a claw swipe that brings him facing forward.
Edge attack (fast) Edge getups (fast)		Quick Spin	8%	Quickly spins onto the stage, then retreats back a bit.
Edge attack (slow) Edge getups (slow)		Slow Swipe	10%	Slowly climbs onto stage, and does a quick claw jab.
Neutral special		Fire Breath	2% (near), 1% (far)	Bowser takes a short breath and lets loose with a stream of fire.
Side special		Flying Slam	18% (slam), 13% (SSE slash)	Bowser snatches the opponent and does a massive flying suplex. Enemies in the Subspace Emissary get slashed. Can be used to commit Bowsercide.
Up special		Whirling Fortress	11%/5%/3% (ground), 10%/3%/2% (air)	Bowser gets into his shell and helicopters around. One of the best out-of-shield moves in the game. As a recovery move, it falls subpar from others, but it is good for recovery from a large horizontal distance.
Down special		Bowser Bomb	4% (hop), 20% (drop), 11% (landing)	Bowser leaps into the air and plummets downwards.
Final Smash		Giga Bowser	—	Bowser turns into Giga Bowser.

On-screen appearance

• Emerges from a wall of flames.

Cheer

Bowser's NTSC and PAL cheer

• Several deep male voices chanting "Bowww-serrr..."

Taunts

• Up: Throws his head back and roars.
• Side: Snaps furiously forward five times.
• Down: Balances precariously on one leg.

Idle poses

• Clenches his fists and releases steam from his nose.
• Leans back and exhales steam. Similar to his Up taunt but he doesn't lean back as far.

Victory poses

• Steps forward, builds up a little and roars.
• Spins around in his shell and comes out laughing.
• Takes two steps forward while swiping with his claws twice

In competitive play

Matchups

Super Smash Bros. Brawl Character Matchups

Avg.

Notable players

See also: Category:Bowser professionals (SSBB)

•  Acid
•  King Kong
•  Vex Kasrani
•  Zigsta

Tier placement and history

Bowser was initially seen as a solid middle tier character, being ranked at 22nd on the first tier list. Bowser's speed and mobility buffs were immediately noticed, which when combined with his still great power and the slower less combo-orientated pace of Brawl, allowed Bowser to compete decently with an inexperienced playerbase that couldn't effectively evade and was still discovering the more potent potentials of other characters. Bowser still had the traits of a classic low tier character however; still being very slow compared to the rest of the cast, being very large and thus heavily vulnerable to deadly chain throws and combos, having an easily gimpable recovery that compromised his amazing endurance potential, and a significant vulnerability to camping while being incapable of camping himself, with a lack of any outstanding attributes to counteract this. Thus as the metagame progressed, Bowser steadily declined, with Bowser players finding it difficult to keep up with the quickening pace of other advancing characters and having their weaknesses (most notably to chain throws and camping) more frequently exploited, while lacking any significant developments for Bowser's metagame outside grab release followups. Through the second to fourth tier lists, Bowser fell no more than two spots at a time, but it wasn't until the fifth list that he saw a significant drop, falling five spaces to 32nd and formally entering the low tiers (though players thought of Bowser as a low tier character well before this).

Bowser's decline additionally saw his playerbase diminish, with most of his notable players, most notably his best player King Kong, dropping Bowser or stop playing Brawl competitively altogether, while less and less players used Bowser overall. Nowadays Bowser is one of the most unpopular characters in Brawl tournaments, having almost no established active players who use him, and being rare at even locals with casual players, which results in his tournament results being as bad as the bottom tier characters. As such, Bowser has never rose a spot on any tier list, and it's unlikely this trend will ever reverse. However, despite Bowser's dire representation and tournament results, it's also not likely Bowser will fall any farther, as players generally consider the characters below him to be even worse by a considerable margin.

Trophy

Bowser's trophy in Brawl.

Bowser
"The king of the koopas and Mario's eternal rival. He breathes fire, hurls hammers, attacks from vehicles like the Koopa Clown Car, and uses all sorts of weapons in hopes of destroying Mario. As his size suggests, he's immensely powerful. His son Bowser Jr. is a chip off the old block who spends his time creating trouble for Mario."

: Super Mario Bros.

: Super Mario Sunshine

In event matches

Bowser appears in these Event Matches:

• Event 1: Two Trouble Kings - As Mario, KO both Bowser and King Dedede on Delfino Plaza.
• Event 6: Super Bowser Bros. - As Bowser, get to the flagpole in Mushroomy Kingdom without getting KO'd by the three Mario's.
• Event 27: Three-Beast Carnage - As R.O.B., defeat Giant Bowser, Giant Donkey Kong and Giant Charizard on New Pork City.
• Event 34: All-Star Battle Melee - On Pokémon Stadium, defeat Bowser and the other 7 characters who appeared as newcomers in Melee.
• Event 40: The Final Battle - Defeat Bowser, Ganondorf and King Dedede on Final Destination.

In co-op event matches

• Co-Op Event 8: ALL MINE! - As Wario and Bowser, collect 2000 coins together on Skyworld.
• Co-Op Event 20: The Final Battle for Two - Defeat Bowser, King Dedede, Ganondorf, Wolf, Meta Knight and Wario on Final Destination.
• Co-Op Event 21: The True All-Star Battle - Defeat Bowser and every other playable character on Battlefield.

Role in The Subspace Emissary

Bowser in the Subspace Emissary

Bowser is one of the 2 secondary antagonists alongside Ganondorf in the SSE. He first appears after Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong chase down his troops, who had stolen their bananas in order to lure them to him as a trap. Bowser confronts the two and transforms DK into a trophy with a Dark Cannon, but not before DK punches Diddy away. Bowser chases him down, and has a Shadow Bug clone of himself fight Diddy and Fox. After defeating the clone, the real Bowser attempts to turn them into trophies, but they manage to dodge the shot. Although Diddy is eager to fight Bowser, Fox knows that they're no match, so he grabs Diddy and makes their escape. While continuing his chase, he is told by Ganondorf to hunt down King Dedede, who had stolen Wario's trophies. He also transforms Zelda/Peach into a trophy, and after having another Shadowbug clone of him copy her, orders her Shadowbug clone to attack Mario and Pit/Link and Yoshi. Bowser and his troops attack King Dedede's castle, where Dedede is hiding but when they broke the roof a stone fell on Dedede's head, knocking him out. Bowser steals Peach/Zelda's trophy and evades Mario and Pit's attacks, but when he dodges Pit's arrow he falls off a cliff, but is shown to be unharmed after he landed in his Clown Car. After this, he returns to the jungle and transforms Diddy into a trophy and sends his Shadowbug clone to clone the trophy. He flees after Falco attacks him and destroys his Dark Cannon. He is next seen with Ganondorf on the Subspace Gunship. They destroy the Halberd, but fail to stop Kirby from destroying the Gunship with a Dragoon. Fleeing into Subspace, Bowser is betrayed by Ganondorf and turned into a trophy by a surprise blast by a Dark Cannon. He is eventually brought back to life, and after being defeated by King Dedede, beats up Ganondorf's trophy for revenge. Bowser then notices the downed Master Hand and decides to help the heroes take down Tabuu. The sight of Master Hand lying on the ground seems to trouble Bowser, probably because Bowser was really the only smasher accomplice who was loyal to Master Hand, unlike Ganondorf (who planned to betray him to take control of the Subspace Army) and Wario (who did it just to enjoy himself).

Cameo appearances

• The Jungle
• The Lake Shore
• The Cave
• The Swamp
• Entrance to Subspace
• Subspace (Part I)

Playable appearances

• The Great Maze

Exclusive stickers

These stickers can be used by only Bowser or a select few including Bowser:

• 1-Up Mushroom: [Leg] attack +4
• Bowser (DDR:Mario Mix): [Throwing] attack +20
• Bowser (Mario Kart 64): [Weapon] attack +13
• Bowser (Super Paper Mario): [Arm] attack +23
• Coin: [Specials: Indirect] attack +4
• Dice Block: [Arm] attack +8
• Dr. Mario: [Head] attack +18
• Koopa: [Body, Spin] attack +10
• Lakitu (Mario Kart Super Circuit): [Leg] attack +13
• Luigi & Baby Luigi: Launch power +5
• Luigi (Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga): Launch power +23
• Mario & Luigi: [Flame] resistance +19
• Mario & Yoshi: [Specials: Indirect] attack +13
• Mario (Mario Kart DS): [Leg] attack +22
• Mega Rush Badge: [Specials: Direct] attack +8
• Mushroom: [Arm, Leg] attack +5
• Peach (Mario Superstars Baseball): [Slash] attack +5
• Peach (Super Mario Bros. 2): Launch resistance +29
• Peach (Super Princess Peach): [Weapon] attack +23
• Rawk Hawk: [Arm] attack +5
• Red Fire: [Flame] attack +26
• Super Mario Bros.: [Arm, Leg] attack +15
• Waluigi (Mario Superstar Baseball): [Specials: Indirect] attack +8
• Waluigi (Super Mario Strikers): [Slash] attack +15
• Yoshi (Mario Party 2): [Launch] resistance +35
• Yoshi (Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door): [Throwing] attack +5
• Yoshi (Yoshi Touch & Go): [Arm, Leg] attack +8

Alternate costumes

Bowser's alternate costumes in Brawl

Trivia

• Bowser's voice clip for his Wii Remote selection is a roar taken from the end of a cut scene in Super Mario Sunshine.
• Bowser's animation for being grabbed has some placement issues. His hitbox bends away from the grabber, and it is rather far away. Samus' Pummel will only hit the first time, and Lucario and Wolf's will only hit every other time.
• Bowser is currently the lowest ranked Mario character in Brawl. This was also the case in Melee.
• Bowser, Mario, and Ganondorf are the only returning characters in Brawl to have at least one completely different special move. In this case, Bowser's side special is changed.
• If Bowser jumps with a Screw Attack while in possession of a Smash Ball, the glow given off by the Smash Ball will glow in the areas where Bowser's head, arms, and legs would normally be.
• Bowser, Meta Knight, and Marth can all perform the floor glitch.
• Bowser is one of the only two characters whose theme in the Character Roll Call does not belong to his universe; the other being R.O.B.. In Bowser's case, his theme is Giga Bowser (Melee), a theme belonging to the Super Smash Bros. universe.

External links

• Bowser's page at Smash Bros. DOJO!!.
• Bowser character guide at SWF
• Bowser's hitbox size of each of his moves