Bowser (PM)

Bowser in Project M and Project+
Universe	Mario
Base game appearance	Brawl
Moveset inspiration	Bowser (SSBM), Bowser (SSBB)
Alternate costume	Dry Bowser

Hailing from the Mario universe, Bowser is a playable character in the Brawl mod Project M. His moveset in Project M comes from a combination of his Brawl and Melee movesets, though with heavy buffs.

Attributes

Bowser's alternate costume.

Bowser in Project M is the classic super heavy weight fighter. His moves are generally slow but hit incredibly hard. He is the largest and heaviest character of the cast, and has widely spread armor on many of his moves. Bowser's armor mechanic allows him to absorb the knockback and flinch effects from weak to medium attacks while performing certain moves. This can be used defensively to nullify what would otherwise be a potentially combo starting move, and it can be used offensively to plow straight through an attack intended to stop Bowser from advancing. Even though he is a slower character, Bowser has surprising speed in some areas. He has an above average dashing speed, and Bowser Bomb can be jump canceled, giving Bowser what has been dubbed a super-jump. It allows for terrifyingly quick follow-ups into the air for a finisher with moves like his up or forward air, or Koopa Klaw, which has returned from Melee with more power. Whirling Fortress maintains its previous range and power, its viability as an out of shield option, and its ability to fortress hog.

However, Bowser's high gravity, large size, and heavyweight make him susceptible to being comboed, hit with projectiles, and just being hit in general. Despite his speed in some areas (getting to the edge, getting into the air for a follow up) he remains very easy to out-maneuver, as he has poor aerial speed and his long jumping animation gives him a very slow wavedash. While it is difficult to send Bowser far due to his extreme weight, it is fairly easy to send him off the bottom of a stage or gimp him, as he suffers from an extremely predictable recovery that does not cover much vertical distance.

Changes from Melee to PM

As Bowser was bottom tier in his former iterations, he was heavily buffed overall from Melee to Project M, being much stronger than in Brawl (which buffed Bowser from Melee, but not enough to significantly raise his tier position). In addition to being overall much more powerful, Bowser received widespread launch resistance of varying levels depending on the move, and favorable traits from Melee such as the Koopa Klaw and Fortress Hogging return.

Aesthetics

• Bowser now emits a roar during his on-screen appearance.
• Bowser's third idle pose from Brawl now replaces his down taunt, and he additionally emits a roar from his Super Mario 64 incarnation, which is also the Wii Remote sound for Bowser in Project M and Brawl. Giga Bowser also has this taunt, but instead uses his own roar.
• Bowser now has his own victory theme, which is now a rock version of the prelude to his final battle theme in Super Mario 64.
• Despite being still considered part of the Mario universe, Bowser now has his own series symbol consisting of an icon of his face usually associated with him in the Mario series.

Attributes

• Bowser is significantly larger, approximately twice as large; this gives him more reach in his attacks, but also makes him even more vulnerable to projectiles and combos.
• Bowser is slightly heavier (117 → 118).
• Several of Bowser's moves and animations now have some sort of launch resistance; his crouch, crawl, and dash attack give him light armor while his neutral aerial grants him medium armor and Bowser Bomb gives him heavy armor. All of his smash attacks grant variable armor from light to super armor depending on how much they are charged.
• Many of Bowser's attacks, notably his forward tilt, forward smash, up smash, back air, up air and down throw, do much more damage, shield damage, and knockback than either one of his past incarnations.
• Spot dodge keeps its long duration but has more invincibility frames, dodging attacks more effectively.

Ground Attacks

• Second hit of down tilt is now optional, activated by pressing the attack button a second time; this allows Bowser to either launch the foe with a single hit to then follow on, or punish shielding or crouch canceling foes with a second hit, while formerly Bowser was forced to stay in place using the two hits. This change does not apply to Giga Bowser.
• Forward smash deals far more damage and knockback, making it the strongest forward smash in Project M.
• Forward smash has an explosive effect.

Aerial Attacks

• Forward aerial retains its slashing trail from Brawl, which now has a sweetspot dealing more damage and knockback than the Melee hit.

Grabs and Throws

• Forward and back throws have stronger knockback.
• Pummel now involves biting opponents like with Koopa Klaw in Melee, dealing 4% damage as opposed to most pummels' 3%, allowing to rack up damage quicker.
• Down throw now properly damages Jigglypuff and Mr. Game & Watch.

Special Moves

• Fire Breath retains its ability to be angled from Brawl. Bowser now also bites in front of him when the move is stopped, hitting foes pretending to punish him out of the move's ending lag.
  • Flame canceling has been removed.
• Back throw with Koopa Klaw is much more powerful, dealing 15% damage (up from 11%) and KOing near edges more reliably. Bowser can now also perform a down throw with it which meteor smashes foes for the grounded version, allowing him to tech-chase with it on the ground and KO recovering foes grabbed near edges; when performed in midair, it will spike opponents, thus improving his edgeguarding potential. However, Giga Bowser is not capable of performing the down throw.
  • Koopa Klaw can no longer bite opponents, weaking its damage potential. It can also no longer be held indefinitely; Bowser will automatically perform the forward throw a few seconds after grabbing the opponent.
  • Forward throw with Koopa Klaw is now a head smash.
• Whirling Fortress has much less knockback on its first hitbox.
• Bowser Bomb is much stronger, and can be canceled with a jump before the max leap height when used from the ground, letting Bowser follow up combos or even KO them outright after using a move that knocked his foe airborne. It can still grab ledges from both sides as in Brawl so it can be reliably used from the stage to then be edge-canceled, equipping Bowser with a deadly edgeguard in this move.

Giga Bowser

Giga Bowser's alternate costume.

Giga Bowser remains as Bowser's Final Smash in Project M. However, by holding a shield button at both the character and stage selection screens, it is possible for Bowser to start and participate as Giga Bowser permanently during the match, similar to how Zero Suit Samus was playable in Brawl. Starting from v3.0, Giga Bowser can now receive knockback in addition to damage, as well as now being vulnerable to status ailments like sleeping or getting buried, though his moveset has been improved to compensate for this, and he still cannot be grabbed. In 3.6, he gained the ability to pick up items and use the majority of them. Giga Bowser's main flaw is that he is extremely prone to combos because of his size and weight. His duration when summoned via Final Smash was also increased to almost twice as long. In addition to receiving most of Bowser's changes, some changes to Giga Bowser include:

• Has less prejump frames than Bowser.
• Dashing now produces hitboxes in front of Giga Bowser's feet, which repeatedly inflict 3% damage while weakly pushing enemies forward. His heavy landing also produces a 6% damage hitbox that sends any grounded opponents that are close enough to him straight up.
• Koopa Klaw forward throw deals 20% damage, up from 15%.
• Landing with Bowser Bomb produces an enormous quake hitbox that affects all grounded opponents (no matter the platform in which they are standing) near him, similar to Venusaur's Earthquake in Melee.
  • Bowser Bomb hits opponents powerfully in different directions depending on when they get hit; at the apex of Bowser Bomb, they are sent upwards; while Giga Bowser is falling at any other point of the attack, they are spiked downwards; if they are on the ground and directly below Giga Bowser, they are buried and then sent horizontally.
• Down throw now involves Giga Bowser forcefully slamming his opponent with his hand into the ground, which is faster than the original throw, and hits nearby characters.
  • Down throw deals 19%, down from 21%.
• Vulnerability to knockback now leaves Giga Bowser heavily susceptible against combos due to his large size, especially against juggling ones.
• Whirling Fortress is not intangible during startup, instead granting Giga Bowser heavy armor.
• Giga Bowser has his own on-screen appearance, where he roars while bathed in flames.
• Ending the match as Giga Bowser will now make him appear that way on the results screen, using the same victory poses and clapping motion as the regular Bowser. His name is now properly displayed on the jumbotron on the Pokémon Stadium stages and the results screen if he wins. The announcer also has a separate voice clip for Giga Bowser's name.
• Giga Bowser has two new victory poses, replacing Bowser's roar and claw swipes. One of them has him in a crouching position. The other has him biting rapidly similar to his side taunt.

Revisions

v2.1

• Bowser fits properly on the Training pause screen.

v2.5b

• Bowser's crawl speed has been increased.
• Bowser's knockback armor strength was increased slightly on dash attack's startup, up smash's charge, down air, and up throw to correspond with the tumble threshold.
• Neutral air adjusted in animation and timing to be autocancelable in a short hop.
• Down air hitboxes adjusted to be more like Melee in positioning, but pull opponents into the hits much better.
• Whirling Fortress can properly meteor cancel.
• Bowser's spot dodge animation and invulnerability adjusted.
• Bowser's sound effects cleaned up on first jab.
• Down air causes more shield damage on the landing hit, but less shield damage on the multihits.

v2.6b

• Dash attack now hits a second time; when Bowser lands on the ground.
• Dash attack's cooldown reduced.
• Back aerial autocancels notably sooner.
• Dash grab has Bowser lunge notably further.
• Dash grab's startup was changed to look identical to the dash attack's one.
• Pivot grab range increased.
• Grounded Bowser Bomb's horizontal drift can now be controlled slightly during the jump cancel window - Bowser can gain or lose a distance of about a width equal to himself.
• Bowser Bomb's quake hitboxes were slightly increased in size.
• Corrected a mistake where crawl armor was much stronger than light armor when not moving.
• Removed armor on Whirling Fortress, back aerial, and down aerial.
• Neutral aerial timings and cooldown reverted to those of v2.1.
• Forward aerial knockback base greatly reduced; its knockback growth was compensated for percents over 115%, but not sufficiently.
• Back aerial knockback slightly reduced.
• Giga Bowser significantly revamped.
• Bowser's armor matched to the Project M standard of Light, Medium, and Heavy armor. The majority of Bowser's Armor was already adhered to this standard, and remained unchanged.
• Converted Bowser's crawl armor to light armor.
• Forward tilt's startup homogenized between angles.
• Forward tilt knockback base reduced, but knockback growth compensated for percents over 115%.
• Back aerial's hitboxes repositioned and resized to closer match Melee's placements.
• Up aerial's knockback angle slightly lowered.
• Ledge attack knockback reverted to set knockback (v2.1's knockback).
• Fire Breath reaches slightly further, but drains faster to a much smaller minimum range, and recharges a bit slower.
• Grounded Whirling Fortress's initial hitboxes reduced in size. To compensate, the hitboxes' damage degrades slightly slower, and the hitboxes enlarge briefly when it does so.
• Bowser Bomb's landing graphics enlarged to match the new hitboxes.

v3.0

• Up tilt initial knockback stats increased to match Melee's. Frame timing adjusted so that the move degrades sooner, when Bowser is swiping above his head.
• Forward aerial's hitboxes restructured into a tipper format. The inner “flub” hitboxes have damage and knockback approximating Melee's hitboxes, while the tipper hitbox has damage and comparable knockback to PM v2.5's forward air.
• Fire Breath's hitboxes redone. They now start with lower damage but gain damage as they travel, being strongest at the tip, so it's better to use the move from a distance. Grounded foes are now pushed down and out of the flames.
• Dash length very slightly shortened.
• Dash grab reverted to pre-2.6 animation and tweaked for readability. Bowser grabs slightly later, but grab range should now match animation properly.
• Neutral aerial's knockback stats reduced to be closer to Melee's.
• Back aerial's IASA timings delayed to match Melee's.
• Whirling Fortress edgehog behavior changed to no longer auto-snap to ledges; it requires more finesse to fortress hog now.
• Grounded Whirling Fortress initial hitboxes further shrunk and later hitbox coverage restructured to match the animation better.
• Aerial Koopa Klaw has slightly less horizontal movement.
• Forward aerial now has a claw trail that traces the sweetspot's arc.
• Aerial Whirling Fortress hitboxes redone to reduce vertical coverage but slightly increase horizontal reach.
• Whirling Fortress animation has slight tweaks for polish.
• Aerial Fire Breath hitboxes have unaltered knockback behavior, but have the scaling damage of the grounded version and no longer flinch at the tip.
• Giga Bowser can now be damaged normally. As compensation, his moveset was improved and his Final Smash duration almost doubled.

v3.5

• First hit of down tilt deals 13% damage, regardless if it hits at the tip.
• Landing shockwave from up smash deals more damage.
• Dash attack now only hits once.
• Late hitbox of up tilt deals less damage.
• Second hit of down tilt deals less damage.
• Up Smash deals less damage when jumping.
• Down smash deals less damage.
• Up Smash hit stats have been altered.

v3.6

Beta

• Bowser is 6% smaller.
  • Shield size: 16 → 15
• Dash Initial Velocity: 1.1 → 1.3
• Walk Acceleration: 0.05 → 0.07
• Walk Maximum Velocity: 0.65 → 0.75
• Dash attack IASA: 49 frames → 54 frames
  • Armor reduced.
  • Initial hit trajectory: 80 degrees → 70 degrees
  • Late hit trajectory: 80 degrees → 55 degrees
  • Hit degrades to weak hit one frame earlier.
• Forward tilt startup: 11 frames → 9 frames
  • Initial damage: 15%/14%/13% → 14%/13%/12%
  • Late hit added that makes it one frame more active but deals 4% less damage with no extra shield damage, 0 base knockback, and 100 growth.
  • Disjoint on hand hitbox is reduced while body hitbox is enlargened.
• Up tilt's initial hit degrades 1 frame sooner.
  • Late hit damage: 11% → 8%
  • Trajectory: 80 → 110/70
  • Base knockback: 55 → 40
• Down tilt has armor indicator for light armor.
• All smashes have light armor while charging.
  • Charge time now determines how strong the Smash’s corresponding armor is. Scales from light armor (no charge) to super armor (full charge). While Bowser now has access to super armor, it takes him a much longer startup to achieve the armor strength he had on his smash attacks in v3.5, particularly the forward smash.
• Forward smash start up: 34 frames → 30 frames
  • One less active frame and armor frame.
  • Tipper hitbox now comes out a frame later and slightly reduced in size. Body Hitbox enlarged.
  • Lunging movement reduced.
  • Knockback reduced. Base 50 -> 60, Growth 100 -> 70.
  • Minor tweaks to explosion graphic placement.
• Up smash startup: 15 frames → 12 frames
  • IASA: 50 frames → 46 frames
  • Removed intangibility in favor of Armor (Frames 13-18) that degrades one step on frame 15 (to possibly no armor).
  • Re-arranged hitboxes to give slightly better sweetspot coverage.
• Down smash startup: 13 frames → 10 frames
  • IASA: 68 frames → 60 frames
  • Tweaked positioning and Resized repeating Hitboxes to give Bowser better body coverage without effectively increasing range.
  • Final Hit adjusted:
    • Damage: 10 → 6
    • Trajectory: 90 degrees → 120 degrees
    • Base knockback: 40 → 50
    • Knockback growth: 140 → 168
• Neutral aerial armor reduced to medium armor and activates 2 frames later to match hitbox startup.
• Forward aerial knockback matches Melee's forward aerial. Hand hitbox is now 25 base and 99 growth while tip hitbox is 35 base and 92 growth, where they both used to be 50 base and 75 growth.
• Up aerial knockback curve redone to favor lower base and higher growth.
  • Base knocback: 50 → 25
  • Knockback growth: 96 → 112
• Down aerial lowest hitbox size reduced.
• Down throw made weight independent.
• Flame Breath has larger hitboxes but drains quicker and hits in very slightly later intervals.
• Koopa Klaw startup: 16 frames → 12 frames
  • Graphical tweaks and new sound effects for claw attack.
  • Armor removed.
  • IASA: 57 frames (aerial) and 48 frames (grounded) → 44 frames (both)
  • Reduced horizontal burst movement.
  • Claw attack damage from base to tip: 11%/11%/12% → 12%/12%/10%
  • Claw attack trajectory: 70 degrees → 65 degrees
  • Forward throw damage: 20% → 15%
  • Forward throw trajectory: 80 degrees → 74 degrees
  • Forward throw has 55 base knockback and 50 growth from 92 base and 29 growth, making followups much harder at higher percentages.
• Whirling Fortress initial hit base knockback: 90 → 70
  • Knockback growth: 80 → 85
  • Aerial version's repeating hits damage reduced by 1% each.
• Bowser Bomb vertical distance slightly reduced.
• Giga Bowser now has a hitbox on his landing animation that hits close grounded opponents straight up, and some of his attributes (particularly attack and movement speed) have been adjusted to reflect Bowser's changes in this version.
  • Bowser Bomb hits opponents powerfully in different directions depending on when they get hit; at the apex of Bowser Bomb, they are sent upwards; while Giga Bowser is falling at any other point of the attack, they are spiked downwards; if they are on the ground and directly below Giga Bowser, they are buried and then sent horizontally.
  • His shield can no longer break.
  • Side taunt no longer does any damage.
  • New character portraits.
  • His name is now properly displayed on the jumbotron on the Pokémon Stadium stages and the results screen if he wins. The announcer also has a separate voice clip for Giga Bowser's name.

Full

• Inner body hitbox size increased on Forward tilt
  • Initial hit damage increased by 2%: 15%/14%/13% → 17%/16%/15%
    • Knockback compensated
  • Linger hit damage increased by 1%: 10%/9%/8% → 11%/10%/9%
  • IASA: Frame 3 frames sooner → 38
• Animation tweaked further on Up tilt to enlarge sweet spot range
  • Sweet spot base knockback reduced: 55 → 50
  • Sweet spot knockback growth reduced: 120 → 112
• Knockback growth increased on Forward tilt: 70 → 80
• Forward smash light armor is now medium armor
  • Armor activates 3 frames sooner: 31 → 28
  • Transitions to heavy and super armor earlier when charging (charge frame 19 and 38 respectively).
• Initial Flub hitboxes matched to sweet spot on Up smash.
• Down smash starting lag reduced: 10 frames → 7 frames
  • Final hit adjusted
    • Damage lowered: 18 → 23
    • Trajectory: 90 degrees → 125 degrees
    • Base knockback: 50 → 75
    • Knockback growth: 96 → 88
• First actionable frame is 6 frames sooner on Forward throw
• Neutral Special (Flame Breath) adjusted
  • Flame cancel removed
  • Start-up reduced by 6 frames; cool-down reduced by 3 frames
  • Flames are non-clank
  • Minimum flame breath time reduced by 5 frames
  • Maximum angle upward increased: 50 → 55
• Side special (Koopa Klaw) adjusted
  • Aerial momentum reworked to be more consistent with ground movement
  • Adjusted stick sensitivity on grabs to match regular throw sensitivies
  • Forward throw angle changed: 74 → 77
    • Growth: 50 → 40
  • Down throw added
    • Grounded version is a tech-chase slam
    • Aerial version is a spike
• Aerial momentum on Whirling Fortress altered to aid in Fortress Hogging: 0.02 → 0.035
• Frame removed on Jab 1 swing animation
• Increased momentum on Dash attack, Dash grab, Under 100 Ledge attack, Forward and Backward rolls, and Tech rolls to better match 3.5.
  • Tech roll tweaked to be more ambiguous to which way Bowser has teched
• Air dodge positioning adjusted to correct unintentional waveland difficulty

Moveset

Up to date as of version 3.6.

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack			6%	Bowser swipes at the opponent twice.
			5%
Forward tilt	↗		17% (clean), 11% (late)	Extended his arm and delivers a backhanded punch with good knockback. This move can be angled up or down. Bowser's left arm is intangible while the hitboxes are out.
	→		16% (clean), 10% (late)
	↘		15% (clean), 9% (late)
Up tilt			13% (early), 8% (late)	Swats the air above him with his left claw. Has good knockback and can set up combos well. Bowser's left arm is intangible while the hitboxes are out.
Down tilt			13%	Slashes along the ground with both his claws. The second attack is optional by pressing the attack button again, though Giga Bowser is forced to perform both swipes.
			12%
Dash attack			12% (ram), 8% (fall)	Bowser tackles the opponent. Has heavy armor during the initial frames of the attack.
Forward smash			26%	Bowser rears back for a short moment, and hits incredibly hard with his head. If it connects, an explosion occurs. The attack is a great finisher at low percentages, and has light armor during the frames before contact. Unfortunately, it has rather massive starting lag.
Up smash			20% (leap), 12% (landing)	Bowser jumps upward, hitting opponents with his spikes of his shell. Causes an earthquake when coming down. Opponents who avoid the leaping hitbox can still be hit by Bowser whenever he lands, during which it inflicts a meteor smash. Bowser's shell is intangible while the hitboxes are out.
Down smash			2% (hits 1-6), 6% (hit 7)	Bowser spins around in his shell, doing great damage and hitting multiple times. Has strong armor during the initial frames.
Neutral aerial			13%	Bowser spins around in his shell. Has heavy armor during the first loop.
Forward aerial			16% (sweetspot), 13% (sourspot)	Bowser slashes forward with his left claw. The glowing area is the sweetspot.
Back aerial			17% (clean), 10% (late)	Bowser thrusts his shell backwards. Has high landing lag.
Up aerial			23%	Bowser strikes upwards with his head. Causes serious damage and knockback, being the most damaging up aerial in the game.
Down aerial			2% (hits 1-9), 3% (hit 10), 5% (landing)	Bowser spins downwards, hitting multiple times with the spikes on his shell, capable of meteor smashing opponents.
Grab			—
Pummel			4%	Bites the opponent. A fairly slow pummel.
Forward throw			10%	Bowser tosses the opponent forwards.
Back throw			10%	Bowser violently throws the opponent backwards.
Up throw			1% (hits 1-8), 2% (throw)	Bowser tosses the foe upwards, retreats into his shell, and spins, damaging the foe with his spikes. Has great knockback.
Down throw			16% (hit 1), 0% (throw)	Bowser places the opponent on the floor and body slams them.
Floor attack (front)			6%	Bowser leaps forward to strike with his head, then back to kick behind, and finally gets up into standing position.
Floor attack (back)			6%	Bowser gets up while swinging his right hand around.
Floor attack (trip)			5%	Bowser gets up while swinging his right hand around.
Edge attack (fast)			8%	Quickly spins onto the stage, then retreats back a bit.
Edge attack (slow)			10%	Slowly climbs onto stage and does a quick claw swipe.
Neutral special		Fire Breath	1-3% (flames), 3% (bite)	Bowser lets out a stream of flames that can be angled up or down. Over time it loses its range, but gains slightly more power.
Side special		Koopa Klaw	15% (throw), 10% (claw tip), 12% (claw body)	Bowser grabs the opponent to then throw them either forward, backward, or downward. If no one is grabbed, Bowser does a forceful swipe. The aerial version of the downward throw spikes opponents. Giga Bowser cannot perform the down throw.
Up special		Whirling Fortress	Ground: 13%/10%/8%/6% Air: 10% (hit 1), 2% (hits 2-6), 1% (hits 7-11)	Bowser spins rapidly in his shell to gain height. Can be used for edgehogging.
Down special		Bowser Bomb	25% (drop), 10% (landing body), 7% (shockwave close), 4% (shockwave far)	Bowser jumps into the air and lands on the opponent with force if used on the ground. In the air, Bowser slams over what he is over. Has heavy armor during the jumping animation and when hitting the ground. Can be jump cancelled before the flip.
Final Smash		Giga Bowser	Varies	Bowser transforms into an enlarged, much more powerful version of himself, which uses elemental effects such as fire, electricity and darkness during most attacks. Lasts for roughly 24 seconds, and can receive knockback, though he becomes significantly heavier and immune to grabs.

In competitive play

Notable players

•  Calm Animal
•  Can~D
•  Chaos_Blasta
•  DarkBlues
•  Deff
•  JaimeHR
•  Kirk
•  Nick Riddle
•  Odds
•  Pluttergub
•  Godzrage

Alternate costumes

Dry Bowser appears in Project M as Bowser's alternate costume. In the game New Super Mario Bros., Bowser falls to his apparent doom in a pit of lava, only to emerge and be fought later on in his skeletal form, Dry Bowser. He is an undead skeleton of Bowser (similar to how Dry Bones are apparent skeletons of Koopas) with an orange tuft of hair and his shell intact, though badly burnt. As of v3.5, Bowser's eyes gain an orange glow during certain attack animations as Dry Bowser. However, Bowser's moveset, and sounds remain the same while playing as Dry Bowser.

Giga Bowser now additionally uses recolors correspondent to those of the regular Bowser, including a Giga Dry Bowser alt costume. Disregarding size, shell and tail, the latter costume looks exactly the same as the regular Dry Bowser, though with a more pronounced muzzle and additional spikes protruding from his chest and nose.

Bowser's alternate costumes in PM

External links

• Project M character page