Bowser (SSBB)

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)

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

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. Bowser has new and original voice clips instead of recycling them from Super Mario 64.

Currently, Bowser is 33rd on the tier list in the low tier, an improvement from his 25th 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. Bowser also has significant trouble landing, with all of his options to land being slow, punishable, and easily read, compounded by his laggy aerials. 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

Bowser is considered to be significantly improved overall from Melee due to his increased speed, both in overall mobility, and to a lesser extent, frame data. However, in order to compensate for his better mobility, his power is slightly toned down (although he still is one of the strongest characters in the game). Overall, while Bowser is way better than his previously was, his tournament results and representation have not significantly improved, and he still remains in the bottom tier.

Aesthetics

• As with all characters, Bowser has recieved a boost in texture quality and now closer resembles his apperances in the Mario games, such as yellower skin and being more scalie.

Attributes

• Bowser is slightly heavier (117 → 120).
• Bowser's walks slightly faster (0.65 → 0.8).
• Bowser's air speed is drastically faster (0.8 → 1.034), going from tied for 5th worst to tied for 11th best.
• Bowser's traction is lower (0.06 → 0.0577), going from the 15th highest in Melee to the 19th highest. Compared with the returning veterans, however, Bowser's traction is significantly higher, making it easier for him to punish out of shield.
• As with the returning veterans, Bowser's falling speed is slower (1.9 → 1.39). Compared to the returning veterans, however, Bowser falls faster. While this improves his already strong endurance, it worsens his already poor vertical recovery and makes him more vulnerable to combos and chain throws.
• Bowser's jumping height has been increased.
• Bowser's arms are longer, which results in his arm based attacks having better reach.
• The removal of L-canceling has adversely affected Bowser more than any other character in the game other than Ganondorf and Link, with his aerials now being very unsafe and punishable on landing due to their extreme landing lag, and now having no options to reduce it.
• Bowser can now crawl, though since Bowser's crouch barely reduces his height, it has no practical use.

Ground attacks

• The second hit of neutral attack deals 1% less damage.
• Forward tilt now has about twice the reach and produces larger hitboxes.
• Forward tilt deals 3% less damage.
• Up tilt deals slightly more damage.
• Up tilt can no longer hit opponents directly in front of him.
• Both hits of down tilt deal more damage. The first hit is also significantly more powerful, and can now reliably KO around 125%.
• Down tilt's range is slightly shorter, with the hitboxes no longer covering his claws.
• Forward smash consists of two hits, and can deal 9% more damage uncharged when both hits connect. It's also slightly faster.
• 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 has more vertical reach.
• Up smash lost its 2 intangibility frames after the initial hitbox.
• Down smash is more difficult to SDI out of.
• Down smash deals 1% less damage.

Aerial attacks

• Neutral aerial now has weak hitboxes on the later portions of the move.
• Forward aerial's sweetspot deals 1% less damage.
• 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.
• Up aerial is faster.
• Up aerial produces smaller hitboxes and thus has less reach.

Throws/other attacks

• The introduction of buffering makes Bowser's 10 frame advantage on grab release viably usable now, giving him effective grab release follow-ups on the entire cast but himself.
• Bowser now retreats into his shell during up throw.

Special moves

• Fire Breath can be angled up and down. It additionally no longer entirely diminishes when used for a prolonged period.
• Flame canceling is no longer possible.
• Bowser has a new side special: Flying Slam. Compared to the Koopa Klaw, it has much faster start-up and is a more versatile special grab, dealing more damage and also gives him access to Koopa Hopping and a suicide KO move.
• Flying Slam does not setup follow-ups as well as Bowser's forward Koopa Klaw throw, nor KOs as effectively as the Koopa Klaw back throw.
• Whirling Fortress goes slightly higher in midair.
• Fortress Hogging is no longer possible.
• 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 landing hitbox additionally deals 3% more damage.
• Bowser Bomb's drop deals 3% less damage, resulting it dealing less damage when used in the air.

Moveset

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

• Bowser can crawl, although it has no practical use due to his large crouching hurtbox.

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack			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			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. The attack is based on the second hit of his Drill Claw attack in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars.
Up tilt			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			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			11% (clean), 8% (late)	Running headbutt. Has good vertical knockback. Horrid ending lag makes this move easily punishable.
Forward smash			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			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			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			13% (clean), 9% (late)	Bowser spins around inside his shell. Low knockback and very low KO potential.
Forward aerial			13% (hand), 12% (arm), 11% (shoulder)	A rather quick slash forwards. Decent knockback with surprising speed.
Back aerial			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			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			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			3%	Hits foe with his head. Very slow pummel.
Forward throw			10%	Launches foe forward using his head. Decent knockback, but will rarely KO.
Back throw			10%	Exactly identical to Bowser's forward throw, but has a faster execution.
Up throw			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			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)			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)			6%	Bowser gets up while swinging his hand around.
Floor attack (trip) Floor getups (trip)			5%	Bowser gets up while facing backwards, and does a claw swipe that brings him facing forward.
Edge attack (fast) Edge getups (fast)			8%	Quickly spins onto the stage, then retreats back a bit.
Edge attack (slow) Edge getups (slow)			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, which usually KOs the opponent first.
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. A great KOing and punishing option.
Final Smash		Giga Bowser	—	Bowser turns into Giga Bowser.

On-screen appearance

• Emerges from a wall of flames.

Taunts

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

Up taunt	Side taunt	Down taunt

Idle pose

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

Crowd cheer

	English	Japanese
Cheer
Description	Bow-ser	Bow-ser
Pitch	Deep male	Male

Wii Remote selection sound

• Bowser roars. The sound clip is taken directly from Melee.

Bowser's selection sound

Victory poses

A cover of the "Level Completed" music from Super Mario Bros.

• 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.

Up	Left	Right

In competitive play

Matchups

Super Smash Bros. Brawl Character Matchups

Avg.

Notable players

See also: Category:Bowser professionals (SSBB)

•  Acid (France)
•  ESAM
•  Ixis Naugus
•  KingKong
•  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 KingKong, 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.

Role in the Subspace Emissary

Bowser in SSE

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). Bowser and the others manage to defeat Tabuu and end the invasion.

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 Superstar 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

In Event Matches

Solo Events

• Event 1: Two Trouble Kings: As Mario, the player must defeat Bowser and King Dedede on Delfino Plaza.
• Event 6: Super Bowser Bros.: As Bowser, the player must reach the flagpole in Mushroomy Kingdom without getting KO'd by the three Marios.
• Event 27: Three-Beast Carnage: As a tiny R.O.B., the player must defeat a giant Bowser, a giant Donkey Kong, and a giant Charizard on New Pork City.
• Event 34: All-Star Battle Melee: Bowser is one of the opponents fought in this event. All opponents are newcomers from Super Smash Bros Melee.
• Event 40: The Final Battle: The player selects any character and must defeat Bowser, Ganondorf and King Dedede on Final Destination.

Co-op Events

• Co-Op Event 8: ALL MINE!: Wario and Bowser must work together to collect 2000 coins together on Skyworld while fighting Mario and Luigi.
• Co-Op Event 20: The Final Battle for Two: Both players select a character and must defeat Bowser, Wario, King Dedede, Wolf, Meta Knight, and Ganondorf on Final Destination.
• Co-Op Event 21: The True All-Star Battle: Both players select a character and take on the entire roster on Battlefield.

Trophies

Bowser's main and Final Smash trophies can be obtained by clearing Classic Mode and All-Star mode respectively with Bowser.

Trophy descriptions

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

Giga Bowser

Bowser, transformed into the terrible and brutal form first seen in Super Smash Bros. Melee. While in this form, he's invulnerable—he takes no damage and cannot be budged. His appearance is so fierce, it's as if he doesn't even belong in the Smash Bros. universe. He cannot maintain this form for long, so dealing out damage efficiently is key.

: Super Smash Bros. Brawl

• 

  Classic Mode trophy

• 

  Giga Bowser trophy

Alternate costumes

Bowser's alternate costumes in Brawl

Trivia

Bowser's four eyes bug

• Bowser's voice clip for his Wii Remote selection is a roar taken from the end of a cutscene in Super Mario Sunshine.
• Bowser's animation for being grabbed has some placement issues. His hurtbox 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.
  • Additionally, if Bowser performs a backwards double jump while in possession of a Smash Ball, his "Smash Ball" eyes will be shown in the position where his head would normally be—despite both his eyes being visible inside his shell—making it will look as if he has four eyes.
• Bowser, Meta Knight, and Marth can all perform the floor glitch.
• There exists a glitch on the Mushroomy Kingdom stage. If Bowser were to hit the first invisible block of the stage scrolling cycle to solidify it, jump backwards onto the stack of blocks to the right of the block, and get grabbed by King Dedede right before he lands, He will rapidly flip between his aerial grab and grounded grab animation.
• 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 on SmashBoards
• Bowser's hitbox size of each of his moves