Template:Infobox Final Smash Giga Bowser is Bowser's Final Smash in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. It causes him to turn into Giga Bowser from Super Smash Bros. Melee, gaining immense strength. While in this form, he is immune to knockback, but can still receive damage, which may leave Bowser severely weakened after the Final Smash. The transformation lasts about 10 seconds. He gains no new abilities while as Giga Bowser, though his existing abilities become more powerful, and mostly gain elemental side effects, ranging from Darkness, Fire, Ice, and Electricity.
Changes from Melee to Brawl
- Giga Bowser is no longer available as a CPU boss character. Transforming into Giga Bowser with a Smash Ball is the only way Giga Bowser can be used or fought without hacking.
- All new moves of Bowser's (such as the Flying Slam and Crawling) are also available for Giga Bowser.
- Fire Breath weakens over time, unlike in Melee.
- More attacks have visual side effects.
- Immunity to knockback. This is essentially the highest value of Flinch resistance in the game. He is still affected by Freeze frames, thus powerful multi-hit attacks can hinder Giga Bowser's movement. A prime example of this is using a Smart Bomb on Giga Bowser. Usually it only takes one Smart Bomb to completely halt his movements completely and sometimes will hold him off long enough for him to revert back to Bowser.
Moveset
Ground Attacks
Normal
- Standard Attack - Two quick claw swipes. 7% damage on first swipe, 9% on second.
- Dash Attack - Running headbutt. 15% damage. Does 9% damage and slams foe into the ground if the foe is hit around where his tail is connected to his body. Both hits can connect if performed correctly doing a total of 24%.
- Strong Forward - Punches while leaning his body forward which burns the foe with darkness. 17% normally, 20% if tilted upward, 18% if tilted downward. Significantly stronger when aimed upwards.
- Strong Up - Swats the air above him which burns the foe with darkness. Does 11% to 15% with powerful vertical knockback, depending on where it hits.
- Strong Down - Swipes with his claws while crouched, burning the opponent with darkness. Does two hits. First hit is 9% damage, slams the foe into the ground (like a pitfall), and is a powerful meteor smash on airborne opponents. The second hit does 15% with powerful horizontal knockback (total of 24% damage).
Smash
- Forward Smash - Rears back and then performs a very strong headbutt, creating an explosion in front of him. Does less damage if done up close. 24%-28% uncharged, 33%-39% fully charged. Just like in Melee, Giga Bowser's f-smash is weaker than Bowser's f-smash, this time in both knockback and damage.
- Up Smash - Pounces on all fours and jumps straight up, hitting with the electric spikes on his shell. When he lands, he creates a shockwave that damages enemies farther away. Both hits have an unusual characteristic that causes an additional 1% damage when fully charging and landing the attack multiple times. Body, does 24%-26% uncharged, 33%-36% fully charged with powerful vertical knockback. Shockwave, 12% uncharged, 16% fully charged. This attack has a massive hitbox and is very effective for setting up a fatal uair.
- Down Smash - Retracts into his shell and spins, creating a swirling blizzard that freezes foes. Has limited suction. Seven hits of 3%, then one hit of 13% uncharged (34% total), a max of 47% fully charged.
Other
- Ledge Attack - Quickly spins onto the stage and then retreats back a bit which burns foes with darkness. 16% damage.
- 100% Ledge Attack - Slowly climbs onto stage and does a quick claw jab which burns foes with darkness. 16% damage.
Aerial Attacks
- Neutral Aerial - Spins around inside his shell, spikes releasing electricity. Does 15% with horizontal knockback.
- Forward Aerial - Swats forward rather quickly which burn foes with darkness. Does 15% with powerful horizontal knockback and has great horizontal reach.
- Back Aerial - Thrusts out his shell behind him which also conducts electricity. Does 17% with very powerful horizontal knockback.
- Up Aerial - Swings his head upward. Has huge vertical knockback, this is Giga Bowser's most powerful attack and is arguably his best finisher. Does 20% damage. This attack is further complimented by its large hitbox and Giga Bowser's high jumping height.
- Down Aerial - Retracts into his shell and spins himself into the ground which also conducts electricity. Multi-hit attack that does up to 36% damage. If Giga Bowser hits a foe with the very edges of his shell, the attack will instead launch the target upwards with high knockback while burning them with darkness instead of electricity.
Grabs & Throws
- Pummel - Hits foe with his head which also burns them. 6% damage.
- Forward Throw - Launches foe forward using his head which also burns them. 18% damage.
- Back Throw - Turns around and tosses foe forward which also burns them with darkness. 18% damage.
- Down Throw - Giga Bowser performs a body slam on his opponent. Any other opponents who are nearby when Giga Bowser attacks will be forced into the ground. It can semi-spike heavy characters while near an edge at higher percents and launch lighter characters straight forward with no gravity. 21% damage.
- Up Throw - Giga Bowser tosses the foe upwards, retreats into his shell, and spins, damaging the foe with his spikes which also conduct electricity. Does multiple hits up to 26% damage.
Special Moves
Special Movements
Up: Roars (same as Melee)
Side: Bites in front of himself 5 times and wheezes while doing so.
Down: Dances precariously on one foot.
Trophy Description
Bowser, transformed into the terrible and brutal form first seen in Super Smash Bros. Melee. While in this form, he's invulnerable--he doesn't get stunned 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.
Playable by Hacking
Giga Bowser can be selected like a normal character by hacking. His Icon always shows him as normal Bowser. He plays similarly to the Final Smash version but stays transformed for the entire match even after being KO'd. He is able to be used in modes that disable the ability to use Final Smashes, such as Boss Battles and the Subspace Emissary. Other interesting oddities include:
- The ability to break Smash Balls and enter standby. Attempting to use a final smash like this will either freeze Giga Bowser for the rest of the match or put him in a permanent (until KO'd) fall, which causes floating on solid ground. Other similarly hacked characters also experience this.
- Inability to be defeated in a Stamina Match. When played like this, he is unable to turn back into Bowser to be KO'd, so his HP will never drop below 1.
- When a match is over, Giga Bowser will appear on the Results screen instead of regular Bowser. His win animation is just his Idle animation, and his losing has him in the "Blind" (T Pose) position. Both also keep him at his huge size.
- Similarly to how he is unable to pick up items or jump on springs, Giga Bowser is also unable to enter doors in The Subspace Emissary, nor the Rest Area Portal in All-Star Mode. Due to this, it is only possible to complete 4 Subspace Emissary levels as him, those being Midair Stadium, The Ruined Hall, Battleship Halberd Bridge, and The Canyon, as these levels have no doors. This can be circumvented by playing in Co-Op mode, and having the second player enter the doors for him.
- Giga Bowser can be on the stage while any other Final Smash is being used at the same time. He can be hit by all of them. Negative Zone and Peach Blossom have no effects beside damage on Giga. Cook Kirby can actually suck Giga Bowser into the pot, though he only exits the pot after it has finished launching the other sucked-in items or characters. All 3 Landmasters can Star KO Giga Bowser by hovering above the blast line while Giga is on top of them. Both Triforce Slashes, Blue Falcon, and Great Aether can be executed on Giga but trap him in the Blind position for most of the attacks' durations due to not having certain animations, with only Great Aether not keeping him trapped afterwards. While being attacked normally breaks one out this T pose trap, it doesn't work on Giga due to his impenetrable flinch resistance. All other Final Smashes will simply do damage with no knockback or other effects.
Trivia
- In Stamina Mode, Giga Bowser will not die if reduced to zero HP. This causes the Undead Glitch.
- Strangely, Giga Bowser cannot swim, pick up items, or use a spring. He can use the Starman item and lightning bolts, however, and can also have Bunny Hood, Superspicy Curry, Franklin Badge, and flower effects and be either giant or tiny depending on the size you chose in the Special Brawl mode. Giga Bowser is also unaffected by Pitfalls, Metal boxes, both Mushrooms, Lightning Bolts, and Bumpers (though standing in one can give him invincibility frames).
- Although he doesn't take knockback, he still takes damage. Interestingly, if he jumps past the upper blast line and gets attacked, he still gets Star KO'd.
- Some of Giga Bowser's attacks are actually weaker than those of regular Bowser. His forward smash is a good example.
- Giga Bowser's shield cannot be broken by any means. He can still be damaged when the shield is too small, but it will not break or be canceled. The shield does not return to full strength after the transformation finishes. Also of note is that Giga Bowser cannot be grabbed or inhaled, which also includes special moves having to do with grabbing such as Falcon Dive.
- Giga Bowser is one of only three characters who can use Darkness attacks, the other ones being Ganondorf and Crazy Hand. This is not to be confused with poison emitted from Olimar's white Pikmin.
- On New Pork City, the Ultimate Chimera doesn't even attempt to bite Giga Bowser if he gets close, but he can still be hit if the Ultimate Chimera tries to bite someone else. Giga Bowser will take 100% but won't flinch because of his near invincibility. Similarly, the Bulborb will not immediately close it's mouth if Giga Bowser enters it. It will close it's mouth if held open for too long or if a regular character jumps in, though Giga Bowser's size allows him to jump out as if there is no ceiling because he pokes out of it a tiny bit. Strangely, this only happens to Giga Bowser, as both will Bite Wario-Man normally.
- Giga Bowser actually uses unique voice files instead of Bowser's regular voice clips. His voice clips are much deeper and more menacing than even a Giant Bowser (And also can be made lower or higher pitched depending on his size). The game even features "Gigafied" versions of Bowser voice clips not normally heard while in Giga form, such as results screen clips. These voice clips can be found in the game's Sound Test after Bowser's regular voice clips, but before all of his sound effects.
- The fact that Giga Bowser has a results screen animation when using an infinite Giga Bowser hack is odd, considering Wario-Man and other characters playable in this fashion, do not have them and thus freeze the game upon a match ending. Fighting Alloys also have results screen animation (Prat Fall). Also of note is how this Giga Bowser never turns back into Bowser when KO'd, while Wario-Man will ALWAYS turn back into Wario upon being KO'd.
- Like Wario-Man, Giga Bowser is always the same color.
- In the Melee stage, Jungle Japes, if Giga Bowser tries to walk into the water, the player will be teleported back to that platform. But if the player tries to jump in the water, it will have the same effects as Giga Bowser going into water on any other stage. This is due to Giga grabbing the edge of the platform he walks into, but is then automatically moved to the platform he was previously on due to his large size.
- If one tries to Bowsercide as Giga Bowser, he will always die at the same time as his opponent, and if they both have 1 life, this results in a Sudden Death.
- The length of time spent as Giga Bowser is not correctly affected by Training Mode's speed change. For example, setting the Training Mode speed to 1/4 will only give Giga Bowser enough time for one or two attacks before reverting.
External links
Short video demo at 1:09
All Final Smashes being used on Giga Bowser
