Giga Bowser

This page describes Giga Bowser in general and his appearance in Melee. For his regular appearance see Bowser. For his appearance as Bowser's Final Smash in Brawl, see Giga Bowser (Final Smash). Not to be confused with Giant Bowser.

Giga Bowser
Mario squares off against Giga Bowser in the Adventure Mode.
A boss in	Melee
Universe	Super Smash Bros.

Giga Bowser, known in Japan as Giga Koopa (ギガクッパ, Giga Kūppā), is a gargantuan version of Bowser in Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Brawl. He acts as a hidden boss in the game's Adventure Mode and as one of the final opponents the player must face in the Event Mode; he eventually made his playable debut in Super Smash Bros. Brawl as part of Bowser's Final Smash. Despite being a transformation of the Super Mario series, Giga Bowser's series symbol is that of the Super Smash Bros. logo, as the character debuted in Melee.

In Super Smash Bros. Melee

In the Adventure Mode

In Melee, Giga Bowser appears as a hidden boss. If all previous stages have been completed under 18 minutes and on the game has been played on the Normal or higher difficulty, Giant Bowser's trophy returns to the stage following his defeat, after which Giga Bowser spawns. Defeating Giga Bowser leads to the completion of the Adventure Mode; defeating him without using a Continue also rewards the player with his trophy.

In Event 51: The Showdown

Giga Bowser also appears in Melee's final Event Match, alongside Ganondorf and Mewtwo. The match is similar to his appearance in the Adventure Mode, sans the presence of his two teammates. Clearing the Event Match allows the player to use Final Destination as a Versus stage, as well as rewarding Final Destination's trophy; as an added bonus, clearing the match without losing a stock rewards the player with an exclusive Notice.

In both of his appearances, Giga Bowser has a damage percentage as opposed to hit points like the final bosses of the Classic Mode Master Hand and Crazy Hand; this forces the player to deliberately KO him as opposed to merely attacking him.

As a playable character

If the game is hacked through the use of Action Replay, it is possible to use Giga Bowser as a character. Giga Bowser is mostly functional, and his name is even displayed on the Jumbotron in Pokémon Stadium (as "G-Bowser").

Due to a lack of victory poses to display for him on the results screen, the game will usually crash if Giga Bowser wins a match.

Although winning with Giga Bowser usually crashes the game, he can sometimes "appear" on the Results screen.

In some rare cases, when Giga Bowser wins a match, the game will not freeze, and the results screen will appear. The game, however, will display Sheik's name in red, and his stock icon will be a Target. The announcer, however, will properly say Giga Bowser's name.

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl

As a playable character

Giga Bowser made its debut as a playable character in the Smash series as part of Bowser's Final Smash. In the Final Smash, Bowser transforms into Giga Bowser, allowing players to take advantage of his increased power and range, as well as different hitbox properties. While Giga Bowser does not flinch during this transformation, the transformation only lasts ten seconds.

Outside of this appearance, as well as his related trophy, Giga Bowser did not make any other appearances in Brawl.

Differences between Bowser and Giga Bowser

Arguably the most dramatic transformation between Bowser and Giga Bowser is the difference between their sizes; Giga Bowser is almost twice as large as Bowser, and even if Bowser is under the influence of a Super Mushroom, Giga Bowser is still slightly larger than him. This larger frame also leads to Giga Bowser being considerably heavier than Bowser, and in the Adventure Mode, the character is also given a handicap to make him even more difficult to KO. Adding to this, Giga Bowser also has access to some super armor, making it difficult to get him to flinch at some attacks. In order to further change the player's approach. Giga Bowser cannot be grabbed, or inhaled by Kirby, or egg laid by Yoshi.

As a transformation of Bowser, Giga Bowser has the identical moveset to Bowser; Giga Bowser's attacks, however, are considerably stronger in power and knockback. Some of his attacks also have different properties as a result of his transformation; Fire Breath, for instance, does not run out or become weaker the longer it is used. In addition, some of Giga Bowser's attacks are given unusual hitbox properties: his claw-based attacks (forward tilt, up tilt, down tilt, edge attacks, forward aerial, forward throw, and back throw) all have a darkness hitbox; his shell-based attacks (his up smash, neutral aerial, back aerial, down aerial, and up throw) all have electric hitboxes; his horn-based attacks (his side smash and pummel) have explosion effects; and his down smash has freezing poperties.

In order to compensate for Bowser's ordinary sub-par recovery, Giga Bowser's Whirling Fortress grants significantly more height, and it also has 26 invincibility frames; its large hitboxes also give multiple pseudo-invincibility frames.

Unusually, if Giga Bowser captures an opponent with Koopa Klaw, he can bite his opponent, but no damage will be inflicted, unless the opponent is Donkey Kong or Bowser. In addition to this error, Giga Bowser's fastfalling speed is identical to his ordinary falling speed.

Trophy Description (Melee)

An even more imposing figure than the original King of the Koopas, Giga Bowser is roughly twice the size of his scaly, fire-breathing, spike-studded, Super Smash Bros. Melee counterpart. Predictable, this monstrous creature's offensive and defensive powers are a grade higher than those of regular Bowser. Good luck defeating this colossus!

• Super Smash Bros. Melee (12/01)

Trivia

Left: Giant Bowser and normal Giga Bowser. Right: Normal Bowser and Tiny Giga Bowser.

• In Melee's Sound Test for the NTSC regions, an unused sound by the announcer can be found, where the Announcer yells his name, not unlike the intros for Classic Mode.
  • There are two different soundbites for this, one of which yells "Giga Bowser!" and the other of which yells "Giga Koopa!". Although Koopa is the Japanese name for Bowser, the sound effect only plays when the Language is set to English, while the "Giga Bowser!" line is found when the language is set to Japanese.
• The size difference between Bowser and Giga Bowser is approximately equal to one usage of a Super Mushroom or Poison Mushroom, with Giga Bowser being slightly larger when he is shrunk or Bowser is enlarged. Despite this, as the two characters' weights do not share the same ratio, Giga Bowser will actually be lighter than Bowser in both cases.
• On Melee's Debug Menu, Giga Bowser's name is labeled "GKOOPS".