Bowser (SSBU)

Bowser in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Universe	Mario
Other playable appearances	in Melee in Brawl in SSB4
Availability	Unlockable
Final Smash	Giga Bowser Punch
Tier	C- (67)

Bowser (クッパ, Koopa) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. He was suggested to appear in the then unnamed Ultimate in its first teaser trailer at the end of the March 8th, 2018 Nintendo Direct, and officially announced in Ultimate's E3 2018 trailer As opposed to being a starter character like in previous Smash games, Bowser is now an unlockable character. Bowser is classified as Fighter #14.

Bowser retains the realistic roar voice clips that he had in Super Smash Bros. 4, rather than using his voice actor from the Mario series, Kenny James.

Bowser is ranked 67th out of 82 on the tier list, placing him close to the middle of the C- tier. This is a significant drop from his placement in SSB4, where he was ranked 24th out of 54. Bowser's greatest strength is his endurance, as he is the heaviest character in the game and has armor on several of his moves, as well as passive armor in the form of Tough Guy. Despite his heavyweight status, Bowser also boasts above-average mobility, complemented with fast air and dashing speeds. In addition, Bowser possesses a plethora of powerful moves that are not only among the most damaging of their kind, but also have great KOing potential. Finally, Bowser's specials all have great utility: Whirling Fortress is an effective out-of-shield option, Fire Breath is an effective edgeguarding tool; Flying Slam is the fastest command grab in the game and has impressive KO potential, and Bowser Bomb can break shields.

Countering Bowser's strengths, however, are several noticeable weaknesses. As his frame data is overall sluggish, Bowser is susceptible to pressure and is especially vulnerable to combos, as his large size, high gravity, and fast falling speed makes it difficult for him to land safely. He also lacks many options to land, as his best moves in this situation have high frame data. In addition, Bowser's overall slow frame data means he struggles at approaching, especially against characters with great range, disjoints, and speed, and Bowser's lack of a traditional projectile leaves him susceptible to characters with strong projectile games. Finally, Bowser's defensive options are also underwhelming, as he has short rolls and slow and long techs, while he lacks any other effective out-of-shield options outside of Whirling Fortress.

Overall, Bowser is a strong, tanky character who can quickly dish out damage and KO at early percentages; however, Bowser himself is also vulnerable to being overwhelmed by characters who have faster frame data and strong combo games. Though he initially had great representation courtesy of players such as Hero and LeoN, his playerbase gradually declined as his weaknesses became more apparent, especially in the more recent metagames.

How to unlock

Complete one of the following:

• Play VS. matches, with Bowser being the 3rd character to be unlocked.
• Clear Classic Mode with Donkey Kong or anyone in his unlock tree, being the 1st character unlocked.
• Defeat Giga Bowser in World of Light.

With the exception of the third method, Bowser must then be defeated on Mushroom Kingdom U.

Attributes

Bowser, as per tradition, is a super heavyweight and the heaviest character in the game. This is reflected by some of his attributes, which fit in the mold of his archetype: he has a slow walking speed (16th slowest in the game), very quick falling and fast-falling speeds (tied with Bayonetta for the 19th fastest), slow air acceleration, high gravity, and immensely powerful attacks. However, Bowser sports otherwise excellent mobility, as his air speed is well above average (tied with Sheik, Duck Hunt, Lucas, Cloud, and Mega Man as the 20th fastest in the game), his initial dash is extremely quick, and he also boasts a surprisingly fast dashing speed (the 22nd fastest in the game) that surpasses most of his fellow heavyweights, even outrunning characters such as Marth, Inkling, Toon Link, and Pichu. Due to his above average dashing speed and initial dash, Bowser sports a respectable dash-dance.

Unsurprisingly, Bowser's most notable trait is his impressive endurance, being among the best in the game. His extreme weight makes him very difficult to launch and KO, while his fast falling speed and high gravity make it trivial to stay grounded. Bolstering his endurance is his varied forms of armor; Bowser has damage-based percentage armor on the startup of all his tilts and smash attacks. Bowser also has an attribute called "Tough Guy," which is constantly active, knockback-based armor that allows Bowser to withstand a handful of weak attacks, like rapid jabs and weak projectiles. This lets him tank and approach effectively while at low percents, and allows him to simply break through any rapid jab with a powerful attack, acting as a hard punish. Supplementing Bowser's endurance is the immense damage and power his moveset provides, as all of his moves deal serious damage, and most of them have KO potential. Rage further helps Bowser, as he can easily take advantage of being at KO percentage to easily turn the tables on the opponent should they make one single error.

Bowser's grounded game has numerous merits, thanks to the combination of his damage-based armor, the damage and power it boasts, and its speed all around. All of his tilt attacks render his limbs intangible during their active hitboxes, which makes them pseudo-disjointed, while some of his smash attacks give his body parts invincibility. These traits further aid Bowser in spacing or beating out attacks, which can lead to very hard punishes. Forward tilt is decently fast and powerful, able to KO before 150% and even earlier at the edge. It can be angled and, when angled down, can 2-frame punish most recovery moves. Up tilt has very good coverage all around Bowser and is not only his most powerful tilt attack but one of the strongest up tilts in the game, killing middleweights below 125%. Forward smash, while being his slowest smash attack, is the second strongest in the game (killing at around 60% from center stage uncharged) and renders his legs invincible, allowing it to outprioritize other moves. Up smash is fast relative to its power (coming out on frame 16 while being the strongest up smash in the game when sweetspotted), has invincibility on the entire shell, and a hitbox on landing that provides safety, making it an excellent anti-air option. Down smash is Bowser's fastest smash attack, coming out on frame 12, being especially fast for its power as well (being able to KO around 70% at the edge of a stage) and hits both sides, making it an ideal punish option out of a perfect shield, despite its very high ending lag.

His aerial moveset also has useful options. Forward aerial is considered his best one, as it has relatively average landing lag alongside above average damage and knockback (which allows it to KO below 115% from the edge), great range with good coverage above and below him (comparable to swordfighters with similar "frontal slash" moves), and can combo on landing. Back aerial deals great damage and has extremely high knockback scaling (killing at around 100% from center stage and as early as 60% by the edge), and is very fast for an aerial of its caliber. Both aerials autocancel in a short hop, making them good coverage options at the edge, and their power also makes them terrific edgeguarding options. Neutral aerial deals very serious damage if all of its hits connect (although this is difficult to accomplish), being the second most damaging aerial attack in the entire game, and using it while landing gives it combo potential and KO setups at high percentages. Finally, up aerial renders Bowser's head intangible and is a fairly useful vertical kill move due to its serious damage output and knockback, although it is typically situational due to its short range.

Bowser's grab game is also versatile, thanks to its combination of damage and utility. While his grab is rather slow, it is among the longest-reaching non-tether grabs in the game. His forward and back throws serve a similar purpose as kill throws; both are among the strongest in the game. Up throw is a useful combo throw which can lead to extremely damaging combos at low to medium-high percentages. Finally, his down throw is the third most damaging throw in the entire game, but due to its lack of KO potential, it is mostly used to refresh other moves and put the opponent in an unfavorable position offstage.

His special moveset commands a balance of both raw damage racking and kill options, all of which are versatile. On one hand, in terms of damage racking, Fire Breath is Bowser's "projectile" move, spewing flames that peter over time but recharge when the move is not in use. The flames deal absurd damage and shieldstun, and unlike other projectiles, don't deal negative shield damage, so the move will always deal full damage to shields. When angled correctly, it can also hit ledge-hanging characters and even 2-frame punish many recoveries, making it a good edgeguarding tool, although it can be countered if Bowser is too close to the ledge. At maximum range, the flames don't cause opponents to flinch, which allows Bowser a very dangerous damage racking option that won't break an opponent's dazed state (similar to Piranha Plant's Poison Breath or Fox's Blaster), allowing him to KO opponents as early as 0% if he successfully breaks their shield. His up special, Whirling Fortress, is Bowser's fastest attack at frame 6 on the ground; combined with its multi-hit nature and considerable horizontal mobility, this makes it an effective "get-off-me" move and out of shield option. In the air, it is Bowser's primary recovery move, traveling a decent vertical distance and massive horizontal distance, and has decent KO potential to boot. On the other hand, in terms of kill options, Flying Slam is the fastest command grab in the game (and tied with Whirling Fortress as Bowser's fastest attack at frame 6), and has incredible power if it grabs an opponent, killing around 120%, or earlier if he has rage. Since he leaps a high distance in the air, he can land on platforms, which can put him at a much more advantageous position and KO opponents even earlier. It can also be B-reversed, allowing Bowser to bypass shields unexpectedly, even in midair. Bowser Bomb deals fantastic vertical knockback and can even meteor smash at the start of its descent; it also deals extreme shield damage, allowing it to break a full shield if properly landed. These two moves, combined with Bowser's fantastic damage output, allow him to play mindgames with the opponent's shield.

Thanks to his great damage output, once Bowser has gained the advantage, his abundance of options for racking up damage allows him to put the opponent at a gradually worse position before sealing a stock. Unlike previous incarnations, Bowser also doesn't waver in terms of mobility, which means that, if the opponent is at a disadvantage, he can close in on the distance to his opponent, read their options, and maintain the advantage. His consistent shield breaking prowess, with several moves at his disposal being able to heavily dent shields, means that if the opponent chooses the incorrect defensive option, they can be put in an even worse position, since his moveset is also full of kill options, most notably his forward smash.

However, despite his potent strengths, Bowser is not without some flaws. Despite his excellent options to rack up damage, his frame data is somewhat sluggish, which means that faster opponents can outpace Bowser's attacks, and he is susceptible to being punished if his attacks are whiffed, shielded, or dodged. This ties in with Bowser's biggest weakness, which is his poor disadvantage state. Bowser's combination of extremely high weight, large hurtboxes, fast falling speed, and high gravity makes him especially susceptible to combos, and as such, characters like Captain Falcon, Mario, Pikachu, and Ryu can easily punish and combo him for large amounts of damage if he makes a single mistake. His below-average frame data and frame 4 air dodge also result in an inability to effectively break out of combos. Although Bowser has great range, he relies on melee-based attacks for it, so characters with weapons that grant them disjointed reach (like Marth, Cloud, and Shulk) can prove to be difficult for him to overcome, especially if they're able to space their moves efficiently. As Bowser lacks a true projectile (due to Fire Breath's range being short and strict to Bowser's frame), he can also have difficulty at approaching characters with strong zoning games, like Min Min, Samus, and Toon Link, especially since their melee range also tends to be comparable to his. The latter two methods of pressure also give Bowser trouble in properly approaching.

Despite his high gravity and fast falling speed, he has difficulty landing, as his most notable options for landing, down aerial and Bowser Bomb, are laggy and predictable due to being stall-then-fall moves. Landing with his other aerials, although seemingly not an issue thanks to his forward aerial's range and knockback, can also prove a liability due to none of them being particularly safe on shield. His rolls are also short-distance, and his techs are slow and have low durations, which makes him prone to tech-chasing. Bowser's recovery, while serviceable and much better than most of the other super heavies, tends to be mediocre in practice, as it is rather slow and doesn't offer Bowser as much protection as other recovery moves would; as a result, he is particularly vulnerable to being edgeguarded, especially by counters or moves that can 2-frame. His out-of-shield game, despite being consistent, is nevertheless predictable due to Whirling Fortress being his most viable option out of shield; all other options can be punished or do not have the proper range to punish well-spaced moves. Moreover, his damage-based armor (on his grounded attacks) and universal knockback-based armor (from his signature Tough Guy ability) fail to compensate for all of this, as they do not compensate for his lack of medium-ranged and zoning or counterzoning options. Altogether, despite his great mobility and excellent tools to punish melee-focused options, making him not as susceptible as his fellow super heavyweight contemporaries, Bowser's defensive game remains just as poor overall compared to them, due to his being so susceptible to pressure.

Other weaknesses include a few of Bowser's moves either lacking proper utility or being largely outclassed by his other moves. Neutral attack is Bowser's third fastest attack overall, the first hit can lock (although this is best suited for bulkier characters), and the second hit can beat spotdodge attempts; however, it is largely outclassed by his Whirling Fortress, since the latter is faster and can be used out of shield. His down tilt, while being equally fast as forward tilt while dealing more damage, has less utility for 2-framing due to its weaker knockback, and it is much more punishable, especially on shield. Up aerial, while powerful and relatively quick, has poor range and moderate endlag and landing lag, meaning that up tilt is normally considered a superior vertical KO option. Down aerial, while being Bowser's second strongest aerial and the third strongest meteor smash in the game when hit cleanly, has numerous weaknesses, including its slow startup, stall-then-fall nature, and extreme ending and landing lag. This means that its offstage utility is severely hampered when compared to other down aerials of its nature, such as those of Mr. Game & Watch and Sonic. While forward throw still has some utility due to its strong knockback, it lacks the damage output of his down throw and the quick release of his back throw, making it somewhat outclassed in terms of KO power and damage. Lastly, while his down special, Bowser Bomb, deals immense damage and is infamous for instantly breaking shields, its slow aerial startup and extreme endlag make it unsuitable for landing, and it is agreed to be his most situational special move as a result.

In the end, Bowser can be considered to be the "all-rounder" of super heavyweights. While his playstyle remains largely bait-and-punish oriented compared to previous incarnations of him, his attributes make him more of a "lightning bruiser" in this regard. Bowser has among the most raw damage output, the highest KO power, and best shield-breaking capabilities of any character, while still retaining great range and movement speed, meaning that once he gains the upper hand, it can be practically impossible to break his pressure if he continuously reacts properly. With hard-hitting and relatively laggy moves like his, Bowser is anything but a character who strings together long combos; rather, he usually just needs four or five good hits to rack up high amounts of damage, and eventually score KOs. Even some of Bowser's moves that have little KO potential still have some kind of utility, so even in areas where Bowser cannot outright KO, he can continue to dish out immense damage in a short amount of time, and his moveset contains very well-rounded and versatile options to achieve this. However, his moveset is so lopsided for netting damage and easy KOs that he outright lacks options to properly approach or to combat heavy pressure. This means that, if Bowser makes one wrong move, he can be easily pressured as much as he can do to the opponent, and his lack of safe and fast moves, lack of zoning and counterzoning options, and unreliable mid-ranged options can leave him zoned out and comboed easily by his opponent, leaving him with little to no room to breathe.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. 4

Bowser has received a mixture of buffs and nerfs in his transition from SSB4 to Ultimate, though while he has received a comparatively higher amount of improvements, some of his biggest strengths from the previous game have been toned down or outright removed, and the new engine changes pronounce his weaknesses more than his strengths. As a result, Bowser has been nerfed overall.

Bowser has seen several buffs to his character attributes, power, and to his side special move, Flying Slam. Both Bowser's grounded and aerial mobility have improved (along with the rest of the cast), sporting a faster jumpsquat as well as faster dashing, air, and falling speeds, noticeably improving his ground-to-air transitioning and making him more adept at punishing, while also allowing him to land and escape juggles with less difficulty than before, especially in the case of the former. Bowser is even heavier, and he also received an increase on his defensive game through a higher amplification of damage-based armor on his tilts and smash attacks, which tones down one of the issues his Tough Guy armor had in SSB4, improving it in general and making his already excellent endurance even better.

Bowser's already high power was further strengthened in the transition as well (most notably on moves such as his tilt attacks, down throw, Fire Breath, and Whirling Fortress), which supplements his higher weight and improved adeptness at punishing. As for Flying Slam, it has significantly faster startup overall, now being on par with the fastest standing grabs in the game, such as Mario's, and making it the fastest command grab in the game, which heavily improves his options against shielding opponents.

However, despite his lower amount of nerfs, the hindrances to Bowser's grab game have been very detrimental to him. Much like Donkey Kong, Bowser's infamous up throw, previously a fearsome combo starter with a myriad of follow-ups and KO setups, has lost its combo potential past mid to high percentages due to its increased knockback and ending lag, removing its KO setups, and requiring precise execution to combo past mid percent. Additionally, his pivot grab, notorious for its huge range in SSB4, has shorter range. The universal nerfing of grabs further compounds these hindrances, as it's now harder for Bowser to make use of his otherwise respectable grab game.

Aside from the nerfs to grabs, the universal changes both help and hinder Bowser, but halt him more overall. On one hand, the ability to use any attack out of a run further enhances his ground game, as it gives him more reliable ways to punish the opponent due to his powerful, heavy-armored tilts and smash attacks. On the other hand, the universally decreased landing lag has improved Bowser's poor landing options, giving him less trouble at landing than before, which complements his now fast falling speed and streamlined jumpsquat; however, it also allows several characters to combo him with much more ease (comparable to in Melee), especially due to his larger weight and faster falling speed. The changes to air dodges, while making him slightly less susceptible to horizontal combos and general juggling since he can use one to escape, they also make him more vulnerable to edgeguarding. In bulk, these changes have improved Bowser's offense at the notable cost of his already poor disadvantage state and decent defensive game, despite the existence of Whirling Fortress as an out of shield option.

Overall, Bowser's moveset has seen a general increase in utility, his survivability and speed were improved much further, and his incredible power was kept intact, but the neutering of his combo throw has removed the ease of his highly damaging and KOing setups, removing much of the oppressive factor he had on the ground and shifting the focus on overall movement and bait-and-punish tactics that push the opponent into the corner. These changes have made his moveset less polarized, with all-around decently effective options for different situations and a renewed affinity for quickly closing the distance between him and his opponent, moving away from his "mighty glacier" playstyle. However, Bowser also still retains flaws such as a heavy susceptibility to general pressure (such as combos, juggling, and tech-chasing), and his changes have failed to completely alleviate it. Combined with several veterans receiving buffs just as significant as his, decidedly unimpactful changes from game updates, general optimizations to the metagame, and the introduction of powerful DLC characters, Bowser performs worse than in SSB4.

Aesthetics

• Bowser sports a darker and more monotone color scheme overall, similarly to his appearances in previous installments: his skin is yellower akin to his appearance in Brawl, whereas his head's and shell's green color schemes are similar to his appearance in Melee. Due to the different lightning physics used in Ultimate, Bowser's model also features a more subdued color scheme. His claws are darker and more gray in color. In addition, his scales, hair, horns, and spikes exhibit more subtle detailing; and his bands have visible scuffs and scratches. His pupils are also larger, and his spikes are slightly longer and thinner.
• Bowser has been made more expressive than in previous installments, sporting facial expressions that are more prominent, as well as his jaw moving more naturally to match his angry expressions.
• Bowser makes roaring noises during his idle poses instead of remaining silent like in Smash 4.
• Bowser's shielding pose has changed: he turns around more, making it appear as if he's guarding attacks with his shell.
• Bowser's hair has independent physics.
• The particle effects of Bowser's claw attacks have been changed from light blue to yellow.
• The shadow in the interior of Bowser's shell has been removed, no longer obscuring his face whenever he withdraws into his shell, like in Melee and Brawl.
• Up and side taunts have been shortened, the latter also updated to match his upright stance.
  • Up taunt has Bowser no longer rear back before roaring.
  • Side taunt now has Bowser bite three times instead of five.
• Bowser's victory poses have been updated:
  • His left-inputted pose where he roars in victory shows him rearing back and swaying his head before performing the rest of his victory pose. His body also faces more towards the screen during said animation.
  • His up-inputted pose where he slashes the air with his claws twice shows him running up to the victory area before doing so.
  • His right-inputted is completely new. He breathes fire towards the screen before striking a pose reminiscent of his Smash 4 artwork. It replaces his victory pose from the previous games where he performed Whirling Fortress and struck a pose.

Attributes

• Like all characters, Bowser's jumpsquat animation takes 3 frames to complete (down from 8), the second largest difference out of all veterans (only behind Snake), greatly improving his ground-to-air transitioning and out of shield game.
• Bowser walks slightly faster (0.858 → 0.901).
• Bowser dashes faster (1.792 → 1.971).
  • Bowser's initial dash is significantly faster (1 → 2.255), going from the slowest in the game to being tied for the 6th fastest. This significantly helps him with both his defensive and offensive approach on the ground, whilst also giving him a respectable dash dance.
• Bowser's air speed is faster (1 → 1.155), especially relative to the cast, going from average to being tied for the 19th fastest in the game.
• Bowser’s traction is higher (0.0577 → 0.104), making it easier for him to punish out of shield. Relative to the returning cast, however, it is much lower, going from the 27th highest to only the 56th highest.
• Bowser falls significantly faster (1.39 → 1.77), his falling speed going from the 17th slowest to being tied for the 18th fastest. This greatly improves his vertical endurance and ground-to-air transitioning. The most notable change, however, is that this, when coupled with him receiving less landing lag on his aerials, helps him out with one of his primary weaknesses in Smash 4: his trouble landing safely.
  • His fast-falling speed is also faster as a result (2.224 → 2.832), now being faster than his Melee fast-falling speed.
• Bowser’s gravity is higher (0.11 → 0.125). When combined with his increased falling speed, this allows him to land drastically more safely, but makes him more susceptible to combos.
• Bowser is heavier (130 → 135), further improving his already excellent endurance, as well as the effectiveness of his Tough Guy armor.
  • However, it also makes him significantly more susceptible to combos, which is further exacerbated by his faster falling speed and higher gravity.
• The universal knockback reduction in rapid jabs allows Tough Guy to resist every single one of them, including the ones it couldn’t resist in Smash 4, such as Captain Falcon's.
• Forward roll has less ending lag (FAF 34 → 33).
• Forward roll grants less intangibility (frames 4-19 → 4-16).
• Back roll has more startup with less intangibility (frames 4-19 → 5-17), and more ending lag (FAF 34 → 38).
• Spot dodge has less startup (frame 4 → 3).
• Air dodge grants more intangibility (frames 4-29 → 4-32).
• Air dodge has significantly more ending lag (FAF 35 → 47), although due to the universal changes, relative to the cast, it has gone from one of the slowest to one of the fastest.

Ground attacks

• Bowser has damage-based armor during the startup of all his tilt and smash attacks:
  • Up tilt: Armor active on frames 8-10; resists up to 4% damage
  • Forward tilt and down tilt: 7-9; 4%
  • Forward smash: 17-21; 10%
  • Up smash: 11-15; 8%
  • Down smash: 5-11; 8%
• Neutral attack:
  • The first hit transitions faster into the second (frame 12 → 10).
  • The second hit deals slightly more damage (6.5% → 7%).
  • Both hits have a higher hitlag multiplier (1× → 1.4× (hit 1), 1.8× (hit 2)), giving opponents more time to SDI the first hit and DI the second hit.
  • The first hit has more ending lag (FAF 21 → 26), greatly reducing its jab cancel ability.
  • The first hit deals less damage (5% → 4%), slightly reducing the move's total damage output despite the second hit dealing more damage (11.5% → 11%).
  • The first hit has a shorter hitbox duration, with its arm intangibility reduced as well (frames 7-9 → 7-8).
  • The first hit has altered angles (30°/50°/85° → 361°/180°) to keep opponents closer to Bowser, and no longer deals set knockback (45/30/18 set/100 scaling → 40/35/30 base/18 scaling). This allows it to jab lock and connect more reliably into the second hit up to high percents, but less reliably afterward, without increasing its jab cancel ability due to its increased ending lag.
  • The first hit has an altered animation, being a sumo-style palm strike instead of a punch.
• Forward tilt:
  • The move deals more damage (12% → 13%) with no compensation on knockback. This turns it into one of the strongest forward tilts in the game.
  • The move has a slightly altered animation where Bowser bends his arm during the punch. This slightly reduces its range.
• Up tilt:
  • It deals more damage (9% → 11%) with no compensation on knockback, allowing it to KO at around 130%, much like in Brawl.
  • Bowser's arm is intangible during the move (frames 11-16).
• Down tilt:
  • The first hit has received set knockback (20 base/100 scaling → 50/30 set/100 scaling), and its outermost hitbox launches opponents towards Bowser (361° → 130°), while the second hit comes out faster (frame 20 → 15). This allows both hits to link much more reliably.
    • However, the move's total duration remains the same, increasing its ending lag.
  • Both hits deal drastically less damage (14% → 7% (hit 1), 11% → 8% (hit 2)), still resulting in slightly higher total damage than the first hit alone in Smash 4 (14% → 15%), but significantly reducing it at low percents where the unchanged hits could link, in addition to weakening its shield safety and shield breaking ability. The second hit's knockback was also not fully compensated (12 base/100 scaling → 20/111), drastically weakening its KO potential, especially compared to the first hit in Smash 4.
  • The second hit has larger hitboxes (5u/4.5u/4u → 5.6u/5u/4.5u), improving its range.
• Forward smash:
  • It now has transcendent priority, and combined with his legs now being invincible (rather than intangible), this makes Bowser's forward smash much more difficult to challenge, in a similar vein to his up smash.
• Up smash:
  • It deals slightly more damage (20%/15%/15% → 22%/16%/16%) with no compensation on knockback, and its sourspots launch at a consistent and higher angle (70°/120° → 85°), further improving the move's already impressive KO potential, to the point where the sweetspot is stronger than Ganondorf's up smash and the strongest up smash in the game.
  • The landing hit deals twice as much damage (6% → 12%).
  • The landing hit has more range behind Bowser (Z offset: 4–-5.5 → 4–-7.5).
  • The landing hit has significantly less knockback (80 base/100 scaling → 30/70), hindering its KO potential despite its increased damage.
    • However, this improves its combo potential, even granting it a KO setup into his back air.
• Down smash:
  • Bowser has a new down smash: a low claw swipe forward with one hand, then another swipe backward with his other hand, similar to Wolf in Brawl. It hits only twice instead of seven times, with one hit at each side.
    • The move's new animation gives it much more horizontal range.
  • Both hits deal much more individual damage, with the first hit's being the same the total of the previous down smash (2% (hit 1), 1% (hits 2-6), 9% (hit 7) → 16% (hit 1), 15% (hit 2)), and they launch at a lower angle (50° → 40°), with their knockback not fully compensated (40 base/130 scaling → 60/86 (hit 1), 60/92 (hit 2)). This significantly improves its KO potential, with both hits KOing under 100% from center stage, and effectively replaces a highly situational move that was notoriously outclassed by Whirling Fortress.
  • The new down smash has more startup, and significantly fewer active frames due to the removal of the looping hits (frame 10, 14-15, 17-18, 20-21, 23-24, 26-27, 31 → 12-13, 28-29). This makes it somewhat less effective for punishing rolls, and makes the first hit less safe on shield.

Aerial attacks

• All aerials have less landing lag (neutral: 20 frames → 15, forward: 24 → 14, back: 40 → 24, up: 28 → 17, down: 40 → 34).
• Neutral aerial:
  • The move auto-cancels earlier (frame 45 → 41).
  • Due to its lower landing lag and Bowser's faster jumpsquat, it is a much better landing option and combo starter, leading into aerial attacks even up to high percentages.
  • Its hitboxes are smaller (5.5u → 5u).
• Forward aerial:
  • The move always launches opponents in front of Bowser now, improving its consistency in edgeguarding and killing.
    • However, this removes a confirm the move had in the previous game into Bowser's back aerial if the opponent was sent backwards by it.
• Down aerial:
  • The landing hitbox has a longer duration (frames 1-3 → 1-6).

Throws and other attacks

• Grabs:
  • All grabs have a longer hitbox duration (2 frames → 3).
  • Standing grab has less startup (frame 9 → 8).
  • Standing grab has more ending lag (FAF 39 → 41).
  • Dash and pivot grabs have more startup (dash: frame 10 → 11, pivot: frame 11 → 12), with dash grab's total duration increased as well (FAF 48 → 49).
  • Dash grab has slightly more range (Z2 offset: 15.5u → 16.2u).
  • Pivot grab has less ending lag (FAF 46 → 44).
  • Pivot grab has drastically reduced range (Z2 offset: -26.5u → -22u), being stricter to Bowser's arm. However, it is still one of the longest-reaching non-tether pivot grabs in the game.
• Pummel:
  • Pummel has less startup (frame 9 → 2), deals more hitlag (5 frames → 15), and has significantly less ending lag (FAF 24 → 8), shortening its duration. This slightly increases the amount of times Bowser can pummel the opponent before throwing them or before they break out.
  • Pummel deals much less damage (3.1% → 1.6%). This makes it marginally less reliable for racking up damage.
• Up throw:
  • The eighth hit deals more damage (1% → 2%), and it has an additional hit right as the release occurs that deals 4%, almost doubling its total damage output (6.5% → 11.5%).
  • The ending hit's knockback will override the throw portion's up until very high percentages. Said hit has greatly altered knockback (25 (base)/180 (scaling) → 85/80) effectively resulting in the move dealing noticeably more knockback at lower percents while not having improved KO potential at high percents, reducing its combo potential significantly, but not entirely.
  • The throw releases opponents slower (frame 53 → 57), but has more ending lag (FAF 64 → 75). Although this is somewhat alleviated by Bowser's faster jumpsquat, it completely removes the move's combo potential past mid percentages, along with no longer possessing any guranteed KO setups.
  • The last hit deals significantly less knockback to bystanders (80 base/200 scaling → 85/80).
  • The last hit launches bystanders vertically instead of being a semi-spike (0° → 80°). Coupled with the previous change, this removes the extreme horizontal KO power it used to have, but allows it to combo them alongside the thrown victim.
  • Bowser hops during the final hit.
• Down throw:
  • The throw's release deals more damage (2% → 4%) with no compensation on knockback, although it's still rather weak.
  • It has faster startup (frame 45, 56 → 35, 37), but with its total duration not reduced, significantly increasing its ending lag, while it remains easy to react to.
  • It has a more exaggerated animation.
• Edge attack:
  • Edge attack deals more damage (7% → 10%).

Special moves

• Fire Breath:
  • It deals more damage per hit (1.2% → 1.8%).
  • It has larger hitboxes (4u → 4.5u).
  • The flames are more vibrant in color, a stark contrast to the more realistic-looking flames in SSB4.
• Flying Slam:
  • The move has significantly faster startup overall (frame 8 (ground)/17 (aerial) → 6 (both)), especially in the air. This allows Bowser to beat out shielding opponents much more easily when airborne, and in combination with his faster jumpsquat gives it utility as an out of shield option.
  • The move can be B-reversed.
  • It has a new property that gradually increases its damage the more distance Bowser falls with the grabbed opponent before impacting ground (for example, if he lands on a lower platform from where the move was initiated), still with a minimum of 18% and reaching a maximum of 23.4%. This damage increase fully affects the move's knockback, improving its KO potential if initiated above the stage or if Bowser can control it adequately.
  • The inner grabbox is larger (4u → 5u).
  • The move has noticeably more ending lag (FAF 43 (grounded), 50 (aerial) → 53), and the aerial version no longer auto-cancels upon landing, making it much easier to punish.
  • Upon grabbing an opponent, it has more lag before Bowser jumps (25 frames → 33), giving the opponent more time to influence its movement.
  • The outer grabbox is smaller (5u → 4u), but further out (Z offset: 17.5 → 19), increasing its horizontal reach but worsening its vertical reach.
  • Bowser spins around more dramatically on the way down when grabbing an opponent, and the move produces an explosion on landing.
• Whirling Fortress (grounded):
  • The looping hits use different angles (180° → 160°/165°), deal less knockback (50/70 set/100 scaling → 80/120/50), have a lower hitlag multiplier (1× → 0.7×), use weight-independent knockback, and have gained an additional hitbox above Bowser that meteor smashes opponents into the attack (180° → 240°) with low knockback. This allows it to connect significantly more reliably, with opponents no longer being able to tech out of it, and increases its vertical range.
  • The last hit deals more damage (4% → 6%), with knockback compensated (70 base/150 scaling → 50/140).
  • The last hit uses weight-independent knockback. This hinders the move's KO potential against lighter targets, but improves it against heavier ones.
  • The last hit launches at a lower angle (60° → 55°).
• Whirling Fortress (aerial):
  • It has significantly less landing lag (50 frames → 36).
  • The first hit and looping hits use the autolink angle (84° → 367°), with the former dealing effectively set knockback (80 base/60 scaling → 50/0), and it has an additional finishing hit at the end (dealing 12 hits, up from 11) with significantly more knockback scaling (20 → 180). This repurposes the move into a more traditional multi-hit move that can rack up damage more safely.
  • It deals significantly less damage (10% (hit 1), 3% (hits 2-6), 2% (hits 7-11) → 7% (hit 1), 1% (hits 2-11), 2% (hit 12); 35% total → 19%), no longer being one of the most damaging up special moves in the game.