Bowser (SSBB)

Bowser (, Koopa) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Confirmed on the Smash Bros. DOJO!! website on July 3, 2007, he returns from his  series debut in Super Smash Bros. Melee.

Rather than use his stock roars from Mario Kart 64 (like in Melee) or portrayals by Kenny James or Scott Burns, his most recent voice actors at the time, Bowser now uses modified stock pig sounds taken from the Serafine L2 Sound Library, with his star KO scream including an elk bugle. The same stock sound effects are also used for Ridley in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, through with considerably less modification.

Bowser ranks 33rd out of 38 on the tier list, putting him in 3rd place on the F tier, a slight improvement from his last place ranking in Melee. Compared to his Melee incarnation, Bowser is faster and more mobile character at the expense of slightly less power. Despite the slight power nerf, Bowser is still one of the strongest 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 holds distinction as the heaviest character, with strong momentum cancelling to complement it, giving Bowser one of the best endurance potentials in Brawl. Additionally, Bowser has gained an excellent aerial grab in Flying Slam, which also gives him access to the Koopa hopping technique to improve his mobility and approach. Bowser also has some 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, possessing only average dashing speed and the slowest initial dash speed, and he can have difficulty in keeping up with several characters. He is also one of the largest characters, which combines with his massive weight to make him quite vulnerable to combos and chain throws, some of which are infinite or even a zero-to-death (most notoriously from ). Importantly, Bowser has significant trouble landing, with all of his landing options being slow, punishable, predictable, which is also compounded by his laggy aerials. Finally, Bowser possesses an easily gimpable recovery that gains barely any vertical height, and his lack of an effective projectile makes it difficult for him to break through opposing camping. His flaws overpower his strengths, resulting in mostly terrible match-ups and, when combined with his miniscule tournament representation, some of the worst tournament results of any character.

Attributes
Bowser is the largest and heaviest character in Brawl. This grants him high durability, yet makes him easier to hit due to his large hurtbox. Because of his heavy weight, Bowser's recovery has significant horizontal range but marginal vertical movement. His dodging abilities are among the worst relative to the rest of the cast in having the second slowest roll and slowest spot dodge. He also has the ability to crawl, but due to his large size, it is ineffective at 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 the most damaging smash attack in Brawl. However, this KO ability comes at the price of high startup lag and cooldown. Due to his average speed and reliance on powerful KO moves, Bowser can struggle somewhat in the low damage game, as he lacks diverse ways of racking up damage on the opponent. The one possible exception is his neutral special Fire Breath, which can help set up pseudo-chaingrabs or combos into his strongest attacks. He also notably has an effective grab release, due to its animation being shorter than any other character. Out of a ground release, Bowser can hit his opponent with a jab, tilt or he can regrab them (except, because of his unusually short ground release animation). An aerial release can lead into a forward aerial against multiple characters, as well as a smash attack against or an up aerial against. Fire Breath serves multiple roles for Bowser, such as racking up damage on the opponent as well as preventing an opponent's approach; it also serves as a functional edge guarding attack. Bowser also has a potent Sacrificial KO in 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 they go down offstage. It is also useful in 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 if up in stock. Bowser's standard attack can 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 without experiencing shieldstun.

However, given Bowser's extreme heavy weight, large size and high gravity, it makes him vulnerable for infinite chain grabs like Wario's and 's, and other combos in general. In addition, his primary recovery, Whirling Fortress, is worse than Donkey Kong's Spinning Kong and gives poor vertical and horizontal distance, although it is a very good out-of-shield move, though it can be shielded if read. His poor mobility also severely hinders his approach and allows many characters to easily camp him and rack up damage. He also lacks an effective aerial game due to a combination of low jumps and having mostly laggy or easily avoidable aerial attacks. All of his aerials have high landing lag and all of them except for forward aerial are incapable of auto-cancelling in a short hop, resulting in Bowser's aerials being extremely ineffective for approaching and spacing, except for forward aerial.

Overall, Bowser can dish out large amounts of damage to opponents in minimal hits, complemented with a useful sacrificial KO and a strong OoS game due to his Whirling Fortress and high weight. This often allows him to not be KO'd until late percentages. However, most of his stats work against him; he is extremely vulnerable to chain grabs due to his large size, high weight and gravity, and his primary recovery Whirling Fortress can easily be gimped. Without committal reads, Bowser’s lack of speed means he will usually be unable to break the opposition between him and his foe, meaning he can be overwhelmed with fast attacks and/or mobility, or he will be forced to play in a disadvantageous situation throughout a game.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. Melee
Bowser is considered to be buffed overall from Melee due to his increased speed, both in overall mobility, and to a lesser extent, frame data. Bowser's ground speed has slightly improved, and his air speed has been greatly improved, significantly improving his recovery. A variety of his moves have decreased startup lag, and his claw attacks have increased range. His new side special, Flying Slam, has significantly higher utility than Koopa Klaw, and his grab release game is overall more consistent due to the introduction of buffering; additionally, the general changes to aerial grab releases also improve his grab release game. Lastly, the introduction of hitstun canceling benefits him as it makes him less vulnerable to combos, aids his endurance via momentum canceling, and does not have a huge impact on him due to his lack of combo potential.

However, he has also seen some nerfs, mainly to his power. His power is slightly toned down (although he still is one of the strongest characters in the game), with many of his attacks dealing less damage and knockback, making it more difficult for Bowser to KO his opponents. Two of Bowser's most versatile attacks have also seen significant nerfs: his fast edge attack has much less intangibility and a shorter duration, making it a significantly less effective tool, while his grounded Whirling Fortress is slightly slower and weaker, though it is still a very strong OOS option. Finally, the removal of L-cancelling has crippled his already poor aerial game by rendering his already slow aerials even slower and consequently making them even more unsafe.

Overall, while Bowser is better than he previously was, his tournament results and representation have not significantly improved, due to most of his severe flaws still remaining intact and some of them being exacerbated (most notably his aerials being much more unsafe on landing due to the loss of L-cancelling.) As such, he still remains as a bottom tier character with a multitude of poor matchups and extremely scarce tournament representation.

Ground attacks

 * Neutral attack:
 * Forward tilt:
 * Up tilt:
 * Down tilt:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Up tilt:
 * Down tilt:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:

Aerial attacks

 * Neutral aerial:
 * Forward aerial:
 * Back aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Back aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Back aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:

Throws/other attacks

 * Grabs:
 * Up throw:
 * Edge attacks:
 * Up throw:
 * Edge attacks:
 * Edge attacks:
 * Edge attacks:
 * Edge attacks:
 * Edge attacks:

Special Moves

 * Fire Breath:
 * Flying Slam:
 * Whirling Fortress:
 * Bowser Bomb:
 * Final Smash:
 * Whirling Fortress:
 * Bowser Bomb:
 * Final Smash:
 * Bowser Bomb:
 * Final Smash:
 * Bowser Bomb:
 * Final Smash:
 * Bowser Bomb:
 * Final Smash:
 * Bowser Bomb:
 * Final Smash:
 * Bowser Bomb:
 * Final Smash:
 * Bowser Bomb:
 * Final Smash:
 * Bowser Bomb:
 * Final Smash:
 * Bowser Bomb:
 * Final Smash:
 * Final Smash:
 * Final Smash:

Moveset

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


 * Bowser can crawl, although it has little practical use due to his large crouching hurtbox.

Notable players

 * See also: Category:Bowser players (SSBB)


 * - Although more well known for his in SSB4, he had a high-level Bowser and was considered to be the top Bowser player in Europe.
 * - Considered to be the premier Bowser player in Japan.
 * - Considered to be the best Bowser player of all time.
 * - One of the best Bowser players in the United States.
 * - While he mostly used for most of his tournament results, he had a high-level Bowser and was considered to be one of the best Bowser players in the United States.
 * - A top Bowser player in the United States.

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 could not effectively evade him and was still discovering the potential of other characters. Bowser still had the traits of a classic low tier character, however: he was still very slow compared to the rest of the cast, very large and thus heavily vulnerable to deadly chain throws and combos, had an easily gimpable recovery that compromised his endurance potential, and was vulnerable 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 of grab release followups. Through the second to fourth tier lists, Bowser fell no more than two spots at a time, but it was not until the fifth list that he saw a significant drop, falling five spaces to 32nd and formally entering the low tiers, though many players thought of Bowser as a low tier character well before then.

Bowser's decline additionally saw his playerbase diminish, and most of his top players, notably his best player, dropped Bowser or stopped playing Brawl competitively altogether, while fewer and fewer players used Bowser overall. By the end of the game’s competitive lifespan, Bowser was 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 has led to his poor tournament results. As such, Bowser has never risen on any tier list. However, despite Bowser's weak representation and tournament results, the characters below him are generally considered to be even worse by a noticeable margin.

Role in The Subspace Emissary
Bowser is one of the two secondary antagonists alongside Ganondorf in the Subspace Emissary. He first appears after and  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. 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 to hunt down, who had stolen Wario's trophies. He also transforms / into a trophy, and after having another Shadow bug clone of him copy her, orders her Shadow bug clone to attack and / and. 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. The debris buries Dedede along with the trophies of Ness and Luigi. As such he only finds the trophy of Peach/Zelda. 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 attack Fox and Diddy Kong at the Swamp and transforms Diddy into a trophy. Fox dodges the shots however. Bowser then orders shadow bugs to clone Diddy's trophy. He flees after attacks him and destroys his Dark Cannon. He orders more shadow bugs to make the Diddy clone giant however. Fox, Falco, and the real Diddy defeat it though. He is next seen with on the Subspace Gunship. They destroy the Halberd, but fail to stop 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, fights him Bowser is defeated, revived again, and then notices the downed and decides to help the heroes take down Tabuu. Later Bowser beats up Ganondorf's trophy for revenge. 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.

Non-playable appearances

 * The Jungle
 * The Lake
 * 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 Classic Mode, Bowser can appear as an opponent or ally in Stage 8 along with, , and on Delfino Plaza, , Mushroomy Kingdom, or Luigi's Mansion (with the latter available if it has been unlocked). Bowser can also appear as an opponent in Stage 11, but only if he hasn't appeared in Stage 8.

All-Star Mode
In All-Star Mode, Bowser is fought in Stage 2 alongside, , and on Delfino Plaza, , Mushroomy Kingdom, or Luigi's Mansion (with the latter available if it has been unlocked).

Solo Events

 * Event 1: Two Trouble Kings: As, the player must defeat Bowser and 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, the player must defeat a giant Bowser, a giant , and a giant 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, and  on.

Co-Op Events

 * Co-Op Event 8: ALL MINE!: and Bowser must work together to collect 2000 coins together on Skyworld while fighting  and.
 * Co-Op Event 20: The Final Battle for Two: Both players select a character and must defeat Bowser,, , , , and on.
 * Co-Op Event 21: The True All-Star Battle: Both players select a character and take on the entire roster on.

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

Trivia

 * Bowser's voice clip for his Wii Remote selection is one of the stock roars used for him in Mario Kart 64 and Melee.
 * Bowser's animation for being grabbed has some placement issues. His hurtbox bends away from the grabber, and it is rather far away. ' pummel will only hit the first time, and and 's will only hit every other time.
 * Bowser,, , and 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 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,, and 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 right before he lands, he will rapidly flip between his aerial grab and grounded grab animation.
 * Bowser is the only character in Brawl to not have the tweeting sound when he is stunned.
 * Bowser is the only character whose theme in the Character Roll Call does not belong to his universe. His theme is, a theme belonging to the universe.
 * This also makes him and Marth the only characters to use a theme from Melee for their Character Roll Call.