Bowser Jr. (SSB4)

Bowser Jr. in Super Smash Bros. 4
Universe	Mario
Availability	Unlockable (3DS) Starter (Wii U)
Final Smash	Shadow Mario Paint

“	Bowser Jr. Clowns The Competition!	”
—Introduction Tagline

Bowser Jr. (クッパ Jr., Koopa Jr.) was officially revealed as a new playable character in Super Smash Bros. 4 on October 23rd, 2014 alongside Mr. Game & Watch during the Super Smash Bros. for Wii U: 50-Fact Extravaganza, being the second-to-last newcomer shown off by an official source. Prior to that, he was leaked by ESRB on August 29th, 2014 alongside Shulk and Ganondorf. He appears as a new Mario character alongside Rosalina & Luma. His playstyle involves him using his Junior Clown Car.

Bowser Jr. uses Caety Sagoian's recycled voice clips from games such as Mario Kart Wii, and the Koopalings that serve as alternate costumes, also use recycled voice clips from other installments in which they appeared.

How to unlock

Complete one of the following:

• Play 100 VS Matches.
• As Bowser, complete Classic mode on Intensity 6.0 or higher.

After completing one of the two methods, Bowser Jr. must then be fought on 3D Land, where defeating him unlocks him.

In Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, Bowser Jr. is a starter character, so he does not have to be unlocked.

Attributes

Bowser Jr. is rather unorthodox when compared to rest of SSB4's cast. Like Duck Hunt's dog and duck, Bowser Jr. and his Junior Clown Car have two separate hurtboxes and different damage outputs. Attacks that strike the Clown Car will deal 0.88x damage, whereas those that hit Bowser Jr. himself will deal 1.15x damage. Bowser Jr. is also the only character whose every attack has a disjointed hitbox.

Clown Kart Dash is considered to be his best move because of its versatility, as it provides much better movement options to make up for his low running speed, a strong spin-out attack, and he can jump out of it to combo into aerials with ease as well as improve his horizontal recovery. Abandon Ship! is another useful move that possesses impressive knockback and grants him considerable vertical distance. Unlike most recovery moves, Abandon Ship! does not put Bowser Jr. into helplessness, but instead allows him to perform a powerful hammer swing upon pressing the attack button, which is an almost guaranteed KOing option when used in sync with Clown Kart Dash at high percents. Mechakoopa is a very useful tool for zoning, combos, follow-ups, and can also be used as a shield to block projectiles like Samus's Charge Shot.

Like Wario and Donkey Kong, Bowser Jr. is a heavyweight that possesses good mobility, which in turn supplements his useful aerial attacks. His neutral aerial is useful as both an edge-guarding and out of shield option. His forward and back aerials are useful as edge-guarding, spacing and KOing options. While Bowser Jr.'s up aerial only hits above him, it is capable of juggling and can KO on stages with low ceilings, such as Battlefield or Town and City. Down aerial can shield stab and works well used out of Clown Kart Dash at lower percents due to its low landing lag.

Despite his great mobility and damage racking potential, Bowser Jr. is not without his flaws. One of his biggest problems is that his recovery is glaringly susceptible to being gimped. While Abandon Ship grants him impressive vertical distance, a weak hit from an attack can result in Bowser Jr. not being able to re-spawn his Clown Car. Characters such as Rosalina & Luma can shut down Bowser Jr.'s neutral game, as it mostly relies on Mechakoopa. Clown Kart Dash, while fast and versatile, is also very predictable and very punishable. Despite his grab range being rather large and his back throw being a somewhat viable kill throw, it comes out very slowly (on frame 12) and his throws are not very useful in general due to an their inability to KO reliably (except for his back throw at high percents) and partake in combos. Clown Cannon, while powerful, is a slow and laggy projectile, and it becomes even more useless against characters capable of reflecting. Finally, Bowser Jr. suffers from poor KOing potential due to his smash attacks not being very reliable KOing options, Clown Kart Dash's aforementioned predictability, and his aerials' inability to KO until his opponents are at a very high percent.

With customs on, Bowser Jr. gains very situational buffs. Piercing Cannon and Air Cannon are both faster and less laggy. Big Mechakoopa is a bigger projectile and is stronger, but it makes his neutral game significantly worse. His other custom moves, however, do not help Bowser Jr. in any way and make his special moves worse.

Overall, Bowser Jr. is a greatly overshadowed character and his easily exploitable weaknesses make him a bit underwhelming. This is evident in his severe lack of representation, and has lead to players such as ESAM to consider him among the worst characters in the game. However, Tweek, one of the most successful Bowser Jr. players, has shown that he can be rather viable when his strengths are played wisely and to the fullest.

Update history

Bowser Jr. has been slightly buffed via the game updates so far. The changes to the shield mechanics in 1.1.0 and 1.1.1 also slightly help him due to the high damage and hitlag of his moves.

1.0.4

• Down throw's hit rate decreased: 10 → 8.
• Down throw deals 2% less damage: 10% → 8%.

1.0.6

• Forward smash can hit at a closer range.
• Neutral infinite has less visual whiffs.

1.1.0

• Clown Cannon deals more damage: 4.4%/7% → 5.9%/8.5% (uncharged), 12.6%/18% → 14%/20% (fully charged).

1.1.1

• Floor attack's shield damage now matches the other characters: 1 → 8.
• Back floor attack does 10 shield damage, as did other characters' before this update.
• Air Cannon's endlag reduced by 14 frames. Frames 5-25 now run 1.3x slower instead of 2x.
• Clown Cannon's growth increased: 60 (sourspot), 80 (sweetspot) → 65 (soutspot), 85 (sweetspot).
• Clown Cannon's hitbox size increased: 4.5 → 5.5.

Moveset

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack			3%	The Junior Clown Car punches twice, followed by a flurry of punches and a finishing hit using boxing gloves. It is surprisingly powerful and can KO around 130-150% at the edge of the stage.
			2%
			1% (loop), 3% (last)
Forward tilt			8%	The Junior Clown Car stabs forward using a pitchfork. Can be angled.
Up tilt			6%	The Junior Clown Car slashes upward using a pitchfork. Can juggle in certain situations.
Down tilt			1.5% (hits 1-2), 5% (hit 3)	The Junior Clown Car opens its mouth to attack with its tongue, knocking opponents away at the end of the attack. Efficient to push away a rushing enemy.
Dash attack			1.5% (loop), 4% (last)	The Junior Clown Car slashes multiple times with a buzzsaw.
Forward smash			1% (loop), 11% (last)	Bowser Jr. uses two drills to drill his opponents. A fast and powerful KOing option. Can be angled.
Up smash			1% (first), 1.3% (loop), 1% (second to last), 6% (last)	Bowser Jr. flips upside down and attacks with the Junior Clown Car's spinning propeller. Very fast when not charging.
Down smash			18%	Bowser Jr. slams the ground on both sides of him using wrecking balls.
Neutral aerial			6% (clean), 5% (mid), 3% (late)	The Junior Clown Car spins around with the boxing glove arms extended. Can combo reliably from Clown Kart Dash.
Forward aerial			11%/9% (clean), 8%/6.5% (mid), 5%/4% (late), 2% (landing)	The Junior Clown Car swings a wrecking ball in front of Bowser Jr. Landing while the wrecking ball is still out produces another hitbox, which can lead to more followups on the ground. Useful for edge-guarding and spacing as well as a viable KOing option.
Back aerial			14% (clean tip), 8% (clean base, late)	The Junior Clown Car swings a wrecking ball behind Bowser Jr. Landing while the wrecking ball is still out produces another hitbox, which can lead to more followups on the ground. Useful for edge-guarding and a viable KOing option.
Up aerial			10% (clean), 6.5% (late)	Bowser Jr. swings a hammer above himself. Useful to make a chain of attack without letting the opponent land.
Down aerial			1.3% (loop), 2% (last), 2% (landing)	Bowser Jr. extends a drill below the Junior Clown Car to drill his opponents. It has almost no landing lag if you hit an opponent while landing, and landing produces another hitbox.
Grab			—	A claw appears from the Junior Clown Car and grabs the opponent.
Pummel			2%	Bowser Jr. hits the opponent with a toy hammer. Rather quick.
Forward throw			3% (hit 1), 6% (throw)	A boxing glove arm uppercuts the opponent forward.
Back throw			12%	Bowser Jr. spins, then throws the opponent behind him with the claw. Can KO at higher percents.
Up throw			7%	Bowser Jr. throws the opponent above him with the claw. Can lead into up aerial at low percents.
Down throw			0.5% (loop), 4% (throw)	Bowser Jr. throws the opponent onto the ground and drills into them.
Forward roll Back roll Spot dodge Air dodge		—	—
Techs		—	—
Floor attack (front) Floor getups (front)			6%	Bowser Jr. gets up while spinning with boxing gloves outstretched.
Floor attack (back) Floor getups (back)			7%	Bowser Jr. gets up while spinning with a buzzsaw.
Floor attack (trip) Floor getups (trip)			5%	Bowser Jr. gets up while stabbing a pitchfork from either side of him.
Edge attack Edge getups			7%	Bowser Jr. climbs up and swings two wrecking balls to the ground.
Neutral special	Default	Clown Cannon	7% uncharged, 18% fully charged	Bowser Jr. fires a slow, heavy cannonball from the Junior Clown Car's mouth. It can be charged to increase the cannonball's speed and power. At the end of its path, the cannonball will drop to the ground, which can hit opponents attempting to recover.
	Custom 1	Piercing Cannon	4% uncharged, 10% fully charged	Fires a smaller, less-powerful cannonball that can pierce through multiple opponents. Travels faster then the standard Clown Cannon.
	Custom 2	Air Cannon	0%	Blasts opponents with wind that will push back opponents. In the air, it can also be used to move backward quickly.
Side special	Default	Clown Kart Dash	4%+speed (collision), 8% (spin-out)	Bowser Jr. transforms the Junior Clown Car into a kart that speeds forward. Changing the direction will cause it to spin out, dealing more damage to foes than simply charging into them. Spinning out in the air can produce horizontal movement, after which this move can be used again. All Side-B's can be jump-cancelled, even right after hitting an opponent, which can lead into combos and mixups.
	Custom 1	Koopa Drift	2%+speed (collision), 1% (spin-out loop), 2% (spin-out last)	When spinning, the kart careens forward, hitting opponents multiple times. Careening in the air produces much more horizontal movement, but the jump portion of this move is much lower.
	Custom 2	Grounding Dash	8%+speed	The Junior Clown Car travels faster initially, but the spin does not do any damage. It buries grounded opponents on contact, but covers less horizontal distance.
Up special	Default	Abandon Ship!	5% (contact), 13% (explosion), 15%/10% (hammer)	Bowser Jr. executes a leaping ejection from the Junior Clown Car. The Car slowly falls to the ground and then explodes when the move is used in midair, whereas it will simply explode after a brief period when used on the ground. When Bowser Jr. is out of the Junior Clown Car, he can still attack with a hammer, in which it is one of his most powerful attacks.
	Custom 1	Meteor Ejection	8%/3% (contact), 10% (explosion), 15%/10% (hammer)	The Junior Clown Car produces a meteor effect upon activation. However, is covers less vertical distance, whereas he seems to cover more horizontal distance after being launched.
	Custom 2	Koopa Meteor	17% (contact), 15%/10% (hammer)	Launches high into the air before the Junior Clown Car explodes, firing him downward. Produces a powerful meteor effect upon contact, and great knockback on opponents caught near the bottom.
Down special	Default	Mechakoopa	2% (contact), 9% (explosion)	Bowser Jr. drops a Mechakoopa from the hatch of the Clown Car as it walks forward. If it reaches a wall, it will turn around and walk in the opposite direction. If it makes contact with an opponent, it will detonate. Finally, if enough time passes and they have not hit an opponent yet, they will spark out and detonate automatically. They can be picked up and thrown as items.
	Custom 1	Impatient Mechakoopa	5%	Launches a Mechakoopa at a fair distance. The Mechackoopa is armed to explode the moment it is launched. It explodes shortly after landing.
	Custom 2	Big Mechakoopa	15%	The Mechakoopa is larger and walks a shorter distance, but it does more damage if thrown.
Final Smash		Shadow Mario Paint	3% (paint), 5% (concluding explosion)	Bowser Jr. transforms into his Shadow Mario disguise and paints a giant, orange X on the screen. Anyone caught in the X's hitbox will take damage. The X will clear away with a final burst after some time. The sheer size of the X makes avoiding damage from the Final Smash extremely difficult, if not impossible.

Taunts

• BowserJrUpTauntSSB4.jpg
• BowserJrSideTauntSSB4.jpg
• BowserJrDownTauntSSB4.jpg

• Up Taunt: Sits on the edge of the Junior Clown Car and breathes fire.
• Side Taunt: Pulls out his hammer and spins it around twice.
• Down Taunt: The Junior Clown Car spawns its wheels, turns to angry and performs a donut, then returns to normal.

Idle Poses

• Places his hand over his eyes and looks around.
• Jumps impatiently in the Junior Clown Car.

On-Screen Appearance

Flies in onto the stage in the Junior Clown Car and makes a face at the camera.

Victory Fanfare

An original rock-based remix of the sound clip that would play when Mario reaches the end of a level in Super Mario Bros. It is shared with his father.

Victory Poses

• BowserJr.Pose1WiiU.png
• BowserJr.Pose3WiiU.png
• BowserJr.Pose2WiiU.png

• Drives the Clown Car around like a go-kart, then stops and pulls out a hammer.
• Jumps out of the Clown Car, hops in celebration a few times, then poses.
• Gets out of the Clown Car and rubs it with his right hand.

In Competitive Play

Official Custom Moveset Project

Character	Custom sets available
Bowser Jr.	1113	1121	1123	1211	1213
	1313	3111	3113	3213	1112

Notable players

•  Seagull Joe
•  Tweek
•  Vicegrip

Reveal Trailer

<youtube>UI7mc5OMssw</youtube>

Trophies

Bowser Jr.

Bowser's beloved, spoiled son sports a bandanna with a large mouth drawn on it. Like his father, Bowser Jr. longs to take Mario down. In Smash Bros., he'll fight from inside his heavily armed Junior Clown Car. The Clown Car takes less damage than Bowser Jr., so mind your positioning.

Bowser's probably a big fan of his son, what with him hating Mario just as much as dear old Dad does. The tyke's Junior Clown Car is packed with gadgets and gizmos to throw at enemies! By the way, he's extra vulnerable when he jumps out of it, but...you wouldn't dream of attacking the cute little fella then, would you?

: Super Mario Sunshine (08/2002)

: New Super Mario Bros. Wii (11/2009)

Bowser Jr. (Alt.)

The Clown Kart Dash special move turns the Junior Clown Car into a kart. If you change direction while driving it, it'll spin and do more damage. When you use his up special, Bowser Jr. leaps from his Junior Clown Car, dropping it on the foes below.

The Clown Kart Dash special move turns the Junior Clown Car into a kart. If you change direction while driving it, it'll spin and do more damage. When you use his up special, Bowser Jr. jumps out of the Junior Clown Car, letting it hit opponents. Try to catch opponents with it while you're directly over them to hit them on the head!

: Super Mario Sunshine (08/2002)

: New Super Mario Bros. Wii (11/2009)

Shadow Mario Paint

In Super Mario Sunshine, someone went around causing havoc disguised as Mario. It turned out not to be the brawny Bowser, but his brainier son, Bowser Jr. Now he becomes Shadow Mario again for his Final Smash, painting a giant X on the screen. It sticks around after Bowser Jr. transforms back, letting him gleefully knock foes into it.

In Super Mario Sunshine, someone went around causing havoc disguised as Mario. It turned out not to be the brawny Bowser, but his brainier son, Bowser Jr. Now he becomes Shadow Mario again for his Final Smash, painting a giant cross on the screen. It sticks around after Bowser Jr. turns back, so he can gleefully knock people into it.

• 

  Classic (3DS)

• 

  Alt. (3DS)

• 

  Classic (Wii U)

• 

  Alt. (Wii U)

• 

  Shadow Mario Paint

In Event Matches

Solo Events

• Behind Enemy Lines: As Fox, the player must survive one minute against Bowser Jr. and Mega Man.
• It's Past Your Bedtime!: As Jigglypuff, the player must make Bowser Jr., Ness, and Toon Link fall asleep at the same time by using Sing.
• New Challengers 1: Bowser Jr. is one of the seven opponents fought in this event alongside Villager, Wii Fit Trainer, Rosalina & Luma, Little Mac, Lucina, and Duck Hunt.
• Family Ties: The player controls Bowser Jr., who is aided by a Giant Bowser, and must defeat Mario and Luigi.
• Enough with the Kidnapping: As Peach, the player must defeat Bowser and Bowser Jr. on Mushroom Kingdom U.

Co-op Events

• A Lurking Menace: Mario and Luigi must defeat Bowser Jr.; if the fight lasts too long, they must also defeat a Giant Bowser.
• Peach in Peril: Bowser and Bowser Jr. must defeat all opponents except Peach, where KOing her results in a failure.
• Solidarity: Bowser and Bowser Jr. appear after the players have defeated Mario and Luigi.
• The Ultimate Battle: Two players select a character and must defeat the entire roster.

Alternate costumes

As opposed to color swaps, Bowser Jr.'s alternate costumes consist of all seven of the Koopalings. Bowser Jr.'s Junior Clown Car is the only one with black eyes and orange "eye paint", while the Koopalings' Clown Cars have yellow mechanical eyes with black "eye paint".

Gallery

• 

  Artwork of Bowser Jr. from the official site.

• 

  Splash art.

• 

  Larry Koopa.

• 

  Roy Koopa.

• 

  Wendy O. Koopa.

• 

  Iggy Koopa.

• 

  Morton Koopa Jr.

• 

  Lemmy Koopa.

• 

  Ludwig von Koopa.

• 

  Bowser Jr.'s amiibo.

• 

  Using the Clown Kart Dash with Wario.

• 

  Taunting with his father.

• 

  Aiming the Clown Cannon with Kirby.

• 

  Bowser Jr. and all the Koopalings on Onett.

• 

  Morton and Iggy using Abandon Ship! on Ludwig and Lemmy. Note the difference in size compared to the Mario series.

• 

  Wendy using her side smash on Iggy.

• 

  Bowser Jr. and all the Koopalings on the Great Cave Offensive.

• 

  Using his Final Smash on Mario and Luigi.

• 

  Summoning a Mechakoopa.

• 

  Using the Clown Kart Dash on the Spirit Tracks.

Trivia

• Bowser Jr. is the only fighter who does not have an alternate costume that shares the same name as the default costume or is a palette swap of the original costume. Due to this, he's the only character to use his default color scheme in his All-Star trophy.
  • Similarly, Bowser Jr. is the only character who doesn't use an alternative costume when he's fought in rounds 4-5 in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U's classic mode. However, he will be forced to use the Larry costume if he appears in a team battle and the player chooses a previously-defeated Bowser Jr. as a teammate.
• When Bowser Jr. gets a Super Leaf, the ears will be on his head but the tail will be on the back of his Clown Car.
  • When he uses Abandon Ship!, the tail on the Clown Car disappears.
• Because Bowser Jr.'s placement in All-Star mode is based on his debut rather than that of the Koopalings (who debuted before him), the Koopalings will be misplaced chronologically during All-Star mode if the opponent's costume is a Koopaling. The same applies to Olimar and Alph.
• Bowser Jr. and Villager are the only characters where all eight of their palette swaps have a chance of appearing in All-Star mode.
• Bowser Jr. was almost on the brink of being cut as a playable character due to limited time and resources. He barely got in due to the game's staff's diligent work.
• Bowser Jr. is the only newcomer to be both a starter and an unlockable in Smash 4.
• One of Bowser Jr.'s Conquest teams is called the "Kooky Kids". "Kooky" is also Ludwig's name in the DiC Entertainment cartoons The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World.
  • On the official Super Smash Bros. Facebook page, Wendy was called "a Kootie-Pie", a reference to her name in the DIC Entertainment cartoons.
  • On the same Facebook page, Lemmy is put down as "Hip but no Hop", a reference to Lemmy being called Hip and Iggy being called Hop in the cartoons.
• Bowser Jr. is the only character to have disjointed hitboxes in all of his moves.
• The drill Bowser Jr. uses for his down aerial and down throw looks similiar to the item Drill