Bowser inSuper Smash Bros. Melee
Universe	Mario
Other playable appearances	inBrawl inSSB4 inUltimate
Availability	Starter
Tier	F (26) (North America) H (24) (Europe)

Bowser (クッパ,Koopa), is a character inSuper Smash Bros. Melee and is available from thestart. Announced atE3 2001, Bowser was added to the game because he won the official poll of desirednewcomers for a potential secondSmash game with 169 votes, by a wide margin over the runner-up,Princess Peach.^[1] A stronger form of Bowser, namedGiga Bowser, also appears as the true final boss ofAdventure Mode.

Similar to Donkey Kong, Bowser has no voice actor; instead, his voice clips consist of realistic monster roars repurposed from the Universal Studios Sound Effects Library. Some of these voice clips were also used for his appearance inMario Kart 64 andSuper Mario 64.

Bowser is ranked dead last on the currentMeleetier list — 26th out of 26 characters, in the F tier, alongsideKirby — marking his worst placement in the series. Bowser has some of the strongest attacks, both in raw damage output and KO potential, while a couple of his moves are outstanding for other reasons. His grounded up special,Whirling Fortress, as well as his <100%edge attack, are among the best in the game, and make up the bulk of his optimal playstyle. Additionally, Bowser can survive to very high percents due to his unmatchedweight and rather highfalling speed.

Two great moves and endurance, however, do not make a viable fighter, especially with such harsh weaknesses. Bowser's most crushing downside is his insanely longjump squat, which is unparalleled in its slowness and makeswavedashing an ineffective tool for movement, while also making it difficult to avoid incoming attacks and telegraphing any attempt to go airborne. He suffers due to his large size and above-average falling speed, which makes him extremely easy tocombo. His moves are burdened with sluggishframe data, and hisapproach is among the worst in the game, with laggy aerials, the aforementioned slowest jump squat in the game, and an unhelpfulprojectile. Even the endurance granted by Bowser's immense weight is largely negated by hisrecovery, which is predictable, easy to intercept, and lacking in vertical distance.

With much of the cast being able to easilycamp,edgeguard, and overwhelm Bowser with their superior mobility and movesets, he has many difficultmatchups, miniscule representation, and poor tournament results, withLoadspiller andWarriorKnight being among the only players who have found any success with him in competitive play.

Attributes[edit]

Bowser acts as the game's primary "slow, but powerful" fighter; other equally heavy and powerful characters, such asGanondorf andDonkey Kong, are of considerably higher speed than Bowser in a variety of ways. Bowser has an average dashing speed, above-average falling speed, below average air speed, below average traction and the slowest initial dash. These characteristics also give Bowser a short and slow wavedash.

Bowser's greatest strength is his raw damage output and KO potential. Many of his attacks are the strongest of their kind, and their damage output can reach ludicrous levels; his down tilt, for example has the second highest damage output of any tilt (only behind Ganondorf's up tilt), dealing a potential 22% if both hits connect. As a result of this high damage output, Bowser possesses numerous finishing options, with all of his tilts, smash attacks, forward, back, and up aerials,Koopa Klawcommand grab,Whirling Fortress, andBowser Bomb garnering KOs. In addition to their high power, Bowser's attacks also have very large hitboxes, granting a more threatening offensive presence.

In addition to this, Bowser has a surprisingly high amount of tricks that can be used to aggravate opponents. One of Bowser's most versatile moves takes form as his up special,Whirling Fortress. In addition to acting as a combo breaker due to its extremely quick start-up andintangibility frames, it also serves as a very strongout of shield option, and a substitute to Bowser's poor defensive roll. Bowser is also surprisingly proficient at edgeguarding, despite his sluggish movement. He can quickly grab the ledge while using his Whirling Fortress off the side of the stage (known asFortress Hogging), and can knock recovering enemies back offstage with his<100% ledge attack, which is one of the best ledge attacks in the game, due to its speed and range (although his>100% ledge attack is much worse). Meanwhile, his forward aerial is one of his fastest and farthest-reaching attacks, while his back aerial is a semi-spike, giving him two more useful tools to gimp opponents.

Bowser's great strength comes at the cost of speed, however. Though his dashing speed is decent, he has poor air speed, the slowestwalking speed, the slowest jump in the game (a dismal 8-framejump squat) and an awful wavedash.Fire Breath is also tied with Zelda'sDin's Fire and Kirby'sFinal Cutter for possibly the worst projectile in the game; with high startup and ending lag, short reach for a projectile, and a gradual loss of power, it is almost completely useless outside of edgeguarding very linear recoveries (and even then Bowser already has much better edgeguarding options). His aerial approach is of equally poor quality, due to his aforementioned slow jumping speed and sluggish aerials. These deficiencies give Bowser perhaps the worst neutral game of the entire cast.

Bowser's poor neutral game is exacerbated by poor defensive options; his only good one is the aforementioned Whirling Fortress, as all of his other defensive options are among the worst in the game. With a small shield that invites shield stabbing, as well as slow dodges, Bowser has very few ways to relieve pressure. He also has almost no options against projectiles, due to his massive hurtbox, bad mobility, and lack of an effective projectile or reflector of his own. Many of Bowser’s attacks, despite having large hitboxes, also tend to have surprisingly short range (especially for a character of his size) due to poor hitbox placement. Finally, Bowser's attacks have notoriously sluggish frame data, and are easy to punish. As a result, Bowser has trouble comboing opponents, and his poor approach options and the extreme lag in his moves make him reliant on reads to land his finishers.

While Bowser does have high endurance due to being the heaviest character in the game, it is offset by his extreme susceptibility to gettingcomboed. Most of theMelee cast can easily combo,juggle, andchain grab him, with very little chance for Bowser to escape, bringing him to kill percent quickly despite how high his kill percent may be. His slow and predictable recovery also hampers his survivability; while Whirling Fortress is a great move, it is a very poor recovery, granting decent horizontal but terrible vertical distance. This makesmeteor smashes andspikes extremely threatening to Bowser, as characters with reliable spikes (such asFalco andMarth) can easily gimp him. Bowser's recovery is further hampered by his poor air speed and his lack of alternate recovery options.

Bowser's lack of fast, consecutive, low-knockback moves gives him a very shallow combo game; most of his combos require precise timing and L-cancelling, and even then, these combos are limited to two or three hits, often only working if the opponentDIs poorly, with the finishing hit seldom leading to a KO. Bowser's slow movement on both the ground and in the air also prevent him from easily pursuing foes after they have been knocked back, leading to a playstyle mostly centered on stage control and ledge mechanics, with opponents easily out-maneuvering approaches, and being able to punish Bowser's over-extentions. Moreover, Bowser's best KO options are inherently risky at all levels of play.

Overall, Bowser is a resoundingly ineffective character competitively, with his few advantages, and several crippling weaknesses. His great power is masked by his bad neutral game and frame data, and his high survivability is greatly dampened by his poor defense game and very large size. He also lacks the arsenal of safe moves and movement that high-tier characters have, and therefore often resorts to a stray hit and edgeguarding-centric game plan, with Whirling Fortress often being the only reliable move underpressure. As such, he very rarely sees representation in competitive play, and a multitude of hard reads are expected from Bowser players to even hold equal footing with viable characters in the cast.

Version history[edit]

Bowser was slightly buffed in the PAL version ofMelee. The issue regarding his down throw was fixed, and he is slightly heavier. Overall, while he is mildly less dysfunctional in the PAL release, Bowser is still undeniably a nonviable choice competitively.

NTSC 1.02

• Bowser can no longer performFlame canceling.

PAL

• Bowser is one unit heavier (117 → 118).
• Down throw is no longer weight dependent.
  • As a result, it now properly hitsJigglypuff andMr. Game & Watch.

Moveset[edit]

For a gallery of Bowser's hitboxes, seehere.

Bowser's aerial attacks

Stats[edit]

NTSC

PAL

Announcer call[edit]

• English

• Japanese

Taunt[edit]

• Rears his head back and roars.

Idle pose[edit]

• Similar to his taunt, only slower. Leans back and roars, exhaling steam from his mouth.

Crowd cheer[edit]

Victory poses[edit]

• Steps forward, builds up a little, and roars.
• Takes two steps forward while swiping with his claws twice.
• Spins around in his shell and comes out roaring.

Incompetitive play[edit]

Most historically significant players[edit]

See also:Category:Bowser players (SSBM)

•  62-bit Hero - Formerly known as Gimpyfish, the most renowned Bowser player of the MLG era, and primary innovator of the character. Returned to the community through Netplay upon the release ofProject Slippi, but has yet to compete on a large scale again.
•  Arash - Considered to be one of the best Bowser players during theGolden Age. Placed 9th atMLG San Francisco 2005 and 13th atMOAST 3, the latter being possibly the highest Bowser placement seen at any major tournament inMelee, though it is unclear how much he actually used Bowser at those tournaments, as he also playedJigglypuff. He eventually switched to solo-maining Jigglypuff before retiring in 2007.
•  DJ Nintendo - Was considered the best Bowser player in the world and one of the best Bowser players of all time. Placed 13th atMLG Long Island 2007 with solely Bowser and used him as a secondary in his placements of 13th atApex 2009 and 17th atRevival of Melee 2. His win overRyan Ford is considered the best win by a Bowser player in the game's competitive life. However, he mostly played other characters, primarilyFox, after the end of the MLG era, and would also later become inactive following sexual misconduct allegations.
•  Loadspiller - Originally starting out as anIce Climbers player, he switched to Bowser during the Slippi metagame, and is now considered one of the best Bowser players in the world in the post-Slippi metagame, alongside WarriorKnight, and remains the undisputed best since 2023. To date, he is the only Bowser player to ever make top 64 at a supermajor, doing so atTipped Off 15: Connected, placing 49th,scoring a set win overbillybopeep. Additionally, he placed 65th atShine 2023. These runs remain some of the best results by a Bowser player in the post-Slippi era.
•  WarriorKnight - One of the primary innovators of Bowser’s metagame and one of the best Bowser players of all time. He placed top 24 at a few superregionals such as 9th atMLG Long Island 2007 and 17th atZenith 2014. His placements of 49th at bothCEO 2016 andApex 2022 mark the best Bowser placements at majors behind Arash, with the latter being one of the few top 64 Bowser results seen at a major tournament in the post-Slippi era.

Tier placement and history[edit]

Since the beginning of the metagame, Bowser has always been a bottom-tiered character, ranking at or near the bottom on many revisions, due to his shallow combo tree, severe vulnerability to getting comboed and edgeguarded, poor mobility, and his pitifulmatchups against top/high tier characters, which has led to very poor tournament results overall. Even with the innovations of dedicated Bowser professionals such as62-bit Hero andWarriorKnight, who propelled Bowser to a level of play that many rarely had ever seen before, Bowser players simply could not reach the ubiquity and consistency needed as a main to be considered as a relevant threat in the top-level environment. Currently, Bowser is last on the tier list and is ranked in the F tier in 26th place. He has negligible representation in tournaments outside of situational matches where he is counterpicked against players unfamiliar with the matchup (e.g.DJ Nintendo vs. Unknown522 at Zenith 2013), and is considered a nonviable character choice for top-level play.

In 1-P Mode[edit]

InClassic Mode[edit]

In Classic Mode, Bowser can appear as an ordinary opponent; an opponent alongsideMario,Zelda,Mewtwo orPeach; a giant opponent; a metal opponent; or an ally in the team and giant battles.

In his appearances, he will appear on eitherBattlefield orPrincess Peach's Castle. Unusually, if fought as a giant character, he will appear onFountain of Dreams.

InAdventure Mode[edit]

In Adventure Mode, Bowser acts as a final boss of sorts, fought on the last stage, Stage 12: Final Destination. In this appearance, he is larger than usual, and as a result, he is more resistant to knockback. When played on Very Easy and Easydifficulties, or if the player has not beaten the mode within 18 minutes, then the game is concluded there. Classic Bowser'strophy falls off the stage, and the player's selected character celebrates with one of theirvictory poses.

Bowser's trophy returns to face theIce Climbers one last time.

If the player arrives at Final Destination on Normal difficulty or higher, Bowser will appear with his black color scheme instead of his ordinary green color scheme (or his green color scheme if the player plays Bowser with his black color scheme). After he is KO'd and the ordinary cutscene is played, however, the eerie music continues, and another cutscene shows the classic Bowser's trophy returning to Final Destination to face the player's character one last time. The trophy is then struck with lightning, and Bowser turns into Giga Bowser. Giga Bowser then comes to life, opening his mouth. As a last challenge for the player, they must defeat Giga Bowser in order to clear the mode. After he is defeated, a cutscene shows Bowser's trophy falling off the stage again; this time, however, it breaks apart in which appears to be a "floor" in a pitch black background.

InAll-Star Mode[edit]

In All-Star Mode, Bowser and his allies are fought on Yoshi's Island, as the remainingMario stages are already taken by the rest of the fourMario characters in the cast. When fighting Bowser on Yoshi's Island, the stage will always play its alternate track, "Super Mario Bros. 3".

InEvent Matches[edit]

Bowser makes the following appearances in the followingevent matches:

• Event 1: Trouble King: Bowser is the first opponent of the event mode. The player plays asMario, and Mario and Bowser have a stock of 2 each in an untimed match on theBattlefield stage. KO Bowser twice to win, which is an easy objective because Bowser is lighter than usual and has less competent AI.
• Event 10: All-Star Match 1: Bowser is the last of five opponents the player must fight in this series of staged battles. The player's character battles him on theRainbow Cruise stage, and their character has a stock of 2 while Bowser has 1. With a timer of four minutes, the player must defeat him and the other four characters one-by-one with the overall time and life the player has: Mario,Donkey Kong,Yoshi, andPeach beforehand.
• Event 17: Bounty Hunters: In this original scenario, the player plays asSamus teamed up withCaptain Falcon (with Friendly Fire turned off), and the shared opponent is Bowser on theJungle Japes stage. With everyone receiving a stock of one and 2:00 as the time limit, the goal is to be the one to KO Bowser. The player fails if Captain Falcon delivers the finishing blow or if Bowser SDs.
• Event 19: Peach's Peril: A scenario designed in homage to the standard plot of traditionalSuper Mario games of Bowser being afterPeach and Mario saving her. The player plays as Mario teamed with Peach, whose AI is set on walking to each end of the stage aimlessly, and they each have a stock of 1 while the enemy Bowser has an infinite stock. Bowser is especially strong and durable in this match, and he will attack either of them in the area on theFinal Destination stage. The objective is to last a full minute with both Mario and Peach surviving by the end, and high score is determined by how many times Mario can KO Bowser.
• Event 25: Gargantuans: A scenario designed in homage to old, campy monster movies like Godzilla and King Kong. On theFourside stage, with unlimited time, the player plays as a giant-sized Bowser (as "Godzilla") with 1 stock against a giant-sizedDonkey Kong (as "King Kong") with a stock of two. Two other characters on the match are a tiny Mario and a tiny Peach, who are almost always K.O.'d within seconds of the battle between the two main monsters.
• Event 42: Trouble King 2: This tough event takes place inPoké Floats. The player controlsLuigi against a giant Bowser in an untimed match where the two of them have a stock of two each.
• Event 51: The Showdown: In the game's final Event Match, the player has to square off againstGiga Bowser,Ganondorf, andMewtwo on a team. With no time limit, the player is tasked with defeat all three, and everyone is given a stock of three.

Congratulations Screens[edit]

Trophies[edit]

In addition to the normal trophy about Bowser as a character unlocked by completingClassic Mode as him on any difficulty, there are two trophies about him as a fighter, unlocked by completingAdventure Mode andAll-Star Mode respectively as him on any difficulty. Each of the trophies can also be unlocked by playing 100, 200, and 300 Vs. matches respectively as Bowser:

Classic Mode trophy

Bowser

Bowser has a long history of kidnapping Princess Peach to lure his nemesis, Mario, into traps. He leads an enormous group of mischievous creatures, not the least of which are his seven children. With outrageous strength, flammable breath, and more spikes than you can shake a Star Rod at, Bowser is a constant threat.

Super Mario Bros. (10/85)

Adventure ModeSMASH trophy

BowserSMASH

In many ways, Bowser is the toughest character around. Not only does he have near-impervious hide, but his great mass makes him almost impossible to hurl offscreen. Of course, his weight also makes him rather slow to maneuver, so when facing him in battle, it's best to press your attack and not give him a chance to counter.

B: Fire Breath

Smash B: Koopa Klaw

All-Star ModeSMASH trophy

BowserSMASH

Bowser's Fire Breath strikes continually, but it grows gradually smaller over time until it's barely smoldering. The Koopa Klaw rakes enemies at a distance and pulls nearby foes in close for a good gnawing. Bowser's Whirling Fortress moves laterally over the ground; it works in midair as a recovery. The Bowser Bomb is powerful and paves the way for more attacks.

Up & B: Whirling Fortress

Down & B: Bowser Bomb

Alternate costumes[edit]

Glitch[edit]

The glitch in action.

Bowser's giant hand glitch is a glitch inSuper Smash Bros. Melee that temporarily makes Bowser's hand inflate to several times its size, as the name implies. However, the glitch is only visible for a brief second.

Method:First, Bowser must pick up a capsule, then short hop. This also works with any item that can be thrown with the A button.After that, he must immediately perform an air dodge.

• As Bowser lands from the air dodge, his right hand (the one holding the capsule) will quickly grow many times its normal size, then just as quickly shrink back to normal. It grows and shrinks over the space of only a few frames, so it is difficult to pause the game at exactly the right point. If the game is paused when Bowser's hand is giant, inspection reveals that the giant hand is as detailed as Bowser's normal hand. When in its giant state, the hand can also distort platforms.

Gallery[edit]

Trivia[edit]

• In theSpecial Movie, Bowser is the only character not to appear with their universe (nor play asong from their own universe nor their owncredits theme). He is shown right after Captain Falcon (continuing Captain Falcon's theme song and credits theme).
• Bowser has his own unique landing effect from other characters. This effect is also used for his helpless landing animation.

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Bowser's page at Smabura-Ken

• Translation

v • d • e Mario universe
Fighters	Mario (SSB ·SSBM ·SSBB ·SSB4 ·SSBU) ·Luigi (SSB ·SSBM ·SSBB ·SSB4 ·SSBU) ·Peach (SSBM ·SSBB ·SSB4 ·SSBU) ·Bowser (SSBM ·SSBB ·SSB4 ·SSBU) ·Dr. Mario (SSBM ·SSB4 ·SSBU) ·Rosalina &Luma (SSB4 ·SSBU) ·Bowser Jr. (SSB4 ·SSBU) (Koopalings) ·Daisy (SSBU) ·Piranha Plant (SSBU)
Assist Trophies	Hammer Bro ·Waluigi ·Lakitu & Spinies ·Chain Chomp ·Thwomp ·Flies & Hand
Bosses	Metal Mario and Luigi ·Petey Piranha
Stages	Peach's Castle ·Mushroom Kingdom (SSB) ·Princess Peach's Castle ·Rainbow Cruise ·Mushroom Kingdom (SSBM) ·Mushroom Kingdom II ·Delfino Plaza ·Mushroomy Kingdom ·Figure-8 Circuit ·Luigi's Mansion ·Mario Bros. ·3D Land ·Golden Plains ·Rainbow Road ·Paper Mario ·Mushroom Kingdom U ·Mario Galaxy ·Mario Circuit ·Super Mario Maker ·New Donk City Hall Mushroom Kingdom (Adventure Mode)
Items	Bob-omb ·Fire Flower ·Green Shell ·Red Shell ·Super Star ·Super Mushroom ·Poison Mushroom ·Freezie ·Metal Box ·Golden Hammer ·Lightning Bolt ·Hothead ·Banana Peel ·Soccer Ball ·Boomerang ·Fire Bar ·POW Block ·Bullet Bill ·Spiny Shell ·Super Leaf ·Grass ·Super Launch Star
Enemies	Banzai Bill ·Bill Blaster ·Bullet Bill ·Chain Chomp ·Flame Chomp ·Goomba ·Giant Goomba ·Hammer Bro ·Koopa Paratroopa ·Koopa Troopa ·Lakitu & Spinies ·Magikoopa ·Shy Guy ·Spike Top
Other	Birdo ·Boo ·Cappy ·F.L.U.D.D. ·Geno ·Ghosts ·Kamek ·Koopa Clown Car ·Molten Fortress ·Nabbit ·Pauline ·Pidgit ·Shellcreeper ·Shy Guy ·Sidestepper ·Toad ·Warp Pipe
Trophies,Stickers andSpirits	Trophies (SSBM ·SSBB ·SSB4) ·Stickers ·Spirits
Music	Brawl (Mario Kart) ·SSB4 ·Ultimate (Mario Kart)
Masterpieces	Super Mario Bros. ·Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels ·Super Mario Bros. 2 ·Dr. Mario ·Super Mario World ·Super Mario Kart
Related universes	Donkey Kong ·Yoshi ·Wario ·Wrecking Crew
Related content	Yoshi's Island (SSBM) ·Meta Crystal

• Characters (SSBM)
• Mario universe
• Bowser (SSBM)
• Trophies (SSBM)