Since Super Mario games typically do not feature epic and emotionally involved storylines and character development like an RPG, opting for more straightforward, cheery, and colorful atmospheres whose starring characters are essentially meant to represent gaming personalities more than anything else, Bowser has not had much change in personality and role over the years: he is consistently shown to be brutish, oafish, and sarcastically witty at times. This archetype is faithfully preserved in Bowser's appearance as a playable fighter in both Super Smash Bros. In the various Mario-themed sports games, for example, Bowser performs relevant actions more powerfully than others but more slowly as well, while in the Mario Kart games, Bowser as a selectable racer features the heaviest weight and the highest top speed of the racers, but who is offset by low acceleration and handling talent. Whereas Mario is consistently the most balanced character in the character line-up of any competitive Mario-themed game, Bowser traditionally fits the "big, slow, and strong character" archetype to the extreme in any game he is playable.
Bowser has appeared as a playable character, however, in a large percentage of Mario games nonetheless, such as in the Mario Kart series with Super Mario Kart marking his first playable appearance. The fact that Bowser has offspring would suggest he had a wife at some point, but this character has never been seen or referred to in the series, though the UK version of Nintendo Power magazine has stated that Bowser's wife is named Clawdia.īowser is the primary villain in many Super Mario themed platformers, and therefore usually not a playable character. Bowser, at times, is depicted in vastly different sizes, somewhat resembling Mario's tendency to grow or shrink in size during games starring him he's a colossus in his appearance as the final boss of Super Mario Sunshine, while in other appearances he is only slightly larger than the average person. To settle a common dispute, original game developers intended for Bowser to be more of a dragon instead of his common perception as a turtle.
He also has a very distinctively-constructed face and red hair arranged like a mohawk, both very unlike a typical Koopa Troopa. His shell and tail are covered with spikes and has a pair of almost demonic-looking horns on his head. Like Bowser's Koopa Troopa underlings, he features elements of a tortoise, albeit a giant mutant tortoise with qualities of a fire-breathing dragon. He has appeared in some form in almost every Mario game to date, along with more members of his "family", mainly his son, Bowser Jr. holds the Guinness World Record for the best-selling video game, at 40 million copies, essentially guaranteeing worldwide fame for all characters who appeared in the game, Bowser included. for NES, with most of his traditional character traits introduced along with it: his storyline role as a comically monstrous villain who always goes out of his way to kidnap the Mushroom Kingdom princess, Peach Toadstool, his gameplay role as a boss enemy for Mario to defeat, his fire-breathing abilities, his immeasurable army of henchmen such as mushroom-headed Goombas and turtle-like Koopa Troopas, and so on. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii Uīowser was introduced in the seminal Super Mario Bros.