Bowser (computer game character)

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Bowser ( Japanese ク ッ パ , Kuppa ) is a video game character and the main antagonist of the Super Mario series. In Japan the character is known under the name Daimaō ( 大 魔王 , dt. "Great demon king"). In the United States , Bowser was first known as Bowser, King of the Koopa and The Sorcerer King . Bowser is the leader as well as the strongest of the turtle-like Koopa breed and is to this day Mario's greedy opponent since his first appearance in the game Super Mario Bros. His goal is to marry Princess Peach, to take over the Mushroom Kingdom and to defeat Mario. Since Bowser's debut, he has appeared in almost every Super Mario game . Bowser is known as the "most successful video game character" and has been dubbed by Kenny James since 2007.

Concept and creation

Bowser was an brainchild of Nintendo's leading designer and producer, Shigeru Miyamoto . Miyamoto originally thought of an ox , based on the ox king (King Horrible in the German version), a character from the animated film Alakazam - King of the Animals , which in turn is based on the character of the same name from the Chinese novel Journey to the West . However, designer Takashi Tezuka noted that the character would look much more like a turtle than an ox. So the two began to improve Bowser's appearance. Since Bowser became the head of the Koopa Troopas, Miyamoto and Tezuka began to orientate themselves more towards his subjects, thus creating a new design.

Miyamoto called him Daimaō Kuppa ( 大 魔王 ク ッ パ ). Kuppa comes from the Japanese name for gukbap ( 국밥 ), a Korean dish. Miyamoto also considered between the names Yukke ( ユ ッ ケ ) and Bibinba ( ビ ビ ン バ ), also Korean dishes - Yukhoe or Bibimbap .

In the movie Super Mario Bros. Bowser, then King Koopa , was played by Dennis Hopper . In the film he appears as a person, albeit with reptilian abnormalities, such as the long tongue and the lack of body hair.

properties

Bowser is portrayed as the king of the Koopas, vengeful tortoises who tyrannize the Mushroom Kingdom. Bowser is very different from the rest of his clan. Its typical appearance consists of a large, serrated turtle shell, horns, sharp teeth and a head of red hair. He has enormous power and is almost invincible. Bowser can spit fire and jump very high for his mass, but he lacks agility and speed.

Bowser's size seems to vary from game to game. In most cases he trumps the majority of characters, but there are exceptions. In Legend of the Seven Stars , Bowser is only slightly taller than Mario.

Voice and portraits

Until the release of Super Mario Sunshine , Bowser's voice consisted almost exclusively of roars, growls and laughs, dubbed by actor Isaac Marshall . Later, in Super Mario Sunshine , Scott Burns lent his voice to Bowser, creating Bowser's first dialogue. Burns dubbed the character for a few more years until Kenneth W. James Burns took place. Between James and Burns, Bowser was synchronized in the games Super Paper Mario and Super Smash Bros. Brawl by Eric Newsome.

Appearances

In video games

Super Mario series

Other games

In other media

reception

Due to the huge popularity of the Mario franchise, Bowser is considered one of the most famous video game antagonists of all time. IGN placed it at number 2 out of 100 and GamePro at number 9 out of 47. GameSpot listed it at number 9 in the Top 10 Video Game Villains , an article by GameSpot.

Bowser's appearance in Super Mario Galaxy received special praise. Eurogamer author Margret Roberts commented that "with Galaxy after a few years, instead of the entertaining villain, the scaly, tasteless one was brought back to the Marian universe."

However, Bowser is also ranked number 4 on ScrewAttack's list of " Biggest Wimps in Video Game History ".

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ キ ャ ラ ク タ ー 紹 介 ( Japanese ) Nintendo . Retrieved October 18, 2009.
  2. ↑ Super Mario Bros. Instruction Manual. . Nintendo,, p. 14. Archived from the original on November 7, 2011.
  3. ^ David Oxford: Iwata Asks: The Birth of Bowser . Ds.Kombo. Archived from the original on September 17, 2010. Retrieved on August 23, 2010.
  4. ^ Mario in Japan page at The Mushroom Kingdom . Themushroomkingdom.net. July 17, 2010. Retrieved August 10, 2010.
  5. ↑ Super Mario Bros. The Movie Archive . Smbmovie.com. March 30, 2009. Retrieved August 10, 2010.
  6. ↑ The Top 100 Videogame Villains: Most Memorable Villains. In: IGN. Archived from the original on May 23, 2010 ; accessed on April 13, 2019 (English).
  7. ↑ Hugh Sterbakov: The 47 Most Diabolical Video-Game Villains of All Time . GamePro . March 5, 2008. Archived from the original on October 1, 2008. Retrieved on February 21, 2009.
  8. ↑ Staff, designed by James Cheung: TenSpot: Top Ten Video Game Villains . GameSpot . January 21, 2000. Archived from the original on March 29, 2007. Retrieved December 31, 2008.
  9. ↑ Margaret Robertson: Super Mario Galaxy Review . EuroGamer. November 5, 2007. Retrieved January 26, 2010.
  10. ↑ Top Ten Douchebags of Gaming . GameTrailers. Retrieved June 13, 2011.