Bowser VS Ganon

Bowser VS Ganon is the 59th episode of Death Battle, featuring Bowser from the Super Mario series and Ganondorf from the The Legend of Zelda series in a battle between iconic Nintendo villains.
==Interlude==
Boomstick: Ever since the invention of princesses, there have been princess kidnappers.
Wiz: And these two are certainty among the top tier in their trade.
Boomstick: Bowser, the king of the Koopas.
Wiz: And Ganon, the demon king.
Boomstick: He's Wiz and I'm Boomstick.
Wiz: And it's our job to analyze their weapons, armor, and skills to find out who would win... a Death Battle.
==Bowser==
Boomstick: Once upon a time, a giant turtle had a dream. He would conquer the Mushroom Kingdom by turning everyone in it into brick. But one pesky princess had the gall to undo his mystical masonry.
Wiz: Naturally, King Bowser Koopa had only one sensible option: he snatched her up and locked her away in his castle.
The World 8-4 Castle from the original Super Mario Bros. is shown on-screen.
Wiz: No, not that castle.
The Great Tower of Bowser Land from Super Mario 3D World is then shown.
Wiz: That castle.
Boomstick: Because what's a little kidnapping when you've already morphed thousands of innocents into brick?
Wiz: With the princess out of the picture, Bowser finally had it all. Until two pesky portly plumbers popped up out of nowhere and procured his petulant princess.
Boomstick: Nice job on that alliteration!
Wiz: I'm surprised you know what alliteration means.
Boomstick: Of course, my conspicuous co-host! Anyway, if there's one thing to say about Bowser, it's that he never gives up. He's always hatching a new scheme for domination with his army, and you know it's going to involve some princess pilfering.
Wiz: And not only is he tenacious, but he's also incredibly tough.
Boomstick: Probably due to his natural turtliness.
Wiz: That's not a real word, but you are correct. Bowser's seemingly indestructible shell can take an insane amount of abuse. As can the rest of him, really.
Boomstick: Not only that, but his shell's great for doling out damage. Probably because of the impale-a-man-sized spikes! Which he can shoot out of his shell like a goddamn cannon!
Wiz: Bowser also fights with his razor-sharp teeth and claws, and is capable of lifting and throwing massive amounts of weight.
Boomstick: He can probably even lift your mother, Wiz.
Wiz: Hey!
Boomstick: Lord knows I couldn't. He's also got a bunch of weapons to throw around, like hammers, spike balls, and Mechakoopas, all from the safety of the happiest flying machine ever, the Koopa Clown Copter.
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We see Bowser fly off with a petrified Peach in the Subspace Emissary.
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Boomstick: Is that spelled with Cs or Ks?
Wiz: An impressive airborne vehicle which can somehow drop ammunition exactly the size of itself, probably via some kind of magic.
Boomstick: Oh yeah, have we mentioned that this is a magic turtle? He can breathe fire like a dragon, shapeshift into anything, and even grow at will to be as big as a castle. Which is also a Transformer. You think he can grow his—
Wiz: No, I don't wanna think about it. Have you seen a turtle penis? They're horrifying!
Boomstick: I haven't... Why have you?
Wiz: Science...
Wiz: Anyway, with his size increase comes a tremendous boost in power. Not only can he fight a castle, he can pick the whole thing up and throw it!
Boomstick: He's tough enough to survive lava of any temperature, even when it melts off his skin! He's withstood a point-blank supernova, and being sucked into a black hole, multiple times!
Wiz: And consider, a black hole is a complete compression of space and time which stretches anything apart, even light itself.
Boomstick: Man, you'd think with all this awesome power, Bowser could take over the Mushroom Kingdom, like, no problem.
Wiz: Except he's an idiot.
Wiz: He's constantly underestimating his opponents, he builds traps in his castles which always end up being used against him, and to top it all off, he's illiterate. Still, with his incredibly ferocity and brute force, it's no wonder Bowser strikes fear across the Mushroom Kingdom.
Boomstick: Until they all get together for go-karting or some tennis.
Wiz: Take it from me, Boomstick. You can't always be the bad guy.
Boomstick: Okay...
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Bowser attempts to get a kiss from Peach after winning Mario Tennis, but Birdo comes up to kiss him instead, he sees and jumps back in fright, then runs off.
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==Ganondorf==
Wiz: The peaceful kingdom of Hyrule is full of hidden terrors. giant spiders, a dragon who eats rock people...
Boomstick: And that redheaded fairy with boobs that'll poke your eyes out and a laugh that can melt any erection.
Wiz: But the most dangerous fiend of all is the Demon King, Ganon.
Ganon appears and laughs.
Boomstick: However, before he became a giant blue pig demon, Ganon was actually just a man named "Ganondorf".
Wiz: Ganondorf was raised in the Gerudo Desert, as a student of magic under the tutelage of the Twinrova witches.
Boomstick: But while the Gerudo have got some pretty kickass music, growing up in the desert obviously wasn't the best. Because... you know... sand. I don't like sand. It's coarse, and rough, and irritating, and gets every—
Wiz: DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE! (clears throat) Fortunately for Ganondorf — and our viewers — his destiny would take him beyond the sand.
Boomstick: See, turns out, he's the reincarnation of the demon Demise, who happens to be the root of all evil. Because what else would you grow up to be with a name like that?
Wiz: Upon his defeat, Demise cursed the Blood of the Goddess and the Spirit of the Hero to be forever plagued by a physical embodiment of his rage.
Boomstick: Wow, that's some hardcore shit. Talk about a sore loser. But for Ganondorf, being the lord of demons reborn has its upsides, like being really good at magic.
Wiz: Among the numerous spells he knows, he can summon phantoms to fight alongside him, freeze enemies with waves of darkness, cast deadly curses, teleport, fly, and create orbs of electric energy which can stop foes in their tracks.
Boomstick: And they double as a deadly game of Pong. Also, he's a master swordsman, capable of wielding two blades at once with extreme efficiency. But being the king of all evil with awesome skills wasn't enough.
Wiz: Ganondorf grew jealous of Hyrule's prosperity, and, like any good reincarnation of pure evil, wanted to take it for himself, including the Triforce, a legendary relic said to grant the wish of any who may touch it.
Boomstick: But when it was finally within his grasp, two of its pieces rejected him harder than Wiz's last date. However, the one that stuck around, the Triforce of Power, was kinda the best. It gave him near invulnerability, incredible strength, and unlimited mystical power. Its only downside, or upside, depending on how you see it, is that it turned him into a giant demon pig.
Wiz: With this form came immense power, and a new name: Ganon.
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We see various scenes of Ganon's pig form.
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Boomstick: Everything's better with bacon.
Wiz: Ganon is fast enough to dodge arrows point blank without even looking, he's strong enough to destroy stone walls and pillars with no effort, and he's tough enough to get back up after having an entire castle fall on him. But while the Triforce of Power supposedly grants him immortality, Ganon can still be slain and is specifically vulnerable to holy weapons, like the Master Sword. Though he has survived being impaled by one, and then killed his executioner with his bare hands. He's also extremely arrogant, often underestimating his smaller, weaker opponents, at least until they drive a sword through his head.
Boomstick: But hey, when you're a titanic, nigh-invulnerable pig sorcerer, you can afford to be a bit cocky.
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Ganondorf laughs long and loudly.
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==Prelude==
Wiz: Alright, the combatants are set. Let's end this debate once and for all!
Boomstick: IT'S TIME FOR A DEATH BATTLEEE!!!... boss-style.
==Death Battle==
Inside Bowser's Castle, the King of the Koopas is resting on his throne with his arms folded. However, one of three Shy Guys walk up to Bowser with the Triforce of Power and places it down in front of him. Bowser opens his eyes, realizes this, and so he gets off his throne and lets out an evil laugh. Suddenly, the Triforce piece floats to the left, makes a high-pitched sound, then the sound turns low pitched and dark energy starts to grow around it.
Bowser notices this and becomes worried about the situation. Then the Triforce piece starts to shoot dark thunder, and then the demon king Ganondorf arises from the Triforce piece, letting out an evil laugh. Bowser's emotion changes from worried to angry, and so Bowser growls. Ganondorf lets out another evil laugh, and launches an energy ball at four of Bowser's minions. One of the Koopas yells in fear before he hides in his shell while the Goombas start running for their lives and one of the Shy Guys turn around and notice this before they get hit by the attack, and die. Bowser clenches his fists, and lets out a breath of fire while he roars.
Bowser tosses his throne at Ganondorf, but the Demon King destroys it with a punch and delivers a combo that sends Bowser to the chandeliers. Ganondorf hops on one of them and launches an electric projectile that Bowser deflects by spinning followed by a tossed hammer that takes down Ganondorf's chandelier, sending it down crashing.
Bowser celebrates too soon.
Ganondorf uses dark magic to menacingly teleport behind him and punch him down.
They trade blows with Bowser following up with a fire projectile that Ganondorf blocks but causes a smoke screen.
Bowser uses the opportunity to kick the Gerudo outside through the castle gates and onto the ground. Ganondorf regains his footing and fires an orb of electrical energy. Bowser notices his tennis racket lying on the ground and picks it up, using his tennis and shell-deflecting skills to counter the dark wizard's projectiles. He delivers a slashing combo after Ganondorf's been hit with his attacks, but Ganondorf teleports himself and the Koopa King to the castle walls, where he tries dropping Bowser in the lava.
Ganondorf laughs, but Bowser survived the fall and boards his Koopa Clown Car. He lays down a bomb that rolls toward the villain, but Ganondorf uses the Warlock Punch to hit it back at him. Bowser falls again, but drastically increases his size to become a bigger threat. He unleashes a large punch, but Ganondorf uses the Triforce of Power to transform into Ganon to catch the punch and send the large turtle back. He then throws his trident which avoids Bowser's flames to stab the large Koopa in the eye. Ganon teleports in front of Bowser, and the Mario villain takes the opportunity to swallow the pig demon in his stomach. Bowser starts laughing, but his body slowly decays and shrinks until he's reduced to a skeleton. Ganon's magic explodes which sends his bones flying everywhere, and the Demon King laughs in victory.
Ganon is seen using his magic to manipulate Bowser's bones like a puppet.
==Results==
Boomstick: That'll do pig. That'll do.
Wiz: Bowser may have had the advantage in brute strength, but Ganon's deadlier magic and superior intellect won out in the end.
Boomstick: Ganon had his fair share of brawn as well, but what really counts is his ability to form a strategy and plan of attack.
Wiz: Regardless of intelligence, both Bowser and Ganon were nearly invulnerable to typical means of harm. Ganon could only be killed by holy weapons like the Master Sword and Silver Arrows so, while Bowser could hurt him, he couldn't exactly kill him.
Boomstick: Meanwhile, Bowser could survive almost anything. Almost. In New Super Mario Bros. DS, after falling into some kind of super lava — it's gotta be, since he's survived molten dips before unscathed — he became Dry Bowser, and after a strong enough impact, not even his own magic could reassemble his body. 
Wiz: You can even see the light missing in his eyes, so in this case, for all intents and purposes, Bowser was dead by magic and force. With Ganon's unlimited pool of magic power, he not only cursed Bowser's body to decay like he did the Deku Tree, but also blasted him apart with enough force to more than surpass that fall in the castle.
Boomstick: Ganon had this fight war-locked down.
We cut to the "Winner" card.
Wiz: The winner is Ganon.
==Original Tracks==
===Compositions===
The tracks for this fight are "Blood On Broken Glass" and "Olympus Mons", both by Brandon Yates. Both are instrumental rock tracks, but "Blood On Broken Glass" is faster-paced and utilizes the electric guitar more, while "Olympus Mons" is slower-paced and utilizes the pipe organ more.
===Titles===
"Blood On Broken Glass" possibly references both combatants' tendencies to break into castles to kidnap someone (Bowser moreso). "Olympus Mons" (which translates to "Mount Olympus" in Latin) possibly references the sheer might and size both combatants can take, as Olympus Mons and Mount Olympus are also the respective names of the largest volcano on Mars and the highest mountain in Greece.
==Trivia==
===Production===
*The core connections between Bowser and Ganon are that they are both iconic, monstrous, nigh-immortal, villainous main antagonists of Nintendo video game series who kidnap princesses and try to overthrow magical kingdoms (Princess Peach of the Mushroom Kingdom and Princess Zelda of Hyrule, respectively), but are constantly thwarted by their archenemies, who are the heroic main protagonists (Mario and Link, respectively). In addition:
**Both can use magic and have several colossal transformations.
**Both are featured as playable characters in the Super Smash Bros. series, debuting as fighters in Super Smash Bros. Melee, appearing as antagonists together in Super Smash Bros. Brawl's Subspace Emissary mode, and would be featured as bosses in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate after this episode's airing.
**Both of the princesses that they're known for kidnapping have previously fought each other in Season 1.
*The Koopa Troopa sprites used in this episode were fan-made and originally went uncredited, with the creator, Mike Tona, having complained about this on Twitter before credit was added to the description of the episode on October 4th, 2024. The original sprite sheet can be found here.
**The sprites for the Goombas (made by CyberShadow) are also fan-made and similarly went uncredited until the aforementioned description edit. They can be found here.
*This is the first episode to have two original tracks instead of just one, with the next two being Crash VS Spyro and Beerus VS Sailor Galaxia.
*This episode's controversial verdict (Ganondorf effectively winning despite Bowser's greater advantages mainly due to his inability to be killed without a holy weapon, which is often considered to be a no limits fallacy by the community and some members of the then-unofficial Research Team) is often cited internally as one of the main reasons for the researchers eventually joining the official crew and becoming the show's primary Research Team.Death Battle Retrospective Eps 51-60 ("Episode 59: Bowser vs Ganondorf" section)
===Easter Eggs===
*Wiz describes Mario and Luigi as "two pesky portly plumbers" in Bowser's analysis, referencing how Bowser described the two as "pesky plumbers" in the opening cutscene of Hotel Mario.
**Bowser's next episode would also make this reference in his analysis.
*During Ganondorf's analysis, Boomstick quotes Anakin Skywalker's infamous "I don't like sand" speech from Attack of the Clones, much to the dismay of Wiz, who cuts him off. A clip of Anakin even appears on-screen when Boomstick quotes the line.
*When Ganondorf floats up behind Bowser after the latter celebrates his supposed victory, the "Menacing" kanji from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure appear floating across the screen.
*Boomstick's first line in the post-analysis, "That'll do, pig. That'll do," is a direct reference to the film Babe.
===Other===
*This is the fourth Nintendo-themed episode, after Goomba VS Koopa, Zelda VS Peach, and Pokémon Battle Royale, and with the next one being Wario VS King Dedede.
*This is the fourth Super Smash Bros.-themed episode, after Mario VS Sonic (2011), Zelda VS Peach, and Link VS Cloud (2012), and with the next five being Mario VS Sonic (2018), Wario VS King Dedede, Ken VS Terry, Link VS Cloud (2021), and Sora VS Pit.
*This is the second The Legend of Zelda VS Super Mario-themed episode, after Zelda VS Peach.
**This is the first time The Legend of Zelda wins.
*This is the 13th episode where Boomstick yells a variation of his pre-fight catchphrase (via saying "IT'S TIME FOR A DEATH BATTLEEE!!!... boss-style."), after Akuma VS Shang Tsung, Rogue VS Wonder Woman, Felicia VS Taokaka, Eggman VS Wily, Terminator VS RoboCop, Pokémon Battle Royale, Fulgore VS Sektor, Tigerzord VS Gundam Epyon, Boba Fett VS Samus Aran (2015), Guts VS Nightmare, Solid Snake VS Sam Fisher, and Hercule Satan VS Dan Hibiki, and with the next 14 being Joker VS Sweet Tooth, Meta VS Carolina, Mega Man Battle Royale, Dragonzord VS Mechagodzilla, Scarlet Witch VS Zatanna, James Bond VS John Wick, Trunks VS Silver, SpongeBob VS Aquaman, Jason Voorhees VS Michael Myers, Sauron VS Lich King, Gogeta VS Vegito, Phoenix VS Raven, Scooby-Doo VS Courage the Cowardly Dog, and Galactus VS Unicron.
==References==
Category:Death Battles
Category:Season 3 Episodes
Category:Mario episodes
Category:Legend of Zelda episodes
Category:Animated Sprite battles
Category:Fights animated by Donimation
Category:Death Battles with cameo appearances
Category:'Super Smash Bros.' themed Death Battles
Category:'Company' themed Death Battles
Category:'Villains' themed Death Battles
Category:'Animals' themed Death Battles
Category:'Antagonists' themed Death Battles
Category:'Video Games' themed Death Battles
Category:'Magic' themed Death Battles
Category:'David VS Goliath' themed Death Battles
Category:'1980s' themed Death Battles
Category:'Animal VS Human' themed Death Battles