Bowser

Bowser, sometimes known as King Koopa (Japanese: 大魔王クッパ, Daimaō Kuppa, which translates into "Great Demon King Koopa" or "Great Sorcerer King Koopa," the latter being used in the manual of Super Mario Bros.[1]), is a major character and the main antagonist of the Mario franchise. He is a large, powerful, fire-breathing Koopa who leads the Koopa Troop, an antagonistic organization of turtle-like creatures, and has been the arch-nemesis of Mario since his debut in Super Mario Bros. He has repeatedly kidnapped or attempted to kidnap Princess Peach with the ultimate goal of defeating Mario and taking over the Mushroom Kingdom. Bowser's defining traits are his monstrous appearance with dragon-like elements, full-throated roar, fire-breathing abilities, cruel personality, bestial reptilian voice, never-ending conflict with Mario, and unrequited crush for Peach.

## Mario Kart series

Bowser is always a default-unlocked heavyweight character in the Mario Kart games. He also always has his own course, aptly named Bowser's Castle.

In Super Mario Kart, he and Donkey Kong Jr. have the heaviest weight and highest speed, but at the same time suffer from poor acceleration and steering. If controlled by a computer, Bowser can toss fireballs onto the track. In the Japanese release of the game, every character's awards ceremony victory animation involves a bottle of champagne, but part of Bowser's involves drinking it. This is changed in English releases, in which Bowser simply waves the bottle above his head.

In Mario Kart 64, Bowser and the other heavyweight characters have poor speed, acceleration, and steering, but high weight, allowing them to ram lighter racers out of their way.

In Mario Kart: Super Circuit, Bowser has the highest weight and speed, but also the lowest acceleration in the game.

In Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, Bowser's default partner is Bowser Jr. Their shared Special Item is the Bowser Shell, and his kart is the Koopa King.

In Mario Kart DS, Bowser's Koopa Clown Car appears as his unlockable kart, the Hurricane. His default karts are a standard kart (Standard BW), like the other racers, and the Tyrant. Once the game is beaten, Bowser can drive any of the thirty-six karts in the game. He also appears as the ghost on Airship Fortress with a time of 2:07:748 on the Hurricane, on Bowser Castle on the Hurricane with a time of 2:19:661, and on GBA Bowser Castle 2 with a time of 1:52:258 on the Standard BW. In Missions Mode, Bowser is the character played as for missions 3-2, 4-5, 5-4, 6-1, 6-8, and 7-7. In addition, he also appears as the opponent to be raced against for mission 7-2. He and R.O.B. are the heaviest characters.

Bowser driving his standard kart with Monster tires in Mario Kart 7

In Mario Kart Wii, Bowser has the highest weight bonus for his class size, which makes vehicles like the Offroader and Piranha Prowler heavier than normal. He also offers decent speed and drift bonuses, which make the Jetsetter and Shooting Star faster and easier to control. The Staff Ghosts that use Bowser are Nin\*YABUKI at Bowser's Castle in the Piranha Prowler, with a time of 3:04:836 with no Wii Wheel and manual drift. The expert staff ghost is Nin\*Masa with the same settings, except this time, Bowser is on the Flame Runner with a time of 2:42:098.

In Mario Kart 7, Bowser returns as a heavy racer. He has one of the best speed and weight boosts in the game. His Koopa Clown Car also has an appearance as the Koopa Clown, an unlockable kart body. The staff ghosts using Bowser are Ret\*Matt M on Bowser's Castle, with the standard kart body, Monster tires, and the Super Glider with a time of 02:34.815; the expert staff ghost also uses Bowser in the Blue Seven with Red Monster tires and the Beast Glider, the time being 02:15.244. He is also both ghosts on GBA Bowser Castle 1; the normal ghost, Nin\*Hayata, uses the Pipe Frame with Standard tires and the Beast Glider and has a time of 01:31.030, while the expert, Nin\*hokwai, uses the Koopa Clown with the Roller tires and the Super Glider, and has a time of 01:22.221. If using a glider with a stem (Super Glider, Flower Glider etc.) while playing as Bowser, the stem of the glider is bent to go around his shell; for the other characters it is straight.

Bowser is a playable character in Mario Kart 8. He is one of the heaviest racers in the game, having the exact same stats as Wario, Morton Koopa Jr., Dry Bowser, and the large Mii, while rivaling the weight of Metal Mario and Pink Gold Peach. In the Nintendo Switch port Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Bowser instead shares stats with only Morton and large Miis. He also runs an oil company called Bowser Oil, which appears as a sponsor in this game, and also has a racing team called Lord Bowser.

Bowser makes an appearance in Mario Kart Tour as an unlockable Super-rarity driver, available since launch. Like in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, his special item is Bowser's Shell. The 2020 Winter Tour introduced a variant of Bowser disguised as Santa Claus with Christmas lights on his shell, called Bowser (Santa), who is a High-End-rarity driver that utilizes the Coin Box as his special item.

Bowser also makes an appearance in the three Mario Kart Arcade GP games; Mario Kart Arcade GP has no weight stat to classify characters by, but Mario Kart Arcade GP 2 classifies him as a power racer, and Mario Kart Arcade GP DX places him in the heavyweight category. The second game also gives him a personal kart in addition to a standard kart; Bowser's resembles his shell, with spikes lining the sides and on the tires. In the first two games, Bowser has four special items: Bowser Shell, the same item from Double Dash!!; Shell Body, which makes him invincible; Flaming Tender, which damages any rival that hits it; and Thwomp, which squishes any driver that drives under it. Bowser also receives his own two-course cup in the first two games, both of which consists of Bowser's Castle and Castle Wall, which takes place on the wall surrounding his castle. In the first game, beating the Bowser Cup allows the player to face Bowser in a battle as the challenge stage. The player must leap over the streams of fire Bowser spits at them while tossing shells at the supports for his platform. If the player is playing as Bowser for this challenge, they instead face Mecha-Bowser. In Mario Kart Arcade GP DX, the Bowser Cup consists of Bowser Factory and Bowser Castle.