#the koopalings are leaders of bowser's troops | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

mysmashplaythroughs · 3 years

Text

Mario & Luigi Bowser’s Inside Story Playthrough

Fighter: King Bowser Koopa.

Game: Mario & Luigi Bowser’s Inside Story, Nintendo DS. First Released on February 11th 2009.

Fighter Bio.

King Bowser Koopa, the King of the Koopas is the most common threat to the safety of the Mushroom Kingdom and many places beyond. Bowser is most commonly the antagonist of the Super Mario series and a few of the spinoff series in various forms too. When Bowser is not the main antagonist, he will often either be a threat running alongside the main conflict, appearing to cause problems and derailing the heroes and other villain if one is involved, or he will begrudgingly team up with the heroes to take on a larger threat, although often under the guise he’s allowing the heroes to help him rather than helping them. Despite his constant antagonism, Bowser is prepared to put aside his evil ambitions to take part in various sports and competitions such as Go-Karting, Golf, Tennis and many others, often being one of the most powerful but slow competitors. He has demonstrated many different abilities over the years but his most common are his extreme strength and his ability to breath fire, something he’s been shown to have mastered to the point he can use it in a vast variety of ways, from shooting bursts of fire to large sprays of fire to even extremely fast lines of flame that he sweeps across the floor. Bowser boasts a vast loyal army, with him often finding surprisingly powerful creatures who will serve under him, from his regular Koopa Troopa and Goomba foot soldiers all the way to the giant dragon Lord of Lightning that’s head alone is larger than Bowser himself yet followed his commands (possibly under a form of mind control although it’s never explicitly confirmed.) Perhaps Bowser’s biggest strength however is his persistence, he always returns despite being defeated and facing all sorts of dangers such as falling into lava multiple times and falling from orbit down to Earth just to name a couple. His intelligence varies and most of the time this seems to be more down to his arrogance and haste, he can put some plans into motion that allow him to attain great power but will usually lose due to his hubris in the end. He often also relies upon other characters to handle the details such as Kamek for more elaborate schemes.

Bowser began his history of conflict back when he was a baby and first met Yoshi and Baby Mario, or as he called Yoshi, a ‘Green Donkey’. Kamek his loyal guardian was the one setting events in motion due to a prophecy that Baby Mario and Baby Luigi would grow up to become the Koopas greatest enemy. It was when towards the end of their adventure, Yoshi and Baby Mario reached Baby Bowser’s Castle that Baby Bowser met them for the first time, and threw a tantrum because he was woken from his nap by Kamek. He took his anger out on him before noticing Yoshi and deciding he wanted to ride him instead of Baby Mario. This led to Bowser jealously trying to knock Baby Mario off and get a ride, which ended with his defeat. Kamek dismayed used his magic to then make Baby Bowser giant, and he attempted to destroy the castle with Yoshi and Baby Mario in it. The two fought off Baby Bowser, resulting in him shrinking and being taken away by Kamek. Following this, Baby Bowser grew a hatred of Yoshis and would often get Kamek to help him try to take over their island, employing such methods as turning it into a storybook, stealing their Super Happy Tree and other such things. It was when he was seemingly somewhat older, although still a child that Baby Bowser would first set his eyes on the Mushroom Kingdom. He invaded Princess Peach’s Castle, but was beaten by Baby Mario who happened to be present. Following this, a vast plot involving time travel and alien invaders took place, with Baby Bowser meeting his older self, actually for the second time seemingly at this point. The two had not gotten along the first time they met, but this time they teamed up similarly to the Mario Bros and their Baby forms, with them having a battle in a volcano. Baby Bowser lost once again and for the first time it wasn’t to Yoshis but to the Mario Bros themselves.

Following this, Bowser seemingly quietened down for a bit. Mario seems to have moved to New Donk City, having various adventures there involving his various jobs and a certain ape. It was only many years later when the Mario Bros had seemingly returned to the Mushroom Kingdom that Bowser undertook his very first full-scale invasion of the Mushroom Kingdom, succeeding in kidnaping the Princess and taking over the land. As his older self, Bowser had seemingly learnt magic which helped him in taking over the Mushroom Kingdom, and which is something he has demonstrated other times, being able to perform various tricks such as teleporting or turning invisible. The Koopa King’s reign was short lived however, as the Mario Bros took him down, something that would become the norm from then on in the Mushroom Kingdom. Over the years, Bowser would return again and again, sometimes accompanied by the Koopalings, other times with other bosses who were Kings and Queens themselves, and eventually by his own son Bowser Jr. Bowser also has fought alongside his enemy Mario against various threats, with his power often being a great asset in taking them on. Bowser has also seen his troops sometimes hijacked by other villains through hypnosis or occasionally other means, something which arguably riles him up even more than being stopped by Mario. At first Bowser would kidnap Princess Peach simply to take over the Mushroom Kingdom, but as time went on, he seemingly began to develop a crush on her, often wishing for her to marry him, with it on some rare occasions being his main aim, although he has always been defeated before he could reach such a stage, except on one occasion where another villain married to two in order to bring about a prophecy to end all worlds. Bowser insisted it counted whilst Peach very much disagreed on that occasion.

Bowser’s personality isn’t as straightforward as it seems. Bowser is brash, villainous and willing to go to extremes to destroy his enemies and force others to do what he wants. He has overseen campaigns to steal cosmic power, try to create his own galaxy and force the Princess to marry him. There are some good traits to him as well however, most notably he will often partner up with his son in various sports and competitions and has been shown taking care to play games with him and other things. He will however get Jr involved in his schemes, although Jr is definitely a willing participant, having told him how he wants to fight Mario again after their first encounter. This does lead to Bowser getting Jr involved in dangerous situations in his fight against Mario and friends. Bowser did also try to trick Jr in his first appearance into believing Princess Peach was his Mother, although he admitted the truth and Jr told him he already knew she wasn’t. Bowser also seems to have the respect of a lot of his troops, from a fair few of the ground troops admiring him to the loyalty of the various bosses and the Koopalings. Some of them express fear of Bowser when failing him, but a lot serve him out of genuine loyalty, which has been shown when others try to take over Bowser’s forces and often have to resort to brain washing.

Friends: Of actual friends Bowser has very few. Possibly his closest confidant is Kamek who has seemingly raised him from his childhood and still faithfully serves him to this day. Bowser doesn’t show great respect towards Kamek, but he relies on him a lot when he’s present. Bowser has also had other advisors when Kamek isn’t present, a notable one being another Magikoopa called Kammy Koopa who he was similarly disrespectful of. Bowser can be notoriously difficult to get along with for those who wish to work with him, begrudgingly helping when working with his enemies and especially when working alongside another villain. This even extends to the rare times he’s worked with another version of himself, both his Baby form and his Paper form spent more time arguing with him than actually coming up with plans to defeat the Mario Bros. Bowser always has to be the leader so when it comes to his troops he tends to be more comfortable, especially when they shower him with adoration and respect. Bowser Jr admires his Father a lot, although he is not beyond pranking him and acting bratty towards him from time to time, still he will always go along with his Father’s schemes when he has the chance. Jr trusts his Father enough that he knows when something’s seriously wrong with him, as happened in one case where Jr went to the extreme of teaming up with Mario in order to save Bowser from a fury that had overtaken him. Bowser will spoil Jr often giving him all sorts of equipment and his own personal army. Their relationship definitely has its strains however with Jr sometimes feeling ignored due to Bowser’s campaigns against the Mushroom Kingdom and lacking friends his age. Bowser trusts the Koopalings although he will berate them when they fail, still it seems they also respect him and are willing to follow him no matter what, even in cases where he’s not actually in control of his own actions or has been possessed. Bowser has had such a vast army over the years that listing even just the notable members of it will go on too long. His most common troops are Goombas, Koopa Troopas, Hammer Bros, Lakitus and Magikoopas amongst many others and provided they aren’t brainwashed they will often follow his commands no matter what.

Enemies/Rivals: Mario is definitely Bowser’s arch-enemy and arch-rival, with the two facing off in almost everything they do, from fighting each other in Bowser’s plots to competing with each other in a variety of sports and activities. Luigi has a similarly antagonistic relationship with Bowser, however over the years Bowser has forgotten him, sometimes not recognising him or if he does, not remembering his name. However, following some of Luigi’s exploits in stopping him, such as in the events of Mario & Luigi Dream Team Bowser’s been angry enough to remember Luigi’s name when facing off against him. Princess Peach is technically Bowser’s enemy, although he wishes for her to be by his side rather than against him, however the feeling is not mutual and he is willing to fight Peach when she goes up against him. Yoshi and his whole species have earned Bowser’s wrath following their battles against him when he was a child, which possibly is why as a grown up he has taken to kidnapping Yoshis on occasion and forcing them into eggs stuck inside question mark blocks. Bowser thinks little of Toads with his focus usually being on Princess Peach or the Mario Bros, often with him himself barely acknowledging them. Various Toads have taken on Bowser over the years, such as Toad, Toadette, Blue Toad and Yellow Toad showing they can be as much of a threat to him as the Mario Bros, but even so Bowser seems to see them as little more than Peach’s minions. An odd case is Wario, where the two have on occasions worked together, usually in spin-off games, but also have fought each other, such as in Super Mario 64 DS where Wario joined Yoshi, Mario and Luigi in trying to save Peach from him. As with most things, it most likely depends on what will provide Wario with the biggest gain as to whether he fights with or against Bowser. Most other characters who are friends with Mario such as Rosalina, E Gadd and Princess Daisy are considered by default Bowser’s enemy, although he often won’t directly interact with them, with at most his forces causing problems for them rather than him himself. Also, despite having all of these enemies, Bowser is willing to put his animosity aside on some occasions even to take part in fair competitions with a lot of these characters.

There have been occasions also, where despite his animosity, Bowser has reluctantly teamed up with the Mario Bros and others to take on a larger threat. Chronologically the very first occasions of this were him briefly teaming up with Yoshi and the other Babies when his older self who had time travelled to the past wished to kidnap him alongside the other Star Children for his plans, although he betrayed the team towards the end of the adventure fighting them out of a belief they wanted to take his castle away. He also teamed up briefly with the Mario Bros from the future and their Baby selves against the Shroob invaders, although their union ended fairly quickly when his cruiser was shot down and they were separated, with Baby Bowser proving himself an annoyance to the Mario Bros throughout the rest of the adventure. Bowser’s first actual team up with Mario took place in Super Mario RPG with him teaming up with Mario, Princess Peach, Geno and Mallow to take on the Smithy Gang who had taken over his castle. Smithy was the first of various villains Bowser would personally fight against, never through any sense of good but usually fuelled by personal grievances, whether it was them taking control of his castle, stealing Princess Peach’s voice replacing it with an ‘explosive vocabulary’ that makes it too dangerous for him to kidnap her, seeking to take over the world when that was his plan or them seeking destruction that will leave no world for him to take over. Over the years, these villains have either beaten Bowser with ease leading him to reluctantly have to turn to Mario for help, such as with the Smithy Gang, tricked him into helping their plans such as with Count Bleck or Bowser has tried to muscle in on their plans such as with the X-Nauts. It seems following a lot of these encounters, Bowser has learnt how to be more sneaky himself over the years, with one time him teaming up with another villain only to turn on them at the last minute, leaving the Mario Bros to defeat them and stealing the ultimate power they were seeking all along for himself.

Crossovers with other Smash characters: Being from the Mario series, and Mario’s arch villain as well, Bowser has appeared in a fair few crossovers over the years. Since Bowser was part of Mario’s party in the game, he was present for Samus Aran’s cameo in Super Mario RPG, however Link’s cameo occurs before Bowser joins the party. Interestingly, Bowser cameos in Kirby Super Star in the crowd with Mario watching the Megaton Punch event, however he does not appear in the crowd in the remake on DS, with Wario seemingly appearing instead. Bowser is in Mario Kart 8 and therefore races against other characters who appear in the game such as Link (Breath of the Wild and Skyward Sword’s incarnations), Villager, Inklings and Isabelle. Bowser appears in the Game & Watch Gallery series which has the classic versions of Game & Watch games playable, making him technically appear alongside Mr Game & Watch. Bowser is part of the group in Tetris on the NES which features Pit, Link and Samus. Bowser has been in all of the Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games series, with him often taking a large role in the ones with a story mode, often working alongside Sonic’s arch-enemy Doctor Eggman to take on Mario and Sonic as well as their friends. Bowser is also a racer in the Mario Kart GP arcade games, which are a crossover with Pac-Man who he races against. Bowser is a playable character in the Fortune Street series, which crosses over with Dragon Quest, although none of the Dragon Quest Heroes themselves appear. Bowser probably has the most crossovers with other characters of any villain in Smash overall.

Why this game?

Well, to put it simply, this game is arguably Bowser’s starring role. His name is in the title and he’s playable as more than just a party member which is the case for his other major playable appearances (excluding spin-off titles). The reason I played the original version of the game rather than the 3DS version is simply because the 3DS version wouldn’t even be announced until a couple of years after I finished this one. With the remake, I believe there are still reasons to play either version, although I’m not sure of all of the changes in the remake I believe there are pros and cons for each rather than one version being clearly superior.

My past with this game.

So before I go into specifics of the game itself, I would like to preface this by saying, Bowser is my favourite videogame villain. I believe his strength lies in just how adaptable he is, with there being two extremes of Nintendo villains in my opinion. On one side you have Ganon, a character who as a villain is almost always played as the ultimate evil, a ruthless tyrant who will happily wipe out his enemies or enslave them in his quest for power. He is not without some nuance however, in that he states how he was influenced by the hardships his people faced that he saw, influencing him to seek power and gradually lore in the series painting a picture of him being likely a product of an older evil’s curse. On the other side of the scale you have King Dedede, a villain who is more of a petty greedy jerk at the worst of times, but more often than not is willing to team up with his arch enemy to take on far worse threats. King Dedede has performed some impressive feats which show he’s not an absolute joke of a villain, with often powerful cosmic entities seeking to take control of him due to his strength, however he is still on the far more petty and mild side of the scale when it comes to villains overall. Bowser in my opinion, is a character who can move all over the scale but still feel totally in character. He can be a petty fool at times arguing with other characters over something ridiculous, then at other times take over many galaxies in the Mario Universe building his very own Galaxy to be the base of his Galactic Empire and still not really betray the character he is. It helps that over the years he has been shown to be very temperamental, with his temper getting the better of him at times leading him to become a weak tutorial boss Mario takes down with ease at the start of the story to being later the final boss of the game on many other occasions. My main point here is that Bowser in my opinion is capable of being an actual intimidating threat and also being a source of comic relief without it not feeling like him. He can never reach the level of a villain like Ganondorf or Sephiroth in seriousness, however he always manages to provide a big threat when he needs to. As he puts it himself, he’s “grade-A, 100% prime-cut final boss!” material. Finally, one important thing to note, is the majority of the time, I find Bowser a really funny character, especially in the RPG series. Over the years he’s had some great scenes and lines and, without going into a tangent, it’s probably one of the biggest reasons I dislike Paper Mario Sticker Star so much, since him being the main villain again for the first time in that series could have been amazing if he’d said a single word. Still, that’s a whole other topic I’d rather not get into now.

Now, I realise that’s my opinion on him, not an objective fact, still it’s an important one for me personally when it comes to my history with Bowser and Bowser’s Inside Story. Before the game came out, there had been a few times Bowser had been playable, with Super Mario RPG and Super Paper Mario both having him be part of the party, being usually the power based slower team member. Bowser’s Inside Story immediately got my interest though, not only because Bowser was playable, but because he was essentially the star of the game. Mario & Luigi were still the main characters as with all the other games in the series, however whilst their gameplay seemed somewhat the same as the previous games in the series, Bowser looked to be totally unique in how he worked, with his punches and fire breath being the main tools he would use to get around the world as opposed to the Mario Bros jumping abilities. This differed from Bowser’s previous playable appearances as they would often still be more done in the style of Mario and the other playable characters, usually being just bulkier and having fire breath as an option. The Bowser in this game is based much more on him acting like how he does as a boss in games rather than emulating Mario, using his strength to get around and fight.

When I got the game, I remember loving it and playing through to the end, something I’d not managed with the previous Mario & Luigi games (usually because I’d have a specific boss I’d get stuck on and give up) so whilst it’s far too long ago now to give specific details, I feel overall I really enjoyed the game. I know I enjoyed it more than I had Partners in Time, but overall Superstar Saga still holds the fondest memories for me. As a game however Bowser’s Inside Story I could definitely see being argued as being the best of the series and I definitely consider to be as good a game overall as Superstar Saga. It also can be just as funny, especially in how Bowser himself acts and reacts to the events that take place, something that I felt could be lacking at times in Partners in Time after the hilarious Superstar Saga.

My Smash Playthrough.

So this is the first game on my list that’s a Mario RPG game, which includes a few series I’m a big fan of. I don’t really want to focus on the situation with those as a whole at this point, but I just want to stress that I really love the classic Mario RPG titles and of the Mario & Luigi series specifically, this was one of the best (arguably the best but personally I rate Superstar Saga higher). I was pretty excited to go back to this game, especially as I hadn’t played through it for some time unlike other Mario RPGs I like. When it comes to the way the game plays, a hallmark of all the Mario RPGs there’ve been so far is that there are turn based battles, but attacks often involve timing button presses in order to pull off more powerful attacks, something the Mario and Luigi arguably is the most complex example of. Outside of battles, jumping is a key part of the standard Mario RPG gameplay with the games still including many platforming elements despite being RPGs. One thing I always liked with the Mario & Luigi series was how they’d often do interesting ideas with the buttons. A would be Mario’s button which he jumps with and B would be Luigi’s button. With the DS and the addition of an X and Y button, this was used for the Baby Mario Bros in the second game, Partners in Time and for this game Bowser would use both buttons for different abilities he can use. Bowser is a big part of the game, but the game still also stars Mario & Luigi, their role this time however involves them spending a lot of the time in a somewhat unusual location, given the title you might have guessed, but that is inside Bowser’s body. Following Bowser being tricked into eating a special mushroom, he inhales the Mario Bros, Princess Peach, Starlow, Toadsworth and a group of Toads and many other objects in Princess Peach’s Castle.

Bowser starts off the game lacking many of his abilities beyond his strong punch which makes up his basic attack in the game. Mario & Luigi as the story goes on must help Bowser by solving problems in his body in order to power him up, such as getting rid of a pest he inhaled which is blocking his fire pipe which allows him to breath fire. The Mario Bros also often have to go to specific parts of Bowser’s body and stimulate specific areas in order to do things such as make Bowser strong enough to lift heavy objects, or as time goes on grow giant in order to take on giant enemies in special boss battles. These often involve minigames such as the Mario Bros having to hit balls of energy at muscle with their hammers in order to give Bowser more power. Personally, whilst I get how gross the idea is to some, I’ve always found the concept of characters inside of a living person and having to navigate their way around interesting, granted I prefer it when it’s more cartoon logic than going for the realism of how disgusting that would likely be to experience. It’s due to this, despite often finding cavern type environments fairly dull, I actually really like the locations visited within Bowser and I found it a cool concept to play through. The location is on a 2D plain rather than the 3D environments Bowser travels through in the game, so it makes them unique and often I wouldn’t say they’re particularly confusing. Returning to areas in Bowser’s Body is really simple too as the Mario Bros can just select an area they’ve already visited to return there on the map. The Mario Bros don’t spend the whole game in Bowser’s body, in fact there are pipes they find which allow them to travel back to the overworld, often being able to do things and visit locations Bowser cannot, a key one being Toad Town which features various stores and NPCs to speak with. One final cool thing I’d like to mention regarding the Mario Bros and Bowser is that there are small enemies in the overworld that the Mario Bros have to fight as well as the bigger ones that wander around, however Bowser can often just take out the small ones by walking into them due to his size and power, with only the big ones initiate battles with him. It was in my opinion a nice touch which made each area feel different depending on whether it was Bowser or the Mario Bros you were playing as.

When this game came out, I remember one aspect which I was personally excited about, was that this was the first RPG game since the first Paper Mario to have the Mushroom Kingdom as the setting, with the aforementioned Toad Town being a returning location which specifically first appeared in that game. Partners in Time was also set in the Mushroom Kingdom, however that was specifically the past version of the place, with a lot of it destroyed. One of my major criticisms of that game was how the areas weren’t connected, only being visited by going through specific portals. The Mushroom Kingdom in Bowser’s Inside Story on the other hand has a connected world map. There’s a nice variety of locations although I could see some calling it somewhat bland, still I personally quite enjoyed it, with two of my favourite locations being Toad Town and Bowser’s Castle. Nowadays I realise the Mushroom Kingdom possibly appears too often, but still at the time I was glad to see it, and it still has some interesting unique locations, such as Plack Beach which features odd teeth formations. Bowser’s Castle is a highlight to me also, although thanks to the main villain of the game it’s been remodelled and a lot of Bowser’s minions inside there will attack him on sight due to brainwashing.

Another somewhat unique aspect to this game for Mario RPGs is that the main villain, Fawful is actually a character from the very first Mario & Luigi game, being the lackey of that game’s main antagonist Cackletta. Fawful puts various plans in motion, starting with beginning an outbreak of a disease known as the Blorbs, which causes Toads to swell like balloons becoming immobile balls essentially. His second plan is disguising himself as a merchant and selling Bowser the disguised Vacuum Shroom, which allows him to use Bowser to inhale everyone inside Princess Peach’s castle, trapping them all and simultaneously taking out Bowser due to his exhaustion. Seizing on this opportunity, Fawful takes over Bowser’s Castle, hypnotising his minions and invading the Mushroom Kingdom in order to take over Peach’s now vacant Castle. Fawful’s main goal it turns out is to uncover a power hidden away long ago under the Mushroom Kingdom, known as the Dark Star which Fawful seeks to take for himself. Fawful was a fan favourite from the first Mario & Luigi game, with his speech in the English versions of the game being similar to bad translations from old videogames as well as just odd nonsensical metaphors, with phrases such as “I have fury!” and “This battle shall be the delicious mustard on that bread! The mustard of your doom!” so him returning was good to see, especially as he had a small cameo in the second game Partners in Time, which helps make all three feel connected.

When it comes to the bosses in the game, there’s quite a variety because of the different forms of battles in the game. There are many bosses that are specifically fought by the Mario Bros within Bowser’s body, such as the cell-like Kretin boss, Durmite a wiggler sort of enemy and probably my favourite which is Bowser Memory ML, which are blocky sort of caricatures of Mario and Luigi that seem to be based on how Bowser thinks of the two. Mario & Luigi do fight some bosses outside of Bowser’s body, but only a couple, still probably the coolest to me in this case is Bowser himself. The reason for this, is it happens after you’ve played as and unlocked various abilities for Bowser such as his fire breath, so the fight with him is facing off against all the moves you’ve been using whilst playing as Bowser. Speaking of the prime final boss material himself, Bowser has two different sorts of boss battles. The regular boss battles are just like any other battle Bowser does, although one cool aspect to them is when Bowser unlocks his inhale ability, he can inhale certain enemies or parts of big enemies which then the Mario Bros can fight inside Bowser’s body. This isn’t just a standard Mario Bros battle however as sometimes these enemies have a move which can harm Bowser, such as digging into the er, ‘ground’ on the inside of Bowser’s body that damages him. This ability plays a key role in the final battle, but I’ll get onto that later. Of the other bosses Bowser fights, probably the most notable one is Midbus, a weird sort of pig-armadillo hybrid who ironically plays the second in command role to Fawful that he played to Cackletta in the first game. Midbus is a pretty good foil for Bowser, with him similarly being a big strong brute character, but being a different type to Bowser. Whereas Bowser is a sort of Ox-Turtle King, Midbus is a Boar-Armadillo, where Bowser will retract into his shell for some attacks, Midbus will roll like an Armadillo to attack, where Bowser uses fire breath, Midbus’s final form is ice based. Overall, he provides a good sort of rival character for Bowser to fight seeing as Fawful isn’t really power focused.

The second and far more unique form of boss battles in the game are the giant Bowser battles, where Bowser will take on other giant enemies. These battles are unique as they require the DS (or 3DS) to be played on its side, with the touch screen on the left. The stylus is used on the touch screen in order to initiate attacks, such as sliding the stylus across the screen to perform a punch, or (probably one of my least favourite DS features) blowing into the mic to do a fire attack. The bosses you fight more often than not are vehicles or buildings with the first being Bowser’s own castle and the last being the Fawful controlled Princess Peach’s Castle. I enjoy these battles and they’re not too common so they don’t outstay their welcome, although the train battle where you have to keep knocking down mountains to catch up to the train I feel was probably the one I had the most trouble with. The final battle is not with Fawful, who is one of the penultimate bosses, but with the Dark Star, who takes on a form similar to Bowser, known as Dark Bowser and absorbs the remains of what seems to be Fawful’s spirit. This leads to an epic confrontation between Bowser and Dark Bowser on the roof of Peach’s Castle, with Bowser being the only one left who can directly fight the powerful being. The boss battle is probably one of my favourites in the series, it’s not easy (although nowhere near as hard as others in the series) but has an amazing theme, Dark Bowser has some impressive looking attacks and Bowser’s counter attacks make the whole thing even more spectacular. Dark Bowser is essentially invincible, but the remains of Fawful, that when he’s hit hard enough he’ll cough up can be inhaled by Bowser, providing the actual vulnerable piece of the Dark Star’s lifeforce. When the Mario Bros defeat the Dark Star, Dark Bowser being just an empty shell collapses and is also defeated by Bowser’s final powerful punches. Fawful’s remains, in one last attempt at revenge self-destruct, planning on taking the Mario Bros and Bowser with him, however instead his attempt causes Bowser to expel everyone who is inside him.

Planning on taking over the Mushroom Kingdom himself with the Dark Star gone, seeing the Mario Bros reappear and finding out they were inside him all this time throws the Koopa King into a rage and he fights (and is once again defeated by) the Mario Bros during the credits. Despite this, some time later when Bowser is recovering from his defeat back home, he receives a present, a cake from Princess Peach to thank him for everything he did in stopping the Dark Star. It’s a nice ending and I like how it’s clear Bowser hasn’t necessarily changed but still has his good points to the degree Peach of all people can stand sending him a thank you gift. I want to make special mention of the music in this game, with it being fantastic, the standout track most people know of is the final boss theme with Dark Bowser (which was included in Smash Bros) however there are many other great tunes in the game. The thing with this game, is there’s so many things I feel I could go over that I’ve not gotten to, things such as how Bowser gradually frees different minions that he can summon in battle to help him such as Goombas, Koopa Troopas, Magikoopas etc and going over the various characters that appear in the story such as Broque Monsieur, Starlow, the three minions and many others (many of whom made their first appearances here but would go on to appear a lot more in the series and even in side modes in later remakes of the original games) and just how funny the game is overall, but I feel to list all these things would just go on for far too long, so all I want to say at the end of the day, is this is a fantastic game, and definitely deserves its reputation as one of if not the best of the Mario & Luigi series (maybe even one of the best Mario RPGs overall).

Specific aspects about the game relating to Bowser in Smash.

So, this game does have equipment, although none of it changes Bowser’s appearance, still as always with these things, I like to pick out equipment in the game that I feel fits closest to what might be a ‘canon’ setup for Bowser. For this game, I went with the King Shell, (he is the Koopa King afterall) Power Band+ and Intruder Fangs (which allows Bowser to perform two actions consecutively per turn). Two of these have some fairly steep requirements, with the Fangs requiring you to reach ‘Final Boss Rank (level 40)’ and the King Shell requiring you to get all A Ranks at Broque Madame’s challenges, however to me they’re the most fitting equipment for Bowser. Bowser’s not really known for wearing rings so I didn’t have any specific choice for this when it comes down to it. When it comes to moves, Bowser’s basic punch is similar to some of his attacks in Super Smash Bros, and his fire breath is obvious. One of the other overworld abilities is a body slam, which doesn’t have an exact equivalent in Smash Bros, but involves Bowser jumping, going into his shell and slamming down on the ground, with many moves in Smash involving Bowser retracting into his shell (and his down arial does involve him doing a ground pound in his shell, but with the spikes going down rather than his body slamming into the ground.) In battle, Bowser’s counter-attacks involve either punching or him leaning down so attacks from above land on his spiky shell, which interestingly is similar in my opinion to Bowser’s up-smash with him using the spikes on his shell to hit foes above him. Finally, regarding Bowser’s final smash, Giga Bowser is unique to Super Smash Bros, however Bowser growing giant is something that’s happened many times in the series. Bowser does grow giant in this game, but later down the line I have another game on my list specifically regarding giant Bowser.

Credits.

For information on this game including dates of releases I must give credit to Mario Wiki.

The screenshots in this post are taken by me from gameplay videos on youtube by other people a few years ago. I was hoping for a release on the Wii U virtual console to replace them, but sadly that never happened so this is all I have of Bowser in the game. If someone recognises these screenshots from their video specifically and can provide me a link to the original I will give credit.

#Bowser #King Koopa #Super Mario Bros #Mario & Luigi #Mario & Luigi Bowser's Inside Story #Bowser's Inside Story #Super Smash Bros #Nintendo DS #DS #3DS #My Smash Playthrough #My Smash Playthroughs

3 notes · View notes

echoeternally · 5 years

Text

How Do I Ship Bowser & Mario?

Part 2: Finding Common Ground Between Enemies

{Previously, we built up Mario’s character, which can be found in Part 1. The next entry continues based on that.}

And, above all else, realize that Mario is just as multi-faceted as his co-stars: he has his own set of quirks, but also his flaws.

How this relates to Bowser and sets them up as a potential couple, that’s for the next post. That will also dive further into Mario’s personality traits, and therefore help flesh out his character.

Be warned, however, as this will contain spoilers to endings of select Super Mario games, and includes spoilers to the recent title, Luigi’s Mansion 3.

Obviously, Bowser and Mario hold opposite traits, because Bowser is meant to be Mario’s designated enemy.

Where Mario is joyful, but somewhat reserved, Bowser is grouchy, yet very loud and outspoken. Mario likes to help others and is strongest in quieter moments, showing his compassion. Bowser, on the other hand, has funnier moments when he belittles his underlings, is fierce and dominant with his imposing final boss moments, and is overall one of the more abrasive characters in the series.

As much as they are opposites, however, they do share a number of qualities.

Both Mario and Bowser are leaders: Bowser leads his own kingdom, while Mario tends to be the head of his friends, either leading them on adventures, or having everyone join in on a party or with sports. Both characters tend to be stubborn: Bowser constantly wants his way in all aspects of life, and has a fierce determination to see it through, while Mario does all he can to help others and wants to find peace, even if it must be fought for.

An important quality both share, which is one that people may find surprising at first glance: their compassion.

Mario loves others. His brother is normally someone who gets priority in his depictions, and this is best exemplified through the Mario & Luigi series. It shows up in select cutscenes in other games, and through Luigi’s dialogue from time to time; I think the latest example comes from Luigi’s Mansion 3, where Luigi goes to all ends to save Mario, who very excitedly runs and gives his brother a big hug upon his rescue.

As well, Mario is distraught over Peach’s kidnapping and weeps upon finding her locked away. Obviously, given that Peach is traditionally depicted as Mario’s love interest, his love for her is typically demonstrated multiple times in many games, perhaps most famously during Super Mario Odyssey, but consistently hinted at by numerous characters such as Rosalina during Super Mario Galaxy, or the Toads during...most games.

I could list everyone else that Mario shows love and compassion to, such as being brave and protecting Toads, rescuing, befriending, and bonding with Yoshi, and pretty much go across every one-off character that he’s ever come into contact with. But, I think you get the picture based on that.

Now, with Bowser? He’s usually a jerk. His biggest, showy moments, most especially in RPGs, involve him either belittling or bullying his troops. This is, however, because he’s traditionally set in the role of the lead bad guy: the player is meant to identify that he’s evil, and needs to see this full force. If someone treats others as beneath them, they’re obviously not good.

Of course, the quickest character one can point to being an exception is Bowser Junior, who Bowser showers with love and adoration. He spoils his son constantly, but also takes him under his wing, teaching him how to fight Mario and kidnap Peach. And there’s the key point to Bowser: he loves. It’s not like with Peach, where he essentially lusts for her and wants her both for her beauty and to take control of her kingdom; with Junior, this is Bowser actually being a father, and wanting to give his son the world as best he can.

Though this doesn’t always get a front-and-center view in the video games, it does come up, either in passing dialogue from main entries starting with Super Mario Sunshine, or else shows up frequently in spin-off games, especially in sports games where Bowser is playable, and thus is allowed to be demonstrated as a good character because he’ll be under the player’s control, and therefore will be able to showcase his redeemable qualities. More recently, Bowser has been included in video game trailers and animations to help advertise Mario and Nintendo games as a whole, and typically, he shares the screen with Bowser Junior, to continue showing his fatherly side.

Because of how they were depicted in prior games and related media, the Koopalings have also been given an affectionate side from Bowser. He’s spoiled them before, and tends to value them higher than other soldiers in his army. In more recent titles, this is most prevalent not necessarily in on-screen depictions, but rather, implied by circumstance. Sure, one could label the Koopalings as extremely powerful and therefore given more to work with than mere grunts.

However, they’re given very, very powerful tools, most especially in their magic wands; the fact that Bowser trusts them shows a deep respect for them. I think, however, that they’re best shown as being very important to him when the game is over, and it’s the Koopalings (and usually Bowser Junior) who are fishing Bowser out of whatever hole he’s fallen into, and dragging him off to recover and prepare for the next one. Sure, they could be super loyal, but I think that, when the dust settles, the Koopalings are supportive of Bowser in a type of surrogate situation: he fulfills the need of a father to them, and they fill in additional roles as children to him. So, no, they may not be his kids, but he certainly has a soft spot for them.

If we go down the line, we can go back and forth with how Bowser is seen as a father to his men kind of role, given the extreme bouts of loyalty some of his soldiers have in various games. The thing is that, depending upon the game, Bowser is also depicted in various ways, and therefore, his compassion is varied based on title.

So, we’ve got that Mario can be a normally all-around nice guy, and Bowser’s not always a sweetheart. However, Mario can be a bit rough when he chooses, and Bowser can open up with exposed layers to those closest to him.

How the heck can that possibly help them relate to one another, and furthermore, view one another as a romantic interest?

Easily, my dear Anon!

[That answer will begin with the next portion in Part 3! Here’s where to follow.]

#shipping bowsario #how to ship bowsario #bowsario #bowser #mario #hero/villain #super mario #super mario bros #commonality #common points to bowser and mario #part 2

14 notes · View notes

jenna347-blog · 3 years

Text

Koopa Kingdom

Chapter 7

“King Bowser you don’t think we should let Princess peach know just in case one of Bean beam people tries to take over that kingdom as well as a preventing you on ruling that land as well? Just saying because I know a man at your position would get so dang angry on someone taking over something you been working more than 35 years in the making. If you do not mind me saying that we need to get rid of that ratchet Mario and the bean beam people before they get in the way of your dreams. “You may have a great Idea Ms. Jennifer correct, I’m glad that Ludwig picked a good human that hate those ratchet people as much as I do. I want them to pay for what they did to me and my kingdom” Just too bad that Junior is way too young to join our battle you need a perfect leader such as Ludwig Von Koopa, you have to give him a chance to lead the Koopa army and bring those other troops to their knee, but I understand you wanted to make sure the bloodline is pure don’t want to mess up don’t we? I hope you do not take that the wrong way, just thought that it will make the best decision that you could make. Not just that you know Ludwig could make a great leader just like you, but it takes you to change that old style law. Also, I don’t want to force it out of you whatsoever that’s up to you just my opinion King Bowser.” “Jennifer and King Bowser maybe we should talk about this with the rest of the Koopalings in a professional setting, and yes I do have to agree on Ms. Jennifer on this one Bowser Junior would be way too young and sorry to say this very much immature for the job only Ludwig would be fit to lead this kingdom with an iron fist after your passing and you know this King Bowser. I know Ludwig would make a better king than Junior, but you know we must follow the laws that are placed in the Koopa Kingdom. I know master but like she said you can change that old law, but we do have to let them know about it and maybe they’ll like it.” Kamek replied while trying to explain that what I was saying. “I know Kamek, but you know the laws were set in place and shouldn’t be broken and knowing that this shouldn’t be this way, but I made a promise that I’ll keep that promise from the last two kings that I’ll keep this tradition.” “Excuse me if I seem very much like a total bitch, but you should listen to Kamek he knows more the law and what you should do. Not just that from what I seen the Koopa island that your people are not in the 16th century anymore, but even though you’ll never listen to me including Kamek because you’re just too damn hard-headed and stuck into your own ways of thinking. Probably nobody here thinks you could do anymore maybe you should have listened to your Koopa citizens just maybe this would change your mind, guessing that’ll be earlier said than done right.” Explained while heading back to Ludwig’s bedroom. “Jennifer, before you go, just wanted to let you know next time you come to me make sure you know who you’re talking too.” Bowser also explains while Kamek has his fingers pinching the bridge of his nose. “King Bowser, I’m not into following the rules not even if it was for you. Because you are not my King in my universe or whatsoever, if I was you Bowser don’t cross me big man child (ha-ha).” Bowser wanted to say something, but Kamek magically shut his mouth. “You know she’s right Bowser and I thought I taught you better than that, but I guess I was truly wrong. Let’s go back to your room so you can calm down for once in your life.” Finally went back to his room, and hopefully nothing else is going to happen. “My dear love I never thought I’ll see the day that anybody talk to my father like that, well beside Mario, Prince Peach, and Kamek. And you know I love the way you think my deadly princess (gives me a deep kiss).” “I know you would love what I had said, and I had to put my foot down plus I thought his law was very much outdated laws, that just upset me to no end. Ludwig had pulled me in gives me a deep kiss with his dragon tongue. Don’t want to lose you my dear deadly prince the only person that I’ll stand up for.” “You know I’ll never leave you; I have to be the craziest person to ever do that to you. Maybe we get rid of King Bowser, Kamek, and that brother, the reason why I am this because as I mention this was always my dream to become the King of Koopa Kingdom. They stood in my way, also not having my deadly equal, but I hope that future queen could be you.” “Oh, Ludwig, I don’t know what to say my dear love. But I do know we can make that happen my dear sweet deadly prince (Gives him a deep kiss), we just have to do the right thing and make sure we do it discrete and take our time.”

0 notes

we-just-love-being-mean · 7 years

Note

So, since it was retconnned/disproven that the Koopalings are Bowser's kids, how do you think they got their high ranks? They're clearly kids, albeit older than Bowser Jr, and yet they're generals in a major army.

This is agood question…Nintendo will probably never tell us where the Koopalings camefrom and how they got into the Koopa Troop. I do hope we get to see some backstoryin future games.

The Koopalingsare high-ranking members of the Koopa Troop in modern Mario games because (as you all know) they used to be Bowser’s children in older games. They’re also the same species (of Koopas) as Bowser, i call this species “Dragon Koopas”. DragonKoopas are known for their strength, the ability to breathe fire,durability and magical powers. They typically are the leaders of the Kooparace.

Maybe theKoopalings had to do a lot of training before they got their positions? I haveno idea…but they sure are strong kids!

#ask

9 notes · View notes

multiverseforger · 4 years

Text

tion booklet

The Koopalings (Japanese: コクッパ Kokuppa; alternatively クッパ7人衆 Kuppa Shichi Ninshū, "Team of 7 Bowsers"), also known as Bowser's Minions (クッパの手下 Kuppa no Teshita) in Japanese and the British English localizations of some games, and in certain American works as the Koopa Kids, are a seven-member clan of recurring enemies in the Mario franchise, portrayed as siblings[1][2] who act as leaders of the Koopa Troop under Bowser. Individually, they are named Larry, Morton, Wendy, Iggy, Roy, Lemmy, and Ludwig. Although Bowser Jr. is not a member of the Koopalings, they sometimes act as his personal minions.

The Koopalings debuted in Super Mario Bros. 3, and later appeared as bosses in various SNES-era Mario games before going on a long hiatus, reappearing once in 2003's Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, and then being redesigned for 2009's New Super Mario Bros. Wii, which has since been followed by numerous appearances as both bosses in the Super Mario platformers and playable characters in various spinoffs. They have also appeared in various other media, including the cartoon The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3, which featured entirely different names for the characters due to them not having official names at the time of its production phase.

Originally, the Koopalings were depicted as Bowser's children[3][4][5][6] and stated to be his offspring.[7][8][9][10][11] However, Shigeru Miyamoto eventually affirmed that Nintendo's "current story is that the Koopalings are not Bowser's children" in 2012, leaving the Koopalings as his underlings and Bowser Jr. as his only child.

0 notes

mysmashplaythroughs · 4 years

Text

New Super Luigi U Playthrough

Fighter: Luigi

Game: New Super Luigi U, Wii U. First Released on June 19th 2013.

Fighter Bio.

Luigi is the younger brother of the famous Mushroom Kingdom hero Mario. Together the two are referred to as the Mario Bros or Super Mario Bros. Luigi has often followed his brother in various adventures, taking on Bowser and other threats, although Luigi sometimes takes a smaller role holding down the fort at home or is off on his own journey. There are also a few cases where Luigi has been the star over Mario, most notably his ghost hunting escapades. Similarly, to how iconic Mario is as a gaming icon, Luigi is probably the most iconic Player 2 character in gaming. Luigi started off being essentially a palette swap of Mario, meaning he looked identical to Mario just with different coloured clothes, that being his association with green rather than Mario’s red. It would only be in Super Mario Bros 2 USA that he first started having a different look to Mario, being taller and leaner. Whilst official art would start depicting him differently from Mario after this point, his sprites in Super Mario Bros 3 and Super Mario World would still be recolours of Mario, although he would get more distinct sprites in later re-releases of these games.

It is possible that the idea of Luigi being Mario’s younger brother, which is only referenced occasionally may come from his first appearance being after Mario’s, with him first appearing in the game Mario Bros, which was the first game to use Mario’s name, with him being referred to as Jumpman before that. Luigi would often be in other games following this along with Mario, such as Wrecking Crew, always filling the second player option. Luigi did notably follow Mario when the Mushroom Kingdom first appeared in his game series, with the game Super Mario Bros. Whilst Luigi is in this game, he was only playable in two player, where he would be the character the second player controlled, and players would take turns playing through stages. With Mario Odyssey implying Donkey Kong the arcade game took place in New Donk City, it’s plausible other early games such as Wrecking Crew may also have taken place there, however as with most of the Mario series, nothing is really confirmed or denied. Luigi similarly to Mario is known as a protector of the Mushroom Kingdom, and he is just as capable as Mario of fighting Bowser, with the two of them together often being a force to be reckoned with. Luigi similarly to Mario is often not the strongest or fastest, but not lacking in any particular skill either. However, sometimes Luigi is somewhat distinguished from Mario, in some cases being slightly weaker but faster, and sometimes being able to jump higher but slip a bit more than Mario. This tends to be the case more in games where there aren’t many playable characters however, and often in games with larger casts such as the Mario sports games, Luigi will be the same as Mario in abilities.

Luigi unlike his brother, has often been given more of a personality, although it has varied from game to game. As there are a fair few games where Mario is the playable character but Luigi still appears, he often has dialogue when Mario speaks to him. He’s been shown over the years to be more cowardly than Mario, and sometimes a bit of a braggart on some occasions, possibly to try and impress Mario who he looks up to. He is also loyal to his brother and his friends, and still willing to fight even if he’s afraid of what he’s up against. Luigi tends to be clumsier than Mario, and approaches situations more cautiously than his Brother, preferring to slowly approach situations rather than jump right in in most cases. He has a fear of ghosts, but despite this has taken them on many times even whilst being terrified as he does so. Finally, Luigi is often noted to be in Mario’s shadow somewhat, with a lot of characters often recognising Mario but not him, or even if they do recognise him, not being able to remember his name and just referring to him with names such as “Green guy”. There are occasionally hints that this has caused Luigi to develop a slight dark side deep down, but he very rarely acts on it unless forced to by other influences. Finally, Luigi can be a fair bit more emotional than Mario, crying a few times when Mario won’t.

Friends: Luigi has had a fair few friends throughout the years, however he’s notably not as popular as Mario. Mario is his best friend as well as brother, with the two often working together to take on threats, and being a strong force when doing so. Luigi has a lot of respect for Mario, although he can get jealous and competitive with him from time to time. Luigi is also good friends with Princess Peach, although she tends to be closer with Mario, however as he is playable in many of the Super Mario Bros games, he often has the same endings with Peach such as receiving a kiss from her. With that said, Luigi seems to be closer to Princess Daisy, who he only interacts with in spin-off media, but is often shown paired together with, including a statue of the two dancing in one of Daisy’s race courses in Mario Kart Wii. Yoshi gets along well with Luigi just as he does with his brother, however they specifically are sometimes associated with each other such as being called Green Team in certain games. Toad is another of Luigi’s friends, but perhaps less so than Mario. Whilst the main Toad seems to get along with Luigi as well as Mario, other Toads throughout the series vary, with some being dismissive of Luigi and others being big fans of him, as opposed to them all seeming to praise Mario. Most of Luigi’s other friendships are similar to his brother in various spinoffs, with characters such as Diddy Kong and Rosalina.

Whilst Luigi has met less characters than Mario over his history, there are a few he has made friends with that Mario doesn’t seem to know as well. A notable example of this is Professor E Gadd, who has met Mario a few times, but knows Luigi much better. The two can have a slightly antagonistic relationship, but still seem to trust each other despite E Gadd’s occasional barbs he makes at Luigi. One final note on Luigi’s friendships, is that unlike Mario who has had many adventures where he’s met and befriended various characters such as in the Paper Mario series, Luigi hasn’t really done so. There was one case where he had an adventure in the Waffle Kingdom, which was only told to Mario when they’d occasionally meet up during Paper Mario and the Thousand Year Door. The majority of the partners Luigi teamed up with on his adventure did not seem to be very fond of him however, with them often telling Mario that Luigi was exaggerating his tales and in some cases had made major mistakes and they were only travelling with him to get him to pay them back or to make sure he doesn’t cause more problems elsewhere.

Enemies/Rivals: Luigi has not amassed as many enemies as Mario, but he has shared a fair few with him. Similarly to Mario, Luigi’s most major and recurring enemy is Bowser and his forces. Bowser often forgets who Luigi is, but he has been reminded from time to time when Luigi causes him just as many problems as Mario does. Bowser Jr and the Koopalings have fought Luigi a fair few times, although not as often as they’ve fought Mario. Unlike Mario who is feared by a lot of Bowser’s troops, they often fail to recognise Luigi, although those who do either tend to underestimate him, or in some cases realise he’s just as much of a threat as Mario. Finally, Luigi has an arch enemy who uniquely he has fought more than Mario, that being King Boo, leader of the Boos. King Boo has captured Mario numerous times, but often ends up defeated by Luigi, which has gradually led him to despise the younger brother. It’s debatable if King Boo is always the same one throughout the series, but if so, in Super Mario 64 DS he was the one who captured Luigi hiding him in a painting in Big Boo’s Haunt, alluding to their antagonistic relationship.

Luigi has one rival really which is Waluigi. Waluigi has an intense hatred of Luigi for unknown reasons, and Luigi actually seems to be more confident when going up against him rather than his tendency to be somewhat afraid of other antagonists such as Bowser. At worst Waluigi has cheated to try and win in various competitions which is why he’s more of a rival than a full-on enemy, and may be part of why Luigi doesn’t seem to be afraid of him. When it comes to Wario, the two don’t seem to really have much of a rivalry, as Wario is more of a rival to Mario, however the Mario Bros often compete against Wario and Waluigi. Interestingly, in Super Mario 64 DS, it is Luigi who saves Wario from the painting he’s trapped in.

Crossovers with other Smash characters: Luigi is not as prolific as Mario when it comes to crossovers, but he has had a fair few over the years, and more than a lot of other characters. Luigi was with Mario and others in the crowd during certain parts of Kirby Super Star, watching Kirby fight King Dedede in the boxing arena and the Megaton Punch minigame. Luigi was in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe where other racers include Link (Skyward Sword and Breath of the Wild’s incarnations) the default Inklings, two Animal Crossing Villagers and Isabelle. Luigi similarly to Mario has been in some Game & Watch games and was in the Game & Watch Gallery games which included the original and Mario versions of various Game & Watch games, therefore featuring Mr Game & Watch. Luigi appears with Mario in Tetris on the NES in a small cameo alongside Pit, Samus, Link and Donkey Kong. Luigi was also in all of the Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games series, crossing over with the Sonic series. What’s interesting is despite Tails being arguably the next most famous Player 2 and sidekick character in gaming, Luigi’s rival seems to be Shadow in that series with the two appearing a few times alongside each other. Luigi co-starred in Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga, which had originally planned cameos of Olimar, Toon Link, Wario, Fox McCloud, Samus Aran and and Excitebiker which were cut from the final game. Luigi appeared in the audience of the arcade Punch-out games along with Mario, Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr which was his first ever cameo. Luigi was also playable in the Mario Kart GP series, which had Pac-Man a playable racer also. The Fortune Street games have had Luigi cross over with the Dragon Quest franchise, however, the Heroes from Dragon Quest do not appear themselves in these games. Overall, Luigi has made quite a few cameos over the years, just not independently of Mario.

Why this game?

So, the obvious choice people always go with when it comes to Luigi is the Luigi’s Mansion games. Whilst they are definitely on my list and I will get to them down the line, the reason I went for New Super Luigi U in the end, was because Luigi’s overall movements in Smash Bros are closer to his portrayals in the platforming games than the Luigi’s Mansion games. Whilst Luigi in Super Smash Bros Ultimate uses the Poltergust, he has not always had it as part of his moveset, and it still only makes up his Final Smash and grab (which is only one move more than Mario’s F.L.U.D.D. and I doubt most people would say that is the best game to represent Mario overall, even if they love it) I therefore went for this game as it’s one of Luigi’s only starring roles besides the Luigi’s Mansion series and features specific movements which are associated with Luigi such as him being more slippery and jumping higher as well as doing the Scuttle jump. The game also has Luigi taking on Bowser and his army which represents the Super Mario Bros series overall better than the ghosts of Luigi’s Mansion.

My past with this game.

When it comes to this game it can’t really be separated from New Super Mario Bros U. New Super Mario Bros U was a launch title for the Wii U and the fourth in the New Super Mario Bros series. The series overall has had a mixed reception, with not many thinking the games are bad but most of the complaints feeling they’re somewhat generic. Personally, I understand the complaints, but I still enjoy the games and think they’re good games overall. One key element that sadly I’m lacking is that these games can be played in multiplayer, which I’ve only been able to play a few times, so the majority of my experience with the series is single player. Personally, my favourite aspect of the series was seeing them bring back old enemies and redesign them into 3D, which has somewhat solidified how they appear now with enemies such as Buzzy Beetles and Hammer Bros and bosses such as the Koopalings reappearing after a long absence.

When it comes to New Super Mario Bros U specifically, there’s two aspects that probably stand out most in my mind. The first of these are the locations, with them making more of an effort in this game to not have the Mushroom Kingdom look the same as it did in New Super Mario Bros and New Super Mario Bros Wii. The locations in this game such as Acorn Plains are somewhat recognisable, although they’re not the most exciting locations to have appeared in the Mario series. The World Map was the second aspect I always remember, with it working more like the World Map in Super Mario World being one large map you can walk across from world 1 to the final castle. One key aspect to this game which was showing off a new feature of the Wii U was Miiverse, which personally I found a really fun addition, where you could see many different posts by other players for each level. I always liked this feature as it made it feel like you were going on a journey with lots of other people seeing what their experiences are like as you go. With Miiverse shut down now this is no longer possible and as such it was a unique feature to the Wii U game.

New Super Luigi U was what could be called an expansion to the game. It featured the same world map, but every level was replaced with a brand-new level which was meant to be more challenging. Along with this, every level now has a time limit of 100 seconds, meaning they were shorter than those in the original game and you have to focus on getting through them more quickly. There is only one ‘new’ enemy in the game which is a bigger version of a yellow Cheep Cheep, a fish enemy. The rest of the game doesn’t really use new assets so much as using different more challenging setups with those which were in the original game. Overall I’d say this game is similar to the original Super Mario Bros 2 in Japan, which was a more challenging version of the original Super Mario Bros, although with a couple of new features in that case. I played through the original and New Super Luigi U I believe fully getting all three star coins hidden in each stage and beating every level in both, however this was some time ago so I’m not one hundred percent certain if I did or not. I have also gotten New Super Mario Bros Deluxe on Switch, however I have not played through New Super Luigi U on it yet, so my playthrough for this post was on the Wii U version.

My Smash Playthrough.

So, when it comes to my playthrough of this game, it’s very tough to actually go over it. Similarly to other games I’ve covered so far, it was some time ago I did this playthrough, however, one aspect of the New Super Mario Bros series which is often criticised and really doesn’t help me remember, is the game doesn’t really have many memorable moments. There’s the occasional stage which I’d have to retry a few times, but most often it’d be due to me messing up rather than it being particularly hard. The game is definitely tougher than New Super Mario Bros U, but also because of every stage having a time limit of 100 seconds, it means a lot of them are over quick when you do get through them. I think the main memorable aspect of the game is the overall worlds rather than specific stages, with them all being a mixture of foods and standard terrains you’d see in most games. The game starts off at Peach’s Castle, with Luigi, Blue Toad, Yellow Toad and Princess Peach sitting at the table, with oddly Mario’s cap also there, being the only sign of him in this game. Bowser’s Airship along with a squadron of Koopaling Airships arrive and Bowser’s Airship deploys a giant mechanical hand. The hand then moves Peach aside and smashes the other three, scooping them up and throwing them out of the castle, with them landing in a giant Super Acorn Tree, in the first world of the game, Acorn Plains. The three get up and start running back to the castle as Bower’s forces gradually start transforming it. Not exactly a deep story but it’s very rare for Mario games to have that interesting of a plot. The first world is fairly standard, although it introduces the main powerup in this game, the Super Acorn. I quite like the Flying Squirrel form and feel it works well in the game, being unique to previous forms with flight such as the Raccoon Suit and Cape as its movement is linked to the spin mechanic in the New Super Mario Bros series. Beyond the Squirrel form, there’s not a lot of unique features to Acorn Plains beyond the scenery. The aesthetics and theming of the worlds in this game is most likely influenced by Super Mario World in this game, with the food themed locations and the various strange shapes making up the backgrounds throughout the game. Acorn Plains does have one other new feature in this game, Baby Yoshis. Unlike Yoshi, who sadly only appears in specific stages and won’t go with you to other ones, the Baby Yoshi you find on the world map will follow you for as long as you can keep ahold of it, which is somewhat difficult. Baby Yoshi comes in three colours, Pink which when you’re holding it and shake the controller (or press the button in other playstyles) will inflate and allow you to float up a little way, being able to do so a limited number of times before you slowly fall, Blue which shoots bubbles out of it’s mouth which can defeat a lot of enemies, and finally the Yellow shining Baby Yoshi. The Shining Baby Yoshi is only available in specific stages as it’s main job is allowing you to light up dark stages by spinning. All three Baby Yoshis eat most enemies that adult Yoshi can eat. Whilst Baby Yoshis have appeared in a few games, this game was the first time they’d reused the design from Super Mario World in a long time, and the first time this form had appeared in 3D.

Layer-Cake Desert is the next world, which is made up of surprisingly mostly sand themed stages, as well as a fair few underground ones. Some notable features of this world are the first case of a dark underground stage where light is only provided by certain objects such as fireballs from enemies and the fire flowers, as well as glowing Baby Yoshis. Also, of note in this world are the first appearance of Spikes, who can be irritating but aren’t too difficult to defeat as long as you watch out for the iron balls they roll. Next up is a branch, where you can choose which world to take on next. Despite me not going for 100% in this playthrough I believe, I beat both worlds, and I have every time, so I’m not entirely certain if you can carry on without doing the other world or have to beat both options before being able to go on to world 5. I’m fairly sure I have always gone for the same world first each time, being Frosted Glacier, so I most likely did again in this playthrough. Frosted Glacier has some really nice looking stages, with a lot of starry skies, and a nice atmosphere. The only problem of course, is in a game with Luigi slipping more than usual, you now have ice physics to deal with. I believe I didn’t have an awful amount of trouble with this however, as often there’s plenty of room so it’s rare to slip and fall into pits in my experience as long as you’re careful. The first ghost house also appears in this world, I don’t tend to remember specific ghost houses in most games until I get to them, so I can’t say which ghost house is from which world, but with the strict time limit, having to solve puzzles I think could take me a couple of tries, however it was nothing I remember being irritatingly tough. Sparkling Waters is the other option and the one I usually go with second. As you can likely guess from the name, it’s a water based world, however what’s interesting is there’s only two underwater stages in it, with the rest being more beach themed stages with a small amount of water at the bottom. Probably the first stage that I noticed being somewhat unique in this game compared to New Super Mario Bros U is in this world, with a beach stage featuring various beach huts and Huckit Crabs, which throw rocks. The other stage of note in this world is the ghost ship, which is a mix of a ghost house and a beach stage with water running along the bottom and Boo enemies.

Following these worlds is the first encounter with Bowser’s main airship which involves a battle with Bowser Jr. I’ll cover the boss battles later, but this is probably the only standard airship level in the game as the other one differs somewhat. I’ve always been a fan of the airships in Mario and so despite it being an auto-scrolling level I quite like this one. Past this is Soda Jungle, which has a few unique features. This world starts off with jungle themed stages with poisonous water that kills you if you fall in, and can be quite irritating. It also features Giant enemies for the first time. The Haunted Forest section of the world has one of the most interesting looking stages in the game, which is a stage where all the backgrounds look like painted artwork along with painted pipes that move a lot. I do remember having to play this level a few times, so I was glad it had an interesting look to it rather than just being another jungle stage. Finally, after leaving the Haunted section comes a couple more jungle stages, with them both featuring some unique mechanics, one of the stages requiring you to bounce off of giant Wiggler enemies (caterpillars that are an enemy that first appears in this world) and not touch the poison water. The second is a stage which features enemies that only appeared in one stage in New Super Mario Bros U, being Sumo Bros. What I found cool was that these enemies hadn’t appeared in a game in years so I was glad to see them in 3D for the first time. They can be very tricky though, stomping on platforms above to make lighting drop down. Rock Candy Mines is the next world, which features many mountain and underground themed stages which are fairly challenging. I can’t really pick out stages that stood out particularly in this world however. Next up, and the final of the standard worlds in the game is Meringue Clouds. I’d like to note that I have always been a big fan of sky-based locations, with cities in the clouds being some of my favourite settings, so I enjoyed this world. Probably one of the more notable stages on it is the Rainbow Skywalk, which features you travelling through various rainbow corridors with Bullet Bills firing and Waddlewings flying at you.

Before tackling the final world, I’d like to make a mention of the boss battles. They’re often seen as the weakest aspect of the game I believe, and I can understand why, however personally I quite enjoy them. Boom Boom is the miniboss of most worlds, with him receiving various changes each time from Kamek, including forms such as being able to spin jump, growing giant and gaining wings amongst other abilities. The Koopalings are fairly different in this game to their last appearance in New Super Mario Bros Wii, being only fought once in each world and having different features to their fights. They’re still beaten the same way mostly however being jumped on three times when not hidden in their shells. These battles I believe are no different in New Super Luigi U to the base game, with the main difference being Luigi’s different movement in this game and the shorter time limit. The bosses are fairly simple with only a couple making me have to try more than once against them. The final Airship stage follows Meringue Clouds and features the giant hand seen on the airship in the introduction. It causes crushing damage so can kill you instantly even if you’ve got a full powerup, so it’s important to always find somewhere to hide from it. The auto-scroll nature of the stage can make this somewhat irritating but it’s not too difficult and is followed up by a Bowser Jr boss fight. The first Bowser Jr fight earlier in the game had you swimming and trying to get his homing Torpedo Teds he’d fire to instead hit him, which wasn’t tough but could take a bit of time and I believe I had to try more than once. This second boss battle can be fairly irritating, with it requiring you to jump on his head when he’s low enough. However, what’s dangerous in this battle is Bowser Jr can break the floor you’re standing on, meaning a mistake can cause you to fall fairly easily. Following this battle, the Airship is taken down and its on to the final world, Peach’s Castle which has been transformed by Kamek.

Peach’s Castle features all lava stages, with many features seen in the castles you’ve been through such as Podoboos and Magmaws coming out of the lava to cause you trouble. Somewhat more unique to these stages are the poisonous gas cloud that follows in some stages, although due to the time limit you’re unlikely to wait long enough for it to catch up to you anyway, and meteors which fall from the sky and often destroy platforms they land on (as well as you if you’re not careful). Probably the my biggest complaint for this world in both NSBMU and NSLU is that, beyond Peach’s Castle being viewable in the background in some of the stages, none of the stages really look that different to typical Bowser’s Castle stages, and given the history of Peach’s Castle with Super Mario 64 having the whole game take place in it as a hub world, it would have been cool to see more of the concept of that location transformed into a lava filled fortress. The final stage isn’t that different from the one in New Super Mario Bros U, with Bowser Jr in his Clown Car flying above you and ground pounding on you every so often. It’s a somewhat irritating stage due to this, with him often throwing you off or knocking you stunned into the lava. At the end of the stage comes the final battle with Bowser… which is once again a recreation of his battle in the original Super Mario Bros. Run under him when he jumps and hit the switch to collapse the bridge under him. There is more to this, but given the last three NSMB games did this setup before the real final boss, I really wish they could have done something else here. Super Mario Bros 3 had a fun Bowser fight, they could have easily done a recreation of that if they wanted. It’s funny because due to this same boss fight being in the NSMB series multiple times, it makes Bowser in his ‘base form’ so to speak seem like a complete joke which Mario and Luigi can take down with ease at this point.

So, as you can imagine, Bowser falls, and Kamek appears to once again use his magic on him, just like in previous NSMB games. This time, instead of running from a giant Bowser like in New Super Mario Bros Wii, the giant Bowser confronts you on the roof, with Bowser Jr in his clown car helping him. This is a somewhat cool battle, as you must dodge Bowser Jr’s ground pounds, jump on him to knock him out of the Clown Car and pilot it above the giant Bowser, before ground pounding with it down onto his head. It’s a fairly fun battle although not particularly hard, you will probably have to try it once or twice though but for how many lives you have at this point it won’t matter much. Following his defeat Bowser falls with Jr jumping after him (I’d imagine landing on top of Bowser rather than to his doom but I’ll let you be the judge of that) and Luigi goes to see Peach, gets a kiss and the same ending as New Super Mario Bros U plays out. Usually I go over my feelings on the ending, with the credits music and other things, but there’s not really much to say for this one, it’s another playable ending screen which is nice but it’s nothing really special. The music’s nice enough for it but New Super Mario Bros as a series has not had a lot of music that really sticks out to me. I don’t find it bad music, it does its purpose, but it’s not something I’ll really think of outside of the game usually, with only the occasional track that I’ll listen to. So for the game overall, I think it benefits from it’s focus on being a challenge for those who played the first game rather than a sequel, and for Luigi’s first non-Mansion or Educational starring role it’s not a bad one.

Specific aspects about the game relating to Luigi in Smash.

So, when it comes to Luigi’s moves in this game, there isn’t a lot to go over. Luigi can use fireballs when he’s in his Fire Luigi form similarly to his Neutral B in Smash Bros, he can also do spins in this game, similar to his Down B. Apart from that however, most of the similarities come down to movement, with Luigi’s physics in comparison to Mario’s being similar to the differences between them in Smash, and Luigi having his Scuttle Jump. Other than that, most of Luigi’s moves in Smash have a somewhat interesting origin, with a lot of his attacks being based on Mario’s which came from Super Mario 64, a game Luigi famously wasn’t in. What’s interesting is years later Super Mario 64 DS would release with Luigi playable, being able to do the same attacks as Mario, so in a sense it could be said to be based on his Smash moves rather than the other way around in this case. (Although, in reality it’s simply because all characters besides Yoshi have the same punching and kicking moves). Overall, despite this being the game I chose for Luigi, the closest playable appearance for him to his Smash Bros appearance is in Super Mario 64 DS. Finally, as it is an important aspect of him, I will cover Luigi’s Poltergust down the line as an alternate costume in a sense with a play through of Luigi’s Mansion Dark Moon, and then Luigi’s Mansion 3.

Credits.

For information on this game including dates of releases I must give credit to Mario Wiki.

The screenshots in this post are taken by me using Miiverse before it shut down.

#Luigi #New Super Luigi U #super smash bros #Wii U #Nintendo Switch #My Smash Playthrough #My Smash Playthroughs

5 notes · View notes

jenna347-blog · 4 years

Text

Ludwig Von Koopa Chapter 2(Fanfiction)

Sorry it took so dang long but going to post chapter 2-4 working on chapter 5 and 6.

Once entering the Koopa Kingdom, I can see that both Trevin and Gwen were still speechless, and jaws were almost on the floor. And I whispered to them. “You guys may want to close your mouths, or flies could make themselves at home. And I’m also guessing now you two believe me now. They nod their heads yes. To be honest with you guys I couldn’t believe it either when my mom came through.” “This place is beyond beautiful Jen; this stuff has to be from the 14-16 century.” Gwen said while touching the statue. “True that this is the type of place that I could only dream of living, and don’t want to leave.” “But you two must promise me that you won’t tell a soul, even though no one won’t believe us probably. I told them with a concerned look on my face, and they both agreed with me. If we’re going to explore the castle better stick with me, just make sure not to make any noise.” But Gwen stops us halfway. “Don’t you guys hear that? Crap we need to hide.” There was a dark little area, the voices sounded familiar, then they stopped walking. “Wait Kamek don’t you smell that?” Bowser asked while a sniffing sound came from his nose. “I sure do Lord Bowser, smells like humans to me, 3 of them to be specific. Maybe they could be working for those Mario bros and Princess Peach. Do you think we should call the Koopa Troop?” “No, that won’t be necessary Kamek, you already know they may not make it out alive if they go towards the Roy or Morton rooms.” Bowser replies then have a very loud evil laugh. I knew we had to act quickly, motion them to follow me towards hopefully a safe room. “Dammit Jen, I can’t believe this is happening to us.” “Gwen, you think I knew this was going to happen to any of us.” “All I care about is not becoming Bowsers' next damn meal.” Trevin had a point, but before I could get one word in some type of force that brought us into this dark blue room, almost knocking us out. After coming too felt like I been hit with a brick, but I hear a familiar voice looking around trying to figure out where it was coming from. “Who are you three, and who sent you?” Asking with an angrily growl. “I’m so sorry my Lordship, it was my idea to come across your kingdom. You must Prince Ludwig Von Koopa the leader of the Koopalings, and Bowser’s eldest adopted children, if I’m correct.” Explaining while bowing and letting them know to also bow as well. Then he came out of the darkness, and I have to say I was very speechless. Because he looked like a 5’09” handsome god with those beautiful glowing bright blue eyes, not a hair out of place, his beautiful 16th-century German-style outfit. And that deep German accent was so dreamy, I didn’t what he was saying, because his perfect looks and voice were getting in the way of everything else. Then I felt Ludwig nudge my shoulder trying to bring me back to earth. “What I was paying attention to.” “Oh really, but I think you were daydreaming. I hope you like what you see my beautiful lady. While kissing my hand giving me that sexy smirk. Oh yes, how rude of me do you guys would like to have a seat with me and have some tea and German biscuits.” Before we could say anything, we heard somebody coming this way sounds like Bowser and Kamek, but I could be wrong though. “Bowser, I tried to ask Roy, Lemmy, Larry, and Wendy, if they had known anything about those mystery humans. But none of them knew what I was talking about, all there’s left is Ludwig, Iggy Roy, Bowser Junior, and Morton. The only thing is I’m afraid to ask Morton, no offense, but he’s not the sharpest crayon in the box.” “No, you’re right, Kamek. Gives a heavy sigh. Sometimes I wonder what is wrong with that boy you know; just wish he was like Iggy or at least Ludwig.” “I know Lord Bowser, but I know with a lot of more training and schooling we could get him in the right path, but back to the humans part, Lord Bowser, if we’re going to get to the bottom of this we need to ask the 2nd-3rd command which your sons Junior and Ludwig. Our best luck is with Ludwig, the only reason why I’m saying this is because how old Junior is no disrespect in any means.” Kamek explains and the tone of his voice he was hoping that he didn’t offend King Koopa (Bowser Sr.). “I know what you mean, and you know I always wanted your opinion with anything that goes right or wrong with the kingdom. And you’re right, but we’ll have more luck getting information with Ludwig, but also with Iggy the only ones that’ll give us the right information.” Ludwig had to act fast, so he took his wand from his hair, made us invisible, and whispered to us that he’ll make us harder for them to smell us as well. (Knocking) “Hey son is it okay for us to come in, we need to talk about something just important.” “Yes sure, come on in, and have a seat. So, what’s the problem Bowser and Kamek?” “Well, we believe there are some humans that came here that could be spies from Princess Peach and the Mario Bros., and hopefully you’ll know anything about these “spies”. But if you don’t know we were going to ask Iggy.” Kamek explained. “What about the rest of the Koopalings and Junior?” “Well, I and Kamek already asked most of them, just not you, Iggy, Junior, Morton, and Roy. The ones we did ask including the Koopa troops, didn’t know anything about these humans.” Bowser replied while sipping some of Ludwig tea. “Well, maybe we could do PSA at the Koopa tower. Letting them know that they need to watch out and be a ready charge if needed.” “That’s my boy, you know what I may put you back into the 2nd command after all of this issue is dealt with. I know that you were upset that Junior took your position, but I was thinking about this for an awhile, and maybe you should be the next king of Koopa Kingdom.” “I’m very honored about this, but I do need to get back to writing, have to finish a musical script. Maybe we could talk about all of this after the PSA?” “I like the sound of that Ludwig, but we’ll let you go back to your music writing, don’t want to hold you up further. Let’s do the PSA maybe 2 days from now, sounds good to you?” Ludwig agreed with the idea while showing them the door. Taking out his wand doing a one-way mirror only he’ll see them, but they couldn’t see in, as soon they were too far away from his room and hallway. He turned us back to normal. “Are you okay my dear new beautiful Jennifer?” Ludwig asked while kissed me on my hand like a gentleman. “Yes, I’m doing fine.” “Maybe you two would like to be alone.” Gwen said while start laughing. “Well, I can always send you and Tevin back home, I and Ludwig could get to know each other better.” They all agreed on that idea, I returned them to our universe, and good thing nobody heard my device. “Forgot to mention, you won’t have to worry about me mentioning you are your friends. I maybe Bowsers adopted son, but nothing like him, don’t even think the rest of the koopalings are like him either. Plus, I can’t stand his biological son Junior either, none of us can besides his father.” “Maybe it’ll get better after you get your position back. Don’t let them get to you my dear Ludwig, everything would be okay.” “Maybe you’re right but other than that I would love to get to know you better my dear. Something about you makes me want you more, even though I just met you it feels like I knew you for a very long time my beautiful princess. Would you love to go on a dinner date, maybe tonight?” “Oh my god yes. I felt the same way with you, my handsome prince, I tried to keep my composer but some reason I felt this feeling that I never had before.” “I’ll set up a reservation to a restaurant that I know you’ll love, and not just that I’ll treat you like a princess that you deserved to be treated. But before we head to the restaurant, I need to make sure to treat your nails done, hair done, and a perfect dress.” Takes his wand out again, and got me all doll up, feeling like a true princess. “Oh my gosh, Ludwig, I look amazing.” “I’m so glad that you love it like I mention before I want to treat you like a princess, not just that spoil you like one too.” He explains while holding my chin towards his handsome face. Then he gives me a deep kiss, it was like heaven, never had a guy kiss me this passionate before. Then he made the call to the restaurant to make the reservation and trying to get a limo to take us to the restaurant in style. (phone hangs). “Ludwig, what about your family, would they expect something wasn’t right because they think you’re supposed to write your musical screenplay? Not just that what about the other Koopas see me with you.” “Don’t you worry about a thing my princess, I’ll take care of all of that, and to make sure that you've taken care of. Forgot to mention that the limo will pick us up in a couple of minutes, they’ll let me know when they’re on the way here then zap us. He explains while getting ready for our date, he still couldn’t believe this was going to happen. Like a dream come true, and then he received a text saying they were on their way to the castle. “Just have to make some changes to the room so they wouldn’t suspect anything.” Magically makes a doubleganger telling him that we’ll be back hopefully in an hour and pretend to write most of his plays. We were in the limo faster than I could blink, and this limo is something out of a fairy tales, feeling like a celebrity. “Would you like something to drink my dear?” “Sounds great, I’ll have some red wine, please. Pours both of us some wine. Mm, the best-tasting wine I ever head my dear Ludwig.” “I’m glad you enjoy it, my dear Jennifer.” “I wish met you sooner Ludwig, just never met a perfect gentleman like you in my life.” He kisses my hand. “I’m one of a kind, my dear. I’ll make sure that I would never leave your side no matter what, to me you’re more than gorgeous but more of perfection my love. Everything that a man like me needs, a woman in your caliber needs to be treated like a princess.” The driver had rolled down the back window. “Dear sir, we have arrived.” “Thank you, kind sir, and here’s your tip.” He gives the driver 50 golden coins. Ludwig goes to my side waits for the drive to open the door for me holding his arm, so he could escort me to the front door. “Welcome Lord Ludwig and milady. We hope you have a lovely night.” We both nod our heads, and when we once entered it was something only kings and queens could only dream of. “I could see you already love it, just the beginning. I come here plenty of times the food is top of the line, not just that, I normally come here to play some of my classical music always a hit my love.” When we went to our table, Ludwig pulls out my chair. Then snaps his finger, about 2 or 3 waiters came in a wink of a dime.

1 note · View note