Bowser

[Dirty Blond]

Hey guys, I used to play video games. I stopped when I was in high school, but the thought just occured to me: Is Bowser the most pointless villain in video game history? What did he ever have against the Mushroom Kingdom? I don't remember much about him except that he was a spikey tortoise.

Seriously, did anything animate him besides kidnapping the princess?

[愛]

Well, the first Mario game wasn't exactly filled with dialog...

The guy's an asshole, anyway.

[Allio]

Originally Posted by 愛

The guy's an asshole, anyway.

and there's your plot for everything 80's and 90's ladies and gentlemen

[CyberCubed]

In the RPG's, Bowser is actually a fairly well written character.

Play Super Mario RPG, any of the Paper Mario's, or the Mario and Luigi series...Bowser is actually hilarious.

[The Stryker]

Who cares? It's a Mario game? I didn't know that story progression and character growth was a thing to complain about.

Bowser kidnaps Princesses, Mario saves them. You don't need much else.

[Logan]

The Super Mario Bros. games are in the grand tradition of old fairy tales. Bowser is the monster that is evil. Mario is the hero. Black and white. The story of good vs. evil and good wins. There is no need for character nuances or grand storytelling and I believe that's how Nintendo wants it. It allows them more territory to explore with the characters.

[TMNT_Guy]

There has always been an implied "war" between the Koopa Clan and the Mushroom Kingdom that happened long before Mario or Bowser were born. The Goomba species origin is that they are "mushroom(s) who betrayed the Mushroom Kingdom." and Kammy Koopa, Bowser's "right-hand woman", says in Paper Mario that the Koopa Troop's (Bowser's army.) mission is to get revenge on all who have treated Koopas poorly. Though Bowser's never ending desire for power is the real driving force.

In the original Super Mario Bros, Bowser used his dark magic (Which he presumably learned from his caretaker Kamek the Magikoopa) to turn all of it's inhabitants into stones, bricks and field horse-hair plants. However, Bowser knew that the only one who could undo his spell was Princess Peach Toadstool, so he imprisoned her.

Eventualy, Bowser began to fall in love (Or more appropriately, lust) with Princess Peach. Thats pretty much the reason why Bowser kidnaps the Princess in all future games, because he wants to make her his bride.

"From this galaxy, I'll rule a great galactic empire with Peach by my side. It will last forever!"

Despite his cruel, unsympathetic personality, Bowser has been show on multiple occasions to care about his people. The two best examples that I can think of are in Super Mario RPG and Super Mario Sunshine.

In Super Mario RPG, Bowser gets separated from his troops but much time later manages to find a Goomba from his army running a shop. The Goomba pleads Bowser to forgive him for going AWOL and reveals that he has started a family and has already had triplets. Bowser, pausing, almost uncharacteristically replies:

"...Don't worry. I'm not angry with you. You go on with your life here. I wish you the best."

In Super Mario Sunshine, Bowser lies to his youngest son, Bowser Jr, by telling him Princess Peach is his mother in order to get him to kidnap her. At the end of the game, Bowser shows great remorse and guilt when he says to his son:

Bowser: "Jr., I've got something...difficult...to tell you about Princess Peach..."
Jr: "I know, she's not really my Mama."
Bowser looks like he's about to say somthing, (Sorry maybe?) but closes his mouth.

His people do genuinely love him too, suggesting that Bowser isn't that bad of a ruler. Of course, these moments of compassion are very rare. Bowser is the kinda guy who would stomp you into a pancake just for looking at him funny. Or because you look funny. Or because he's bored.

The important thing to remember about Mario games and Nintendo games in general is that they don't focus much on story. Shigeru Miyamoto has stated many times that his believes too much story ruins the gameplay experience.

However, there is no denying the Mario series has a continuity and that the Mario cast all have unique personality traits with wants and desires just like any fictional character. We just rarely get to see it because Nintendo's focus is on the gameplay, not the characters or the plot, and it probably always will be.

[Dirty Blond]

Thanks for the wealth of info, TMNT_Guy!

[pannoni1]

Bowser also had his koopa henchmen starting with the third NES game that were his primary personnel used to kidnap various Mushroom Kingdom people, and then the regular Koopa Troopas and Parakoopas are just ordinary foot soldiers. Bowser is the leader in which all evil comes from, and like other big bads, changes through each story. He has never been relegated to a secondary villain in any game where he has appeared that does not involve a non-adventure plot (Mario Party, Super Smash Bros) Just another "jealous of a culture, so I'll take revenge so I can rule" decision.

[Logan]

Lots of quoting from the instruction manual, TMNT_Guy. Well said.