Editing Fake Bowser

{{species infobox

|latest_appearance=''[[Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros.]]'' ([[List of games by date#2020|2020]])

|variant_of=[[Koopa (Bowser's species)|Koopa]]

|variants=[[Tail Bowser]]

A '''fake Bowser''' (known as '''Bowser's decoy''' in ''[[NES Remix]]'') is a standard enemy that was transformed by [[Bowser]]'s black magic into a copy of himself. They first appear in ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]''

The concept of fake Bowsers came about during development of ''Super Mario Bros.'' Since all enemies have their sprites flipped upside-down when they are defeated (except for [[Piranha Plant]]s, which simply disappear, and [[Bullet Bill]]s, which stay rightside up), one of the programmers accidentally inserted an upside-down Koopa Troopa shell when portraying Bowser's death animation as if he were defeated with fireballs. The developers liked this idea, and as a result, this idea was extended to most of the Bowser battles in the game.<ref>https://www.giantbomb.com/false-bowser/3015-8320/</ref>{{better source}}

===''Super Mario Bros.'' / ''Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels''===

In ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'', the seven fake Bowsers are placed in each [[castle]], with [[World 8-4 (Super Mario Bros.)|Bowser's Castle]] containing the real one. Defeating a fake Bowser with five [[fireball]]s reveals that they are really just common enemies disguised as Bowser. The enemies and their abilities are the following:

*'''World 1''': [[Goomba|Little Goomba]] - [[Fire Breath|fire]]

*'''World 6''': [[Blooper|Bloober]]<!--DO NOT CHANGE TO "BLOOPER". "Bloober" was the name at the time of this game and should be the name displayed here. --> - [[hammer]]

*'''World 7''': [[Hammer Bro]]ther - hammer

''[[Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels]]'' additional worlds (in the ''[[Super Mario All-Stars]]'' version, the final fake Bowser is now replaced with the actual Bowser):

*'''World A''': Goomba - fire ([[Family Computer Disk System|FDS]]) / [[Red Shell|Red]] [[Koopa Troopa]] - hammer (''All-Stars'')

*'''World B''': Green Koopa Troopa - fire (FDS) / Green [[Cheep Cheep|Cheep-Cheep]] - hammer (''All-Stars'')

*'''World C''': Buzzy Beetle - fire (FDS) / [[Bullet Bill]] - hammer (''All-Stars'')

Like Bowser, the blue [[Bowser's Brother]] in World D-4 is also a fake revealed to be a Spiny when defeated with fireballs, and only breathes fire. In ''Super Mario All-Stars'', both of these fakes are replaced with the real ones that only throw hammers, although Bowser's Brother is now green and looks identical to his twin. Due to ''[[All Night Nippon: Super Mario Bros.]]'' also featuring Worlds A-D, all of the fake Bowsers from those worlds return, including the fake Bowser's Brother in World D-4.

===''Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3''===

===''Super Mario 3D Land''===

While typical fake Bowsers do not appear in ''[[Super Mario 3D Land]]'', variants powered by [[Super Leaf|Super Leaves]] known as [[Tail Bowser]]s make their first appearance.

===''Super Mario Run''===

{|class=sortable cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3 border=1 align=center width=100% style="border-collapse:collapse; font-family:Arial"

!width=40%|Title

!width=20%|Description

!width=20%|Release Date

!width=20%|System/Format

|''[[Super Mario Bros.]]''

|Boss

|1985

|[[Nintendo Entertainment System]]

|''[[Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels]]''

|Boss

|1986

|[[Family Computer Disk System]]

|''[[Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3]]''

|Boss

|2003

|[[Game Boy Advance]]

|''[[Super Mario Run]]''

|Boss

|2016

|iOS, Android

==Names in other languages==

|Jap=にせクッパ<ref name=SMBsite>[[Nintendo|Nintendo of Japan]]. "[https://www.nintendo.co.jp/character/mario/characters/smb/index.html CHARACTERS of ''Super Mario Bros.'' and ''Super Mario Bros. 2'']". [https://www.nintendo.co.jp/character/mario/characters/index.html CHARACTERS of the ''Super Mario Bros.'' series] (official Japanese character index). Published 2020. Accessed 20 Mar 2021.</ref>

|JapM=Fake Bowser; shared with [[Belome|Bowser Clone]]

|Fre=Faux Bowser

|FreM=Fake Bowser

|Rus=Поддельный Боузер<br>Лже-Боузер (''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'')

|RusR=Poddelny Bouzer<br>Lzhe-Bouzer

*The World 3 and World C (original) fake Bowsers are the only Buzzy Beetles that can be defeated by fireballs (outside of ''[[Super Mario Bros.: Peach-hime Kyūshutsu Dai Sakusen!]]''), and the World C (''All-Stars'') and "You VS. Boo" 2-4 (''Deluxe'') ones are the only Bullet Bills that can be defeated by fireballs.

**The World A and World C fake Bowsers in ''All-Stars'' are the only fake Bowsers whose true forms are right-side-up instead of upside-down.  

*If the player beats [[Bowser's Sky Scuffle]] with any character barring [[Bowser Jr.]] in ''[[Mario Party: Island Tour]]'', Bowser will reveal that the "Bowser" they defeated had been a decoy, which may have been a reference to the fake Bowsers.

[[Category:Bowser lookalikes]]

[[Category:Fire creatures]]

[[Category:Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 enemies]]

[[Category:Super Mario Bros. enemies]]

[[Category:Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels enemies]]

[[Category:Super Mario Run enemies]]