Boss Bass

A Boss Bass is a huge Cheep-Cheep found in Super Mario Bros. 3. They swim on the surface of the water trying to lunge out and eat Mario when he gets too close. It does not matter if Mario is little or big, or has any power-up equipped. Boss Bass will defeat Mario in one gulp even if he was Statue Mario. In some of the levels, platforms rise and fall, making Mario an easy target. Throwing blocks, shells, hammers, and fireballs can defeat them as well as tail attacks and Star, but they'll eventually come back. However, in the GBA version, if the player has set on the e-reader card that will make enemies hit by fireballs turn into coins, and the player successfully hits Boss Bass with a fireball and collects the coin, Boss Bass will not return for the rest of the level.

The Cheep-Chomp from New Super Mario Bros. has similar qualities to the Boss Bass. Another enemy in New Super Mario Bros., Spike Basses, patrol the surface of water levels, similar to the Boss Bass. However, Spike Basses will not try to eat Mario.

Boss Basses are also found in Yoshi's Island DS, where they behave much as they do in Super Mario Bros. 3. There is also a mid-boss known as Bessie Bass, who, although she behaves like a Boss Bass, is really a Big Bertha, since she is a female of the species.

Boss Bass apparently eat Cheep-Cheeps, despite being a relative of it. They also have trouble distinguishing them from something else, as proven in Super Paper Mario when a Shayde said that he fell into the ocean once, but luckily could swim as well as a Cheep-Cheep. Unfortunately, a Boss Bass thought that since he swam like a Cheep-Cheep, the huge fish ate him.

Boss Basses are similar in both appearance and behavior to the Big Red Blurps from Yoshi's Story.

A Boss Bass makes a small cameo in Mario Kart DS, where it jumps out of the water and over the course in Banshee Boardwalk. This fish replaces the Cheep Cheep from the original Mario Kart 64 version.

The female variety of Boss Bass is Big Bertha.