Baby Bowser

"Ahh...nothing quite like good cookies and some evil milk."

- Baby Bowser

Baby Bowser, also known as Prince Bowser, Bowsie or Baby Koopa  , is one of the two main antagonists in the Yoshi franchise, alongside Kamek. He was designed to be the infant self of Bowser. Kamek, although not biologically related to him, is mainly responsible for his child rearing. Baby Bowser looks almost identical to his future child, Bowser Jr., even sometimes using the same voice clips. The main difference in the visual design between the two is that Bowser Jr. has a drawing on his bandanna, while Baby Bowser's is blank, or he does not wear it at all.

Adult Bowser has been portrayed as an infant in other media, namely in The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! episode Two Plumbers and a Baby and The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 episode Toddler Terrors of Time Travel, though the Baby Bowser character is considered a distinct entity from these forms.

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
Baby Bowser first appears in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island where he serves as the final boss. He appears at the end of his castle as Kamek is demanding that Yoshi hand over Baby Mario, waking and complaining that "it's too noisy". He then Ground Pounds Kamek and kicks him away, noticing Yoshi immediately afterward and wanting to ride the "gween donkey." Baby Bowser attacks by ground pounding wherever Yoshi is, creating shockwaves on the ground. In addition, if Baby Mario is knocked off of Yoshi's back, Baby Bowser climbs onto his back instead; if Baby Mario is saved afterward, Baby Bowser will be stunned. Baby Bowser can be hit by ground pounding the ground close to him, and after three hits Baby Bowser is beaten. Kamek shows up and uses his magic on him, causing him to grow into the kaiju-sized Big Baby Bowser, destroying the castle around him. Baby Bowser is also the only boss who must be defeated before Kamek casts a spell on him.

The final battle takes place on the remains of the room; at the beginning, Big Baby Bowser sends debris down to destroy part of the ground. During this second phase, Big Baby Bowser attacks by breathing fireballs at Yoshi, advancing from the background. If Big Baby Bowser gets too close to the castle, the ground will be destroyed, instantly defeating Yoshi. The player must grab the Giant Eggs that Baron von Zeppelins carry onto the stage and throw them into the background at Big Baby Bowser to knock him back. After enough hits, he simply charges forward, and after seven hits, he is defeated, returned to his normal size, and knocked out; it is possible to land this last hit even if his charge destroys the ground Yoshi is standing on, resulting in a slightly different final cutscene. Afterward, Kamek reappears and vows revenge before flying off with Baby Bowser. Yoshi then sprints up to the Stork and Baby Luigi, freeing them both and allowing the Stork to deliver the babies to their parents.

Yoshi's Island DS
During the events of Yoshi's Island DS, Baby Bowser is at his castle when his future self shows up to kidnap the star children and gain control of the universe. Baby Bowser is ironically abducted by the future Kamek from the past Kamek and brought to Bowser's Castle. When he realizes the circumstances, he insults his grown-up self and his plan, calling him an "old geezer." Enraged and oblivious to the fact that his younger self is one of the star children, the Koopa King kicks Baby Bowser out of the castle.

As Baby Bowser plummets, he swears revenge and once he lands, he yells into the sky in a futile attempt to remind his older self that they're one and the same. Baby Bowser then notices Baby Mario and tells him he saw Baby Luigi in Bowser's Castle. Baby Bowser then realizes that he has just landed on Yoshi and is stoked to get a ride from him. Baby Bowser is then playable for the remainder of World 4, marking his first time as a playable character; as the Nintendo Power Player's Guide puts it, he shows up to "kick some major enemy butt, of course!" While carrying him, Yoshi can't swallow enemies, as this move is replaced with the young Koopa's ability to breathe fireballs; this defeats enemies and melts ice cubes. Once Big Guy the Stilted is defeated, Baby Bowser leaves Yoshi's group in an attempt to hitch a ride from the future Kamek as he flies off to report to the adult Bowser. However, Baby Bowser loses his grip and falls off of Kamek's broomstick.

Baby Bowser later rejoins Yoshi's group, along with Baby Wario (who he had been fighting with over treasure), when they reach Bowser's Castle. He eventually betrays them and attacks Yoshi and the other babies, believing they're after his treasure. The fight goes much like the previous one, but faster. Yoshi beats the little prince and Kamek takes him away, leaving the group to the future Bowser, who is angry at what Yoshi did to his younger self. He is then eventually defeated. At the end of the game, Baby Bowser falls off Kamek's broom and lands on a barge carrying his treasure, now claimed by Baby Wario; another argument between the two young misers inevitably ensues. Presumably, Baby Bowser is taken back by the past Kamek.

In the game's official art, Baby Bowser is shown riding on the back of a Yellow Yoshi, which only appears during fort levels. However, there he is not available in any of the fort levels in-game, making the official art irreplicable.

Yoshi's New Island
Baby Bowser appears in Yoshi's New Island as one of the two main antagonists, alongside Kamek, and his older self later in the game. In this game, he plans to turn Egg Island into his vacation home, so the Yoshis, as well as adventuring to rescue Baby Luigi, go out to stop Baby Bowser's plan. At the end, the scenario is similar to the original Yoshi's Island. He is once again awaken from his slumber, only to crush and kick Kamek out. He soon notices the "familiar gween donkey" and proceeds to try and ride Yoshi again.

He is the penultimate boss of the game in a two part battle reminiscent of his battle in Super Mario World 2, though the second part of the battle (where he once again becomes the giant Mega Baby Bowser thanks to Kamek) is more similar to the battle with Giant Bowser in New Super Mario Bros. U. His voice in this game is a higher-pitched version of his future son's voice; this is evidenced further from the second phase of the battle. His appearance, when giant, uses his future self's body, while his head is based on his giant form in the original Yoshi's Island. After he is defeated, the stork and Baby Luigi are rescued. But, if the Yoshis never used the Flutter Wings, his future self appears out of nowhere, making Yoshi and Baby Mario battle him before they can do so.

Yoshi's Story
Baby Bowser gets his revenge in Yoshi's Story when he steals the Super Happy Tree, the source of all the happiness throughout Yoshi's Island. To make matters worse, he turns the entire island into a pop-up book. It's up to a bunch of Baby Yoshis to stop him. After some venturing, the Baby Yoshis uncover Baby Bowser in his castle and one of them duels him to reclaim the Super Happy Tree. Baby Yoshi has to hit Baby Bowser with Bob-ombs while the prince is riding his "pet" and knock him off. He then recites a "poem" about how he is the king, and intends to smash Baby Yoshi and thus demands the latter say goodbye. The battle is then on the ground where Baby Bowser shoots fireballs, throws bombs, and sends shock-waves; Yoshi has to hit him a few more times to beat him. After being beaten, Bowser surrenders, and allows the baby Yoshis to have the Super Happy Tree back, rationalizing that the fruit tasted horrible to him anyway, before being carried out by his Toadies while sobbing.

Yoshi's Woolly World / Poochy & Yoshi's Woolly World


Baby Bowser is the final boss in Yoshi's Woolly World and Poochy & Yoshi's Woolly World, and is first seen waiting for Kamek to give him yarn to make "a big new castle". Then, Yoshi suddenly appears and Baby Bowser starts the battle with him. Yoshi must throw a yarn ball (provided by one of three red Shy Guys that periodically fall from the top of the screen) at Baby Bowser, then ground-pound him, and repeat this three times to defeat him. After Baby Bowser is defeated, Kamek later uses the power of the Wonder Wool to make him transform into Mega Baby Bowser, where he once again has a similar voice to his future son. To defeat him, Yoshi must unravel giant yarn balls to get three medium-sized yarn balls each, then throw them at the eight giant, glowing, magenta Wonder Wools circling around Mega Baby Bowser. The game ends when Yoshi successfully defeats Mega Baby Bowser, and the Wonder Wools finally unravels from him, causing all of the single-color-and-white Yoshis to return back to normal. Afterwards, Baby Bowser is taken away by Kamek, and is last seen near a moon with Kamek carrying him. Poochy pops out from behind the moon, causing Kamek to get spooked and accidentally drops Baby Bowser as the game's closing credits begin to roll. Baby Bowser is the only baby character that appears in Yoshi's Woolly World.

Yoshi's Crafted World
Baby Bowser reappears alongside Kamek as one of the two main antagonists in Yoshi's Crafted World, once again being the only baby character to appear in the game. During the start of the game, he is seen riding on Kamek after he learned about the Sundream Stone, where Kamek casts a spell pulling the Sundream Stone, resulting in the Yoshis pulling and tackling the Sundream Stone, resulting in Baby Bowser, Kamek, the Yoshis and the Sundream Stone flying into a forest, with the Sundream Stone's five Dream Gems being scattered around the island. Unlike in the game's predecessor, Baby Bowser actively searches with Kamek for the Dream Gems. In the first level, Rail-Yard Run, Kamek and Baby Bowser appear and disassemble the train, preventing Yoshi from progressing. The pair are also responsible for creating all the bosses at the end of each area in the main game. The bosses they summon in order are Yarrctopus, Tin-Can Condor, Spike the Piranha, Burt the Ball, Shogun of Skewers, Gator Train, and Mr. Geary. Lastly, Baby Bowser is the final boss of the game, with the exception of Kamek being the secret final boss.

Baby Bowser's battle takes place in two phases: the first is the robot that was created by the Sundream Stone for him through his wish, and the second is as Mega Baby Bowser, as Kamek uses the Sundream Stone’s Power to do so. This time, Mega Baby Bowser wears a crown hiding the Sundream Stone and has a slot machine-esque armor which appears to show the health he has. After being defeated, Mega Baby Bowser shrinks back down to normal Baby Bowser. Kamek picks him up and flies away with him as the game comes to an end.

Super Smash Bros. Melee
A trophy of Baby Bowser as he appears in Yoshi's Story can be obtained at random in Super Smash Bros. Melee.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Baby Bowser appears in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as a Legend-class Neutral-type primary spirit with two empty slots and no extra attributes. His battle is a stamina battle which involves first fighting a tiny Bowser on the Omega version of Find Mii. The stage is covered entirely in flames, meaning players get damaged if they have no lava immunity support spirits equipped. After the tiny Bowser is defeated, a large Bowser appears with more HP and with super armor.

Yoshi Touch & Go
Baby Bowser makes a cameo in Yoshi Touch & Go as one of the selectable high score icons. He also appears when Yoshi gets a Game Over with over 3000 yards on the Challenge Mode, laughing with Kamek.

Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time
Baby Bowser's only appearance in the Mario & Luigi series is in Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, where he is the secondary antagonist. He first appears at the beginning of the game, in an attempt to kidnap Baby Peach. Luckily, Baby Mario and Baby Luigi show up in the nick of time to play with Baby Peach. After Baby Mario defeats him however, the Shroobs attack Peach's Castle. Fortunately, everyone manages to escape on Baby Bowser's Koopa Cruiser. On the way to his castle, Baby Bowser picks the Mario and Luigi from the present to get Baby Peach to stop crying. On the Koopa Cruiser, he receives a transmission from Princess Shroob at Shroob Castle. She tells the crew something in the Shroobs' language and shoots down the Koopa Cruiser with a Shroob missile.

Baby Bowser is flung away from the Koopa Cruiser on the impact, into his castle. Eventually, he realizes his archenemies and their adult selves have stolen his Cobalt Star Shard from his castle and tracked them down to the Vim Factory, where he swipes both his Cobalt Star Shard and the one the Bros. have just obtained from Swiggler.

Baby Bowser then flees to the peak of Yoshi's Island with his caretaker, Kamek, where he orders Kamek to snatch the Yoshi Cookies from the Yoshis. When the Mario Bros. catch up to Baby Bowser at the peak, he scarfs down all the Yoshi Cookies, but starts choking. Baby Bowser then leaves to the other side of the peak after Kamek had given him some "evil" milk. While Mario and Luigi try to negotiate with him, Baby Mario and Baby Luigi gobble up all the cookies, causing Baby Bowser to become enraged. He runs off while the Mario Bros. defeat Kamek, and they corner him at the other side of the peak. Without thinking his plans through, Baby Bowser eats the Cobalt Star Shards in retribution for the cookies. As Mario and Luigi restrain him while Baby Mario attacks him to make him cough up the shards, Shroob saucers notice them. Soon after, he and the Mario Bros. are eaten by Yoob.

Inside Yoob, Baby Bowser, along with the Yoshis already eaten, are put inside an egg. When the Mario Bros. confront Sunnycide, a monster within Yoob, he throws the egg Baby Bowser is in at Luigi, breaking it open. After the Mario Bros. defeat Sunnycide, Baby Bowser and all of the swallowed Yoshis escape Yoob.

Back on Yoshi's Island, Baby Bowser tells the Yoshis that he saved them from Yoob. Having believed him, the Yoshis give him the rest of their cookies when the Mario Bros. and Toadbert show up to tell them he is lying. Baby Bowser then eats all of the Yoshi Cookies and gets sick. He vomits the Cobalt Star Shards, which, seemingly with a mind of their own, hit him and fling him off of Yoshi's Island.

Later on, Baby Bowser heads off to Thwomp Volcano to build a new castle, where he meets his future self, Bowser. After a minor argument, Baby Bowser and Bowser team up, not knowing the other ones identity, against the Mario Bros. They end up being beaten after the battle and flung into the sky by an Thwomp Elevator, where Bowser ends up in a time hole and Baby Bowser ends up on top of the Shroob Mother Ship.

Baby Bowser shows up again after the Bros. have defeated Princess Shroob and, despite being warned by the adult Princess Peach, he puts the Cobalt Star Shards together and completed the Cobalt Star, releasing the Elder Princess Shroob, but not before Baby Bowser is then turned into a Shroob mushroom. After the battle with the Elder Princess Shroob, Baby Mario and Baby Luigi play on Baby Bowser's Shroobified form, until Baby Luigi gets hurt and his tears turn Baby Bowser back to his normal state. While the Mushroom Kingdom is cleansed of all traces of the Shroobs thanks to Professor E. Gadd's Hydrogush, Baby Bowser goes home, complaining about losing the Cobalt Star with Kamek telling him to let it go.

Physical appearance
Baby Bowser shares many physical qualities with his adult counterpart, Bowser. They both have red hair and black cuffs on their arms. Baby Bowser has cuffs on his neck in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, and in Yoshi's Story. In these appearances, Baby Bowser appears with spiked cuffs, while in Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time and Yoshi's Island DS, his cuffs appear with no spikes. Like Bowser, Baby Bowser has two red eyebrows (black on his Super Mario World 2: Yoshi Island's sprite), a green shell with spikes, and two small nostrils on his nose. Baby Bowser also has claws on his hands and his feet. Unlike Bowser, Baby Bowser either has no horns or his horns are small and stubby, much like Bowser Jr.'s, depending on the game. When Baby Bowser was in the dark in Yoshi's Island, he was shown to have yellow eyeshine.

Personality
His personality is that of a spoiled child. He frequently throws tantrums in hopes that his minions will give him what he wants. Also, unlike his adult self who is generally caring if a little short-tempered towards his minions, he is shown to be very abusive and disrespectful to them, which is best demonstrated by how he flattens Kamek, his guardian, after the latter accidentally woke him when confronting Yoshi and demanding Baby Mario in two separate instances, as well as implied in key artwork for Yoshi's New Island, where Baby Bowser had beaten Kamek with the latter's wand while undergoing a tantrum. He is greedy and also very gluttonous, as shown in Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, where he eats a huge pile of Yoshi Cookies and the Cobalt Star shards with Toadbert calling him a "little piggie". He even insulted his future self in Yoshi's Island DS and Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time. He was also shown to be extremely protective of his treasure to the extent of being paranoid, turning on his allies in an instant if he even slightly suspected that they may be after it, as demonstrated in Yoshi's Island DS. In Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island and Yoshi's New Island, Baby Bowser has a tendency to speak in baby-like language, with phrases such as "gween donkey" being heard from him. Even though Baby Bowser shows no awareness of his future archenemy, Baby Mario, in Yoshi's Island or Yoshi's New Island (even simply shoving him aside so he could ride Yoshi), he does directly reference the latter in Yoshi's Story by referring to Yoshi as "Mario's little pet." Owing to his age, he also tended to mispronounce words that have "l"s or "r"s, having them come out as "w"s, mispronouncing his "th"s as "d"s, as well as mispronouncing his "i"s as "y"s, as evidenced by his speeches to Kamek and Yoshi in both Yoshi's Island and Yoshi's New Island.

Abilities
Even as a child, Baby Bowser demonstrated some of his adult self's traits, such as breathing fire (Either large streams of fire or fireballs) and possessing a surprising amount of strength. He can also Ground Pound and Flutter like Yoshi. He can also summon minions to attack, which is demonstrated with both his pet and some Shy Guys. In Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, he has a hammer just like the baby bros. Unlike Bowser, he seems to be more active and has a bigger appetite.

When enhanced by Kamek to become Big Baby Bowser, Baby Bowser also demonstrates some degree of telekinesis, as rubble is seen being lifted as he roars and lifts his hands up. He also is shown to breath massive fireballs, either directly at Yoshi or spraying them upwards to descend in an arc. He can also ground pound, with the quakes being potent enough to literally reshift the ground by raising it upward or sink downward.

Speech
In most of his appearances, his "voice" is composed of three record-skips at a low volume, two when ground-pounding (as well as brief roar when yawning). In Yoshi's Story, he has a youthful, yet at the same time rasping element to his voice. In Yoshi's New Island, he was given a similar voice to Bowser Jr., albeit with a slightly higher pitch. In most games, he speaks with a text box with limited voiced dialogue.

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island

 * Official Nintendo Player's Guide: Yoshi bursts in on napping Baby Bowser and boy, does a major tantrum ensue! Kamek has a bit more potion up his sleeve, though, and uses it to change the whiny little baby into huge, horrifying Bowser. Instead of expressing himself by scribbling on the walls, Bowser now blows huge fireballs. As if that's not enough, Bowser's earth-shaking footsteps threaten to send the castle crashing down around Yoshi and Mario!
 * Shogakukan guide: マリオの永遠ライバル・クッパ大王も、赤ちゃんの頃はこんなにかわいい. 甘やかされて育ったせいか、わがままな性格はすでに完成している. (Mario's eternal rival, Bowser the Great, was also this cute as a baby. Perhaps because of his spoiled upbringing, his selfish nature has already been perfected.)

Yoshi's Story
''He is the one who stole the Super Happiness Tree from Yoshi and his friends' island. He is a mischief-maker who always gets everyone into trouble, but really, he just wants to have fun?''
 * Shogakukan guide: ヨッシーたちの島から、スーパーしあわせのツリーをうばってしまった張本人. いつもみんなを困らせるいたずら者だが、ほんとは遊んでほしいだけ？

Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3
(Baby Bowser is the boss of World 6-8. Hip Drop him three times and he will turn gigantic. After that, hit him seven times with an egg on the head to defeat him.)
 * Shogakukan guide: 赤ちゃんクッパは、ワールド6-8のボス. ヒップドロップで出る波動を3回当てると巨大化するぞ. その後、頭にタマゴを7回当てれば退治できる.

Yoshi's Island DS

 * Instruction booklet (Baby Abilities): "With his fiery breath, Baby Bowser can defeat enemies and melt ice. Breathe fire by pressing . Keep in mind that Yoshi can't make eggs with Baby Bowser on his back, but he can still pick them up and throw them."
 * Special Ability: Breathing Fire

Yoshi's Crafted World

 * North American website bio (shared with Kamek): "These two trouble-makers want the Sundream Stone, and they’ll do anything to find the hidden gems."

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island

 * "Kamek, it's too noisy in here!! I wanna go sweepy-byyye!!!"
 * "Huh?? Hmm?!!? Mmmmm!!!!?! What kind of gween donkey is dat? Looks wyke fun! Me wanna ri-ide!!! MINE!! MINE!!!"

Yoshi's Story

 * "What have we here? Mario's little pet! I have pets too! Let's all play together."
 * "Play nice, you wimpy pet! I hate guests who throw Bob-bombs at my ceiling."
 * "Here's MY poem: I'm the king, you dino-guy. I'll smash you now so say 'good-bye'."
 * "Yeeeeow!!! This hurts! I hate you puny, little Yoshis."
 * "I'll give you back your Super Stupid Tree! Besides, its fruits taste rotten to me!"

Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time

 * "I, Prince Bowser, am taking Princess Peach with me!"
 * "You two babies can scram!"
 * "Your turn, Super Diaper Bro!"
 * "I'm... I'm a PRINCE! I can't lose to you! Bluuuuuuugh..."
 * "EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY!"
 * "This is the great Prince Bowser! Kneel, minions! OK, now get up! All personnel to the bridge!"
 * "Time to show these alien jerks what the Koopa Cruiser can do!"
 * "Fire the Koopa Cannon!"
 * "Bwah ha ha ha HAAA!"
 * "I am just so dang EVIL!"
 * "I hope they felt honored to be shot down by me!"
 * "Bwah ha ha ha!"
 * "Hey! You call that piloting?! Pay attention, sky-nerd!"
 * "Aw, man... It's half past snack time already!"
 * "We... We saw nothing! Everybody clear on that?"
 * "MY EARS! She'll ruin us all!"
 * "Fine! I'll help them if it'll just SHUT HER UP! Koopa Cannon! FIRE!"
 * "There! Happy?"
 * "You two take care of things from here. Go get 'em, Red ! You too, Greenie !"
 * "Who's this hag?''
 * "Man... Does anyone have ANY idea what she's blabbing about?"
 * "Whoa! Evasive action! Koopa Cannon! FIRE!"
 * "What? You're fired."
 * "Those alien DIRTBAGS! We gotta hold it together until we get back home!"
 * "GWAH HA HA! LOOOOSERS!"
 * "Thought you could get away with stealing MY treasure from MY castle, did ya?"
 * "It's payback time! I'll take MY treasure...plus whatever you just picked up as compensation!"
 * "Nothing quite like good cookies and evil milk."
 * "I was a little creeped out at first, hanging out in this ghost town, but..."
 * "Then I realized there was no one to stop me from eating every cookie in sight! Yesss!"
 * "STINKY BABIES!"
 * "You punks got LUCKY, hear me? Stealing food? Who DOES that?! You'll PAY for those cookies!"
 * "Oh, all right, fine! FINE! Kamek... I'm counting on you to finish these snackaholics!"
 * "You mushroom-munchers!"
 * "Hey! Lip Hair! Yeah, you! Don't just lie there! Get me outta here!"
 * "Listen up, lizards! I'm the one who saved you. Me!"
 * "Grrrrr! This is NOT happening again! Lemme just guess... You're here for the cookies?"
 * "Oops! Whoa, no wonder! I forgot I'd eaten those!"
 * "This place is sooo nasty! Boiling hot, reeking, and just MADE for trouble!"
 * "TALK ABOUT AWESOME! This is the EXACT place to build my second castle!"
 * "Take off, gramps! This place is MINE!"
 * "Grrr! You look familiar! Yeah, you look just like a bigger, fatter me!"
 * "You're one rude dude, tubby!"
 * "Who raised ya, Chain Chomps?"
 * "Don't think I got punted off Yoshi's Island like some scrub! No way! I LEFT! On MY terms!"
 * "And now I'm here getting ready to launch the revenge scheme to end all revenge schemes!"
 * "This is the real deal! Winner takes all!"
 * "Big dude! I'm gonna be even bigger, stronger, and eviler than you someday!"
 * "Somebody eating cookies in there?"
 * "I'm starving up here! Here I come, cookie-hogs!"
 * "If you thought I'd given up on getting my treasures back, you're dumber than you look!"
 * "All that time I spent hiding and waiting is gonna pay off in a big, BIG way!"
 * "I'm taking all the treasures for myself! They're all MINE!"

Trivia

 * In Prima Games coverage of Yoshi's Story, Baby Bowser is referred to as "Bowser Jr.", predating the actual character.
 * Baby Bowser and Baby Wario are the only babies from Yoshi's Island DS not to appear in Mario Super Sluggers.
 * In most of Baby Bowser's appearances, starting with the English translation of Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, he is given the title of "King Bowser". However, in Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, he is referred to as "Prince Bowser" instead.
 * Baby Bowser is the only baby character who does not share a voice actor with their adult self, but he does share the same voice actor as Bowser Jr.