Baby Bowser

NOTE: Baby Bowser is NOT Bowser Jr., who is Bowser's son, and he is not a Koopa Kid (also known as Mini-Bowsers) from the Mario Party'' series. Baby Bowser looks like Bowser Jr., but he isn't.''



"Who raised you, Chain-Chomps?" -Baby Bowser, speaking to his older self, Bowser, in Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time

Baby Bowser (or Prince Bowser as he prefers to be called) is Bowser as a kid. He first appeared in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island where he was the game's last boss. He would try to kick Baby Mario off Yoshi's back and ride Yoshi himself, and he would also send out shock-waves by ground pounding. Yoshi could give him a taste of his own medicine by hitting the spoiled prince with his shockwaves. After three hits Baby Bowser is beaten, then Kamek shows up and turns him gigantic. Then the real battle begins. Now that Baby Bowsers as big as Yoshi's Island itself, Yoshi has to hit him with his own super-sized eggs, all the while avoiding the fireballs and debris being thrown at him. After a dozen or so hits the monster prince gets shrunk back to normal and Kamek appears, grabbing him and taking off into the night vowing revenge.

Baby Bowser got that revenge in Yoshi's Story when he stole the Super Happy Tree, the source of all the happiness in Yoshi's Island, and to make matters worse he turned the island into a pop-up book! It was up to a bunch of Yoshi babies to stop him. After some adventuring the Yoshi found Baby Bowser in his castle and the two started to fight. Yoshi had to hit Baby Bowser with Bob-ombs while the prince was riding his "pet" and knock him off. The battle is then on the ground where Baby Bowser would shoot fireballs, throw bombs and send shock-waves and Yoshi would have to hit him a few more times to beat him. This battle is actually pretty easy because the Super Happy Tree is right there so Yoshi can recover health whenever.

Baby Bowser showed up again in Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time at the start of the game where he tried to kidnapped Baby Princess Peach and was stopped by the Baby Mario Bros., but the victory was short lived because just then the Shroobs attacked the castle. Luckily everyone managed to escape on Baby Bowser's Koopa Cruiser which then picked up a time displaced Mario and Luigi. Unfortunately the ship was attacked by the Shroobs and crashed into the prince's castle where the Babies and the normal Bros. found the Prince had a Cobalt Star Shard, also finding a time hole that brought them to the present. Baby Bowser showed up a lot in the game, mostly being an annoyance doing things like stealing the Bros. Cobalt Star Shards and stealing all the cookies on Yoshi's Island. Eventually Baby Bowser teamed up with his future self to defeat the four Mario Bros. in Thwomp Volcano (strangely and humorously, neither recognizes the other) but ended up being beaten and flung into the sky, where Bowser ended in a time hole and Baby Bowser ended up in the Shroob Mothership. He showed up again after the Bros. beat the Shroob Princess and despite being warned he put the Cobalt Star together and released the Elder Princess Shroob, he was then turned into a Shroob Mushroom. Baby Luigi's tears later turned him back to normal. He showed up at the end of the game going home and complaining about losing the Cobalt Star.



Baby Bowser is, surprisingly, playable in the new Yoshi's Island DS for the latter half of World 4, which is the ice area. He is able to shoot fire balls, but that replaces the ability for Yoshi to swallow enemies. In certain levels, he shows up to, as the Nintendo Power Player's Guide puts it, "kick some major enemy butt, of course!". His fireballs are very handy for melting ice cubes found around his levels.

Baby Bowser was at his castle when Bowser shows up from the future to kidnap the star children and gain control of the universe. His younger self was abducted by the Kamek from the future and brought to Bowser's castle. When Baby Bowser realises what's going on, he insults his grown-up self and his plan, calling him an "old geezer". Enraged, Bowser kicks his younger self out of the castle, and Baby Bowser swears revenge as he plummets.

After Baby Bowser lands, he yells into the sky in a futile attempt to remind his older self that they are one and the same. He then sees Baby Mario and tells him he saw Baby Luigi at Bowser's castle. This is when he realizes that he had just landed on Yoshi, and he excitedly gets a ride from him. He helps out Yoshi and his friends through the latter half of World 4, but after the defeat of Big Guy the Stilted, he again finds Kamek from the future. Kamek flies off to tell Bowser, and Baby Bowser separates from Yoshi's group in an attempt to catch a ride on his broomstick, but he loses his grip and falls off. He later rejoins Yoshi's group, along with Baby Wario, when they had finally reached Bowser's castle. However, at the end of the game, the snotty brat turns traitor (because he thinks the others are after his treasure), attacking Yoshi and the babies! The fight goes much like the previous one, but faster. Yoshi beats the little prince, and Kamek takes him away revealing Bowser, who after beating, in blown up to huge proportions (though not as big as Baby Bowser the first time) and Yoshi must smack him down with help from all of the babies.

Trivia

 * In Baby Park of Mario Kart: Double Dash!! in the background of the course there is a sign saying "Bowser's Ship" with a picture of Baby Bowser on it.

Appearances in Other Media


Though Baby Bowser's first game apperance was Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island his actual first apperance was in The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!, in the episode "Two Plumbers and a Baby / Lost Dog". Baby Bowser, or more appropriately, Baby Koopa, only appeared in the ending of the episode, where King Koopa fell in the Pool of Youth and is turned into a baby.

Baby Bowser also appears in The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 episode "Toddler Terrors of Time Travel"; in this episode, King Bowser Koopa is regressed to an infant state when the time machine he was using to travel to Brooklyn, New York to stop Mario and Luigi from ever coming to the Mushroom Kingdom malfunctions and changes him into a baby, along with Kooky Von Koopa, Mario, Luigi and Toad. Oddly, this version of Baby Bowser looks much different than in the previous series.