Shrowser



"Mmm... I can feel a power burning in my belly! What in the world did you feed me?"

- Shrowser

Shrowser is the form that Bowser takes after ingesting the mushroom of the Elder Princess Shroob. He is the final boss to be encountered in Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, though the boss battle is more like a minigame. After Bowser eats the purple mushroom that held the essence of Elder Princess Shroob, he is possessed by her, and Mario, Luigi, Baby Mario, and Baby Luigi fight them in Peach's Castle.

This fight is unique because, as Shrowser says, the player cannot perform any actions, such as attacking or using items. In order to defeat Shrowser, the player must Jump over or Hammer back 20 fireballs, 10 fire orbs, or a combination of both, in order to destroy purple mushrooms, which indicate Shrowser's life. After destroying all mushrooms, Elder Princess Shroob will disappear, causing Bowser to faint.

While Bowser is possessed, he retains his normal appearance and personality, although with multiple signs of Elder Princess Shroob's influence; he flashes purple, has purple eyes, and has an afterimage effect and purple clouds around him.

The music during the Shrowser battle is the same as during the earlier battle against Bowser with his baby counterpart.

Shrowser's attacks can be countered by looking at the Elder Princess Shroob and her attack patterns. If she points with her right arm, Shrowser attacks Mario and Baby Mario. If she points with the left arm, Shrowser attacks Luigi and Baby Luigi.

Names in other languages
Because the brothers are unable to attack, the name "Shrowser" never appears in-game. However, it does appear as a string in the ROM. This string is translated in some releases of the game, revealing probable names for Shrowser in those languages.

Trivia

 * Shrowser is one of three bosses in the series who can only be defeated by counterattacking. The other bosses are Ludwig von Koopa from Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions (the original was a regular battle) and Thunder Sass from Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, although healing items are allowed in the latter. This is also the case with some of the Hammer Bros in the Stuff Retrieval mission from Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam.
 * In Super Mario-Kun, Baby Bowser was the one to eat the Shroob Mushroom.
 * Because the fireball barrage will still continue after all of Shrowser's mushrooms are destroyed, it is possible that all the bros. can be defeated during the remaining barrage and both sides would lose all their health. In this case, Shrowser does not faint, and it will result in a Game Over for the Bros.
 * Via hex editing it is possible to make Shrowser “attackable.” Doing this will reveal that there is two entities named Shrowser, one being programming code disguised as the sprite, and the other being the real entity (located offscreen near Elder Princess’s tail), both having 5000 HP. However, when done this way the entities must be killed very quickly or the game will crash due to not being able to attack normally.