Fake Bowser: Difference between revisions

{{species-infobox

|image=[[File:Tanooki_Bowser.png|250px]]<br>Artwork of a fake Bowser in ''Super Mario 3D Land''.

|latest_appearance=''[[Super Mario Run]]'' ([[List of games by date#2016|2016]])

|notable=

A '''fake Bowser''' (also called '''Bowser Impostor''' or '''Bowser's decoy''') is a standard enemy that was transformed by [[Bowser]]'s black magic into a duplicate of himself. They first appear in ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]''

 

The reason for the fake Bowsers in the original ''Super Mario Bros.'' is due to the fact that, while the game was still in development, 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, while defeated [[Koopa Troopa]]s and [[Buzzy Beetle]]s turn into upside-down shells), 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 needed}}

====''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:

 

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

*'''World 6''': [[Blooper|Bloober]] - fire and hammer ([[Nintendo Entertainment System|NES]]) / hammer ([[Super Nintendo Entertainment System|SNES]])

*'''World 7''': [[Hammer Bro]]ther - fire and hammer (NES) / hammer (SNES)

 

''[[Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels]]'' additional worlds:

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

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

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

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, although Bowser's Brother is now green and looks identical to his twin.

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

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

[[File:SM3DL - False Bowser Screenshot.png|thumb|Screenshot of a Tail Bowser from ''[[Super Mario 3D Land]]''.]]

Fake Bowsers, referred to as '''Tail Bowsers''',<ref>von Esmarch, Nick. ''Super Mario 3D Land'' [[Prima Games|PRIMA]] Official Game Guide, pages 28 and 76.</ref> appear in ''[[Super Mario 3D Land]]''. They have spiky [[Raccoon Mario|raccoon tail]]s, and they attack like they do in ''Super Mario Bros.'', breathing giant fireballs and jumping around the stage, though they do not throw hammers.

 

However, unlike in ''Super Mario Bros.'', only two Tail Bowsers appear: one in {{world|1|castle}} and the other in {{world|5|castle}}. They are also immune to projectiles. In order to defeat a Tail Bowser, Mario or Luigi has to press a switch at the end of bridge to make it collapse and send the Tail Bowser into the lava. After falling into the lava, Tail Bowsers bounce upwards and show their true forms (a [[Goomba]] in World 1, and a [[Magikoopa]] in World 5) with a [[Super Leaf]] beside them.

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

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

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

| Boss

| 1986

| [[Family Computer Disk System]]

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

| Boss

| 1986

| [[NEC PC-88|PC-88]], X1

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

| Boss

| 2003

| [[Game Boy Advance]]

| ''[[Super Mario 3D Land]]''

| Boss

| 2011

| [[Nintendo 3DS]]

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

| Boss

| 2016

| iOS, Android

Fake Bowser SMB1 W1-4.png|The fake Bowser from World 1-4.

Fake Bowser SMB1 W1-4 reveal.png|The fake Bowser of World 1's true form: a Goomba.

MLPJ Bowser LV1-7 Card.png|''[[Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam]]'' card

==Name in other languages==

|Jap=にせクッパ<br>''Nise Kuppa''<br>しっぽクッパ<ref>Shogakukan. 2015. ''Super Mario Bros. Hyakka: Nintendo Kōshiki Guidebook'', ''Super Mario 3D Land'' section, page 180.</ref><br>''Shippo Kuppa''

|JapM=Fake Koopa<br><br>Tail Koopa

|Fra=Faux Bowser

|FraM=Fake Bowser

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

|RusR=Poddelny Bouzer<br/>Lzhe-Bouzer

|Chi=

|Rom=

|RomM=

*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 Kyushutsu 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.

*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.

{{SMBS}}

{{SM3DL}}

[[Category:Bowser Doppelgängers]]

[[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]]