Robot cockpit

“I'm gonna enjoy taking you out from the cozy confines of my robot cockpit!”

—Bowser Jr., Super Mario Galaxy 2

Bowser Jr. appears in his robot cockpit to taunt the player.

The robot cockpit is a small, pod-like spacecraft used by Bowser Jr. in the Super Mario Galaxy 2. The spacecraft itself is mainly spherical in shape, and features a comfortable, cushioned interior, as well as two headlights and a small jet engine located behind it which propels it through space. It is used as Bowser Jr.'s preferred method of transport in the game, and therefore seems to have taken the place of his personal airship from Super Mario Galaxy. It is first encountered in Bowser Jr.'s Fiery Flotilla, after Mario has reached Gobblegut's Planet. Here, Bowser Jr. briefly appears riding inside the robot cockpit, and taunts Mario prior to the ensuing battle with Gobblegut on the planet. After he has finished speaking, he flies off in the robot cockpit, leaving Mario to deal with Gobblegut. The next appearance of the robot cockpit comes later, just before the boss battle on the Megahammer Planet in Bowser Jr.'s Fearsome Fleet. Once again, Bowser Jr. appears hovering over the planet in his robot cockpit and taunts the player before the battle begins.

The robot cockpit after becoming attached to the body of Megahammer.

At this point, it is revealed that the robot cockpit is actually the head of Megahammer, the large robot featuring arms with giant hammers on the ends that Mario must fight here. After attaching the robot cockpit to the body of Megahammer, Bowser Jr. assumes control of the gigantic robot, and immediately engages the player in battle. When attached to Megahammer's body, a small semicircular metal plate featuring two glowing, yellow plus-shaped eyes will fall forward and cover the windshield of the robot cockpit (the glowing of the eyes is presumably caused by the two headlights on the robot cockpit, which shine through the metal plate). It will continue to cover the windshield until roughly after the middle of the battle, at which point the player must launch Bullet Bills directly at the windshield of the robot cockpit to defeat the robot. After taking enough damage, Megahammer will be defeated, and the robot cockpit will then detach from Megahammer's body and fly off into space, trailing smoke behind it.

The ruined remains of the robot cockpit as seen at the beginning of Bowser Jr.'s Boom Bunker.

Although Bowser Jr. never physically uses the robot cockpit again in the game, the player can see the ruined remains of it (and also climb on top of it) on the Starting Planet of Bowser Jr.'s Boom Bunker later in the game. Here, it is found half embedded in the surface of the Starting Planet, and appears to have crash landed after the previous battle with Megahammer. The metal plate is stuck covering the windshield, so the player cannot view the inside of the robot cockpit. The plus-shaped eyes are now flashing red as opposed to glowing yellow, and two Star Bits can be found in front of the eyes, which can be collected with the Star Pointer. The small jet engine on the back of the robot cockpit is still smoking, and Mario will get burned and sustain damage if the player maneuvers him into it.