Hey Connor! I did a video on BOTW's bosses already and discussed the finale. I would love to do a Ganon adaptation episode because he's a fascinating crossover. Thanks for checking this one out!
Something I found interesting about Giga Bowser is that he's totally unscripted. All the other characters in this game have sequenced attacks where they always perform the same couple of moves in the same way, but Giga Bowser literally just plays like your fighting a revamped version of a normal Smash fight. In this way, he is similar to Meta Knight from Kirby, since they act and move in a similar way to the player in order to present fairness.
Does anybody else think that midbus should play a larger role in mario games as bowser's rival? He'd basically be bowser's wario, meaning the two don't like each other, but they're not above working together if they have a common goal. Midbus could even be an ice-themed semi-clone of bowser in smash (ice-themed because of the whole blizzard midbus thing). Additionally, there could be a 2 - player side-scrolling beat-em-up with bowser and midbus as the playable characters. After building up power, they'd be able to transform into inferno bowser and blizzard midbus to get stronger elemental attacks. In conclusion, i like midbus.
Yet these games have better narration and actual plots compared to the main games such as the "New" serie... If Smash DLC's included existing titles, i would have liked to see him, but hey.
I honestly thought they would bring him back. Think about it. Fawful was Cakclettas sidekick, then the main villain. Midvus was fawfuls sidekick. What if he becomes a main villain with a sidekick? And then the sidekick becomes a main villain, and so on?
One thing to mention is that sakurai said that Giga Bowser design was made in an effort to capture the scary essence of the original bowser from the famicon era. And it works
6:43 I kind of disagree. (Mario Galaxy 1 and 2 where he was completely ruthless from the start, or Dream team and inside story where Bowser has many "I am the boss here" moments in the middle of his cartoony goods, looking powerful, proud and badass weather you fight him or play him...) It's not because Bowser suddently has an huge Kaiju skin that he "finally" becomes intimiditing.
I second this statement... when he said that, I got some bad vibes. Sakurai himself has even said that Giga Bowser's design is based on his interpretations of early series Bowser fights. I think Yoshi's Island is worth mentioning too as it started the whole giant trend and really focuses on intimidation.
Giga’s Ultimate fight is waaaay too easy, probably one of the easiest in Ultimate. His health drains so so fast compared to the other bosses and he’s so sluggish that he’s basically no threat. I’m no Melee enthusiast, but damn if knocking him off the stage wasn’t so much harder and rewarding than whittling down his weirdly small health bar.
I consider him the second hardest boss to learn how to fight but the easiest when you know how to do it. The "hardest" (most unfair) will always be Master Hand & Crazy Hand.
I hope you eventually talk about the World of Light final bosses. In fact, I hope you talk about everything in that final section (SPOILERS BELOW): The last map solidifying the theme of you opposing both forces of light and dark, how both sides take advantage of each others deficits with each spirit you take, freeing the hands of Galeem's and Dharkon's control, conquering both light and darkness, which you need to do to reach the true final boss, the part with Master Hand (you know the one) and the entire sequence just before the big fight, It was truly cathartic, but most importantly it was emotional as you, the player, made these gods take notice of you just as soon as it was too late for them. Also one detail I liked is that, although Galeem and Dharkon can hurt each other and will take opportunities to deal massive damage to each other, they cannot KO one another, ensuring that the final hit has to be done by you. I feel like there could be an entire article written about the philosophy behind this fight, but I'd rather hear it from you. Keep up the good work.
Oh, I can't believe I forgot about that one. Well, perhaps you could try and talk about the overall feel of the World of Light's endgame. As a fan of the games since 64, it gave me such a rush emotionally. Thanks for the reply, though.
Good video and you have good points! But I'd personally take a regular Bowser fight any day! I agree Giga Bowser works as a fighter boss but I don't think it's such a clever representation as you said! Marx is a straight port, makes sense! You use Ganon's weak point like in the Zelda series, makes sense! But Bowser is just.. wait and punish. Sure, that's how a boss works, but it's usually not how Bowser fights operate and it's honestly the most repetitive fight of the bunch in my opinion. Like, Bowser always have moves you can dodge and everything but there's usually more like spawning enemies, throwing projectiles, scrolling or moving platforms! Here, it's just a flat surface where you go back & forth to hit the big baddie, it's not the perfect representation of the character nor a super fun fight to be honest. I get it's a callback to Melee but still, I would have preferred a more Mario-like boss fight.
I thought this boss fight was too easy. He sits there and does smash attacks. You can easily just hit and run, and now they made his attacks slower and weaker, which takes away the original theme of waiting for your opponent's move and rather just reacting while dealing damage. It was kind of underwhelming. Melee's version wasn't much better though, cuz he was just a damage sponge who just spams Fire Breath.
@@Ah0yKatie Yeah, but you have to remember that he's also in Classic mode, and there's not one specific character you have to start with in that mode. Also, Giga Bowser is easier than most spirits are in WoL. They could've made him harder at least for that.
Funny thing is, I first fought him in World Of Light as Kirby, and despite having beaten him as Mario in the classic mode, it took me an absurd number of tries to beat him as Kirby. Im pretty sure that I just resorted to spamming down B, and even then I think it might have been hard. XD.
Why don’t you mention about how overwhelming Bowser fights in both Super Mario Galaxy games? They both nailed the traditional boss fights as you said. Both are 1v1 and hand to hand combats (2v1 if you count Luma).
I mentioned this in another comment, but I think it's interesting to see what Smash DID to Bowser's boss fights, and Galaxy's a great example because it's the first main Mario game after Melee. I don't think it's a coincidence that the first 'normal' Bowser boss fight that even could be influenced by Smash was direct one-on-one combat. With Bowser moving faster, but still not FAST.
I kind of disagree bowser isnt really "better" in most cases for this game. You are mainly just saying they translated him well to smash ultimate or he's better in that he's more of a "traditional boss". but even if you mean a better fight here than melee, id argue its worse. Now his attacks are super telegraphed (way more than others) and he moves very slowly. compare that to melee where he fought with the same movement and speed of bowser, making him a challenge more in line with the game you are playing (like bowsers previous bosses do in platformers) other bosses had elements from their games to them that set them apart, even though they also were telegraphed. gannon only being hurt from his tail, dracula being damaged from the head, and rathalos being able to be stunned with flashes. Seeing those, platforming elements could have worked for bowser. Maybe you have to platform above or under bowser to hit kamek to drop bowsers magic defense or something, or even make his boss just a race to the finish. So i dont even think bowser had to be as traditional as they made him even on bowser being more intimidating, thats not nececarily better. maybe for brawl and melee because of the look they went for, but smash and ultimate returned to something more soft and cartoony.
What about Bowser in Super Mario Galaxy 1? In those boss fights you have to directly attack him with a spin attack after causing him to do damage to himself. In the final boss fight, he has three phases. Phase one: Hit his face while he's in boulder form, then hit him again when he's spinning around vulnerable. Phase two: Hit him with stretchy green plants when he's spinning around in his shell, then hit him with a spin attack. Phase three: Manipulate his movement so he ground pounds on surfaces of the planet where he'll burn his but, then spin attack him like in the rest of his fights. (All three of these phases require you to hit Bowser three times, and it's harder than it sounds. And this counts, even if Mario only has one actual attack like a punch.)
Newer Mario DS Makes a better bowser fight than smash ultimate. Seriously though if you've played or seen this hacks final boss it's a fun fight that pays homage to Mario world and 3 at the same time.
One thing I really like about Giga Bowser is the added effects on some of his A moves. Forward Smash is flaming, sown Smash is icy, forward tilt is poisonous, etc. It's not just more powerful, it's really more threatening.
That's kind of the point, though. Sakurai himself confirmed that Bowser himself is a different character from GIGA Bowser. The regular Bowser you play as in the game is based off of a more or so modern Bowser, whilst Giga Bowser represents what he was during the Famicom Era (in which he basically was just a mindless beast).
I've learned a lot from your videos and others. I'm not sure what my first fully fleshed out game will be, platformer, RPG, but what knowledge I've gained does give me more confidence in my ability to do it well! Thank you.
this will seem irrelevant but I just had to say it: I LOVE YOUR VIDEOS!!! Your analysis of boss design is rlly insightful and makes me view bosses in new ways. I wish to be a game designer in the future and your videos give me so much idea for how to make boss fights important and meaningful. You are completely unappreciated on TH-cam. Keep up the amazing videos!!!!
What I really like about this boss is the fact that he’s on a platform. No other boss (aside from the hands) fights in this style, they all feature walk-offs. Because of this and the fact bowser takes up a third of the space on said platform, you’re forced to fight him up front and center. Considering the fact that nearly all of bowser’s fights involve tricking or fleeing bowser, this only adds to bowser’s character of being someone you should *never* face head on
Bowser is also a boss in World of Light. To get both his spirit you actually have to fight his boss form. It's a pretty challenging fight as all his attacks can hit hard and do elemental damage to your character. But it's worth it. Defeating Bowser not only recruits him as a fighter but you also get Giga Bowser as a spirit.
something to note is that he's more of a Luigified clone nowadays. remember that Bowser's moveset was revamped in Smash 4 and Ultimate, but Giga Bowser's moveset was left intact with the exception of his Side B. everything else is literally the same as Melee's.
This is why I love Pichu! He actually got his Stuff from the Anime Version of him where he Get's Dizzy Every time he uses an Electric Attack. Sure, It may suck Taking Damage All the Time, But At Least it's for a Good Reason. :3
I remember asking you about your opinions on Giga Bowser in the Marx video, but I never thought you'd actually make a video on it! Also, I totally agree with your points here. Keeping Bowser's moveset whilst adding a few new extras (like the freeze effect from his Whirling Fortress), along with adding a health bar and slowing him down a bit to make him more accessible to other fighters was a good move in keeping Giga Bowser recognisable as a boss. However, one more thing I'd like to add is that the whole transformation gives him a new sense of power that he didn't have before. Think about it. You've just knocked Bowser, one of the heaviest and toughest to launch characters off of the stage. The only natural progression he can possibly take now is an even heavier and stronger form which *doesn't flinch anymore.* This gimmick has been with Giga Bowser since he debuted as a Final Smash in Brawl and was probably added so the devs could add a health bar like the other battles in this game, but you have to admit that an immoveable object in a game about forcibly moving objects really is something to dread.
For the longest time, I have wanted a gigantic Bowser boss fight in the style of his final smash from brawl and smash 4. I really love that they did it now. Although, I feel like he should use his neutral attacks a bit more often, to make it feel more like your fighting his old final smash. I love the melee fight too!!
I misintepreted what this video was going to be about based on the title, but I think my original interpretation is true, too: Bowser's Smash appearances make him feel like a better boss in his own games. Pretty much all of Bowser's boss fights are in some way abstracted and indirect. It's hard to get a grasp on just how dangerous this guy actually is, because unlike any other major video game boss we don't really go toe-to-toe with him, per se, it's always just taking advantage of surroundings. Even in Paper Mario, the most recent Bowser boss fight during Melee's development (by its release Mario Sunshine had come out), it was a fight characterized by RPG mechanics and macguffins. But then Melee came around and actually gave him a kit, showed him fighting toe to toe, and suddenly we've got context to understand how dangerous this guy actually is in a fight. And sure, it all makes perfect sense in retrospect that's how he fights, but that wasn't really what we'd directly seen until then, and it added sort of a framework to understand how Bowser fights. And that affected Mario games, too, you can see his Smash moveset and animations start to influence Bowser's later appearances, giving his fights a lot more consistency. He's not the only character that had Smash influence or give context to a character moving forward (it was probably a big influence in how Fire Emblem handled getting more cinematic, for example), but he's one of the more noticeable ones, and possibly the only one that influenced boss fights specifically.
I really feel that giga Bowser does work, as a good boss (especially a final/iconic boss) should be familiar enough to understand, yet enhanced enough to make you feel like you're getting challenged
I liked Melee’s Giga Bowser fight better because your hits have an effect on the boss. In Ultimate, it doesn’t do anything to your future hits and doesn’t make him flinch or anything. It’s just feels like senseless hitting and dodging and getting bored. In melee, the percentage system meant you fought him like any other character. Your moves changed as the fight went on and as he was launched in different ways. You can trap him in combos and edgeguard him and stuff. As you keep hitting him there’s a noticeable effect on the gameplay, and it feels satisfying. For those who haven’t played Melee, his moves also come out faster since they didn’t need to slow them down to make up for his new super armor. I like Ganon’s fight the most of Ultimate’s bosses for a similar reason. Rather than the fight just being about senseless hitting and dodging and getting bored and when is this fight over, it requires you to learn the boss’s movements to get behind him (or just use Zelda’s up special). To me this is way more fun because your attention is at his moveset and countering him, then spamming moves for a bit. To me this is better than spamming a few moves for like the whole fight. I still like the percentage system more since in those fights you don’t just spam a few moves to what feels like slow and boring progress, but rather play how you normally would, just against a bigger foe that hits harder.
To Sakurai, Bowser is an evil, fire-breathing monster. Even after he was characterized more as a friendly father in later games, he's still the same beast in Smash (besides not being hunched after Sm4sh). All in all, I think Giga Bowser fits Sakurai's view of Bowser perfectly, even better since he's viewed as a Smash series character rather than a Mario character.
Giga Bowser has always felt strange to my. Why give Bowser, of all characters, a terrifying and soulless form? It doesn’t fit in with his menacing but still cartoony character, and it just robs him of his defining traits. I feel like a scary transformation fits Ganondorf more, since he’s a lot more tough and less cartoony. But I digress, the boss fight itself is still good. Great content as always
I did have an idea for a Bowser boss fight based around Mario's jump. A circular arena, and Bowser is bigger than Mario. Bowser has a few attacks; 1: Fire Spit; Bowser spits out enormous fire balls at Mario, which the player has to avoid. 2: Shockwave Jump: Self Explanatory. 3: Dash Punch; I got this idea from Mario and Luigi Bowser's Inside Story. Now, none of these attacks leave Bowser vulnerable. There is, however, one more. 4: Fire Breath; a close ranged, but longer lasting variant of Fire Spit. Bowser eventually gets tired of exhaling and needs time too recover. This is Mario's chance. Run up to Bowser and jump, effectively(this is a little violent) punching him in the jaw.
The thing I dislike about Giga Bowser in Ultimate is his health bar. It means you're just fighting a tank with an emphasis on striking and running away. In Melee, you still get to knock him out, and the fight is more fun that way, imo.
Giga Bowser was the first boss I fought in World of Light. I’m fairly sure that it took around half an hour to defeat him; he was the first major wall I encountered. I ended up needing to switch from Mario to Link to win. The fact that his move set was derived from normal Bowser made him rather tricky to deal with. It turned out to be worthwhile though, since Bowser became one of my go-to fighters in World of Light.
I thought this video would be something about how in Ultimate they cleverly made wind-up animations for his attacks to make him a real boss rather than how in Melee it's just about the same as Bowser. (Unless I'm misremembering but I'm almost certain that I'm not.) I feel like you should've at least mentioned that somewhere in there but instead you just pointed out Melee once and said "we're not talking about that one" so maybe that was your way of acknowledging it? Either way, this video had kind of a weird feeling to it but I still liked it well enough.
Ok, you say it turning into a brawling thing would be odd, but that's pretty much what happened in Odyssey, and I'd honestly say it was one of the better Bowser fights because of it. It's not as complex as fighting him in Smash, obviously, but that's a good thing. It beats out any other Bowser fight for me, and probably a lot of other people, because it feels like you're actually doing something to him, instead of indirectly damaging him with lava or something of the sort.
Sure Giga Bowser is great and all but can we talk about Sunshine Bowser and how he is clearly the superior Bowser? “Mario! How dare you disturb my family vacation”
His down smash and forward smash are completely different though (his down smash being a shell spin which I guess you can pass off as his up special without moving) I feel maybe they should’ve let giga bowser use some aerials. Or maybe let you grab him but only by his tail, similar to the ganon fight. This would make going over him an important factor, just like his original games. I struggled a lot getting behind ganon bu maybe that would be a little redundant. The boss is very slow and I would like some incentive to approach and not just wait for slow attacks to pass.
His smash attacks are identical to those that were in melee or brawl, since giga bowser originates from melee. He's more of a melee throwback to be honest.
I guess while we are on the Smash Boss track, the other bosses from previous games can be talked about. Personally I would like to see a take on Ganon because I HATE that boss, especially on classic. In World of Light, you can select a character that deals with a major annoying part of the fight, getting over to their tail. In Classic, you either have characters with sort of difficult to understand up bs or up bs that are near useless at getting over (and Link's, which I forget the usefulness of), and then when you get over there, they just move again due to their speed, and with their range/power, I kept getting ko'd before the boss even reached half health in Classic. I could just be salty, which is why I would be interested on a fresh take of Ganon, and if they really are the worst boss in the game.
In almost every Bowser fight he shoots himself in the foot. Super Mario Bros.: He put an axe to cut the bridge. Super Mario World: Instead of shooting fireballs, Bowser drops Mecha Koopas that can be thrown back at him. Super Mario 64: Bowser can only be hurt by the bombs that Mario throws him into; bombs that were already there! Smash Bros. is different. It's just a Bowser fight, no self-sabotage, no holds barred. Name ONE Bowser fight aside from Smash Bros. and the RPG games where he doesn't shoot himself in the foot.
5:20 -- that's not to say they *couldn't* make it point a to point b, just that it would be far worse if it did -- the bonus game in classic is probably the best smash can do for pure platforming, and it's... not great
I feel frustrated when I watch this. This character has been beaten to the ground for 34 years now, and now it got upgraded... Just to be beaten again. Nintendo, just leave this guy alone!
Wait, has Kamek been reviving Bowser every time he dies? Isn't Kamek the one that supports many Mario Bosses? Bowser is defined as evil because he does evil things, to be this villainous he would have to have been raised poorly, who raised him? Kamek! Kamek should be the main villain of Mario not Bowser!! I wanna see Kamek as the Final Boss in an official Mario Game!
@@gtbruhmoment4220 I agree, it just wouldn't feel the same if Kamek was the hero instead of Mario. XD I know what you meant it just sounds like you were referring to Mario when you said "him".
you can't say that giga bowser plays homage to bowser's previous boss battles when his boss fight translates from his smash moveset ???? thats so indirect of a comparison
Honestly I wish Smash Bros didn't do the DK thing of "animalising" Bowser. (DK is probably a bad comparison because he's always pretty animal-like but it's closeish idk) In the Mario games, yes Bowser is big and intimidating but he has a character, and he's surprisingly goofy sometimes but Smash Bowser feels like a mute dragon. IIRC Smash Bros are like Bowser's only recent appearance where he doesn't have the same VA.
Dude! You callin' cat Bowser not scary? Dude scared the crap outta me when I saw him using the same power ups as me! Like, he's not supposed to do that! (Well, as scared as i could be... Still not very scary lol)
I do like Mario platforming games ending with a final boss that's in the form of a chase sequence - I tend to prefer them when that's Phase 2 of the fight rather than the whole thing, even if Phase 1 is as simple as 'push axe button to win', mind - but phase 1 of the Galeam/Dharkon fight in World of Light (Or the Porky statue sequence in Brawl's Subspace) shows just how awkward that would have been in the context of Smash. Not only is it unsatisfying for a fighting game boss (or side scrolling beat-em-up in the case of Subspace) on it's own, but it's kind of clunky as well, even when you're as mobile as you are in Smash - Yeah, you're mobile compared to a traditional fighting game, even most beat-em-ups, with double jumps so forth, but you're mobile in a form that's designed for navigating around small stages with fairly tight nit platforms designed to give positioning, rather than acting as obstacle courses to navigate. It mostly works as a warmup (Though feels clunky), but as the main course? That wouldn't have been great. ...And the health bar rather than a percentage system, while meaning he fights by different rules, makes Giga in this form feel like a boss rather than Bowser but bigger, despite still being Bowser but bigger. I do, however, wish Bowser's classic route had ended not with Mario then Metal Mario (After Rathalos. Talk about an anti-climax - that route is the only one that didn't feel like it ended with a boss fight to me instead had a boss fight as the penultimate battle), but Mario then Mega Mario, with Mario basically getting the Giga Bowser treatment but based on his New Super Mario Mega Mushroom form. Actually, going back to Mario... You mentioned that Bowser fights rarely get direct and personal, and even when you actually damage him rather than doing something to the environment to defeat him, it tends to be via his own attacks (64 and Galaxy are the main exceptions to this I can think of) - Why do you think that's remained that way, when there are so many fights in Mario these days where you do damage to the boss yourself, directly - Koopalings, Broodles, Bowser Jr's -Eggmobile- Clown Car, before we even get to the more unique fights. I know you've covered the chase sequences as boss fights, but I don't recall you going into that specific part of it.
Tbh I honestly found Bowser's classic Mode fight with Mario and Metal Mario to be hard af on the higher difficulties. Both Mario and Metal Mario both wrecked my $hit iirc lol.
I noticed You've slowed the pace of the audio. Unfortunately now it's way too choppy and even more difficult to listen to. I speed playback to 1.25x now on these videos. That doesn't detract from the analyses you give, but it does feel off.
giga bowser is a good smash bros boss. but nsmbu had a way better giant fight in my opinion. you dont directly damage him but you do get to fight him head on as well as bowser jr. as a nod to the ds game. the music and and presentation is well done. as it leads you to think its gonna be like every other fight with the switch and all. not only that but bowsers size and power is made very clear. like how his roar shakes the screen and his shell causes huge thuds as it jumps up and down. on a unrelated note hitting him with the clown car is amazing. ps. still love your videos this is just my stupid opinion.
To be fair: In the Paper Mario Series we also have Mario deal direct damage to Bowser. And attention unpopular opinion: I think Giga Bowser is friggin ugly.
![Minecraft but I survive in PARKOUR CIVILIZATION [FULL MOVIE]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/2pFwQiwRbcg/mqdefault.jpg)
Here's a request: Do Ganon in this game. Or in a different episode, how Dark Beast Ganon in Breath of the Wild failed in its finale.
Calamity Ganon is the fight designed to the be the challenge, which causes me to question why Dark Beast Ganon is even in that game.
Hey Connor! I did a video on BOTW's bosses already and discussed the finale. I would love to do a Ganon adaptation episode because he's a fascinating crossover.
Thanks for checking this one out!
@@skipthetutorial ah, I'll check it out then!
dragonstormx dark beast ganon is a finish him boss fight.
Ulti wins!
Factality!
You've been liking smash ultimate bosses huh?
I guess this *Marx* a new era of bosses.
You should cover Beast King Ganon
Tbh I found ganon kind of frusturating. You have to hit him in the tail, so you have to get behind him. But he IS CONSTANTLY TURNING AROUND!!
@@heavydonkeykong5190 It's not that hard and is a nice throwback, even if I've only played Phantom Hourglass
I loved the ganon fight, it was my favourite boss in ssbu the only thing I dislike is that we can't play as him!
Of course, they made Bowser a better boss by making him function more like a Kirby boss.
Yeah that's weird
Something I found interesting about Giga Bowser is that he's totally unscripted. All the other characters in this game have sequenced attacks where they always perform the same couple of moves in the same way, but Giga Bowser literally just plays like your fighting a revamped version of a normal Smash fight.
In this way, he is similar to Meta Knight from Kirby, since they act and move in a similar way to the player in order to present fairness.
Yeah, you can even play as him with hacking. Not that I've done that
Does anybody else think that midbus should play a larger role in mario games as bowser's rival? He'd basically be bowser's wario, meaning the two don't like each other, but they're not above working together if they have a common goal. Midbus could even be an ice-themed semi-clone of bowser in smash (ice-themed because of the whole blizzard midbus thing). Additionally, there could be a 2 - player side-scrolling beat-em-up with bowser and midbus as the playable characters. After building up power, they'd be able to transform into inferno bowser and blizzard midbus to get stronger elemental attacks. In conclusion, i like midbus.
Holy crap, you're so right.
As much as i'm a fanboy of Fawful, Midbus actually goes really unappreciated.
dededelete this
Eh. Midbus was alright to me. Would like to see him back though.
Midbus is not a part of the main mario games, he is in the RPG games.
Yet these games have better narration and actual plots compared to the main games such as the "New" serie...
If Smash DLC's included existing titles, i would have liked to see him, but hey.
I honestly thought they would bring him back. Think about it. Fawful was Cakclettas sidekick, then the main villain. Midvus was fawfuls sidekick. What if he becomes a main villain with a sidekick? And then the sidekick becomes a main villain, and so on?
One thing to mention is that sakurai said that Giga Bowser design was made in an effort to capture the scary essence of the original bowser from the famicon era. And it works
6:43 I kind of disagree.
(Mario Galaxy 1 and 2 where he was completely ruthless from the start, or Dream team and inside story where Bowser has many "I am the boss here" moments in the middle of his cartoony goods, looking powerful, proud and badass weather you fight him or play him...)
It's not because Bowser suddently has an huge Kaiju skin that he "finally" becomes intimiditing.
I second this statement... when he said that, I got some bad vibes. Sakurai himself has even said that Giga Bowser's design is based on his interpretations of early series Bowser fights. I think Yoshi's Island is worth mentioning too as it started the whole giant trend and really focuses on intimidation.
or odyssey, where he was definitely a threat and one-upped mario at every chance until the end, but was still very classy
Bowser could just step on the switch when Mario approaches and he would win every time
Giga’s Ultimate fight is waaaay too easy, probably one of the easiest in Ultimate. His health drains so so fast compared to the other bosses and he’s so sluggish that he’s basically no threat. I’m no Melee enthusiast, but damn if knocking him off the stage wasn’t so much harder and rewarding than whittling down his weirdly small health bar.
It feels like the devs intended Giga Bowser to be a "tutorial" boss.
@@lordlagomorph Makes sense considering Mario is a popular/easy character to use for beginners.
Try it in world of light, hard, no spirits, or skills as Mario, 3 HITS, 3 WILL KILL YOU!
I consider him the second hardest boss to learn how to fight but the easiest when you know how to do it. The "hardest" (most unfair) will always be Master Hand & Crazy Hand.
I hope you eventually talk about the World of Light final bosses. In fact, I hope you talk about everything in that final section (SPOILERS BELOW):
The last map solidifying the theme of you opposing both forces of light and dark, how both sides take advantage of each others deficits with each spirit you take, freeing the hands of Galeem's and Dharkon's control, conquering both light and darkness, which you need to do to reach the true final boss, the part with Master Hand (you know the one) and the entire sequence just before the big fight, It was truly cathartic, but most importantly it was emotional as you, the player, made these gods take notice of you just as soon as it was too late for them. Also one detail I liked is that, although Galeem and Dharkon can hurt each other and will take opportunities to deal massive damage to each other, they cannot KO one another, ensuring that the final hit has to be done by you. I feel like there could be an entire article written about the philosophy behind this fight, but I'd rather hear it from you.
Keep up the good work.
Hey Maxim! I covered the WOL final fights in an earlier video about Sakurai’s approach to final boss design.
Thanks for checking this one out!
Oh, I can't believe I forgot about that one. Well, perhaps you could try and talk about the overall feel of the World of Light's endgame. As a fan of the games since 64, it gave me such a rush emotionally. Thanks for the reply, though.
Good video and you have good points! But I'd personally take a regular Bowser fight any day! I agree Giga Bowser works as a fighter boss but I don't think it's such a clever representation as you said! Marx is a straight port, makes sense! You use Ganon's weak point like in the Zelda series, makes sense! But Bowser is just.. wait and punish. Sure, that's how a boss works, but it's usually not how Bowser fights operate and it's honestly the most repetitive fight of the bunch in my opinion. Like, Bowser always have moves you can dodge and everything but there's usually more like spawning enemies, throwing projectiles, scrolling or moving platforms! Here, it's just a flat surface where you go back & forth to hit the big baddie, it's not the perfect representation of the character nor a super fun fight to be honest. I get it's a callback to Melee but still, I would have preferred a more Mario-like boss fight.
I thought this boss fight was too easy. He sits there and does smash attacks. You can easily just hit and run, and now they made his attacks slower and weaker, which takes away the original theme of waiting for your opponent's move and rather just reacting while dealing damage. It was kind of underwhelming. Melee's version wasn't much better though, cuz he was just a damage sponge who just spams Fire Breath.
A traditional fighting game boss
Have to agree with you
He's the first boss most players will encounter in WoL, tho. I think it's fair that he isn't that difficult compared to later bosses.
@@Ah0yKatie
Yeah, but you have to remember that he's also in Classic mode, and there's not one specific character you have to start with in that mode. Also, Giga Bowser is easier than most spirits are in WoL. They could've made him harder at least for that.
Funny thing is, I first fought him in World Of Light as Kirby, and despite having beaten him as Mario in the classic mode, it took me an absurd number of tries to beat him as Kirby. Im pretty sure that I just resorted to spamming down B, and even then I think it might have been hard. XD.
Why don’t you mention about how overwhelming Bowser fights in both Super Mario Galaxy games? They both nailed the traditional boss fights as you said. Both are 1v1 and hand to hand combats (2v1 if you count Luma).
I mentioned this in another comment, but I think it's interesting to see what Smash DID to Bowser's boss fights, and Galaxy's a great example because it's the first main Mario game after Melee. I don't think it's a coincidence that the first 'normal' Bowser boss fight that even could be influenced by Smash was direct one-on-one combat. With Bowser moving faster, but still not FAST.
*I'm so glad this game wasn't a port*
But it is...
Miguel Serra please tell me you're joking
I kind of disagree
bowser isnt really "better" in most cases for this game. You are mainly just saying they translated him well to smash ultimate or he's better in that he's more of a "traditional boss".
but even if you mean a better fight here than melee, id argue its worse. Now his attacks are super telegraphed (way more than others) and he moves very slowly. compare that to melee where he fought with the same movement and speed of bowser, making him a challenge more in line with the game you are playing (like bowsers previous bosses do in platformers)
other bosses had elements from their games to them that set them apart, even though they also were telegraphed. gannon only being hurt from his tail, dracula being damaged from the head, and rathalos being able to be stunned with flashes. Seeing those, platforming elements could have worked for bowser. Maybe you have to platform above or under bowser to hit kamek to drop bowsers magic defense or something, or even make his boss just a race to the finish. So i dont even think bowser had to be as traditional as they made him
even on bowser being more intimidating, thats not nececarily better. maybe for brawl and melee because of the look they went for, but smash and ultimate returned to something more soft and cartoony.
What about Bowser in Super Mario Galaxy 1? In those boss fights you have to directly attack him with a spin attack after causing him to do damage to himself. In the final boss fight, he has three phases.
Phase one: Hit his face while he's in boulder form, then hit him again when he's spinning around vulnerable.
Phase two: Hit him with stretchy green plants when he's spinning around in his shell, then hit him with a spin attack.
Phase three: Manipulate his movement so he ground pounds on surfaces of the planet where he'll burn his but, then spin attack him like in the rest of his fights.
(All three of these phases require you to hit Bowser three times, and it's harder than it sounds. And this counts, even if Mario only has one actual attack like a punch.)
Newer Mario DS Makes a better bowser fight than smash ultimate.
Seriously though if you've played or seen this hacks final boss it's a fun fight that pays homage to Mario world and 3 at the same time.
If we are going into Rom Hack territory, the list of good bowser fights is endless.
Fawful for a future video? 🤔
One thing I really like about Giga Bowser is the added effects on some of his A moves. Forward Smash is flaming, sown Smash is icy, forward tilt is poisonous, etc. It's not just more powerful, it's really more threatening.
It takes away his personality and makes him a brainless beast. That's not what Bowser means to me.
Headcanon, Giga Bowser is a corrupted Bowser
That's kind of the point, though. Sakurai himself confirmed that Bowser himself is a different character from GIGA Bowser. The regular Bowser you play as in the game is based off of a more or so modern Bowser, whilst Giga Bowser represents what he was during the Famicom Era (in which he basically was just a mindless beast).
@@peveral4246 No even in the famicom era he was a manipulative black magic user and also used powerful use of necromancy
So glad you did a vid on my favorite Mario character/main!
Congrats on (Almost) 30k!
I've learned a lot from your videos and others. I'm not sure what my first fully fleshed out game will be, platformer, RPG, but what knowledge I've gained does give me more confidence in my ability to do it well!
Thank you.
Just want to say that the one thing I'm happy about id that you are one of the few youtubers who has closed captioning. You get a free sub for that.
Yes!!! My suggestion became a vid! Thx
Your voice doesn't seem any different, but still hope you get better.
this will seem irrelevant but I just had to say it: I LOVE YOUR VIDEOS!!! Your analysis of boss design is rlly insightful and makes me view bosses in new ways. I wish to be a game designer in the future and your videos give me so much idea for how to make boss fights important and meaningful. You are completely unappreciated on TH-cam. Keep up the amazing videos!!!!
What I really like about this boss is the fact that he’s on a platform. No other boss (aside from the hands) fights in this style, they all feature walk-offs. Because of this and the fact bowser takes up a third of the space on said platform, you’re forced to fight him up front and center. Considering the fact that nearly all of bowser’s fights involve tricking or fleeing bowser, this only adds to bowser’s character of being someone you should *never* face head on
That was a smooth transition from kirby bosses to smash bosses.
Can't wait to see you go over the Rathalos fight.
This channel is underrated
Nice vid! Would you consider doing a video on bowser's fights in 64, galaxy, and odyssey? I've always wanted to see those analyzed.
Hmmmmmm
BOWSERS SOURPUSS BREAD.
(At this point I'm gonna just start spewing references. Also your almost to 30k subs, your growing fast."
You know what they say, all toasters toast toast!
I hope she made lottsa spaghetti!
Hey, nice improvement on your voice pacing. Keep it up.
Good points in this one, but it raises one question: why is the editing so clean?
Bowser is also a boss in World of Light. To get both his spirit you actually have to fight his boss form. It's a pretty challenging fight as all his attacks can hit hard and do elemental damage to your character. But it's worth it. Defeating Bowser not only recruits him as a fighter but you also get Giga Bowser as a spirit.
he protec
he attac
but most importantly...
you actually fight bac
something to note is that he's more of a Luigified clone nowadays.
remember that Bowser's moveset was revamped in Smash 4 and Ultimate, but Giga Bowser's moveset was left intact with the exception of his Side B. everything else is literally the same as Melee's.
This is why I love Pichu! He actually got his Stuff from the Anime Version of him where he Get's Dizzy Every time he uses an Electric Attack. Sure, It may suck Taking Damage All the Time, But At Least it's for a Good Reason. :3
I remember asking you about your opinions on Giga Bowser in the Marx video, but I never thought you'd actually make a video on it!
Also, I totally agree with your points here. Keeping Bowser's moveset whilst adding a few new extras (like the freeze effect from his Whirling Fortress), along with adding a health bar and slowing him down a bit to make him more accessible to other fighters was a good move in keeping Giga Bowser recognisable as a boss. However, one more thing I'd like to add is that the whole transformation gives him a new sense of power that he didn't have before. Think about it. You've just knocked Bowser, one of the heaviest and toughest to launch characters off of the stage. The only natural progression he can possibly take now is an even heavier and stronger form which *doesn't flinch anymore.* This gimmick has been with Giga Bowser since he debuted as a Final Smash in Brawl and was probably added so the devs could add a health bar like the other battles in this game, but you have to admit that an immoveable object in a game about forcibly moving objects really is something to dread.
For the longest time, I have wanted a gigantic Bowser boss fight in the style of his final smash from brawl and smash 4. I really love that they did it now. Although, I feel like he should use his neutral attacks a bit more often, to make it feel more like your fighting his old final smash. I love the melee fight too!!
Hope You Get Better Soon!
Also Yes He Is A Lot Better And Harder in ultimate it actaully takes me more than once to take him out
I misintepreted what this video was going to be about based on the title, but I think my original interpretation is true, too:
Bowser's Smash appearances make him feel like a better boss in his own games.
Pretty much all of Bowser's boss fights are in some way abstracted and indirect. It's hard to get a grasp on just how dangerous this guy actually is, because unlike any other major video game boss we don't really go toe-to-toe with him, per se, it's always just taking advantage of surroundings. Even in Paper Mario, the most recent Bowser boss fight during Melee's development (by its release Mario Sunshine had come out), it was a fight characterized by RPG mechanics and macguffins.
But then Melee came around and actually gave him a kit, showed him fighting toe to toe, and suddenly we've got context to understand how dangerous this guy actually is in a fight. And sure, it all makes perfect sense in retrospect that's how he fights, but that wasn't really what we'd directly seen until then, and it added sort of a framework to understand how Bowser fights. And that affected Mario games, too, you can see his Smash moveset and animations start to influence Bowser's later appearances, giving his fights a lot more consistency.
He's not the only character that had Smash influence or give context to a character moving forward (it was probably a big influence in how Fire Emblem handled getting more cinematic, for example), but he's one of the more noticeable ones, and possibly the only one that influenced boss fights specifically.
I really feel that giga Bowser does work, as a good boss (especially a final/iconic boss) should be familiar enough to understand, yet enhanced enough to make you feel like you're getting challenged
I liked Melee’s Giga Bowser fight better because your hits have an effect on the boss. In Ultimate, it doesn’t do anything to your future hits and doesn’t make him flinch or anything. It’s just feels like senseless hitting and dodging and getting bored. In melee, the percentage system meant you fought him like any other character. Your moves changed as the fight went on and as he was launched in different ways. You can trap him in combos and edgeguard him and stuff. As you keep hitting him there’s a noticeable effect on the gameplay, and it feels satisfying. For those who haven’t played Melee, his moves also come out faster since they didn’t need to slow them down to make up for his new super armor.
I like Ganon’s fight the most of Ultimate’s bosses for a similar reason. Rather than the fight just being about senseless hitting and dodging and getting bored and when is this fight over, it requires you to learn the boss’s movements to get behind him (or just use Zelda’s up special). To me this is way more fun because your attention is at his moveset and countering him, then spamming moves for a bit. To me this is better than spamming a few moves for like the whole fight. I still like the percentage system more since in those fights you don’t just spam a few moves to what feels like slow and boring progress, but rather play how you normally would, just against a bigger foe that hits harder.
To Sakurai, Bowser is an evil, fire-breathing monster. Even after he was characterized more as a friendly father in later games, he's still the same beast in Smash (besides not being hunched after Sm4sh). All in all, I think Giga Bowser fits Sakurai's view of Bowser perfectly, even better since he's viewed as a Smash series character rather than a Mario character.
Giga Bowser has always felt strange to my. Why give Bowser, of all characters, a terrifying and soulless form? It doesn’t fit in with his menacing but still cartoony character, and it just robs him of his defining traits. I feel like a scary transformation fits Ganondorf more, since he’s a lot more tough and less cartoony.
But I digress, the boss fight itself is still good. Great content as always
1:13 "Koopa Kids"? Wow, Bowser's got a *lot* of children!
And he doesn't pay *any* child support!
Super Mario Galaxy's final boss was pretty good.
I want giga bowser to be a cannon form in the Mario series cause bro is lowkey terrifying when you think about it
I did have an idea for a Bowser boss fight based around Mario's jump. A circular arena, and Bowser is bigger than Mario. Bowser has a few attacks;
1: Fire Spit; Bowser spits out enormous fire balls at Mario, which the player has to avoid.
2: Shockwave Jump: Self Explanatory.
3: Dash Punch; I got this idea from Mario and Luigi Bowser's Inside Story.
Now, none of these attacks leave Bowser vulnerable. There is, however, one more.
4: Fire Breath; a close ranged, but longer lasting variant of Fire Spit. Bowser eventually gets tired of exhaling and needs time too recover. This is Mario's chance. Run up to Bowser and jump, effectively(this is a little violent) punching him in the jaw.
0:04skip let me explain
Me Studio
1:11 koopa kids? What is this, Mario Party?
Any chance you can cover Bowser Jr. and the Koopalings? Those little scamps deserve some spotlight.
Random request but I was hoping you could do a Kid Icarus Uprising boss video, perhaps for Hades. Up to you, of course :p
I always thought the Rayquza fight from Brawl was cool too because it felt even more intimidating than in the main Pokemon games.
The thing I dislike about Giga Bowser in Ultimate is his health bar. It means you're just fighting a tank with an emphasis on striking and running away. In Melee, you still get to knock him out, and the fight is more fun that way, imo.
I’m shocked how no one mentions that Giga bowser retains bowser’s old moveset from brawl/melee when he was hunched over
Giga Bowser was the first boss I fought in World of Light. I’m fairly sure that it took around half an hour to defeat him; he was the first major wall I encountered. I ended up needing to switch from Mario to Link to win. The fact that his move set was derived from normal Bowser made him rather tricky to deal with. It turned out to be worthwhile though, since Bowser became one of my go-to fighters in World of Light.
The first time I played against giga bowser in Ultimate, he immediately side specialed off the edge.
I thought this video would be something about how in Ultimate they cleverly made wind-up animations for his attacks to make him a real boss rather than how in Melee it's just about the same as Bowser. (Unless I'm misremembering but I'm almost certain that I'm not.) I feel like you should've at least mentioned that somewhere in there but instead you just pointed out Melee once and said "we're not talking about that one" so maybe that was your way of acknowledging it? Either way, this video had kind of a weird feeling to it but I still liked it well enough.
Ok, you say it turning into a brawling thing would be odd, but that's pretty much what happened in Odyssey, and I'd honestly say it was one of the better Bowser fights because of it. It's not as complex as fighting him in Smash, obviously, but that's a good thing. It beats out any other Bowser fight for me, and probably a lot of other people, because it feels like you're actually doing something to him, instead of indirectly damaging him with lava or something of the sort.
Hm
I think the bosses were designed in a way that kept ideas from their series but made how they’re fought as if they were in a Kirby game
Why did I just get a notification from this
Skip: Bowser bosses don't contain a health bar and direct damage, and he's not that intimidating
Fury Bowser: Hold my beer
Also the fight represents how Bowser fights represent and play like the game they’re in.
I always found the inability to do direct damage to bowser to make him more intimidating
Could you do an analysis on how Majima from Yakuza has changed as a boss through out the series
In a fight with Giga Bowser in the final battle, I saw him down-b off the stage and kill himself. It was surprising.
I would like it if I could see the battle!
I love the Giga Bowser fight, but I'm a little disappointed that there weren't many new moves
Imagine you look out your window and you see giga bowser’s Heath bar in the sky
Sure Giga Bowser is great and all but can we talk about Sunshine Bowser and how he is clearly the superior Bowser?
“Mario! How dare you disturb my family vacation”
It would be so cool to see Giga Bowser in a modern Mario game but I doubt it’s gonna happen
His down smash and forward smash are completely different though (his down smash being a shell spin which I guess you can pass off as his up special without moving)
I feel maybe they should’ve let giga bowser use some aerials. Or maybe let you grab him but only by his tail, similar to the ganon fight. This would make going over him an important factor, just like his original games. I struggled a lot getting behind ganon bu maybe that would be a little redundant.
The boss is very slow and I would like some incentive to approach and not just wait for slow attacks to pass.
His smash attacks are identical to those that were in melee or brawl, since giga bowser originates from melee. He's more of a melee throwback to be honest.
Don't know why I'm asking, but have you heard of "chocobo's dungeon"
Nice. But my favourite ssbu boss is Galleon
I guess while we are on the Smash Boss track, the other bosses from previous games can be talked about. Personally I would like to see a take on Ganon because I HATE that boss, especially on classic.
In World of Light, you can select a character that deals with a major annoying part of the fight, getting over to their tail. In Classic, you either have characters with sort of difficult to understand up bs or up bs that are near useless at getting over (and Link's, which I forget the usefulness of), and then when you get over there, they just move again due to their speed, and with their range/power, I kept getting ko'd before the boss even reached half health in Classic.
I could just be salty, which is why I would be interested on a fresh take of Ganon, and if they really are the worst boss in the game.
i think giga bowser should be canon in the mario series
Hey man, I found Cat Bowser hella intimidating.
They should use gigs bowser more on games I think. It’s a cool idea
Giga Bowser's attacks are good enough. They made the good decision to just make him a bigger and stronger Smash version of Bowser.
In almost every Bowser fight he shoots himself in the foot.
Super Mario Bros.: He put an axe to cut the bridge.
Super Mario World: Instead of shooting fireballs, Bowser drops Mecha Koopas that can be thrown back at him.
Super Mario 64: Bowser can only be hurt by the bombs that Mario throws him into; bombs that were already there!
Smash Bros. is different. It's just a Bowser fight, no self-sabotage, no holds barred. Name ONE Bowser fight aside from Smash Bros. and the RPG games where he doesn't shoot himself in the foot.
Get better soon. I recommend ginger tea and water with lemon.
5:20 -- that's not to say they *couldn't* make it point a to point b, just that it would be far worse if it did -- the bonus game in classic is probably the best smash can do for pure platforming, and it's... not great
I feel frustrated when I watch this. This character has been beaten to the ground for 34 years now, and now it got upgraded... Just to be beaten again.
Nintendo, just leave this guy alone!
Wait, has Kamek been reviving Bowser every time he dies? Isn't Kamek the one that supports many Mario Bosses? Bowser is defined as evil because he does evil things, to be this villainous he would have to have been raised poorly, who raised him? Kamek!
Kamek should be the main villain of Mario not Bowser!! I wanna see Kamek as the Final Boss in an official Mario Game!
I mean... most yoshi games have Kamek as the main villain.
@@derekmartin5340 But never the final boss though.
Mario wouldn't be the same if Kamek replaced him forever, but I agree he should get a few games!
@@gtbruhmoment4220 I agree, it just wouldn't feel the same if Kamek was the hero instead of Mario.
XD I know what you meant it just sounds like you were referring to Mario when you said "him".
@@lost_little_demon Wow, I really did sound like that- asudhasd
you can't say that giga bowser plays homage to bowser's previous boss battles when his boss fight translates from his smash moveset ???? thats so indirect of a comparison
2:14 ONE MORE LAST FIST BUMPPPPPP
Honestly I wish Smash Bros didn't do the DK thing of "animalising" Bowser. (DK is probably a bad comparison because he's always pretty animal-like but it's closeish idk)
In the Mario games, yes Bowser is big and intimidating but he has a character, and he's surprisingly goofy sometimes but Smash Bowser feels like a mute dragon.
IIRC Smash Bros are like Bowser's only recent appearance where he doesn't have the same VA.
Dude! You callin' cat Bowser not scary?
Dude scared the crap outta me when I saw him using the same power ups as me! Like, he's not supposed to do that!
(Well, as scared as i could be... Still not very scary lol)
I do like Mario platforming games ending with a final boss that's in the form of a chase sequence - I tend to prefer them when that's Phase 2 of the fight rather than the whole thing, even if Phase 1 is as simple as 'push axe button to win', mind - but phase 1 of the Galeam/Dharkon fight in World of Light (Or the Porky statue sequence in Brawl's Subspace) shows just how awkward that would have been in the context of Smash.
Not only is it unsatisfying for a fighting game boss (or side scrolling beat-em-up in the case of Subspace) on it's own, but it's kind of clunky as well, even when you're as mobile as you are in Smash - Yeah, you're mobile compared to a traditional fighting game, even most beat-em-ups, with double jumps so forth, but you're mobile in a form that's designed for navigating around small stages with fairly tight nit platforms designed to give positioning, rather than acting as obstacle courses to navigate. It mostly works as a warmup (Though feels clunky), but as the main course? That wouldn't have been great.
...And the health bar rather than a percentage system, while meaning he fights by different rules, makes Giga in this form feel like a boss rather than Bowser but bigger, despite still being Bowser but bigger. I do, however, wish Bowser's classic route had ended not with Mario then Metal Mario (After Rathalos. Talk about an anti-climax - that route is the only one that didn't feel like it ended with a boss fight to me instead had a boss fight as the penultimate battle), but Mario then Mega Mario, with Mario basically getting the Giga Bowser treatment but based on his New Super Mario Mega Mushroom form.
Actually, going back to Mario... You mentioned that Bowser fights rarely get direct and personal, and even when you actually damage him rather than doing something to the environment to defeat him, it tends to be via his own attacks (64 and Galaxy are the main exceptions to this I can think of) - Why do you think that's remained that way, when there are so many fights in Mario these days where you do damage to the boss yourself, directly - Koopalings, Broodles, Bowser Jr's -Eggmobile- Clown Car, before we even get to the more unique fights. I know you've covered the chase sequences as boss fights, but I don't recall you going into that specific part of it.
Tbh I honestly found Bowser's classic Mode fight with Mario and Metal Mario to be hard af on the higher difficulties. Both Mario and Metal Mario both wrecked my $hit iirc lol.
( i guess he forgot the fist fight in odyssey)
Get well soon, bud
Why is the things is random in the parts
Bowser is my favorite Smash character 🙂
I couldn’t tell that he was sick
I noticed You've slowed the pace of the audio.
Unfortunately now it's way too choppy and even more difficult to listen to. I speed playback to 1.25x now on these videos.
That doesn't detract from the analyses you give, but it does feel off.
giga bowser is a good smash bros boss. but nsmbu had a way better giant fight in my opinion. you dont directly damage him but you do get to fight him head on as well as bowser jr. as a nod to the ds game. the music and and presentation is well done. as it leads you to think its gonna be like every other fight with the switch and all. not only that but bowsers size and power is made very clear. like how his roar shakes the screen and his shell causes huge thuds as it jumps up and down. on a unrelated note hitting him with the clown car is amazing.
ps. still love your videos this is just my stupid opinion.
To be fair: In the Paper Mario Series we also have Mario deal direct damage to Bowser.
And attention unpopular opinion:
I think Giga Bowser is friggin ugly.