Super Smash Bros. Brawl/Bowser

Bowser, Mario's archenemy, returns in smash after being in Super Smash Bros. Melee. First appearing in Super Mario Bros. Bowser grew to be quite the popular boss for the Mario series.

Bowser has the largest body size in the game, and also the heaviest. This means you'll be hit by virtually everything, but you will survive longer than most characters. Bowser's mostly horizontal recovery reflects this. Bowser has poor dodges. His rolls is very slow, and his sidestep is the slowest in the game. Bowser can crawl on the ground, but it's useless because of his large size. Bowser is a heavyweight, so he relies on hitting hard and KOing hard. Bowser's Side Smash is a powerful high-priority headbutt that ignores most but the strongest super armor moves. His Up Smash hits on both sides and he enters a pseudo-crouch animation when charging. His Down Smash sucks opponents in for multiple hits. His Strong Side has great range, and his Strong Up is a fast swat aboove him. His Strong Down is another good KO move that comes out quickly. Avoid his Dash Attack, as it is slow and not very powerful.

Bowser also has his ways of damage-racking. He can use his fire breath for quick damage. He also has a frame advantage on grab releasing characters, meaning you can attack before the opponent can react, and even getting another grab in! This chaingrab is usable on all characters except Donkey Kong. and you can pummel in between grabs to damage them.

Bowser is also quite good in the air. You'll mostly be using his fast and powerful Forward Air to knock opponents away. His Neutral Air is good for tacking on some damage, and his Back Air is useful for hitting opponents behind, but its very laggy if you land before the move ends. His Up Air is one of the most powerful Up Airs in the game. You'll less likely be juggling opponents with it than using it as a deadly KO move. His Down Air is near useless so don't use it much. There's always better ways to hit below Bowser.

As for his specials, Fire Breath stops approaches nicely and is also useful for onstage edgeguarding. His Flying Slam is used to perform a sacrificial KO that kills the opponent first before it kills him. However, the one with the less damage controls it more, so against a good opponent, doing this is unlikely. His Whirling Fortress is extremely useful out of his shield. It's beginning possesses good knockback to knock opponents away and its quite damaging too. However, it's not the best recovery move and yo'll often find yourself too far to recover back. His Bowser Bomb will only hit when its unexpected, so lure your opponent into being vulerable, then hit with it.

Basic Attacks

 * Double Claw||Two quick claw swipes. This is one of Bowser's main moves.
 * Tripping Lunge||Running headbutt.
 * Bowser Knuckle||Punches while leaning his body forward. Can be aimed up or down.
 * Upward Claw||Swats the air above him.
 * Low Swipe||Claw swipes while crouched. Does two hits.
 * }
 * Bowser Knuckle||Punches while leaning his body forward. Can be aimed up or down.
 * Upward Claw||Swats the air above him.
 * Low Swipe||Claw swipes while crouched. Does two hits.
 * }
 * Upward Claw||Swats the air above him.
 * Low Swipe||Claw swipes while crouched. Does two hits.
 * }
 * Low Swipe||Claw swipes while crouched. Does two hits.
 * }
 * }

Smash Attacks

 * Horn Bash||Does a powerful headbutt. Try to catch your opponent off guard then use this for the kill.
 * Spike Slam||Hurls his shell upwards then crashes down.
 * Shell Spin||Spins his shell. Hard to escape.
 * }
 * Spike Slam||Hurls his shell upwards then crashes down.
 * Shell Spin||Spins his shell. Hard to escape.
 * }
 * Shell Spin||Spins his shell. Hard to escape.
 * }
 * }

Pummels and Throws

 * Headbutt||Bowser headbutts the opponent. Very slow for a pummel.
 * Forward Hurl||Bowser launches the opponent forward.
 * Backwards Hurl||Bowser launches the opponent backwards.
 * Spike Spin||Bowser places the opponent on his shell and spins.
 * Bowser Slam||Throws his body on to the opponent.
 * }
 * Backwards Hurl||Bowser launches the opponent backwards.
 * Spike Spin||Bowser places the opponent on his shell and spins.
 * Bowser Slam||Throws his body on to the opponent.
 * }
 * Spike Spin||Bowser places the opponent on his shell and spins.
 * Bowser Slam||Throws his body on to the opponent.
 * }
 * Bowser Slam||Throws his body on to the opponent.
 * }
 * }

Air Attacks

 * Shell Spin||Spins around midair while in his shell.
 * Claw Swipe||Bowser swipes his claw. Possibly his best air attack.
 * Shell Bash||Throws his shell backwards, bashing opponents with spikes.
 * Head Swing||Bowser swings his head upwards, great for upwards KOs.
 * Inverted Shell||Spins in his shell downwards. Hits if he lands on the ground before the attack ends.
 * }
 * Shell Bash||Throws his shell backwards, bashing opponents with spikes.
 * Head Swing||Bowser swings his head upwards, great for upwards KOs.
 * Inverted Shell||Spins in his shell downwards. Hits if he lands on the ground before the attack ends.
 * }
 * Head Swing||Bowser swings his head upwards, great for upwards KOs.
 * Inverted Shell||Spins in his shell downwards. Hits if he lands on the ground before the attack ends.
 * }
 * Inverted Shell||Spins in his shell downwards. Hits if he lands on the ground before the attack ends.
 * }
 * }

Special Attacks

 * Fire Breath|| Bowser lets out a large stream of fire that will decrease in length the longer you use it.
 * Flying Slam||Bowser grabs the opponent, jumps up into the air and slams them down to ground. This attack is best used in the air, and should be one of Bowser's main attacks. The attack can be slightly controlled depending on the hit percentage. A good method is to do it off the edge, throwing your opponent down before you. It can be used as a Suicide move as you'll win if you and the opponent both have 1 stock left.
 * Whirling Fortress||Bowser retreats in his shell and rapidly spins around, similar to DK's Spinning Kong. This is Bowser's best move.  Abuse this as much as possible, and remember to use this out of shield.
 * Bowser Bomb||Bowser's version of a butt-stomp, he will decend to the ground quickly to pummel anyone under him. If Bowser is in midair when using this move, he slams to the ground with a butt-stomp. If he's on the ground doing this, he will leap forward diagonally before performing the move, it's possible to hit the opponent with the initial jump. Similar to Yoshi's Down B only stronger.
 * }
 * Flying Slam||Bowser grabs the opponent, jumps up into the air and slams them down to ground. This attack is best used in the air, and should be one of Bowser's main attacks. The attack can be slightly controlled depending on the hit percentage. A good method is to do it off the edge, throwing your opponent down before you. It can be used as a Suicide move as you'll win if you and the opponent both have 1 stock left.
 * Whirling Fortress||Bowser retreats in his shell and rapidly spins around, similar to DK's Spinning Kong. This is Bowser's best move.  Abuse this as much as possible, and remember to use this out of shield.
 * Bowser Bomb||Bowser's version of a butt-stomp, he will decend to the ground quickly to pummel anyone under him. If Bowser is in midair when using this move, he slams to the ground with a butt-stomp. If he's on the ground doing this, he will leap forward diagonally before performing the move, it's possible to hit the opponent with the initial jump. Similar to Yoshi's Down B only stronger.
 * }
 * Bowser Bomb||Bowser's version of a butt-stomp, he will decend to the ground quickly to pummel anyone under him. If Bowser is in midair when using this move, he slams to the ground with a butt-stomp. If he's on the ground doing this, he will leap forward diagonally before performing the move, it's possible to hit the opponent with the initial jump. Similar to Yoshi's Down B only stronger.
 * }
 * Bowser Bomb||Bowser's version of a butt-stomp, he will decend to the ground quickly to pummel anyone under him. If Bowser is in midair when using this move, he slams to the ground with a butt-stomp. If he's on the ground doing this, he will leap forward diagonally before performing the move, it's possible to hit the opponent with the initial jump. Similar to Yoshi's Down B only stronger.
 * }

Taunts

 * He roars. The taunt he uses in Super Smash Bros Melee.
 * He starts chomping at the air around him.
 * He stands on one foot and dances around.
 * }
 * He starts chomping at the air around him.
 * He stands on one foot and dances around.
 * }
 * He stands on one foot and dances around.
 * }
 * }

Final Smash
Giga Bowser Transformation: Bowser transforms into Giga Bowser (from Super Smash Bros. Melee) temporarily, making him bigger, stronger, fiercer, and nearly invincible. If Giga Bowser is hit, even with a smash attack, there will be no knockback, but he still takes damage as normal. Many of his attacks now do noticeably more damage and his smash attacks now have elemental properties ranging from Ice, Fire, Shadow, and Lightning. The transformation in its entirety lasts from 12-16 seconds.

Mario
Mario is slightly faster than you, and he has useful tools to help him win. He will probably start the match shooting some fireballs and chasing in to get a grab, then proceed to Down Throw you to start a combo. He's air attacks combo very well especially with your large size means you'll get hit a lot. He also has the cape, which he will use to flip you around. This will prevent your attack hitting him and leave you vulnerable. What's worse is that he can simply jump of the edge and cape you when you're recovering, making you go even further from the stage. Try to use attacks that hit both ways and recover carefully to prevent this. You outrange his attacks so not to worry about that. Mario might seem to easily rack up your damage, he has some trouble killing, especially when you're the heaviest character in the game. Just watch out for the smash attacks at high percentages. Bowser on the other end can handle this pretty well. His moves slightly outrange Mario's, and he can easily deal chunks of damage and go for the KO. This matchup isn't too bad if you play it correctly, just play carefully and you will prevail at the end.

Luigi
Luigi is a slightly faster vesion of Mario. His forward air is annoying and it will easily deal some damage. His other aerials outspeed yours, so fighting an aerial battle is not recommended. On the ground, you outrange him, so as long as you dodge his fireball (which has pathetic range) you'll be OK. Luigi also has bad mobility and traction, so he'll have a hard time approaching you. However, he can easily combo you and rack tons of damage. When you're at high percentages,'Watch Out as his forward smash and Fire Jump Punch can easily kill even a heavyweight like you. His Green Missile can also randomly misfire, which makes it very powerful. Stay out of his range to be safe. Luigi's a middleweight, so you should have no trouble KOing. Luigi definitely holds the advantage in this matchup, so stay out of his attacks and use your ranged attacks and try not to get too much damage on you.

Peach
Peach is a troubling one. She can spawn items at will and float and all the other gimmicks. She will always throw turnips at you throughout the match so try your best to avoid them. She also has her AA combo to quickly slap you away. She also has a chaingrab on you until about 35%, so beware. Try to approach with short bursts of Fire Breath and get a grab release chaingrab in. If Peach is approaching, she will definitely throw a turnip then follow up with a dash attack or a grab. Peach has a unique property as she can float. She can use a technique called ground floating to use her good aerials near the ground. Her down aerial easily racks up your damage and her neutral aerial has good power. She has her strong up which stops aerial approach attempts very well. She is also almost impossible to edgeguard due to her nice horizontal racovery. She has a countering move, but it's slow and she's vulnerable from behind. Her Peach Bomber is laughably easy to counter, just claw her or even just Up B her. At higher percentages Peach starts having some problems. She doesn't have a reliable KO move and she's pretty light herself. However she can still survive. Her KO moves are her forward air, forward smash, up smash and, if she's lucky, a stitchface turnip or a vegetable-pulled bob-omb. You shouldn't have trouble killing her. Peach holds an advantage here, as she has a good moveset and a unique ability. However, play patiently and you should be able to win this matchup.

Bowser
This is a fun one. Your opponent has the same moves as you. He has the same speed as you, the same range as you and the same weight as you. The key to this matcup is knowing your character and how your opponent plays. Bowser is big, so you shouldn't have many problems landing a grab release chaingrab. Beware when attacking 'cause if he shields it he'll Whirling Fortress you. When it comes to KOing, make him perform a laggy attack, then use a powerful KO move, since Bowser is very heavy. This matchup pretty much centers upon whose skill is better. You have no advantage or disadvantage against him. Just play your best and you can win this.

Donkey Kong
Two big heavyweights face off! Donkey Kong and you both have tools to help them. You have your flame breath which reaches just longer from most of DK's moves. He has fast, long ranged and powerful attacks that are deadly if it catches you off-guard. Both of you have large body sizes so it wouldn't be surprising if you get hit everywhere. He will charge up his Giant Punch and he can save the charge at any time. He will approach from the air with a back air or confront you with a grab, which has bigger reach than yours. Try to shield them or dodge them, then grab his massive frame. Bowser can't grab release chaingrab him, which isn't good. DK wins in the air, he has his back air to keep you at bay. DKs will like to throw in a spinning kong or a ground pound once in a while to abuse their fast startup and good hitboxes. You can shield those then simply Whirling Fortress him. When it comes to killing, DK has no trouble with his Down Smash, Up Air or a charged Giant Punch. He himself is heavy, so you will need to chip a good deal of damage off him. Overall, utilize a hit and run strategy, chip in some damage and go for the kill.

Diddy Kong
This matcups biggest problems is bananas. Diddy Kong can spawn these items at will and use them as projectiles. They will easily throw one at you to make you trip, then attacks you while you're vulnerable. They will also use them for stage control, limiting your options greatly. He also has his Peanut Popgun as a quick damage racker. This matchup pretty much favors Diddy Kong. You must to avoid the bananas at all costs, and try to get a grab release in. Every percent counts! If Diddy Kong wants to approach you, he will use his Monkey Flip, which acts as a grab (so it can't be shielded), and as an attack if you try to counter it. Answer that with a Whirling Fortress in his face. You can also try throwing his bananas back at him but that isn't going to be very effective since you don't have anything fast enough to followup. However, its still very useful to control the stage. When its time to KO, Diddy will throw a banana at you then finish with a deadly Down Smash. His air attacks are also quite reliable, especially his front air. Diddy himself is pretty light, so you should finish him easily. Odds are against you here, just play as careful as you can, and you can win this matchup.

Yoshi
Yoshi has a very versatile projectile that he can camp with, that is his Egg Throw. He will easily target you so try to shield them. Yoshi is good at the ground, with all of his attacks outspeeding or outranging yours at some degree. However, he has laggier than average air attacks, which you should take advantage of. You can try to get him from the air, but he will ward you off with his eggs. You must slowly approach from the ground. One thing to watch out is his dragonic reverse. A good Yoshi will utilize this technique to confuse you and attack. If a Yoshi tries to Egg Roll to you, just shield grab him.Yoshi's worst weakness is his reliance on his midair jump. If he is hit out of his jump, all he can do is Egg Throw, which won't go anywhere. Actually KOing him is a bit harder, since you will need to quickly land a move in during the cooldown of his better ground moves. Yoshi's KO power is less then average. He will have trouble KOing a heavyweight like you. In this matchup you're required to be strategic to be able to pull off a win.

Wario
This is another problematic matchup. Wario outspeeds Bowser in the air, and he can easily camp him. His Chomp and Down Air is an annoying damage-racker, and his Side Smash and Up Air is deadly KO moves. However, Wario lacks range, and Bowser has a lot of range, so exploit this advantage as much as you can. Wario will easily come in to try to attack you as soon as the match starts, usually above your Whirling Fortress range. Simply use a quick and long- ranged move to beat him away. Try to get a lead here, because Wario will most likely camp if you don't, and you don't have the tools to stop his air camping. You can grab Wario out of his bike with your Flying Slam, so he will jump out of the bike and use it as an item. If the bike is destroyed it will spawn two items, a big tyre and a small tyre. Watch out, as Wario can throw a tyre on to the ground to make it a bouncing hitbox, and he will hit you into the hitbox for easy damage. Nevertheless, you can also use the bike and tyres similarly. This matcup will also center on grabbing. You can grab release chaingrab him while he can Down Throw chaingrab you, therefore spacing is important here. Wario is near impossible to gimp because his recovery is really good, using bike jumps Wario Wafts and Corkscrew. When it comes to KOing, Wario has good moves as aforementioned and he is light for a heavyweight, so avoid his moves and finish with yours.

Link
This will be annoying. Link has projectiles and good range with the Master Sword, and he will be camping the majority of the match. Learn to perfect shield his projectiles, it makes this so much easier. Link will use bombs, which doesn't disappear upon contact with your shield, and will explode upon you if careless. However, it can be treated as an item, so just throw it back at him. Link's melee attacks are pretty sluggish, so almost everything leaves him vulnerable, that's when you can attack him. Link does decently at close range. His attacks can quickly get you out of range with his powerful sword attacks, and start spamming projectiles again. Link will generally avoid the air, since his air attacks have either poor range or bad lag, and his recovery is horrible. However, he has his Clawshot, which he will use as a mid-range alternative to projectiles. Most of the time, you would want him off the stage so you can gimp his terrible recovery. A Strong Attack or Throw shall suffice. After you do that, just throw out some attacks to get him further, then edgehog the stage. Link is a medium-heavyweight, and with his constant barrage of projectiles, it will be hard to actually KO him. Watch out for Link's own attacks, as he has a lot of powerful KO moves, which is his Down Smash, Down Air and Spin Attack.

Zelda
Zelda's a glass cannon, which means she hits hard but dies easily herself. As the match starts Zelda will very likely start shooting Din's Fires at you. This move sacrifices speed for range, so you can easily shield it, but it can hit you with its deceptive range. Try to keep away from her since she has powerful close to mid-ranged moves in her arsenal. Her moves are a little sluggish, so you should quickly get a grab in to start a chaingrab when given the opportunity. Her Down Smash is her fastest move, and her Nayru's Love is annoying, and are the moves you should watch out. Zelda's not bad in the air either. She has three kicks that, when sweetspotted, is incredibly powerful. Her Down Air is one of those kicks and it meteor smashes regardless of sweetspot. Your range is about evenly matched with Zelda, so you should have no trouble chipping some damage. At higher percentages, things get more dangerous. Zelda's attack can be compared to yours in power. If her sweetspotted kicks or her powerful smashes hit you, you won't be getting back to the stage. However, Zelda's weight is quite light in contrast of her power, so you should have no trouble KOing her.

Sheik
Sheik has a major tool against you in this matchup, which is her Strong Side chain. This moves chainability, combined with your heavyness and size means you will accumulate a lot of damage in a little time getting trapped by it. Sheik is also much faster than you so she can maneuver around your attacks. She also has her Forward Air, which is a deadly move that keeps you off the stage. This matchup is incredibly difficult and one-sided, you will have to play extremely carefully and exploit every one of her weaknesses. One of her weaknesses is her very fast fall speed, which allows some comboes. She also has problems with KOing, with the only reliable KO moves being a sweetspotted Up Smash or Vanish's explosion. At this point, Sheik players may switch to Zelda for KOing. Zelda might hit harder, she is also easier to deal with, so play defensively and you might turn the match around. Sheik is about as light as Zelda, but landing the finishing blow on her between her lightning fast moves is going to be very difficult. In short, if fighting a good Sheik player, you must play extremely safely and hope for a miracle. Sheik is really that hard.

Ganondorf
Ganondorf is really not much of a worry. You can easily outrange and outspeed him. His attacks are much too slow to hit you if you're paying attention. Ganondorf is the tallest character in the game, so he will take a lot of hits. Ganondorf is also pathetically easy to gimp, just getting him off stage will limit most of his options. However, Ganondorf has one of the most powerful punishing options in the game. If you get caught up in move lag, he can Flame Choke you, then followup with anything he wishes, as long as he predicts your action. Ganondorf is a heavyweight like you, so rack up some damage before going for the finishing blow. Ganondorf is one of the worst characters in the game, however, make one mistake and you can lose a life, and potentially the game.

Toon Link
Toon Link is another annoying character to fight against. He has Link's array of projectiles, though he is faster, more agile and harder to hit. Be prepared to deal with wave after wave of projectiles. He can move very erratically, and if you miss your attacks he will most certainly run in for an attack and back off. Be very patient and try to get him to come to you. When it comes to KOs, Toon Link is light, so he can die pretty early if you can actually land a good finishing move. Toon Link does have a bunch of ways to kill you. He can throw you off or Down Smash you off the stage and gimp you or use his smashes or up tilt.

Samus
Samus is similar to Link in that she has a ton of projectiles that are very annoying to deal with, but is quite sluggish. She is more mobile than Link, and her attacks are a bit faster. You will need to get close to her, so learn to perfect shield all her Charge Shots and Missiles. At mid range, she can still keep you back with her grapple beam, which comes out really quick and can knock you back from getting close, and it has no landing lag. This is very hard to deal with, though if you manage to get past her defensive attacks she is a bit more manageable up close. Her attacks are sluggish, but slightly faster than yours, so punish her mistakes and don't leave yourself open to be knocked back. Generally you must damage her bit by bit by catching her when she is vulnerable. When it comes to KOs, Samus' finishers are quicker than yours, and some of them pack quite a punch, such as her down tilt. She can also edgeguard you pretty easily with her projectiles. You will need to look for an opening to land the finishing blow, and you should only try it when Samus' percentage is quite high, as Samus is quite heavy herself. You have a clear disavantage in this matchup, but patient and calculated playing will help you secure a victory.

Zero Suit Samus
Zero Suit Samus is fast, she has a decent projectile and has a very annoying move at mid to close range. Fighting her will be a pain, as she can do hit and runs every time you are vulnerable for attack, and she can rack up damage with a few short combos. Her normal attacks slightly outranges yours, so close range combat can be difficult. Watch out for her Down Smash, as you will take more attacks if she hits you with it. She can also choose to keep you at a distance with her whip attacks, and she is agile enough that lets her dodge your Flame Breath with ease. Zero Suit Samus also outperforms you in the air, with a plethora of strong aerials that can make fighting an air battle with her very difficult. What you need to do is to find openings and strike for high damage, which can be hard with her leaping around you erratically. When the time comes to KO, your weight is high enough that Zero Suit Samus should have a little difficulty killing you. It can be hard to land a finisher on her though, as previously stated, Zero Suit Samus is very mobile, so nabbing her with a strong smash attack can be a difficult, sometimes futile effort. Zero Suit Samus exploits your weaknesses quite well, but she is by no means unbeatable. Just look for the right openings to strike and you can take her down slowly but surely.

Pit
Pit is another character with projectiles, good aerial combat and superior speed to you, and beating him requires a similar strategy. His arrows will be your main concern, as he can not only spam it, he can also bend the arrows if you try to dodge it normally. You will have to learn to perfect shield it and inch closer until he is within your range. Your Flame Breath won't be effective as he has two reflectors, so you'll have to rely on your normal attacks to rack damage. His attacks outrange you slightly, and he can easily knock you back or fly to the other side of the stage if he doesn't want to engage you. You must minimize your mistakes and look for any openings to attack. When it comes to KO, Pit is light and you are heavy. You should be able to KO him at a lower percentage with a stronger move, though you must look for the opportunity to use it. On the other hand, while Pit doesn't have as much KO power as you, he can certainly edgeguard you very easily with his aerial mobility and arrows, so be very careful when you're knocked off the stage.

Metaknight
Metaknight, being an SS character since his introduction, WILL be your worst enemy. His speed, comboed with amazing recovery is like swatting at a fly with a baseball bat. However, that does not mean you cannot win. With accurate prediction, the Shell Spin and Horn Bash smashes will be your best friends.

Fire breath can be a double-edged sword, as a hit will keep your bane far away, but a miss will probably end your life.

Use your girth to your advantage, and never let Metaknight get you up in the air. Lest you find yourself juggling like an bowling pin in the hands of a carnival expert. One way to get yourself back on the ground is simple swiping towards the Metaknight, or using a Bowser Bomb.

Unfortunately, dodging is not recommended, as Metaknight's speed will make you look like an elephant trying to dance (because let's face it, that's what you are) and deliver a sword directly to your face.

Bowser is not reccomended to go up against MK, but if you find yourself in this situation, not all hope is lost. Remember, you are the hardest character to throw out of the ring. Good Luck!

Pokemon Trainer
this may get tricky, be prepared to change your approach. squirtle is light and easier to KO, just watch out for his side+B and up smash. he has super armour during his side+B, but can still be grabbed. ivysaur may require more dodging, as his reach is longer then Bowser's. he has many good projectiles. your fire breath can come in handy when retaliating. you must watch out for his up smash as well. you and charizard almost stand toe-to-toe, so try to hit him as hard as possible. his recovery is better than yours, and his fire breath cancels yours out. overall try to use the moves that give you the upper hand, and dodge those can KO you easily.

Ike
this can be annoying. ike's sword is longer than bowser's arms, and has a tad more power. DONT LET HIM LAND ANY HITS. your fire breath can be useful in getting that extra reach, but if you try to trap him and he counters your fire, he will escape. watch out for his dash attack, as it has unfair range. his side+B also will give him more reach, so try to block it whenever possible. however, Bowser does have the upper hand in both weight and speed. it is important to remember that while you are tougher, you are not invincible.