Smash Ultimate Makes Bowser a Better Boss

In the Super Mario series, Bowser has never been a consistent boss. Sometimes Mario chases him across a crumbling bridge; other times he fights from inside a giant space bathtub. The fights are rarely direct. But when Super Smash Bros. Ultimate adapted the Koopa King into a boss fight, the developers faced a puzzle: how do you turn a platforming villain into a satisfying one-on-one brawl without losing what makes him Bowser? The answer, according to this episode, is Giga Bowser—a beefed-up, more angular version of the character that paradoxically feels more like a traditional boss than anything in the Mario series proper.

The Giga Bowser Fight Is a Clone, and That's the Point

The fight begins with regular Bowser slamming the ground and transforming into Giga Bowser: larger, spikier, more menacing. His attacks—flare breath, slashes, ground pounds—are immediately familiar. That is because Giga Bowser is essentially a powered-up version of Bowser's playable moveset from the Smash series. He is, in the episode's words, "a clone. Or an echo fighter or whatever." But the host argues this is not lazy design. It is the reason Giga Bowser still feels like Bowser.