King Bob-omb

"Big Bob-omb" redirects here. For large Bob-ombs, see Mega Bob-omb.

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“I'm the Big Bob-omb, lord of all blasting matter, king of ka-booms the world over! How dare you scale my mountain? By what right to do you set foot on my imperial mountaintop? You may have eluded my guards, but you'll never escape my grasp... And you'll never take away my Power Star. I hereby challenge you, Mario! If you want the star I hold, you must prove yourself in battle. Can you pick me up and hurl me to this royal turf? I think you cannot!”

—King Bob-omb, Super Mario 64

King Bob-omb (formerly known as the Big Bob-omb) is the king of the Bob-ombs who debuted in Super Mario 64, being the first boss fought in that game and its remake. Guarding the Power Star, which Bowser entrusted him with, he does not give it up without fighting the player. After his debut, King Bob-omb became a recurring boss in later games, specifically spinoff games such as Mario Party 9 and Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam. King Bob-omb, like other certain bosses, takes pride in his royal status.

History

Super Mario 64 / Super Mario 64 DS

Mario and King Bob-omb dueling on Bob-omb Battlefield.

The Big Bob-omb fighting Mario

The Big Bob-omb's game model from Super Mario 64 DS

In Super Mario 64, the Big Bob-omb, also named Bomb King^[1] or King Bob-Omb,^[2] is found at the top of the mountain on the Bob-omb Battlefield. Mario merely has to run around to the back of him, pick him up, and toss him three times. If Mario runs into the Big Bob-omb after tossing him but before he gets back up, the former will take damage, likely to prevent the player from picking the king back up immediately. After the third throw, the Big Bob-omb will give up the Power Star. If he is thrown off the mountain or baited into walking off, he accuses Mario of cheating and the battle starts over. After Mario defeats him, the Bob-omb Buddy at the beginning of the level will express gratitude and note that the Big Bob-omb is now "just a big dud," in other words, defeated.

In the remake, Super Mario 64 DS, the Big Bob-omb is fought twice. The first time, he is encountered while the player is Yoshi. Instead of picking him up, Yoshi has to grab the Bob-ombs thrown at him with his tongue and spit them back at him before they explode in Yoshi's mouth. Yoshi can also lead a Bob-omb to explode next to him; if the player is one of the other three player characters or wearing their caps, the original method from Super Mario 64 can also be used. After being hit by three Bob-ombs, the Big Bob-omb is defeated. The second time, he can be defeated only by one of the three unlocked heroes using the same strategy as in Super Mario 64. If the first mission is played as Mario, Luigi, or Wario, the Big Bob-omb says something different for each of them at the start and the end of the battle, relating to their mustaches; in the fourth mission, he uses identical dialogue for all characters. If the player touches him as he is knocked down, they will take damage. He also received a slight redesign, being given large white gloves and pointed shoes aside from the yellow spheres he had in earlier iterations. He retains this look in every subsequent appearance aside from Mario Party Advance, which ignores Super Mario 64 DS's redesigns in general.

Mario Party series

Mario Party 2

The Big Bob-omb statue.

In Mario Party 2, a statue of Big Bob-omb appears in the background of Mystery Land, stuck in a sinkhole.

Mario Party 5

Two King Bob-ombs make an appearance in Mario Party 5 in the minigame Defuse or Lose, this being the first time King Bob-omb is referred to as such. The players have to defuse wires leading to each by Ground Pounding them.

Mario Party Advance

Big Bob-omb in Mario Party Advance.

Big Bob-omb makes another appearance in Mario Party Advance. He is the leader of the Bob-omb Mafia which protects Shroom City, and lives in the basement of Mushroom Condo. When the player encounters him, he is sitting on a throne with two Bob-ombs next to him. He then challenges the player to the dice game, where the player and Big Bob-omb roll dice blocks, and the one with the higher number three times wins. If the player wins, they get the Gaddget Stress Press. The ending states that he retired and moved to the jungle, and Bob-omb becomes his replacement.

Mario Party 8

Two Big Bob-ombs make a reappearance in the Mario Party 8 minigame You're the Bob-omb. One of them blows up when the correct wire is detonated, causing the player who selected it to lose the minigame. Both can also blow up resulting in a tie.

Mario Party 9

King Bob-omb in Mario Party 9.

In Mario Party 9, King Bob-omb (Big Bob-omb in the British English version) is the stage boss of Bob-omb Factory. He appears in the minigame Bombard King Bob-omb, where four players have to throw Bob-ombs at him. He only attacks back when his health is half depleted and if two or more players choose the same bomb.

Mario Party: Island Tour

King Bob-omb next appears in Mario Party: Island Tour as the fourth boss of the Bowser's Tower mode (being faced off against on the twentieth floor). His boss minigame is King Bob-omb's Court of Chaos.

Mario Party: Star Rush

King Bob-omb in Mario Party: Star Rush.

King Bob-omb reappears in Mario Party: Star Rush once again as a boss in the minigame King Bob-omb's Boom D'état. To defeat him, players must fire bombs at him by loading them into the cannons on the platform until his health is fully depleted.

Mario Party: The Top 100

In Mario Party: The Top 100, two King Bob-ombs reappear in the minigame Defuse or Lose from Mario Party 5, having the same role as in the original game.

Super Mario Party

King Bob-omb on his board from Super Mario Party

King Bob-omb appears in Super Mario Party on the board, King Bob-omb's Powderkeg Mine. If any players land on an Event Space, a countdown will tick down. If the countdown reaches 0, King Bob-omb will explode, causing any player around him to lose half of their coins. After the explosion, King Bob-omb will return, and the countdown restarts. Unlike previous Mario Party installments, here King Bob-omb's voice reuses voice clips from older games such as Super Mario 64. In the Partner Party version of the board, Gold Rush Mine, the spaces which trigger the countdown are completely random each round and are not labeled, so landing anywhere within the vicinity of King Bob-omb has the chance to trigger a countdown and/or explosion.

Mario Party Superstars

King Bob-omb's sticker

Although King Bob-omb himself does not appear in Mario Party Superstars, a sticker of him does.

Mario Kart series

Mario Kart DS

Big Bob-omb in Mario Kart DS.

In Mario Kart DS, Big Bob-omb is a boss in Mission Mode. Similar to Super Mario 64 DS, the player has to pick up Bob-ombs and throw them at him three times to defeat him. However, his move set is altered to fit Mario Kart DS. He is battled in Mission 5, and Wario is the playable character.

Mario Kart Arcade GP DX

King Bob-omb in Bowser's Factory

In Mario Kart Arcade GP DX, King Bob-omb is a non-playable character and appears in the Bowser's Factory course.

Mario Kart Tour

King Bob-omb throwing a Green Shell at Mario in Mario Kart Tour

King Bob-omb appears in Mario Kart Tour as a High-End driver. He first appeared as the opponent in the Vs. Mega challenge of the Dry Bones Cup in the Wild West Tour, in a similar vein to Hammer Bro and Nabbit's debuts in the Baby Rosalina Tour and the Exploration Tour, respectively. He uses a brand new item called the Giga Bob-omb as his special item throughout the race. He became playable in the Pirate Tour, marking his playable debut in the Mario Kart series and the Mario series in general. Starting with the Rosalina Tour, King Bob-omb became a regular High-End driver. The Ninja Tour introduced a gold variant of King Bob-omb with silver eyes and a silver crown, named King Bob-omb (Gold), which is also classified as a High-End, but utilizes the Coin Box as his special item.

King Bob-omb is the selected driver for Berlin Byways 2's Smash Small Dry Bones challenge.

Mario no Bōken Land

King Bob-omb in Mario no Bōken Land

King Bob-omb appears in the manga adaptation of Super Mario 64 portion of Mario no Bōken Land. In it, Donkey Kong is added to Mario's journey to save Princess Peach from the original game, and the two fight and defeat King Bob-omb.

Mario Golf series

Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour

King Bob-omb appears in Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour on a golf course in Peach's Castle Grounds. Hitting him causes him to get up and flee from the course instead of exploding. In Ring Attack, the golfer must hit a ring that is circling him to complete the hole successfully.

Mario Golf: World Tour

While King Bob-omb himself does not appear in Mario Golf: World Tour, one of the names that can appear on the tournament scoreboard is "King Bob-omb".

Mario Golf: Super Rush

King Bob-omb's artwork for Mario Golf Super Rush

After the game's reveal, King Bob-omb was accidentally leaked to appear as a playable character in Mario Golf: Super Rush on the game's official website.^[3] He was later officially revealed in the overview trailer released on May 17, 2021. He has a Stamina of 12 and a Speed of 3. His Special Shot is Bob-ombs Away and his Special Dash is Kaboom Dash.

Mario Baseball series

Mario Superstar Baseball

King Bob-omb is an item in Mario Superstar Baseball in the minigame, Bob-omb Derby. When a player smacks and get a homerun with him, he causes large fireworks and around 400-500 points for the player.

Mario Super Sluggers

In Mario Super Sluggers, King Bob-omb is a stage obstacle on the Bowser Castle stadium, which he throws Bob-ombs down onto the field. He rides a vehicle similar to the Koopa Clown Car. He can also interfere with the player's hit. Once again, in the minigame Bob-omb Derby, he plays the same role he had in Mario Superstar Baseball.

Super Smash Bros. series

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS

King Bob-omb appears in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS as a trophy.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

King Bob-omb appears as a spirit in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The fight in order to capture him takes place on Peach's Castle, and features Kirby with a dark recolor and bright yellow eyes, made to resemble King Bob-omb. He can also be summoned using a Shake King and Bob-omb core.

Mario & Luigi series

Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam

King Bob-omb in Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam.

King Bob-omb appears in Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam as the boss of Mount Brrr, making his official Mario & Luigi series debut and first appearance in an RPG overall. He is placed in charge of the paper terrain operation on Mount Brrr, and retains his voice clips and regal demeanor from Super Mario 64. When King Bob-omb finds that the Mario Bros. have discovered his operations, he threatens to self-destruct, forcing the trio to battle him.

King Bob-omb's boss fight is unique in that it involves a special countdown timer, similar to Pi'illodium's boss fight. If King Bob-omb is not defeated within four minutes (three minutes in the Boss Battle Ring), he explodes and deals a lot of damage to potentially cause a game over; the explosion hits each Bro nine times since Paper Mario can make copies of himself. If at least one Bro survives the final explosion, the battle ends and the party does not gain any EXP or coins. He attacks by throwing Bob-ombs at the trio which if stomped on will turn around and damage King Bob-omb, attempting to pick up Mario or Luigi before throwing them at Paper Mario which can be prevented by hammering his hand right as the bro is about to be picked up, or by rallying a large red bomb at Mario, Luigi and Paper Mario in a sequence which is knocked back with the hammer. If the trio successfully counter the red bomb rally, King Bob-omb's timer will be set back by a minute, to King Bob-omb's shock; most likely due to his unbalanced state afterward. All of King Bob-omb's attacks have a high chance to give a Dizzy status if not counter-attacked. Due to the timer in the battle, Boo Biscuits cannot be used; due to his crown, he is immune to Jump attacks and certain Bros. Attacks, such as Rocket Blast or the second half of Mega Thwonk.

King Bob-omb retains all of his attacks from Super Mario 64; throwing Bob-ombs as well as picking up and throwing one of the Bros. His only new attack is the red bomb rally. Additionally, he is one of the few bosses in the game to not feature a chase attack in his moveset.

Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey

King Bob-omb appears as a boss in the Bowser Jr.'s Journey mode in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey. He is a ranged enemy, attacking by throwing Bob-ombs, and his Special Skill is Rain of Pain. He is battled in two levels, firstly in The Power of Junior, where he is Captain Goomba's "game-changer", and is battled with Captain Goomba, Captain Shy Guy, Captain Boo, and Captain Koopa Troopa. He must be defeated in under 90 seconds, otherwise he will self-destruct and instantly defeat all allies.

King Bob-omb also appears in the post-game level A Mighty Melee where he is fought in the first and third rounds. In the first round, he must be defeated in under 60 seconds, and in the third round, he fights alongside Broque Madame and must be defeated in under 90 seconds. During this level, his special skills cannot be denied much like a Malatone Formula:X-infected enemy, despite not being infected himself.

Dr. Mario World

King Bob-omb appears as an assistant in Dr. Mario World, though unlike most assistants, he is obtained solely through winning battle boxes in the game's versus mode (in a similar vein to Banzai Bill), where he can be obtained starting from Tier 3 onwards. In stage mode, he grants a chance that two viruses are eliminated when starting a stage, but won't completely eliminate any that requires multiple hits to be eliminated such as floatie viruses. In versus mode, he grants a chance that the doctor's attack sends an extra row of viruses to the opponent's side of the field.

General information

Physical description

King Bob-omb has a large, circular, explosive body. The color of his body is black just like in the first games, but is sometimes shown in a dark purple tint like in Mario Party Advance. His large eyes and body shape are identical to a Bob-omb's, although he has no visible wind-up keys or fuses (as he wears a large bejeweled crown), and he has a large white mustache. Originally, he was depicted with yellow spheres as hands and smooth shoes, but this was changed to white mittens and pointed shoes and he has retained this appearance from Super Mario 64 DS onward. His method of attack, which involves throwing his opponents, is like that of Chuckya, an enemy similar in appearance; he is also defeated in a very similar way. In his artwork for Mario Party: Star Rush, King Bob-omb has visible scratches on his body.

Personality

King Bob-omb is an antagonist, but acts in a regal, gentleman-like manner and is not afraid to admit defeat and compliment the player in Super Mario 64. He even briefly gives tips on how to defeat Bowser and reselect completed missions, and Mario Party Advance implies that he actually leads the society of the Bob-omb Mafia to protect Shroom City. In Super Mario 64 DS only, he is very critical and patronizing towards everyone he believes is of lower class. He, along with Chief Chilly, is proud of his mustache, leading him to act condescending to those without a mustache or to criticize mustaches he sees as inferior. He even seems to equate mustaches with strength, claiming that the bare-faced Yoshi has no chance against him. When he returns in Big Bob-omb's Revenge, he mentions that he has restyled his mustache, as though this could assist him. Also, despite insulting Mario and Luigi for having inferior mustaches, he seems to view Wario's mustache as dignified.

In Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam, King Bob-omb retains the regal aspect of his personality, but is now more stolid, using as few words as possible. He acts like a perfectionist, going as far as to initiate his own self-destruction to protect the secrets of his operation. He still believes in mustaches as signs of power, with his incredulity upon defeat only sated when he realizes that the Bros. also sport fine mustaches of their own.