Bowser's Flame
- This article is about the fireballs Bowser and related characters can breathe. For the longer jets of flame they can also breathe, see Fire Breath.
| Bowser's Flame | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Screenshot from Super Mario 3D Land | |||
| First appearance | Super Mario Bros. (1985) | ||
| Latest appearance | Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition (2024) | ||
| Effect | Traveling projectile fireballs spewed by Bowser | ||
| |||
Bowser's Flames,[1] also referred to as Bowser's Fireballs[2] or simply called fireballs, are projectile obstacles frequently shown being produced by Bowser, other members of his species, and facsimiles of them such as Bowser Statues and Mechakoopas. Bowser's Flames are most often shown being breathed directly from Bowser's mouth as an attack, but they also frequently are encountered in large numbers in corridors leading to him. Generally, the flames move fairly slowly, but they are unpredictable in where and when they will appear. They are distinguished from the similar Fire Breath attack by being individual flames rather than a continuous jet of fire. Starting with New Super Mario Bros., Bowser has been shown shooting several of the flames consecutively while slowly turning his head upwards, allowing them to cover more angles.
History[edit]
Super Mario series[edit]
Super Mario Bros. / Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels[edit]
Bowser, along with his impostors, first uses Koopa's fire[3] in Super Mario Bros. As Mario reaches midway through castles, they start appearing from offscreen to hinder his progression. Bowser's Fireballs are used when fighting Mario from World 1 to World 5 as well as in World 8. While fire is encountered in World 6 and World 7 before the fakes appear, the impostors only use hammers when they scroll onscreen. Only the real Bowser is capable of using both hammers and fire.
Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels follows the same sequence but also introduces Bowser's Brother in World 8-4, who fights with both hammers and fire too. When he reappears in World 9-3, however, he uses only hammers. All the bosses from World A onward use only fire. In Super Mario All-Stars, this was changed to using only hammers.
Super Mario Bros. 3[edit]
In Super Mario Bros. 3, the fire is more rounded. It first appears over the lava pit in the room before the Bowser fight, then is used by Bowser during the fight itself. He is able to shoot it not just horizontally, but at a downward diagonal to reach Mario's level and move horizontally from there when he is above it.
Super Mario World[edit]
In Super Mario World, Bowser is not the only one of the Koopas to use flames as an attack. It is first shown being used by Iggy and later Larry, who use it in the form of a magic ball that cannot be touched normally (though they can be defeated with a slide, but they will show glitchy sprites). Ludwig and Gray Bowser Statues spit them as traditional horizontal projectiles while holding still. During Bowser's fight in the Koopa Clown Car, he rains stationary Flames[4] with faces down at Mario or Luigi whenever he flies away after being hit by Mechakoopas. A Spin Jump can be used to safely bounce off of them.
Super Mario 64 / Super Mario 64 DS[edit]
In Super Mario 64 and Super Mario 64 DS, Bowser spits the flames in Bowser in the Fire Sea. They loosely follow Mario along the ground, like the ones created by flame throwers, Fly Guys, Small Piranhas, and Piranha Flowers. In Bowser's other fights, he uses the larger Fire Breath, which sometimes leaves similar but immobile flames in its wake.
New Super Mario Bros.[edit]
In New Super Mario Bros., Bowser spits fireballs at Mario during his battles, including as Dry Bowser and when enlarged. For his first two battles, the fire is orange and shot forward, sometimes while jumping, similar to in Super Mario Bros. For the final battle, he shoots larger blue flames that track towards Mario. After Bowser Jr. is defeated during the final boss fight, the enlarged Bowser begins shooting sequences of five orange or three blue large fireballs while tilting his head upwards, with them keeping their respective behavior regardless of the angle they are shot in.
Super Mario Galaxy[edit]
In Super Mario Galaxy, Bowser shoots fireballs after he has been successfully damaged. They follow the contours of the planetoid the battle takes place on, looping several times until being stopped or burning out. In Bowser's Star Reactor, he turns to follow the player character's direction as he shoots three after the first hit, then five after the second hit. In Bowser's Dark Matter Plant, he spins in place while spitting several consecutively. In Bowser's Galaxy Reactor, does a more frantic version of the attack from the Dark Matter Plant, specifically during the final battle's second and third phases.
Additionally, during the battle against Bowser Jr., the Bowser head on his airship shoots giant fireballs in the second phase. Meanwhile, Mecha Bowser has a large, unique Fire Shooter inside its head area that shoots large fireballs, giving off the appearance of the robot spitting fireballs.
New Super Mario Bros. Wii[edit]
In New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Bowser Jr. shoots the fireballs diagonally downward at Mario in straight paths from his Junior Clown Car or loosely following Mario from the Koopa Clown Car, leaving a bonfire where they land for several moments. Unlike Bowser, he has to spend several moments inhaling before shooting a fireball. Ice Mario and Penguin Mario can extinguish the fireballs with an Ice Ball. In the last castle of World 8, Bowser sends out fireballs toward Mario through the corridor before battle, similar to in Super Mario Bros., and can also be extinguished with ice. In the battle, Bowser shoots fireballs towards Mario (usually diagonally downwards due to being taller than his default size in previous side-scrolling platformers, closer to his enlarged size from New Super Mario Bros.) or using the five-fireball sequence from New Super Mario Bros. After he is defeated initially and grows giant, he attacks by spitting massive fireballs that are unaffected by Mario's ice and destroy the structures on contact, exploding after a few moments.
Super Mario 3D Land[edit]
In Super Mario 3D Land, large fireballs are breathed as one of the main attacks of Bowser, the Tail Bowsers, and Dry Bowser, with the lattermost using blue-colored flames. In his larger form, Bowser shoots massive fireballs which destroy stonework including the floor Mario stands on and any obstacles in his path. During the second half of that encounter, he starts shooting even more powerful pink ones which phase through the platforms they destroy rather than stopping against them.
New Super Mario Bros. 2[edit]
In New Super Mario Bros. 2, Bowser uses the same types of fireballs from New Super Mario Bros. Wii, and they again appear in the corridor leading up to him. After he is defeated initially and grows giant, the resulting chase scene has Bowser Statue heads that shoot horizontal orange fire in the second segment, then pursuing purple fire in the third segment. Dry Bowser attacks the same way as normal Bowser, but with blue-colored fire that functions the same as the orange type.
New Super Mario Bros. U[edit]
In New Super Mario Bros. U, large versions of Bowser's Flames[5][6] first appear in a similar capacity to the raining molten rocks from previous games. On two stages of Peach Castle, Meteor Moat and Firefall Cliffs, the flames rain down from the sky, destroying any Brick Blocks they come into contact with. These obstacles also appear in the challenge, Cloudy with a Chance of Fire. In New Super Luigi U, they appear in the replacement levels Magma Moat and Firefall Rising. They can be extinguished with an Ice Ball using Ice Mario, but the bigger they are, the more Ice Balls are required to fully extinguish them.
Additionally, Bowser's flames appear the same as they do directly before and during the battle against him as they do in New Super Mario Bros. Wii. During the fight against Giant Bowser, he produces horizontally moving flames at the same size as the obstacle from earlier levels, and sometimes breathes a huge chain of them into the air to cause them to rain down like in those levels. During the same fight, Bowser Jr. will spit smaller ones in the player character's direction as he pursues them for stealing his Junior Clown Car.
Super Mario 3D World / Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury[edit]
In Super Mario 3D World and its Nintendo Switch port, Bowser spits fireballs with the properties of volcanic debris, leaving a puddle of molten residue where they land. He uses this attack more often in his second battle than in his first. Meowser is also sometimes shown breathing fireballs; when he stands over a small POW Block midway through his battle, he spits a wide arc of pink fireballs, and when he stands atop the giant one at the end, he spits a wide arc of blue ones while his copies spit singular pink ones along floor level.
Super Mario Maker / Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS[edit]
In Super Mario Maker and its remake, Bowser's Flames vary depending on the game style to fit their behavior in the game the style is based on. In all styles, they move horizontally from offscreen whenever Bowser is shortly ahead. In the Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 3, and Super Mario World styles, they move horizontally, sometimes adjusting their height off the ground from where they are spawned. The Super Mario World style also has a different version where he shoots several upwards diagonally, leading to the faced flames from the Bowser fight from Super Mario World raining from above. In the New Super Mario Bros. U style, the fireballs can be shot in various directions and can follow the floor upon landing; he can also perform the five-flame arc. In the latter two styles, he causes flames to rain down from above if he is placed in a Lakitu's Cloud. All the fires are affected by Bowser's own size, so if he is enlarged, they will be enlarged too. Like all enemy fires in the game, they can be eaten by Yoshi to use his own fireball ability. Additionally, the highest-charged flame of a Fire Koopa Clown Car takes the form of Bowser's Flames in the respective style.
Bowser Jr. also has a fireball breath attack, appearing as a standard swirling fireball, larger than the ones Fire Mario throws, which travel in a straight line to wherever Mario was when it was originally fired.
Super Mario Run[edit]
In Super Mario Run, Bowser and his fakes shoot singular fireballs in Mario's direction to attack.
Super Mario Odyssey[edit]
In Super Mario Odyssey, the fireballs are one of the abilities available to Mario when he captures Bowser. In the 8-bit sections, they take their sprite from Super Mario Bros.
Super Mario Maker 2[edit]
In Super Mario Maker 2, all the flame behaviors from the first game return. In the Super Mario 3D World style, Meowser has his own fire, which is slightly larger than the respective fire in other styles. It is fired in the direction Mario is currently standing and does not track along the floor, similar to Bowser Jr.'s fire. He can also do the arcing flame attack from the New Super Mario Bros. U style, but with only three flames. When enlarged, his flames can break blocks. If given wings, he can fly in from the background and shoot his flames towards the screen.
Mario Kart series[edit]
Super Mario Kart[edit]
In Super Mario Kart, Bowser tosses fireballs on the track that, when characters make contact with them, will spin them out.
Mario Kart: Double Dash!![edit]
In Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, Bowser's Flames are used by the Mechanical Bowser found in Bowser's Castle. They are quite large and travel down a large stretch over the road leading up to the Mechanical Bowser, and can prevent drivers from using a shortcut in front of it.
Mario Kart Wii[edit]
In Mario Kart Wii, Bowser's Flames are again used by the Mechanical Bowser in Bowser's Castle, but now they have a red-colored solid center which is full of holes (resembling a Wiffle ball) and bounce along the center of a half-piped area rather than floating through the air.
Yoshi franchise[edit]
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island / Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3[edit]
In Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island and its port, Big Baby Bowser launches giant-sized fireballs from the background during the final boss fight. Where they will pass is marked by a giant crosshair similar to Yoshi's own.
Yoshi Topsy-Turvy[edit]
In Yoshi Topsy-Turvy, Bowser's Flames are launched by the Bowser cutout held by the Spirit Who Loves Surprises in The Tale of Bowser's Fields. They simply travel horizontally from the Bowser cutout's mouth.
Yoshi's Island DS[edit]
In Yoshi's Island DS, fireball-shooting is Baby Bowser's special ability, activated the same way as Yoshi's tongue ability (thus replacing it when he is the rider). They travel straight forwards, and he can use it both as an attack and as a way to melt Ice Blocks. Later, during the boss fight against him, he uses the same attack against Yoshi. Afterwards, the adult Bowser also uses it, though his are larger and faster. In the fight against the enlarged Bowser, he shoots giant fireballs from the upper screen, which become bonfires upon landing. Towards the end of this battle, he starts shooting three at once, covering more ground.
Yoshi's New Island[edit]
In Yoshi's New Island, Baby Bowser shoots small-but-long flames horizontally in his battle, specifically when he gets angry after being damaged. He alternates between shooting one while standing and shooting one while jumping. The adult Bowser fires small fireballs horizontally that adjust to Yoshi's height, becoming a chain of two after the first hit and a chain of three after the second. When he gets angry after being damaged, he calms down after shooting a huge fireball horizontally. The giant forms of both versions of Bowser sometimes shoot four huge fireballs into the sky from the background, causing them to rain down onto the area Yoshi is on, puffing away when they land.
Yoshi's Woolly World / Poochy & Yoshi's Woolly World[edit]
In Yoshi's Woolly World, Baby Bowser fires a small amount of fireballs from the background after a sequence of Fire Breaths whenever he gets damaged. Kamek enhances the fireballs with his magic, turning them into a giant balls of lava that splash onto the floor before disappearing. The first sequence ends with a single fireball, the second ends with three.
Yoshi's Crafted World[edit]
In Yoshi's Crafted World, Baby Bowser shoots fireballs from the background after Yoshi has destroyed part of The Great King Bowser, stopping once he has been hit and knocked from the robot himself. Later, Mega Baby Bowser fires them from the side of the arena in big and small sizes, as well as various amounts and patterns such as singles, arrays, and waves. Near the end, he shoots enormous and slow orange ones through the air and quick green ones of the same size through the floor.
Super Smash Bros. series[edit]
In both Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, one of the two alternate versions of Bowser's standard Fire Breath is called Fire Shot, which has Bowser exhale a single fireball that travels forward and pierces enemies; the move can be used consecutively by holding down the special attack button, and does not decrease in power the more it is used.
Mario & Luigi series[edit]
Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga / Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions[edit]
In Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, Bowser uses fireballs as Rookie, though it takes several turns in the first battle before he realizes he is able to do so. They can be jumped over to avoid them. As with his hammer attack, it goes to Mario if he stays on the ground and to Luigi if he hops, which is swapped in the remake. Later, each of the Koopalings breath smaller fireballs, which can be hammered back at them. Most stand in front of a bro before they do so, targeting only him. Morton and Roy stand in the field in front of both, letting them target either bro for each fireball. Larry, who stands in front of a single bro, has a particular version of the attack where he uses a tennis racket to bounce the fireballs returned to him, making it go back-and-forth like a tennis ball and increasing in size each hit until one of them messes up. Bowletta breathes out enemies called Flarets that seem to be living counterparts to these fireballs. Some of them fly to or past the bros and explode, and others stay on the field to heal her or attack a bro in a later turn.
In its Nintendo 3DS remake, Bowser also uses fireballs in the tutorial battle at the beginning of the game, replacing the small Fire Breath jet in the original. The fireballs from the Koopalings have also changed; Iggy's are now jumped over and done several times consecutively before he tries to flail into the other bro, Morton's and Roy's can now split and go after both bros at once, Lemmy's duplicates now attack separately (telegraphed by pointing) and are also dodged by jumping, he and Wendy can pass a fireball between each of their duplicates to make it grow before sending it to one of the bros to be countered with a hammer, and Larry now finishes his tennis attack with an extra powerful shot that sends it to the bro he targets quicker than normal - but leaves him open to it being countered. Ludwig does not use fireballs at all due to his battle being entirely scripted and done via magic. In Minion Quest: The Search for Bowser, Larry uses one with the tennis racket for his primary attack and an extra-large fireball for his version of Throw the Fight, and Lemmy uses a small one for his primary attack and several small ones for his version of Spitfire Fury.
Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time[edit]
In Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, Baby Bowser uses the flames against Baby Mario in his tutorial battle as his only attack. During the later battle against both Bowsers, Baby Bowser will use them whenever he is alone, by breathing them up in the air and then using his hammer like a baseball bat to whack them at the bros when they fall back down. During the final battle against Shrowser, he launches fireballs that must be either jumped or hammered to return them to the spirit of the elder Princess Shroob.
Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story / Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey[edit]
In Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story and its Nintendo 3DS remake, Bowser uses a puff of flame as his sole attack in his tutorial battle. When he regains the ability to breath fire as a playable character, it instead uses the stream of Fire Breath rather than the individual flames. However, smaller flames are used in the Goomba Storm attack. Giant Bowser can also use them as a counter against certain enemy attacks, aimed with the DS stylus. The more of these are used in rapid succession, the smaller they become, making it more difficult for them to hit. In the remake, Bowser uses his breathed fireballs to charge the Magikoopa Mob Brawl Attack rather than thrown ones like in the original.
In the battle against Dark Bowser, he uses his purple fireballs to destroy a massive boulder he throws in the air as one of his attacks, causing the flaming debris to fall towards Bowser, which can be crouched and punched against - the latter disrupting Dark Bowser's attempt at using Fire Breath. Bowser X sometimes attacks with a simple barrage of flames, which can be hammered back at him. However, once a flame hits him, he catches fire and gets angry, using his Spike Ball move and bouncing around the ceiling while dropping fireballs all over the battlefield, which again can be countered with the hammer. For another of his attacks, he turns giant and uses Giant Bowser's fireball counterattack move against Mario and Luigi, and then chases them through the bonfires the attack created - at both points, jumping is used to avoid the flames, though in the remake, the first part of the attack is countered with the hammers instead.
In Bowser Jr.'s Journey, Larry and Lemmy keep their attacks from Minion Quest.
Mario & Luigi: Dream Team[edit]
In Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, Mechakoopas use Bowser's Flames as one of their main attacks, which can be jumped over. The flames made by fritzing Mechakoopas loop around, potentially hitting them in the back.
Giant Bowser, powered up further by Kamek, fires an enormous fireball at Giant Luigi at the end of his battle. It must be repelled with the hammer by repeatedly tapping a wiggling target area with the stylus. By knocking it back, Giant Bowser is knocked into the lava and dazed, allowing him to be defeated. While piloting the Finishing Blow to him, he attempts to defend himself with more of these massive fireballs, which must be avoided by tilting the 3DS.
In the bonus fight, Bowser Jr. shoots fireballs at the bros from his Junior Clown Car while they avoid a Bob-omb. Both must be jumped over.
Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam[edit]
In Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam, Mechakoopas again use Bowser's Flames, shooting them forwards or in an upwards arc, depending on which way their head points (which is reversed when they are fritzing). Both can be countered with the hammer. When they shoot at Paper Mario, they use five consecutive flames rather than just one due to the Copy Block ability.
During the battles against Wendy and Roy, Wendy shoots trios of flames at paper airplane-form Paper Mario while they both pursue the trio.
During the final battle against Bowser and Paper Bowser, they both shoot large fireballs that split off into an arc of smaller fireballs upon hitting the ground, which must be jumped over. Paper Bowser's are slower than the normal Bowser's. Shiny RoboBowser sometimes spits an enormous fireball at Paper Mario that only his high jumping can avoid, immediately after using a stream of Fire Breath towards him. He also sometimes fires them from a distance along with energy balls from a pair of turrets on his arms, with the fireballs going towards Paper Mario and the energy balls going towards the bros; all of these can be countered with a hammer whack. Finally, when he turns himself into a tank-like form to pursue them, he breathes fireballs that can be jumped over by any of the trio.
Super Princess Peach[edit]
In Super Princess Peach, Bowser can attack Peach by breathing fireballs directly at her, at the ground to make a huge column of fire erupt, or shooting a cluster of fireballs that loosely follow her through the air. As Bowser 2, he can shoot huge balls of fire from the background, sometimes as trios or clusters.
Gallery[edit]
Super Mario Bros.
Super Mario Bros. 3
New Super Mario Bros. 2
New Super Mario Bros. 2 (Gold Classics Pack)
Fire Shot, one of Fire Breath's custom variants in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS
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Names in other languages[edit]
| Language | Name | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japanese | クッパの炎[7] Kuppa no Honō |
Bowser's Flame | |
| クッパの吐く炎[8] Kuppa no Haku Honō |
Bowser's Breathed Flame | Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, Super Mario Bros. 3 | |
| 火炎弾[9] Kaendan |
Fireball | large fireballs that rain from the sky in New Super Mario Bros. U | |
| French | Flamme de Bowser[11] | Bowser's Flame | |
| Italian | Fiamme di Bowser[10] | Bowser's Flame | |
| Korean | 불덩이[?] Buldeongi |
Fireball |
References[edit]
- ^ Stratton, Steve (November 18, 2012). New Super Mario Bros. U: PRIMA Official Game Guide. Roseville: Prima Games. ISBN 978-0-307-89690-2. Page 14, 190, and 196.
- ^ 1993. Super Mario All-Stars Player's Guide. Nintendo of America (American English). Page 35.
- ^ "The pits are close together, and you’ll be constantly bombarded with KOOPA’s FIRE." – Tochikubo, Hiroo (1987). How to win at Super Mario Bros.. Tokuma Shoten. ISBN 4-19-720003-XC. Page 49.
- ^ "As soon as the King leaves, a shower of Flames will drop into the chamber." – August 1991. Nintendo Mario Mania Player's Guide. Nintendo of America (American English). Page 148.
- ^ Stratton, Steve (November 18, 2012). New Super Mario Bros. U PRIMA Official Game Guide. Prima Games (American English). ISBN 978-0-307-89690-2. Page 190.
- ^ Nintendo UK [New Super Mario Bros. U Channel] (January 29, 2013). New Super Mario Bros. U - Challenges: No Climbing Allowed (Wii U). YouTube. Retrieved October 7, 2024.
- ^ Sakai, Kazuya (Ambit), kikai, Akinori Sao, Junko Fukuda, Kunio Takayama, and Ko Nakahara (Shogakukan), editors (2015). 『スーパーマリオブラザーズ百科: 任天堂公式ガイドブック』. Tokyo: Shogakukan (Japanese). ISBN 978-4-09-106569-8. Page 150, 200, 215.
- ^ ---- (2015). 『スーパーマリオブラザーズ百科: 任天堂公式ガイドブック』. Tokyo: Shogakukan (Japanese). ISBN 978-4-09-106569-8. Page 21, 29, 41.
- ^ ---- (2015). "New Super Mario Bros. U" in 『スーパーマリオブラザーズ百科: 任天堂公式ガイドブック』. Tokyo: Shogakukan (Japanese). ISBN 978-4-09-106569-8. Page 215.
- ^ November 15, 2018. Super Mario Bros. Enciclopedia. Magazzini Salani (Italian). ISBN 889367436X. Page 215.
- ^ Chaîne New Super Mario Bros. U (January 29, 2013). New Super Mario Bros. U - Château de Peach-4 - Les flammes de Bowser (Wii U). YouTube (French). Retrieved June 28, 2024.
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