JCnator
Senior Member
Welcome to my fourth amiibo Review! You know the drill! First off, a brief history behind the character and next, I'll review its amiibo by 3 factors: presentation, usefulness and accessibility as of now. The amiibo of the day is Bowser, the King of the Koopas!
We now know what he's really after!
A little bit of history...
Even though that Bowser is the most prominent Mario antagonist who loves kidnapping Princess Peach, he doesn't take the credit for being the first villain the plumber faced. That goes to Donkey Kong, in which we will explain further when we get into his amiibo.
During the development of Super Mario Bros., Shigeru Miyamoto stated they considered naming either Kuppa, Yukke or Bibinba. These names came from Korean dishes as they are known in Japanese. They then decided to name him Kuppa. The North American localisation named him as Bowser, while also introducing the anglicized name of Koopa, which is designated to the smaller anthropomorphic turtles we all know today.
The original Japanese boxart of Super Mario Bros. is made by Shigeru Miyamoto, since he didn't have the time to call a manga artist for that. The depiction of Bowser here is different than what he currently is.
If you look the right, you'll see he's holding Princess Toadstool (aka Peach). That's how he looked like. He is based on an anime film adaptation of the Chinese novel Journey to the West, which is then renamed as Alakazam the Great during the film's American localization. Miyamoto served the film's main antagonist Ox Demon King (King Gruesome in the American dub) as an inspiration for Bowser.
An animation artist called Yoichi Kotabe later joined Nintendo and was asked to do new illustrations for the Mario series, while only referring to the Japanese Super Mario Bros. artwork. He discussed with Miyamoto on how Bowser should be designed. He preferred the character to resemble more of a turtle than the Ox King from the aforementioned film. When the final art is shown, Miyamoto is proud of the character design, so they stick with it for the remainder of the Mario series's lifespan.
Presentation
There's actually quite a lot to say about the amiibo when it comes to the presentation. The first time you get the sucker out of his plastic jail, you'll immediately notice on how dense and heavy he really is. It makes you feel you're in for the real deal, and it turns out that's actually true. Not only they got nearly everything about Bowser right, but be prepared to awe for how detailed this amiibo is upon closer inspection. I had to upload a higher resolution picture of him, just in case you've never seen him before.
So. Much. Detail... Even the back of the amiibo has a lot of going for! And on top of that, it doesn't matter which angle you are looking at. All of them looks fantastic. This amiibo is a very good indication on how the Wave 3 and beyond dramatically upped their quality for the most part. The only problem with Bowser amiibo is the seams, especially apparent on his legs and jaw. But that doesn't even deter on how amazing it already is.
Usefulness
Bowser is right up there along with Mario and Yoshi in terms of compatibility with games that are released so far. He has a lot of games that support him despite being slightly below the aforementioned Mario characters, making him a great choice for pretty much anyone. Bowser does have a lot of chance on getting even more compatible games down the way, as he is regularly one of the main characters for Mario games.
List of compatible games that Read-Write this amiibo's memory:
- Super Smash Bros. for 3DS/Wii U : Use him as a CPU-controlled Smash Fighter and level up to 50.
- Mario Party 10 : Use him to unlock Bowser board from amiibo party and use him as a playing piece that will retain the tokens he obtained at least once during a game.
List of compatible games that only read this amiibo:
- Mario Kart 8 : Unlock Bowser suit for Mii characters to wear.
- Hyrule Warriors : Use him to unlock a weapon from level 3 or below, materials for crafting or even up to 50,000 rupees.
- Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker : Use him to gain a 1-UP mushroom once per day.
- ACE COMBAT Assault Horizon Legacy+ : Use him to unlock aircraft A-10A that is themed after the character.
- amiibo Tap: Nintendo's Greatest Bits : Use him to let you play a few "scenes" from NES and SNES titles.
- Yoshi's Woolly World: Unlock a Yoshi design based on the character.
Accessibility
Bowser is pretty much found everywhere you go. Even the Smash version of the amiibo is quite easy to find for a low price of $12.99 USD if the more cartoony, brighter Super Mario variation doesn't appeal you. The latter is almost as common as the former does. And they're still plentiful on online stores as well. Therefore, the only way to fail on getting any Bowser amiibo is to lack interest on buying it in first place.
Final verdict
There's no question that the Bowser amiibo comes highly recommended for both collectors and gamers to own. His outstanding presentation, huge compatibility with games along with high potential for being supported in more games, and being available nearly everywhere all help him to be a great value for anyone.
Recommendation: GET IT!
We now know what he's really after!
A little bit of history...
Even though that Bowser is the most prominent Mario antagonist who loves kidnapping Princess Peach, he doesn't take the credit for being the first villain the plumber faced. That goes to Donkey Kong, in which we will explain further when we get into his amiibo.
During the development of Super Mario Bros., Shigeru Miyamoto stated they considered naming either Kuppa, Yukke or Bibinba. These names came from Korean dishes as they are known in Japanese. They then decided to name him Kuppa. The North American localisation named him as Bowser, while also introducing the anglicized name of Koopa, which is designated to the smaller anthropomorphic turtles we all know today.
The original Japanese boxart of Super Mario Bros. is made by Shigeru Miyamoto, since he didn't have the time to call a manga artist for that. The depiction of Bowser here is different than what he currently is.
If you look the right, you'll see he's holding Princess Toadstool (aka Peach). That's how he looked like. He is based on an anime film adaptation of the Chinese novel Journey to the West, which is then renamed as Alakazam the Great during the film's American localization. Miyamoto served the film's main antagonist Ox Demon King (King Gruesome in the American dub) as an inspiration for Bowser.
An animation artist called Yoichi Kotabe later joined Nintendo and was asked to do new illustrations for the Mario series, while only referring to the Japanese Super Mario Bros. artwork. He discussed with Miyamoto on how Bowser should be designed. He preferred the character to resemble more of a turtle than the Ox King from the aforementioned film. When the final art is shown, Miyamoto is proud of the character design, so they stick with it for the remainder of the Mario series's lifespan.
Presentation
There's actually quite a lot to say about the amiibo when it comes to the presentation. The first time you get the sucker out of his plastic jail, you'll immediately notice on how dense and heavy he really is. It makes you feel you're in for the real deal, and it turns out that's actually true. Not only they got nearly everything about Bowser right, but be prepared to awe for how detailed this amiibo is upon closer inspection. I had to upload a higher resolution picture of him, just in case you've never seen him before.
So. Much. Detail... Even the back of the amiibo has a lot of going for! And on top of that, it doesn't matter which angle you are looking at. All of them looks fantastic. This amiibo is a very good indication on how the Wave 3 and beyond dramatically upped their quality for the most part. The only problem with Bowser amiibo is the seams, especially apparent on his legs and jaw. But that doesn't even deter on how amazing it already is.
5/5
Usefulness
Bowser is right up there along with Mario and Yoshi in terms of compatibility with games that are released so far. He has a lot of games that support him despite being slightly below the aforementioned Mario characters, making him a great choice for pretty much anyone. Bowser does have a lot of chance on getting even more compatible games down the way, as he is regularly one of the main characters for Mario games.
List of compatible games that Read-Write this amiibo's memory:
- Super Smash Bros. for 3DS/Wii U : Use him as a CPU-controlled Smash Fighter and level up to 50.
- Mario Party 10 : Use him to unlock Bowser board from amiibo party and use him as a playing piece that will retain the tokens he obtained at least once during a game.
List of compatible games that only read this amiibo:
- Mario Kart 8 : Unlock Bowser suit for Mii characters to wear.
- Hyrule Warriors : Use him to unlock a weapon from level 3 or below, materials for crafting or even up to 50,000 rupees.
- Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker : Use him to gain a 1-UP mushroom once per day.
- ACE COMBAT Assault Horizon Legacy+ : Use him to unlock aircraft A-10A that is themed after the character.
- amiibo Tap: Nintendo's Greatest Bits : Use him to let you play a few "scenes" from NES and SNES titles.
- Yoshi's Woolly World: Unlock a Yoshi design based on the character.
5/5
Accessibility
Bowser is pretty much found everywhere you go. Even the Smash version of the amiibo is quite easy to find for a low price of $12.99 USD if the more cartoony, brighter Super Mario variation doesn't appeal you. The latter is almost as common as the former does. And they're still plentiful on online stores as well. Therefore, the only way to fail on getting any Bowser amiibo is to lack interest on buying it in first place.
5/5
Final verdict
There's no question that the Bowser amiibo comes highly recommended for both collectors and gamers to own. His outstanding presentation, huge compatibility with games along with high potential for being supported in more games, and being available nearly everywhere all help him to be a great value for anyone.
Recommendation: GET IT!
