Bowser

Did somebody page the king of awesome?" ~Bowser

Bowser, also called King Koopa or just Koopa (クッパ Kuppa) in Japanese, is the original and main antagonist of the Mario franchise. He rules over the turtle-like Koopa Troopa race and is constantly striving to expand his kingdom by conquering the Mushroom Kingdom, although his plans are always spoiled by his arch-enemy Mario. He's in love with Princess Peach, and his attempts of conquest always include kidnapping her in one form or another.

Characteristics
Bowser's looks and personality have, as with most early Nintendo characters, slowly evolved over time. Most of his defining characteristics have remained the same, though. His most recognizable features are his spiked shell, red mane and spiked cuffs, which except for the mane have been prominent features of Bowser in all of his appearances. One point of debate over the time has been Bowser's size, which seemed to vary in every of his appearances. Most of the time, he is about twice the size of Mario. Plus, Bowser spits fire.

His personality varies depending on his role in the plot. In the main platformers, where he is the main villain, he has a very dark, brutal and serious disposition. In the RPGs, he shows some more amusing sides of himself, as he is shown to have a talent for sarcastic wit, works very hard to live up to the "evil king" image and very often displays a shortsighted lack of common sense. The most prominent part of his personality, however, is his confidence. When he decides to help the other denizens of the Mushroom Kingdom against a common foe, it is mostly because of his own ego. In his mind, the only one allowed to kidnap Princess Peach or conquer the world is himself, and he flies into a rage when other villains attempt to usurp his position as "the biggest, baddest brute around".

Abilities
Although the entirety of his abilities largely changed over time and varies a lot from game to game, mostly due to the magical artifacts he steals, most of his basic abilities remained the same, which would run down to fire breath and tremendous strength, due to his size. He's also able to use his spiked turtle shell for an effective combination of attack and defense. In his earlier appearances, he apparently also had the power to wield black magic, although this has largely been dropped from his later appearances. In Super Smash Bros: Melee and Super Smash Bros: Brawl he has also shown the ability to transform into a larger and more monstrous form of himself, called Giga Bowser, although this ability is likely not to be considered canon, due to the nature of the two games. Bowser's Inside Story provides a new explanation to his size fluctuations: When his life is in danger, adrenaline surges through his body and grows him to a gargantuan size, in which he can better fight battles against giant foes.

Actions
Throughout the series Bowser has always been seeking to expand his power, which he mostly tries to accomplish by acquiring magical artifacts and the resulting conquest of whatever it allows him to conquer. In addition to this he almost always kidnaps Princess Peach, whether she has any actual relevance to his plan or not. Although he often reaches his goal of conquest, he is always stopped by his archenemy Mario, which made him build both deep hatred, but also deep respect towards him. This respect mostly shows when he is forced to cooperate with him, which usually happens when a force more evil and more powerful than himself appears (as was the case with Smithy, Cackletta, or Count Bleck). In those situations he usually swallows his pride and sacrifices himself to help the heroes and save what he intends to conquer.

Appearances
Bowser so far appeared as the villain in many Mario games, but also made appearances as either a minor villain or even hero in several other games. As with most major Nintendo characters, he appears in most of the sport and party games of the Mario franchise. His stats in those games make him obviously powerful, but a little slow.

Giga Bowser
Main Article: Giga Bowser

In the Super Smash Bros. series, Bowser gained a new form of himself that grows three times his normal size and his power is increased immensely. In Melee, Giga Bowser appeared in the final Event Match along with Mewtwo and Ganondorf. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Giga Bowser appears as the final smash move of Bowser.