N-Philes

End Boss Month: Day 29 (Bowser, Mario Party 5)

Posted June 29th 2005 by Joe DeCoursey.

Why did Nintendo change Bowser? Ever since Super Mario Sunshine (probably before) he has been displayed as a huge pansy and Mario Party 5's Bowser is no exception.

When you first start Mario Party 5's Story Mode you find out that Bowser is trying to steal everyone's dream. The only way to get the dreams back is to travel through each one and beat Bowser's three kids: Red Koopa K. Kid, Green Koopa K. Kid, and Blue Koopa K. Kid. So what's a good way to defeat three Bowser wannabes? A board game filled with mini games. Logically there is no other way!

Once you get done with the three kids you move onto the king himself. When the battle first starts you are stuck on this floating platform in front of a floating big screen TV that is Bowserish in appearance. Eventually Bowser shows up on the screen and sends a legion of Mecha Koopas at you. The object here is to jump on everyone of them under the time limit. Sounds easy right? Well it is but they do offer a small challenge. Every once in a while the Mecha Koopas will spit fire and if you are in the way or jump on one during this sequence you'll lose on of the hearts on your life meter. When that first challenge is completed he sends three rings of fire you have to jump over as they move around and across the platform. If you touch one of the rings you lose another heart. Surprising I know. The next challenge has you pitted against the king himself (finally!) This small battle is reminiscent of two different kinds of Bowsers: The Mario 64 Bowser and the Super Mario Bros. 3 Bowser. From the very moment you get on the platform you notice different blocks. When he jumps up in the air to butt slam you, he cracks one of the blocks. The more he slams a block the more it cracks. So the object here is to have Bowser slam the same block three times to finally defeat him. In between these butt slams Bowser throws an arsenal of different moves at you. In actuality it's only two moves. They are fire breath (which will take a heart from your meter) and head ram in which he runs toward you with his head (this will also take a heart from your meter.) When you finally defeat Bowser you head below to confirm the kill.

SURPRISE! Bowser isn't dead. Instead he is stand erect and holding a tube of some type. He drinks the tube and turns into a giant Bowser! Wow what a refreshing thing to bring to the Mario series. This Bowser is a little trickier then the last one. When he grows he sinks into the floor and gets stuck with only his arms and head showing. He uses his arms to fling two different types of orbs at you. The first type of orb he throws is red and leaves a black ball behind. These black balls then turn into white bombs, as I like to call them, through the power of Bowser's fire breath, which you have to dodge. The next type of orb is a white orb that sends a shock wave through the level pushing any remaining black balls or white bombs off the level. The object during this battle is to grab a white bomb and throw it at Bowser's head. Once you do that five times Bowser is sucked into a black hole. An awesome end to and awesome battle right? Wrong.

After you see Bowser get sucked away into deep space you return back to the void that you were in before you left to save everyone's dream. When you return Bowser is there as well! There he finally tells you his wish or dream, I can't really remember. His wish/dream wasn't to rule the world and crush Mario once and for all. It wasn't even to have Princess Peach be his love slave. His wish/dream was to have a worthy opponent. That opponent is whoever you decided to play as. When all is said and done Bowser swims through the void and off the screen and the credits role.

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