Bowser (character) - Concept and Creation

Concept and Creation

Bowser was the creation of Nintendo designer and producer Shigeru Miyamoto. Miyamoto had first envisioned Bowser as an ox, basing him on the Ox King from the Toei Animation film Alakazam the Great. However, Nintendo designer Takashi Tezuka pointed out that the character looked a lot more like a turtle than an ox. Despite popular misconception, Bowser is, in fact, supposed to be a turtle, not a dragon. (Though an early advertisement flyer for the arcade version of the game did refer to "conquer dragons" as part of its gameplay.) Miyamoto and Tezuka then began to work together to define Bowser's appearance. Since the character was the leader of the turtle-like Koopa Troopas the two began to base his new appearance on them, creating a new illustration. In his final design, Miyamoto commented that he could make Bowser "look cool now".

Miyamoto named him 大魔王 クッパ Daimaō Kuppa. Kuppa came from the Japanese name for 국밥, gukbap, a Korean dish. Miyamoto had also considered the names ユッケ Yukke and ビビンバ Bibinba, also Japanese names of Korean dishes (육회 yukhoe and 비빔밥 bibimbap respectively). The Korean name for the character Bowser/Kuppa is not Gukbap, but 쿠파 Kupa, which is essentially a phonetic round-trip translation. The name was anglicized Kuppa rather than Koopa in the Japanese versions up until the release of Super Mario World. How the character was given the name "Bowser" in English is unknown.

In the Super Mario Bros. film, Bowser, known as King Koopa in that adaption, was portrayed by Dennis Hopper. In the film, King Koopa appears as human-like, but with reptilian features (such as a long, slithering tongue, and a lack of body hair). The climax of the film sees Koopa devolve into an enomorous Tyrannosaur to battle the Mario Bros.