Super Smash Bros. 4. For the character in other contexts, see This article is about Bowser Jr.'s appearance in. For the character in other contexts, see Bowser Jr.

“ Bowser Jr. Clowns The Competition! ” —Introduction Tagline

Bowser Jr. (クッパJr., Koopa Jr.) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. 4. After initially being leaked on August 19th, 2014 as part of the ESRB leak, he was revealed as a fighter with Smash for 3DS's launch in Japan on September 13, 2014, followed by his official trailer being shown off during the Super Smash Bros. for Wii U 50-Fact Extravaganza on October 23rd, 2014.[1] Caety Sagoian reprises her role as Bowser Jr.'s voice actor from Mario Strikers Charged and onwards, albeit via recycled voice clips from various Mario spin-off games. The Koopalings also use their voice clips from the New Super Mario Bros. games, which were voiced by Lani Minella (Larry, Morton, Wendy, and Lemmy), Mike Vaughn (Iggy and Ludwig) and Dan Falcone (Roy), in place of their respective voice actors (except Roy) from Mario Kart 8.

Bowser Jr. is currently ranked 48th out of 55 on the tier list, placing him in the F tier. He is able to attack from a reasonably safe distance, which is supplemented by a few of his attacks being powerful enough to KO under 100%. He also has a very capable neutral game: Clown Kart Dash functions as an excellent approach option and provides an impressive amount of versatility, while Mechakoopa is useful for pressuring and stage control. Despite being a heavyweight, Bowser Jr. also sports a deceptively good air game, courtesy of his fairly fast aerial mobility and his aerial attacks' follow-up and juggling potentials.

Despite his strengths, Bowser Jr. has noticeable flaws. His overall grounded mobility is slow, which necessitates using Clown Kart Dash in order to keep up with faster opponents. Lag is another glaring issue; many of Bowser Jr.'s attacks have among the largest amounts of ending lag in the game, requiring players to use reads or baiting in order to secure KOs with him. Bowser Jr.'s grab game also suffers from his standing, pivot and dash grabs' overall lag, and his grab game is further made worse by very unimpressive throws, with only his back throw being useful, as a situational KOing option. Lastly, Bowser Jr.'s recovery is predictable and unsafe, as Abandon Ship! is very susceptible to gimps due to offering no overhead protection, it can only travel in one direction, and it can be rendered unusable if he is hit even by a weak attack.

Bowser Jr. has had minimal impact in tournaments and the current metagame, owing to a small playerbase. Although Bowser Jr. previously attained stronger tournament results and a deeper metagame from Tweek, he later switched to using the higher-tiered Cloud, leading to a stagnation of Bowser Jr.'s own metagame. Bowser Jr. has still made waves of attention from time to time, such as with Jade defeating Trela's Ryu at CEO 2016, but he struggles to make an impact at large tournaments.

How to unlock [ edit ]

Complete one of the following:

Play 100 VS Matches.

Clear Classic Mode as Bowser on Intensity 6.0 or higher.

After completing one of the two methods, Bowser Jr. must then be defeated on 3D Land.

Bowser Jr. is a starter character in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.

Attributes [ edit ]

Bowser Jr. is tied with Samus as the sixth heaviest character, yet he possesses overall decent mobility. While he has slow walking and dashing speeds, a fast falling speed and above average gravity, all of which are typical of a heavyweight, he has a surprisingly fast air speed and above-average air acceleration. Outside of this, Bowser Jr. possesses a few unorthodox, yet noteworthy, traits. Like Duck Hunt's dog and duck, he and his Junior Clown Car have two separate hurtboxes. However, the properties of Bowser Jr. and his Clown Car's hurtboxes are much more apparent: attacks that hit the Clown Car will deal 0.88× damage, whereas those that hit Bowser Jr. himself will deal 1.15× damage.[2] However, Bowser Jr.'s hitbox takes priority over the Clown Car's hitbox[3], making him vulnerable to receiving more damage more often than not. Although the knockback calculation ignores this, he will still be KO'd earlier than most heavyweights, as the knockback formula takes the target's damage after the attack damage has been added. One unique quirk Bowser Jr. possesses is that all but one of his attacks have disjointed hitboxes (with the only exception being Clown Kart Dash), which gives him decent overall range.

Clown Kart Dash is considered to be Bowser Jr.'s best move overall because of its versatility, with its most apparent benefit being much better movement to make up for his slow dashing speed (which can be made even faster via jump canceling) and grants him an excellent approach option. Clown Kart Dash is also integral to Bowser Jr. due to its mindgame and damage racking potentials. It can function either as a strong head-on attack or initiate aerial combos due Bowser Jr. being able to jump during it, which are further improved by jump canceling. Lastly, it can function as a horizontal recovery option, which is further supplemented by its doughtnut-based attack and having armor that can withstand a maximum of 7%.

Abandon Ship! is another useful move that possesses impressive knockback and grants Bowser Jr. considerable vertical distance. Unlike most recovery moves, Abandon Ship! does not initiate helplessness; this allows Bowser Jr. to not only air dodge if necessary, but also allows him to perform a powerful hammer swing upon pressing the attack button, which is an almost guaranteed KOing option when used in sync with Clown Kart Dash at high percentages. Mechakoopa is a very useful tool for zoning, combos, follow-ups, and even defensive purposes due to its ability to block incoming projectiles like Link and Toon Link's Bombs can.

Bowser Jr.'s good aerial mobility supplements the utility of his aerial attacks. His neutral aerial is useful as both an edge-guarding and out of shield option. His forward and back aerials are useful as edge-guarding, spacing and KOing options. While Bowser Jr.'s up aerial only hits above him, it is capable of juggling and can KO on stages with low ceilings, such as Battlefield or Town and City. Down aerial can shield stab and works well used out of Clown Kart Dash at lower percentages, due to the hitbox it produces compensating for its high landing lag.

Despite his great aerial mobility and damage racking potential, Bowser Jr. is not without his flaws. One of his biggest problems is that his recovery is glaringly susceptible to gimps. While Abandon Ship! grants him impressive vertical distance, a weak hit from an attack can result in Bowser Jr. not being able to respawn his Clown Car if the player does not button mash. Another major problem that Bowser Jr. faces is a lack of viable options on shield, making him susceptible to punishes. Bowser Jr. is also a very straight-forward character, which can make him quite predictable at times. In addition, Mechakoopa is the crux of Bowser Jr.'s neutral game, making it easy (especially for characters such as Rosalina & Luma) to shut down his options. Also, his Clown Cannon is a slow move that, unlike most chargeable projectiles, cannot be stored. Despite his overall grab range being rather long, his grabs have very high start-up and ending lag, while his throws are not very useful in general due to their inability to KO at reasonable percentages or initiate combos. Lastly, Bowser Jr. suffers from poor KO potential due to having very few reliable KOing options (his smash attacks and his forward/back aerials), which is further compounded by said options being burdened with considerable ending lag.

Bowser Jr. gains very few buffs from his custom moves. Piercing Cannon is faster and pierces opponents, but it deals less damage and knockback. Air Cannon is also faster and briefly stalls Bowser Jr. in midair, but replaces the cannonball with a windbox, which re-purposes it from an offensive option to a defensive option. Big Mechakoopa is stronger and larger, but it sacrifices Mechakoopa's ability to trip up opponents. Outside of these, Bowser Jr.'s remaining customs are less effective than the default versions.

Overall, Bowser Jr. fares well with a bait and punish playstyle like his father does, but he can also be potent at pressuring the opponent thanks to Clown Kart Dash and Mechakoopa. However, his slew of his easily exploitable weaknesses can make him a bit underwhelming overall and greatly overshadowed compared to the rest of the cast. While his flaws have resulted in his lack of representation in the Western scene, the Japanese scene views him more favorably. Additionally, professionals like Tweek have shown that he can be viable when his strengths are played wisely and to their fullest.

Bowser Jr. has been buffed slightly via game updates. The most notable instance occurred in update 1.1.4, which moderately decreased his smash attacks' ending lag and made his forward and back aerials stronger. The changes to the shield mechanics in updates 1.1.0 and 1.1.1 also slightly help him due to some of his moves possessing high damage outputs and/or hitting multiple times.

1.0.4

Down throw deals slightly less damage: 8% → 7.5%. It also does eight hits, down from ten.

1.0.6

Neutral infinite has decreased trails.

Neutral infinite has decreased trails. Forward smash's initial hitbox re-positioned, and its last hit's hitbox size increased: 6u → 7u.

1.1.0

Clown Cannon deals more damage: 7% (uncharged)/4.4% (uncharged late)/18% (fully charged)/12.6% (fully charged late) → 8.5%/5.9%/20%/14%.

1.1.1

Floor attack's shield damage output matches the other characters': 1 → 8.

Floor attack's shield damage output matches the other characters': 1 → 8. Back floor attack deals 10 shield damage, as did the other characters' before update 1.1.1.

Back floor attack deals 10 shield damage, as did the other characters' before update 1.1.1. Clown Cannon's knockback increased: 80 (sweetspot)/60 (sourspot) → 85/65.

Clown Cannon's knockback increased: 80 (sweetspot)/60 (sourspot) → 85/65. Clown Cannon's hitbox size increased: 4.5u → 5.5u.

Clown Cannon's hitbox size increased: 4.5u → 5.5u. Air Cannon's frame speed multiplier decreased: 2× → 1.3×, decreasing its ending lag by 14 frames.

1.1.4

All smash attacks' ending lag decreased: 60 frames → 56 (forward), 63 frames → 57 (up), 68 frames → 60 (down).

All smash attacks' ending lag decreased: 60 frames → 56 (forward), 63 frames → 57 (up), 68 frames → 60 (down). Forward aerial deals more damage: 8% → 9% (clean), 5% → 7% (late).

Forward aerial deals more damage: 8% → 9% (clean), 5% → 7% (late). Forward aerial knockback increased: 30 (base)/90 (scaling) → 33/93.

Forward aerial knockback increased: 30 (base)/90 (scaling) → 33/93. Back aerial's late hit deals 2% more damage (8% → 10%) and knockback scaling (90 → 92).

Moveset [ edit ]

Fighter ability: Moves that hit the Junior Clown Car deal 0.88× damage, whereas those that hit Bowser Jr. himself will deal 1.15× damage.[2] Bowser Jr.'s hurtbox takes priority over the Clown Car's hurtbox.[3]

For a gallery of Bowser Jr.'s hitboxes, see here.

Flies onto the stage in the Junior Clown Car and makes a taunting facial expression toward the camera.

Up taunt : Jumps up, sits on the rim of the Junior Clown Car, and exhales a tiny flame while chuckling.

: Jumps up, sits on the rim of the Junior Clown Car, and exhales a tiny flame while chuckling. Side taunt : Pulls out a hammer and swings it around twice.

: Pulls out a hammer and swings it around twice. Down taunt: The Junior Clown Car turns into its go-kart form, sports an angry expression while performing a doughnut, then returns to normal.

Up taunt Side taunt Down taunt

Places his hand above his eyes and looks around while smiling with his mouth closed or smiling with his mouth open.

smiling with his mouth closed or smiling with his mouth open. Hops impatiently in the Junior Clown Car.

English





Japanese

Super Mario Bros. A rock-based remix of the Course Clear Fanfare used in

Uses Clown Kart Dash while laughing, then stops and pulls out a hammer.

Gets out of the Junior Clown Car and rubs it with his right hand while smiling with his mouth open or smiling with his mouth closed.

smiling with his mouth open or smiling with his mouth closed. Jumps out of the Junior Clown Car, hops in celebration a few times while laughing, then strikes a pose.

In competitive play [ edit ]

Character Custom sets available Bowser Jr. 1113 1121 1123 1211 1213 1313 3111 3113 3213 1112

Notable players [ edit ]

Active [ edit ]

Inactive [ edit ]

Tier placement and history [ edit ]

Bowser Jr. was initially considered to be a high-tier character due to his attacks having disjointed hitboxes and Clown Kart Dash's incredible versatility. However, like many other characters, Bowser Jr. began to drop on the tier list once players discovered that his he has a very linear neutral game, lackluster shield pressure, laggy grabs, and exploitable recovery. All of these attributes resulted in him struggling against many top-tier characters. However, Tweek still managed to achieve impressive results with Bowser Jr., such as placing 25th at EVO 2015, which was especially significant due to Bowser Jr.'s lack of improvement with custom moves. Tweek also managed to place 33rd at GENESIS 3 and consistently achieve top 8 placings in his region. As a result, Bowser Jr. was ranked 34th on the first tier list.

However, after Tweek dropped Bowser Jr. in favor of Cloud, his tournament prominence has dropped significantly. While he still achieves decent results thanks to many dedicated players, such as Vicegrip and Jade (the latter of whom notably defeated Trela at CEO 2016), and his metagame keeps being developed, Bowser Jr.'s lack of high placings at tournaments have resulted in him tying with Wii Fit Trainer for 46th/47th on the second tier list, and then slightly dropping to 48th on the third tier list. Currently, Bowser Jr. remains ranked as 48th on the fourth and current tier list, which can be attributed to Kub4444 achieving 17th at Smash Factor 6. Despite this, his tier placement remains debatable; some players say he should be ranked even lower, whereas others argue that he should be ranked slightly higher.

Trophies [ edit ]

Bowser Jr. Bowser's beloved, spoiled son sports a bandanna with a large mouth drawn on it. Like his father, Bowser Jr. longs to take Mario down. In Smash Bros., he'll fight from inside his heavily armed Junior Clown Car. The Clown Car takes less damage than Bowser Jr., so mind your positioning.

Bowser's probably a big fan of his son, what with him hating Mario just as much as dear old Dad does. The tyke's Junior Clown Car is packed with gadgets and gizmos to throw at enemies! By the way, he's extra vulnerable when he jumps out of it, but...you wouldn't dream of attacking the cute little fella then, would you?

: Super Mario Sunshine (08/2002) : New Super Mario Bros. Wii (11/2009)

Bowser Jr. (Alt.) The Clown Kart Dash special move turns the Junior Clown Car into a kart. If you change direction while driving it, it'll spin and do more damage. When you use his up special, Bowser Jr. leaps from his Junior Clown Car, dropping it on the foes below.

The Clown Kart Dash special move turns the Junior Clown Car into a kart. If you change direction while driving it, it'll spin and do more damage. When you use his up special, Bowser Jr. jumps out of the Junior Clown Car, letting it hit opponents. Try to catch opponents with it while you're directly over them to hit them on the head!

: Super Mario Sunshine (08/2002) : New Super Mario Bros. Wii (11/2009)

Shadow Mario Paint In Super Mario Sunshine, someone went around causing havoc disguised as Mario. It turned out not to be the brawny Bowser, but his brainier son, Bowser Jr. Now he becomes Shadow Mario again for his Final Smash, painting a giant X on the screen. It sticks around after Bowser Jr. transforms back, letting him gleefully knock foes into it.

In Super Mario Sunshine, someone went around causing havoc disguised as Mario. It turned out not to be the brawny Bowser, but his brainier son, Bowser Jr. Now he becomes Shadow Mario again for his Final Smash, painting a giant cross on the screen. It sticks around after Bowser Jr. turns back, so he can gleefully knock people into it.

Solo Events [ edit ]

Co-op Events [ edit ]

A Lurking Menace : Mario and Luigi must defeat Bowser Jr., but if the match lasts too long, they must also defeat a giant Bowser.

: Mario and Luigi must defeat Bowser Jr., but if the match lasts too long, they must also defeat a giant Bowser. Peach in Peril : Bowser Jr. and Bowser must defeat all opponents except Peach, where KOing her results in a failure.

: Bowser Jr. and Bowser must defeat all opponents except Peach, where KOing her results in a failure. Solidarity : Olimar and Rosalina & Luma must defeat Mario and Luigi and then they must defeat Bowser Jr. and Bowser.

: Olimar and Rosalina & Luma must defeat Mario and Luigi and then they must defeat Bowser Jr. and Bowser. The Ultimate Battle: Two players select a character and must defeat the entire roster.

Instead of alternate color schemes, Bowser Jr.'s alternate costumes consist of the Koopalings. Bowser Jr.'s Junior Clown Car is the only one with black eyes and horizontal orange "eye paint", while the Koopalings' Clown Cars have yellow mechanical eyes with vertical black "eye paint".

Gallery [ edit ]

Trivia [ edit ]

References [ edit ]



