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This page describes Giga Bowser in general and his appearance in Melee and Ultimate. For his appearance as Bowser's Final Smash, see Giga Bowser (Final Smash).

Giga Bowser (Giga Koopa (ギガクッパ Giga Kūppā)?) is a gargantuan, power-up version of Bowser, making his debut as the main antagonist of the Adventure Mode in Super Smash Bros. Melee. He also appears as Bowser's Final Smash in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

In Super Smash Bros. Melee[]

Mario vs Giga Bowser SSBM

Mario fighting Giga Bowser in Super Smash Bros. Melee

Giga Bowser first debuted in Super Smash Bros. Melee, where the player could face him after completing Adventure Mode on normal or higher difficulty within 18 minutes without using any continues. He will appear after Bowser is defeated. In the cutscene that follows when the player accomplishes this, Giga Bowser is created when a Bowser trophy falls onto the Final Destination stage, and is then immediately struck by lightning, right after the player defeats the giant Bowser. This revives the trophy, but the energy surge from the lightning causes the strange mutation that turns Bowser into Giga Bowser. Defeating Giga Bowser in Adventure Mode awards the player 100,000 points, along with the Giga Bowser trophy. Additionally, he is one of the opponents in Event 51: The Showdown with Mewtwo and Ganondorf by his side.

In the Japanese and American versions, an unused voice clip has the narrator referring to Giga Bowser as "Giga Koopa" (Giga Bowser's Japanese name) when the language settings are set to English. Additionally, when the language is set to Japanese, the narrator calls him "Giga Bowser", despite the fact that Bowser is named "Koopa" in Japanese. This does not apply to the European and Australian versions, as the "Giga Koopa" voice clip is removed and the "Giga Bowser" one is used for all languages.

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate[]

In Adventure Mode: World of Light, Giga Bowser appears as a boss under Galeem's service. His respective sub-world is the Molten Fortress, which is based on Bowser's Castle. Defeating him is required to unlock Bowser for play in the mode, and damages Galeem's shield. It also awards the player with Giga Bowser's spirit, which strengthens all neutral fire attacks when used on a fighter. Giga Bowser is later fought again during the Final Battle when you hit his orb in the Boss Rush section. He retains all of Bowser's attacks while he is fought.

In Classic Mode, Giga Bowser is the boss for Mario and Captain Falcon. When he is in his first phase, he fights like his normal counterpart does, but after he is knocked off screen, he transforms into his Giga form (his true form) and continues the battle. In this form, he fights identically as in World of Light mode.

Giga Bowser is the sixth boss fought in Sephiroth's Classic Mode route, involving mostly boss fights. Unlike Mario and Captain Falcon, Sephiroth fights Giga Bowser without first battling Bowser.

As a Final Smash[]

In Brawl, 3DS and Wii U, and Ultimate, Bowser turns into this form by using his Final Smash, Giga Bowser. Here, he is noticeably much larger, scarier-looking and more devastatingly powerful. He appears on the stage for about 12 seconds.

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Giga Bowser is larger than in previous appearances, and he instead appears in the background, where he prepares to hit opposing fighters with a powerful punch; any fighter at a high damage percentage is instantly Screen KOd by Giga Bowser.

Differences between Bowser and Giga Bowser[]

  • Approximately 1.6 times larger
  • Invincible flame breath that also droops lava (Melee only)
  • More height gained from Whirling Fortress
  • Whirling Fortress grants 26 Invincibility Frames and pseudo Invincibility Frames after the 26, due to the enormous hitbox
  • Cannot be grabbed
  • Inability to be knocked back (Brawl only)

Special Attributes[]

Trophy Description (Melee)[]

To unlock this trophy, one must defeat Giga Bowser in Adventure Mode without continuing.

GALE01-24

The Giga Bowser Trophy

An even more imposing figure than the original King of the Koopas, Giga Bowser is roughly twice the size of his scaly, fire-breathing, spike-studded, Super Smash Bros. Melee counterpart. Predictable, this monstrous creature's offensive and defensive powers are a grade higher than those of regular Bowser. Good luck defeating this colossus!

See also: List of SSBM trophies (Super Smash Bros. series)

Trivia[]

2D Giga Bowser

If Giga Bowser is hacked into Flat Zone, his model becomes disfigured

  • Giga Bowser in Melee, as well as Super Smash Bros.'s Metal Mario and Giant Donkey Kong, are the only boss characters in the Super Smash Bros. series to have their own character data and still use the standard percentage-based damage meter as opposed to a health bar.
  • In Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, it is possible to take control of Giga Bowser using a cheating device.
    • Every other boss in Melee to use the standard percentage meter (and every boss that does this from Brawl onward aside from the final form of Master Core) is simply a regular character with a modifier attached, while the aforementioned three bosses are actually coded as separate characters.
  • In Melee, if a CPU Giga Bowser captures an opponent with Koopa Klaw, he can bite his opponent, but no damage will be inflicted.
  • There is some irony in the Giga Bowser trophy description in Melee, as it wishes good luck in defeating Giga Bowser, even though defeating him is one of the requirements for unlocking the trophy.
  • In 3DS/Wii U, Giga Bowser's dash and forward smash animations have been reverted to their Brawl counterparts, as Bowser received new animations between the two games.
  • Among the subtle differences between Bowser and Giga Bowser is their eyes - Bowser's eyes make him look like he's concentrating, while Giga Bowser's eyes are manic-looking and somewhat bloodshot.
  • Giga Bowser is one of four bosses who can grab and throw players, the others being Master Hand, Crazy Hand, and Tabuu.
  • Giga Bowser's stance on his Melee trophy is similar to Mario's in Brawl.
  • In Melee, when a CPU Giga Bowser lands or does his Giga Bowser Bomb, the player's controller will start to shake.
  • The word "Giga" in Giga Bowser is often parodied with a dinosaur's name "Giga" in Giganotosaurus (a meat-eating dinosaur larger than Tyrannosaurus Rex). Giga Bowser is a parody of "Giganotosaurus".
  • If by chance Giga Bowser gets shrunken by a Poison Mushroom, he would still be slightly larger than a normal-sized Bowser.
  • If Giga Bowser is defeated in All star mode, he can't continue even if he has enough coins but may fall down as a Mario Trophy.
  • Giga Bowser's model will become disfigured if he appears in Flat Zone.
  • There is a glitch where on a custom stage he may get stuck in a wall. This makes Giga Bowser unable to move.
  • Another glitch is where Giga Bowser gets KO'd in a stamina match and can play with 0 health. This glitch is called the Undead Glitch. It works with Wario Man too.
  • If a Barrel Cannon is thrown at Giga Bowser, he will only repeatedly take damage from it until it falls off the stage or disappears since he is too big to be grabbed.
  • In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the boss version of Giga Bowser is actually a regular fighter, but his portrait will not appear in-game and the game will crash if he wins a match as there no audio file of the announcer saying "Giga Bowser".
  • During the game‘s initial launch, Giga Bowser and Rathalos were the only bosses in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's Classic Mode to not have an alternate song track depending on which character fought them. But as of Hero’s inclusion, Giga Bowser is the only Ultimate boss to not have alternate song tracks mostly due to only having two fighters.
  • In World of Light, if Giga Bowser reflects a Gordo thrown by King Dedede and it hits him, often times the damage and knockback will be so severe that he can get KO'd at 0% on any difficulty.

Gallery[]

See also[]

SubspaceSymbol Bosses WorldOfLightSymbol
Introduced in
Smash 64
Master Hand  · Metal Mario  · Giant Donkey Kong
Introduced in
Meleelogo
Crazy Hand  · Giga Bowser  · Metal Bros.
Introduced in
Brawllogo
Petey Piranha  · Rayquaza  · Porky Statue / Porky Minch  · Galleom  · Ridley  · Duon  · Meta Ridley  · Tabuu
Introduced in
Super Smash Bros. for 3DS & Wii U
Master Core
Introduced in
Smash Ultimate logo glow
Rathalos  · Ganon  · Dracula  · Marx  · Galeem  · Dharkon
SmashBrosSymbol Super Smash Bros. universe
Playable Characters Mii Fighter (3DS/Wii U  · Ultimate)
Mii Brawler (3DS/Wii U  · Ultimate)  · Mii Swordfighter (3DS/Wii U  · Ultimate)  · Mii Gunner (3DS/Wii U  · Ultimate)
Other characters Fighting teams Fighting Polygon Team · Fighting Wire Frames · Fighting Alloy Team · Fighting Mii Team
Bosses Master Hand  · Crazy Hand  · Giga Bowser  · Galleom  · Duon  · Tabuu  · Master Core  · Galeem  · Dharkon
Stages Battlefield (Duel Zone  · Melee  · Brawl  · 3DS/Wii U  · Ultimate)
Final Destination (64  · Melee  · Brawl  · 3DS/Wii U  · Ultimate)
Big Battlefield (for Wii U  · Ultimate)
Meta Crystal  · Small Battlefield  · Home-Run Stadium  · Training stage ultimate
Items Assist Trophy  · Banana Gun  · Barrel  · Beam Sword  · Beastball  · Black Hole  · Blast Box  · Bumper  · Capsule  · CD  · Coins / Coins and Bills  · Cracker Launcher  · Crate  · Custom Part  · Drill  · Fake Smash Ball  · Fan  · Food  · Gooey Bomb  · Healing Field  · Healing Sprout  · Home-Run Bat  · Key  · Motion-Sensor Bomb  · Party Ball  · Rage Blaster  · Ray Gun  · Rolling Crates  · Sandbag  · Smash Ball  · Smoke Ball  · Sticker  · Stock Ball  · Team Healer  · Timer  · Trophy  · Trophy Stand
Music Lists List of Music (Super Smash Bros. series)  · List of Music (Adventure Mode)
Songs "Super Smash Bros. Brawl Main Theme"  · "Lifelight"
Collectibles Trophies Melee Trophies  · Brawl Trophies  · 3DS Trophies  · Wii U Trophies
Spirits List of spirits (Super Smash Bros. series)
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