The Dord of Darien

Best Villains Ever #1

Bowser (Super Mario series)

Bowser, the giant, sinister, red-haired king of the Koopa, is probably the only villain who is instantly recognisable to nearly anyone who has ever played video games. He has appeared in more games than any other villain I can think of offhand, and it’s never a surprise when he turns out to be the bad guy in any given Mario game, but he still doesn’t get stale. Bowser has a lot of personality, and you can nearly always count on the fights to be simple but challenging and engaging. No other villain has so many different high-quality battles to his credit — Dr. Wily is the nearest competition, but he’s off by a fair few.

Beyond the fights, though, what really lifts Bowser above the crowd — what really justifies him as not only a great villain but the Best Villain Ever — is his flexibility. He is possibly the only villain who can successfully play just about any mood; sometimes he’s all business (Super Mario Galaxy, New Super Mario Bros.), sometimes he’s comical (The various Mario RPG games), sometimes he’s petty (Super Mario Sunshine), and sometimes he’s terrifying (Luigi’s Mansion, Super Mario 64), and he’s effective in all these roles. His plans range in scope from "Mess up Mario’s vacation" to "conquer the whole universe and build a new galaxy in the centre to rule from," which is quite a range, but they always manage to involve kidnapping the poor beleaguered Princess somehow, and he always fails but always rebounds.

These plans don’t proceed in any logical order — Bowser is a truly capricious character. He doesn’t need to succeed on a small level before going big. He is Mario’s arch-nemesis, but he fights alongside Mario on occasion also, and seems to be dimly aware of the fact that he depends on Mario to add meaning to his own existence — his goal is always just to beat Mario, never to kill him, and always grudgingly supports Mario whenever a bigger threat comes along. The relationship between Bowser and Mario is more complicated and sophisticated than that between most heroes and villains, but it remains in the background.

Bowser is the best villain ever because he excels in all areas. Kefka is more maddeningly evil by far, GLaDOS is more complex and seemingly real, Ghaleon is more hilarious, and Hitler is more Hitler-y, but Bowser isn’t relying on just one angle to carry him. Throughout his long and active career, he’s covered all the bases, and he’s maintained a consistently high quality the whole time.

So there you are. Now feel free to go rant in the comments about how you totally saw this one coming and so on and so forth.

May 9th, 2008 Posted by Darien | Best Villains Ever | one comment