Quote:
The biggest and the heaviest of fighters, Bowser has a slightly different flavor this time around!
To be honest, there are a LOT of characters that offer a slightly different flavor this time around. If you think they’re all going to be the same as they have been, it’ll be rough for you.
Gimpyfish's E4All Impressions
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Character Impression
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Bowser's speed buff is obviously the most important factor about him in Brawl. His forward air comes out and finishes very quickly, so you can actually do one full jump and you can finish two complete forward airs before you hit the ground. His back air is a little bit more difficult to land this time around, but it seems to have more range and is obviously much faster on its startup and finish. This move still has its semi spiking properties if you land it correctly as well. Bowser's up air is VERY fast in Brawl. It was one of Bowser's slowest moves in Melee, this time it's very quick, but has a lot less range unfortunately. This is one of the strongest moves in Brawl, it kills at very low percents. Bowser's neutral air doesn't seem to have quite as much priority in Brawl, but it ends quicker, so you can free yourself up from this move faster now. Bowser's down air is still not very good, it has very small priority, but it still sends out that little shockwave of knockback upon landing.
Bowser's ground game is more threatening in Brawl then it ever was in Melee. Bowser's new forward tilt has ridiculous range. When Bowser does his forward tilt in Melee he simply sticks out the knuckle. In Brawl, he leans his much larger body forward, extends his arm outward, and then his hand actually magically grows to about twice it's normal size for the hit. This move still does significant knockback, but is also fairly laggy on it's start and finish. Bowser's up tilt is much quicker in Brawl on it's finish, it's probably just as fast to start. This move does a lot of knockback in Brawl as well. Bowser's down tilt is much faster, has much more range, and is MUCH stronger. This is now one of Bowser's best killing moves. Bowser's tap seems to be improved on speed on his first hit, and the second hit still does good enough knockback to get yourself some breathing room. Bowser's getup attack from the ledge also doesn't have nearly as much range as it did in Melee, but is still fairly good.
Bowser's grab game didn't see a lot of changes. His throws are still visually pretty similar, although his down throw isn't useful for tech chasing anymore because of the new physics engine. No character from the demo landed before being able to do a move or jump out of the tech. Bowser's other throws have just about the same amount of knockback as they did in Melee. Bowser's dash grab range has been cut almost in half, which was disapointing, but his standing grab and sheild grab seem much more effective and much faster.
Bowser's smash attacks were all improved drastically in their range, but what about knockback and speed? Bowser's up smash was good in Melee for hitting people who are standing on a platform above you, and it also had a good little duck at the beginning that can actually be used to avoid certain attacks. In Brawl, Bowser's up smash is improved in both of those regards. When you are standing below a platform in Brawl and you up smash, literally the entire platform is covered by Bowser's massive shell, this move has got a TON of range, and he still does duck down at the start of the move. It isn't any faster, or stronger in Brawl, but the move is overall a lot better. Bowser's down smash actually has a lot more range in Brawl than it did in Melee. It still sucks you in if it hits any part of you like in Melee, and it does even more knockback this time. This is a great killing move. Again, this move is no faster on the start or finish, but it is a largely improved move. Now let's move onto one of my favorite moves in Melee, Bowser's forward smash. This move has got more range than anything I saw in Brawl BY FAR. Bowser still has the nice leanback feature that he can use to avoid attacks, and also has a small amount of super armor on the charge, but this move does a lot less knockback, it doesn't kill until about 20% higher than it would in Melee on average. This move is much easier to land this time around because of it's massive buff on it's range. This move has twice as much range as any move did in Melee.
Bowser's special moves saw a lot of changes too. Bowser can still fortress out of shield (that's his up b) and it's mostly as effective in Brawl. The fortress doesn't do quite as much knockback this time around, so it isn't going to be killing people very often. This move was easily one of the best moves in Melee, and in Brawl it actually saw a lot of nerfs. The damage and knockback of the move was decreased, canceling it onto edges isn't as useful (but still is possible). On a side note, Bowser can no longer instantly fortress cancel on edges that are slanted downward. The worst part about this move now is the land lag. If you do this move in the air when you land Bowser stalls for a bit before you can do anything, it stalls for just about as long as Mario would stall in Melee after using his up b on the ground. In Melee this had no land lag, which was great for his recovery, now he seems like he will be easier to edgeguard in general. Bowser's down b is faster to start in this game, it still has a lot of lag after it but it was cut almost in half, so it's a lot less lag. This move does a lot more knockback, and has super armor on the startup of the move. The Bowser Bomb might not be compeltely useless in Brawl on the stage this time around. This move can still be used to grab the edge this time as well. I had mixed emotions about Bowser's new klaw. Bowser's klaw was my favorite move in Melee, I loved his back and forward throw, and in Brawl I was expecting mostly the same thing but with an up and down throw as well. I was clearly mistaken, in Brawl Bowser's Klaw is very different. The new klaw has almost no starup lag, and has literally no lag after it. This move can be done in very rapid succession if you miss. The move has less range than the Melee klaw, but the speed is certainly better, missing this move doesn't really seem very punishable. This time around when you get somebody with the klaw you don't have the option of biting, Bowser immediately leaps to the sky and does a really cool looking suplex. You have complete control over Bowser's horizontal movement, and you can actually go surprisingly far with this move, it's great for suicide kills. This move does an impressive 17% and at lower percents you can actually string two of them together because after you land from the suplex, Bowser suffers no lag. You can do other moves as well, but stringing two klaw's together just seemed to be too awesome. The new klaw can also KO off the top at some of the higher percents, but bowser has better kill moves in Brawl than that. By far my favorite improvement about Bowser is his new firebreath. This move starts up really fast, and has very little lag after it. If you get caught in the firebreath you can still DI out, but the move does damage a LOT faster this time. The firebreath in Brawl actually doesn't ever die down, it seems to be on a recharge timer, you can hold it for longer if you use it less often. My personal favorite part about this move though is the fact that you can actually angle it up and down by moving your cstick after you start the move. You can walk over to the edge and use firebreath and actually point it straight down. This is actually useful to stop other character's approaches because of how quickly it starts up. I saw a Pikachu jump at me for an airial approach and I activated my firebreath and pointed it upwards. I caught him in the flames then pointed it back down, and the fire dragged him to the floor, it was very cool.
Overall Bowser is playable, which is a HUGE improvement from his Melee form. He is much faster in almost all of his moves, has more range, and has some patches of super armor. Bowser kills at lower percentages than everyone at the demo (other than Ike) and lives the longest percent wise by far. Bowser is my favorite character and I absolutely love the way he turned out, even with his nerfed fortress nobody will be dissapointed by Bowser's changes. Kudos to you Sakurai.
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Final Smash
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Final Smash
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Bowser’s final smash is my obvious favorite, and seems to be the most unavoidable aka broken. You can actually give Giga Bowser some percent while he is in this form, but your moves do no stun, so it isn’t worth attacking him unless you have invincibility frames after he kills you. Giga Bowser can basically be activated at any time and you should get a kill. His range is unreal, his knockback is unreal, Giga Bowser is just too good. You have full control over him and he does anything Bowser does, but better, including taunt AND crawl! Giga Bowser is awesome and intense, edge camping seems to be the most effective way to fight against this, but he can hit you out of it unless you have a fully invincible stall somehow with his massive down smash.
