Bowser Jr. (Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U)


 * This article is about Bowser Jr.'s appearance in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U. For other uses, see Bowser Jr. or Koopalings.

Bowser Jr. (, Koopa Jr.) is a new playable character from the Mario universe in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U, . Alongside Mr. Game & Watch, Bowser Jr. was officially revealed during the Super Smash Bros. for Wii U: 50-Fact Extravaganza on October 23, 2014, being the second-to-last newcomer shown by an official source. Prior to that, he was leaked by ESRB on August 29th, 2014 alongside Shulk and Ganondorf. Bowser Junior's alternate costumes are instead of the Koopalings as opposed to standard palette swaps.

Bowser Jr. is placed in the 48th spot on the tier list. While having all of his moves being disjointed and good survivability due to his weight, many of his aerials have long landing lag frames, has a recovery that cannot be used again if he is hit without his clown car, and he has a nearly useless and slow projectile.

How to Unlock (Nintendo 3DS Only)
Complete the following:
 * Play 100 matches.
 * Beat Classic Mode with Bowser on 6.0 difficulty or higher.

After completing either option, you must fight and defeat Bowser Jr. on 3D Land.

In the Wii U version, he is a starter character.

Strengths

 * Good variety of attacks, balancing fast multi-hits and slower single-hit attacks, making him quite versatile
 * All his attacks have disjointed hitboxes, meaning opponents won't cause damage if they hit his attacks directly.
 * His Side Smash Attack is notable for having very low ending lag, being able to be cancelled into other moves.
 * High priority on many moves.
 * Great recovery.
 * Takes less damage when hit on the Junior Clown Car.
 * Abandon Ship is a good anti-recovery move, and unlike other Up Specials, doesn't leave Bowser Jr./Koopalings in a helpless state, and also gives them a unique Aerial Attack which is stronger than their normal Air Attacks.
 * Good variety of combos and spacing options.
 * Powerful zoning game.
 * Clown Cannon can be charged to increase damage, speed, and range, and if charged enough can be dropped over edges on recovering opponents.
 * Clown Kart Dash is an amazing approach option, combo starter, and horizontal recovery; it can also be jumped out of, which is useful for mind-games when approaching or recovering
 * Mechakoopa provides outstanding stage control; it can be placed on platforms to prevent opponents from using that platforms; it can be tossed out from above as an approach option, used on edges to limit opponent's options, and can be picked up and thrown or z-air dropped by Bowser Jr. for combo set-ups and spacing tools

Weaknesses

 * Clown Cannon and Mechakoopas can't be spammed unless their respective projectiles disappear.
 * Clown Cannon has very low priority, can be easily avoided, and has high starting and ending lag
 * Opponents can pick up Mechakoopas and throw back at Bowser Jr.
 * Many of his best damaging moves have a considerable startup and ending lags.
 * Low range on some attacks.
 * Weak throw attacks, which also lack follow up options.
 * Very predictable, with attacks being easy to identify due to the variety of weapons used.
 * Attacks with low-knockback easily gimp Bowser Jr.'s Abandon Ship and leave him without recovery options, and while he can air-dodge this can hurt his recovery as he cannot grab the ledge while dodging
 * Koopa Clown Car's spinning ground attack has high ending lag; the move also goes backwards a bit before moving forwards, which can hurt recovery especially if Bowser Jr. is near the blast line.

Summary
Bowser Junior is a Bait & Punish as well as a Zoning type of character, possessing various tools that can be used for attacking from afar and being defensive.

Despite being a heavyweight, Bowser Junior has above average air acceleration and fast airspeed, though he suffers from the heavyweight trait of slowness on the ground.

The most unique aspect of Bowser Jr's character is that his Clown Car and himself have two separate hurtboxes: attacking the Clown Car deals 0.88x damage, whereas those that hit Bowser Jr. himself will deal 1.15x damage.

Another unique trait is his lack of normal hitboxes, with all his attacks being disjointed, as he never attacks with a part of himself (claw, head, etc.), rather using the many tools within his Junior Clown Car at his disposal. This means when exchanging blows, most often favors Bowser Jr., giving him the upper hand.

Bowser Jr's Special Moves reflect his zoning and punishing game. Clown Cannon, despite its slow speed, possesses a surprising amount of damage and can be charged to inflict more and go further. Clown Kart Dash is a solid option for approaching enemies, dealing decent damage and allowing Bowser Jr to perform aerials from it via jumping. Abandon Ship! has a dual function of allowing Bowser Jr. to attack with an exploding projectile and damaging hammer swings. Mechakoopa can serve as a defensive and offensive attack, protecting Bowser Jr. while knocking enemies off their feet with the explosion, setting up many combo opportunities.

Bowser Jr. flaws lie in his laggy attacks, as many, mostly his Smash Attacks, can put him in tight situations if used at the wrong time. On the other hand, with those attacks being disjointed hitboxes, Bowser Jr. has safe options when using those attacks. His throws are also not very powerful and lack follow up options, giving him less combo potential.

A good Bowser Jr. player must use all his tools at disposal, staying in safe range and punishing enemy advances. Bowser Jr. is not a rushing character, and functions better at zoning, slowly dominating the battleground with his projectiles.

Normal

 * Standard Attack: Hits once with a boxing glove. 3% damage. Based on his boxing glove attack in New Super Mario Bros. U.
 * Standard Combo: Repeatedly hits with boxing gloves. 2% damage per hit, the final hit does 3% with surprising knockback. Moves slightly backwards when doing it.
 * Dash Attack: Several spinning gears with sharp saws appear out of the car's mouth, which repeatedly hit opponents. 12% damage if all hits connect. Quite a fast startup but massive ending lag, which means it is not safe on shield.
 * Side Tilt: Hits opponent with a fork. 8% damage. Low reach but very fast. Good option after a missed Side Smash Attack to prevent being punished.
 * Up Tilt: Hits opponents with a fork upward. 6% damage and has low vertical knockback. Useful to lift opponents to initiate air combos. Can combo into itself at low percentages.
 * Down Tilt: The Car does three licks below it. The first 2 hits do 2% damage each and the final hit does 4%, totaling to 8% if all hits connect. A very good range for a Down Tilt, covering a safe area in front of Bowser Jr.

Smash Attacks

 * Side Smash Attack: Two drills pop out and converge like pincers. Can be angled up or down. If all hits connect, 17% damage uncharged, 23% fully charged. Its ending lag can be cancelled into other attacks, such as his Tilt Attacks.
 * Down Smash Attack: Two heavyweight balls pop out and hit the ground on both sides of Bowser Jr. Good knockback but very long ending lag. 19% damage uncharged, 26% fully charged.
 * Up Smash Attack: Flips upside down and attacks using the car's propeller. If all hits connect, 14% damage uncharged, 19% fully charged. Bowser Jr's fastest Smash Attack, but also the weakest in terms of knockback and damage.

Other Attacks

 * Ledge Attack: Slams two heavyweight balls on the ground and gets back up. 7%
 * Get-up Attack: Gets up back and releases two boxing gloves from each side. 7%

Air Attacks

 * Neutral Air Attack: The boxing gloves spin around in a circle. 6% damage. Great for initiating combos, with a very low ending and landing lag.
 * Forward Air Attack: Waves a heavyweight ball in front of him. 11% damage. Good poking attack, being very useful on short hops.
 * Back Air Attack: Swings around with a heavyweight ball outstretched. 14% damage. Stronger knockback than forwarding Air Attack, but less range.
 * Up Air Attack: Swings a hammer he keeps upward. 10% damage. Bowser Jr.'s strongest air attack. Good follow up after a cancelled Clown Car Dash.
 * Down Air Attack: Descends downwards with a drill pointing down whilst spinning. 12% damage if all hits connect. While good for trapping opponents has high landing lag and doesn't cause too much shield damage. Based on Spin Drill from Super Mario Galaxy 2.

Grabs and Throws

 * Pummel: Whacks the foe's head with a red mallet. 2% damage per hit. Based on the Eekhammer sticker from Paper Mario: Sticker Star.
 * Forward Throw: Uppercuts his opponent with a boxing glove. 9% damage.
 * Back Throw: Swings around twice and hurls the opponent behind him. 12% damage.
 * Up Throw: Uses the claw arm to hurl the opponent upwards. 7% damage.
 * Down Throw: Repeatedly attacks the opponent beneath him with a drill. 8% damage.

Taunts

 * Up Taunt: Sits on the edge of the Clown Car and breathes a small burst of flames while laughing.
 * Side Taunt: Swings a Hammer Bros. hammer around; this hammer is also used in his Up Aerial.
 * Down Taunt: Activates the Clown Car's wheels and spins around rapidly, but he gets dizzy in the end.

In Competitive Play
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 dropped significantly. While he still achieved some 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 continued to be developed, Bowser Jr.'s lack of high placings at tournaments 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 final tier list, which can be attributed to players like Kub4444 achieving good, albeit scarce, placements in their region. Despite this, his tier placement remained debatable throughout the game’s competitive lifespan; some players advocated that he should be ranked even lower due to his mediocre neutral game and poor recovery, whereas others argued that he should be ranked slightly higher thanks to his previously attained success and decent disjoints.

Other features
To be added

Trophies

 * 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.
 * 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.
 * 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.

Trivia

 * The way Bowser Jr. screams in his Star KO is similar to his scream emitted upon his defeat in the Super Mario franchise.
 * Bowser Jr.'s alternate costumes are the Koopalings from the Super Mario series, making him the only character that can't change his color.
 * He is the only character that has disjointed hitboxes for every single attack.
 * He is the only character to have two sets of air attacks, one while in his Koopa Clown Car, and another after using the Abandon Ship Up Special.
 * Bowser Jr. and the Koopalings are the only characters with legs who don't fight on the ground, as they fight in the Junior Clown Car.
 * Bowser Jr.'s Koopa Clown Car jester paint is side to side. The other Clown Cars' paint is up and down.
 * Bowser Jr.'s default costume is the only one of his costumes in which the Koopa Clown Car has normal black eyes. The Koopalings' Koopa Clown Car has yellow eyes.
 * When the game was still in development, Bowser Jr. was nearly cut but made it into the game due to the development team's determination.