King Bob-omb

King Bob-omb
Species	Bob-omb
Affiliation	Koopa Troop
Debut	Super Mario 64

King Bob-omb (originally known as the Big Bob-omb) is a recurring boss character from the Super Mario series. He takes on the form of a large, mustachioed bob-omb who wears a crown. Unlike normal bob-ombs, he has a pair of arms and no wind-up gear on his back.

Background

King Bob-omb originally appeared in Super Mario 64 as the first boss who could be faced in the game. He was entrusted with a Power Star and would challenge enemies to a duel over it. He was battled atop a mountain in Bob-omb Battlefield. He tried to lift and throw Mario during the battle. In turn, Mario could harm King Bob-omb by getting behind him, lifting and throwing him. After being thrown three times, he exploded and left behind the Power Star. This was later altered in Super Mario 64 DS, where there were two battles with King Bob-omb. For the first battle, it was Yoshi (the initially playable character of that version) who faced him, and King Bob-omb threw bob-ombs that Yoshi had to spit back at him to beat him. One of the game's other playable characters (Mario, Luigi or Wario) could later take him on in a second battle, which was similar to the battle from the original version of the game.

He later appeared in Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam as a boss faced at Mount Brrr, where he commanded a base. When he was found by Mario, Luigi and Paper Mario, he threatened to self-destruct and took them on in battle. The battle featured a time limit of four minutes until his detonation, although it was possible for the timer to be set back by countering his red bomb rally. While it was possible to survive his self-destruction and progress through the game, it would still cause massive damage and end the battle without any characters gaining experience points or coins. He could be rebattled at the Boss Battle Ring, where he was stronger and had only three minutes until self-destruction.

He also appeared in Dr. Mario World as an assistant character who could be unlocked through a battle box. In Stage Mode, his skill was a 5% chance of eliminating two viruses at the start of a stage; in Versus Mode, his skill was instead a 4% chance of sending an extra row of viruses to an opponent during attacks.

Sports, Racing and Party Spin-Offs

King Bob-omb has made numerous other appearances in the game's sports and party-based spin-off titles, almost always as either a boss character or a type of obstacle.

In Mario Kart DS, King Bob-omb was faced as the fifth boss of Mission Mode. Wario had to defeat him by throwing bob-ombs at him. In Mario Kart Arcade GP DX, he appeared as part of the racetrack known as Bowser's Factory. He also appeared in Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour at Peach's Castle Grounds. In Mario Superstar Baseball, he appeared as an item in during the Bob-omb Derby minigame. When he came up in the roulette and the player succeeded in getting a home run, it would cause fireworks to appear and score the player 400 to 500 points. King Bob-omb also appeared in Mario Super Sluggers as an obstacle found at the Bowser Castle stadium, where he dropped bob-ombs onto the field.

King Bob-omb later made his first playable appearance in Mario Kart Tour, where he could be unlocked as a playable character through the game's gacha system or in-game shop. He was initially available only during certain tours, starting with the Pirate Tour in August 2020, before he was made regularly available during the Rosalina Tour in December 2020. A gold version was also available during some tours, starting with April 2021's Ninja Tour. His next playable appearance was in Mario Golf: Super Rush.

Mario Party

He has also made a number of appearances in the Mario Party series. In Mario Party 2, a statue of him was seen partially submerged at the Mystery Land board. In Mario Party 5 and Mario Party 8, he was featured in different minigames which involved preventing him from exploding, with the minigame from Mario Party 5 later being remade for Mario Party: The Top 100. In Mario Party Advance, he resided in the hidden basement of the Mushroom Condo and was said to be the leader of Shroom City's Bob-omb Mafia. This mafia was said to act as protectors of the city, and the king expressed displeasure with Bowser's activities in the city. The player could compete against him in a game of dice to win the Gaddget Stress Press, and the game's ending revealed that he retired to the jungle, with another Bob-omb taking his place in the mafia.

King Bob-omb later appeared as a boss who could be battled in minigames in Mario Party 9 (as boss of the Bob-omb Factory stage), Mario Party: Island Tour (as the fourth boss of Bowser's Tower) and Mario Party: Star Rush (where bosses appear at random in Toad Scramble mode). In Super Mario Party, he was featured in the board called King Bob-omb's Powderkeg Mine. He appeared in the center of the stage, and every time a player landed on an event space surrounding him, a countdown (which starts off as 5) will go down by 1. Once it reaches zero, he will explode, and cause characters in adjacent spaces to lose half of their coins. He will then respawn, with the countdown returning to 5.

Other Appearances

Video Games

• In the Super Smash Bros. series, King Bob-omb has been represented by a trophy in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and an Advanced-rank Primary Spirit (which also enhanced throwing power) in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. When fought against in a Spirit battle, King Bob-omb's Spirit would possess a large black Kirby in a battle where the Bob-omb item commonly appeared.
• In Nintendo versions of Minecraft, 3D pixel art of King Bob-omb appears when the Super Mario Mash-Up Pack is in effect.

Trivia

• His trophy description in Super Smash Bros. refers to him as a general of the bob-ombs, and it also implies that the reason he has arms is for his duty of winding up the bob-ombs.
• A sticker of King Bob-omb appears in Mario Party Superstars.