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 this happened three times, he exploded and left behind the Power Star. This was later changed 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 throw bob-ombs that Yoshi had to spit back at him to beat him. Later, one of the game's other characters could 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 in which he had to be beaten normally, 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 would cause the battle to end 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.

Sports

King Bob-omb has made numerous other appearances in the game's sports and party-based spin-off titles, 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 Mario Superstar Baseball during the Bob-omb Derby minigame. When he comes up in the roulette and the player succeeds in getting a home run, it will 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.

He has made numerous 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 lived in the basement of Mushroom Condo and was said to be the leader of the Bob-omb Mafia protecting Shroom 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 then 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). He is also set to appear in Super Mario Party.

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 Advance-rank Primary Spirit in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. His Spirit came with the added effect of enhancing the player character's throwing power. 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.

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.