For the longest time now, people have been complaining about how Bowser is represented in Smash. Often pointing at his SFX, Taunts, etc, claiming Sakurai's King Koopa feels more like some mindless beast or a senseless monster rather than the charming, arrogant bully he is in the Mario series. However, all of these is just wrong and a brutal oversimplification of his representation in Smash, even if it was true for Melee Bowser. Bowser in Smash is not some senseless monster or flailing beast, he is instead defined by his fighting style as a mixture of pro-wrestling moves and sumo techniques, leaning more into his status as the heavyweight to end all heavyweights. Bowser in Smash Brawl, 4, and Ultimate is not the absolute most faithful design in Smash, and neither are his moves, with many being a more creative interpretation of how he'd fight in a platform fighter. However, looking more at his actual frame data and how he operates, Bowser is actually quite practiced and martial in how he delivers blows. I want to cover what he does in the story (Subspace Emissary and whatnot), how he actually is portrayed combat wise, as well as point towards the argument of a misrepresentation.

Bowser in Smash Bros is quite an oddity. He is very simple to play, but also very easy to exploit, what given his large size, huge reach, high power, but extremely terrible disadvantage state and his exploitable recovery. Bowser in Melee was an utter disaster of character design; undoubtedly the worst in the game. And in Brawl, he isnt much better. However, in Brawl, Bowser gained much more personality. Bowser in Subspace Emissary is portrayed to have the ability​​ to command an army strategically and operate powerful firearms. In the Subspace Emissary, he steals Donkey Kong's bananas, knowing DK and Diddy Kong would run after them and eventually find them, giving him the opportunity to ambush them and trophify DK, taking him and eliminating a possible threat. In later scenes, Bowser ambushed King Dedede, able to pinpoint the room Dedede would most likely stockhold trophified fighters (ie: Luigi, Ness, and Peach/Zelda) and entered the room not by himself, but with his troops, from the ceiling no less. Bowser in SSE also displays a knowledge about his opponent Mario, who upon chasing him down, stops as Bowser points Peach/Zelda in his face, knowing Mario's psychological barriers. Bowser also shows quite efficient cooperation with Ganondorf, able to follow the plan to bring the fighters to Master Hand (Who he didn't know was being controlled). Bowser in SSE also displays some emotion, being able to mock, to get angry, frustrated, and even set aside his differences to fight a biggdr threat (Tabuu). Next game, in Shulk's reveal trailer, Bowser notices a butterfly going away, and realizes that there is a threat nearby, showcasing awareness of his surroundings.

Speaking of Smash 4, this is the game where Bowser's fighting style really evolves. Bowser in Smash 4 adopts a sumo wrestler fighting style, with focused but powerful straight blows for his jab, a powerful punch forward for his F-Tilt, several dropkick (Not easy techniques to do, by the way), and of course, his Flying Slam, a powerful command grab that has Bowser literally grab the opponent, jump up, and then slams his enormous wait on them while falling from the sky to enhance the power of the move. However, in the same game, Bowser shows the ability to mix his own biology into said fighting style, using his claws whenever he needs range as well as his horns on his head for powerful headbutts (His Uair).​ In smash Ultimate, he uses even more claw attacks and even more sumo inspired moves. His jab evolves into a palm strike into a direct punch. And if you know martial arts, you know palm strikes are quite martial. Bowser actually knows what he's doing in his moveset, consistently.

But that brings to question: Why do people think he is portrayed as some senseless monster or unlike Bowser? This is mostly stemmed from the SFX and taunts like his Side-Taunt. Bowser in Smash does not use the Kenny James voice that he's had since Galaxy, instead opting for more realistic draconic sounds, which Sakurai thinks befits Smash Bowser. Sakurai did state before that he saw Bowser as a "Frenzied, terrifying monster." (Full quote: "The old Bowser was scary. In the NES era, characters are more symbolic, so you had to use your imagination. When I looked at the original​ Bowser, I saw a frenzied, terrifying monster. But, advancements in technology have allowed designers to convey characters in greater detail, and in recent games his image has steadily become cuter.") Bowser back then as clearly designed to be menacing and intimidating, given his status as a final boss. However, Sakurai did not fully stay in this design for Bowser forever. As you see in the transition in Brawl to 4, Bowser adopts a more upright posture, more refined blows, while still being a grappler. Bowser's biggest flaw representation wise comes down to two things: the SFX and the lack of modern personality. Smash has a mischaracterization problem all over its roster, and Bowser is not excluded from said problem. His SFX use mixtures of cougar sounds, pig noises, elk noises, and wild boar sounds to come together for this more fierce, intimidating persona. Bowser in Smash also has a distinct lack of personality in his facial expression, far more stoic most of the time during his animations rather than having clear changes in his expression. There is no cocky grin, no frustrated fist clenching, no prideful laughter, no tears. Bowser in Smash is deviated far from his modern cartoonish personality and expressions. I understand frustration in that. But to call him nothing more than a senseless monster and a wild animal is simply wrong. The closest I could find to matching this is hus portrayal in Smash Melee, where he truly lacked all personality and flair, being a hulking monstrosity who bites, claws, and flails to attack his foes, with rare moments of actual martial arts. However, in Smash Bros. Brawl to Ultimate, Bowser is far more cunning, far more disciplined, and less beastly. Sure he may not be the Bowser we know, but neither is Mario, Lucina, Roy, Captain Falcon, or Wario or Ganondorf.

last note: This is just my interpretation, a public note of how I feel about Smash's portrayal of one of my favorite villains in gaming and my main. I understand the frustration with Sakurai apparently saying that his top priority is to make characters in Smash as faithful as possible to represent their home series, yet with severe mischaracterizations like Roy's hotheadedness in Smash when he is actually very similar to Marth in personality, Mega-Man's lack of personality being shown, or in this case, Bowser's misrepresentation. But if I wanted to say something, it was this.

Smash Bros Bowser is extremely misunderstood in his portrayal (By the fans)