Mario gets one in the iconic Bowser fight. In order to beat him, you have to grab him by the tail, swing him around, and throw him into a bomb. The result? A HUGE explosion, and a defeated Bowser.
This is foreshadowed in the battle against King Bob-omb, whom Mario defeats by picking him up and throwing him. The portly Italian plumber with a cheery voice just picked up a giant black ball and threw it. Three times. After defeat, King Bob-omb outright says, unintentionally anyway, that you can do something similar to Bowser. Hell. Yes.
Even better with the final battle, as Mario has climbed far into the sky to fight him, and the battle is set to some epic background music. You have to blow Bowser up three times! Grabbing the star afterwards and flying into the sky with heroic music playing ... if that isn't a perfect way to end the game, I don't know what is.
The musical motif that plays whenever you defeat Bowser is extremely satisfying to hear since that means even more levels to explore and getting that much closer to rescuing Peach. HERE WE GO!
On that note, Bowser's encounters in general. Taking cues from his having taken a level in badass a mere generation ago, Bowser ups his game this time; he outright storms Peach's Castle for the first of many times in this series, steals the source of its power, and puts his hold on pretty much every area of the castle by creating 15 different worlds that you have to explore. And then come the levels where you trek up to Bowser; you go through a gauntlet more similar to the games of old, complete with "Koopa's Road" playing as it builds up to your confrontation, complete with each having a Power Star to boot (2 in the DS remake). At the end of the level you fight the scaly king of the Koopas himself, who across the different battles uses several abilities such as a huge stomp attack, a charge attack, his signature fire breath, and even teleportation. As stated above, you have to throw him into a bomb to do any damage at all. Then comes "Bowser in the Sky". Pretty much everything is thrown at you this time, and the end has you fighting Bowser with an even more awesome tune in the background, forcing you to hit him three times to win, and after the second hit he makes the entire ground crumble, revealing a star shape and requiring your aim to be true to even hit the bomb. There's a reason why Mario is the ultimate hero of gaming, especially after this fight.
And how about Bowser's plan? He doesn't crack jokes or mess around this time. He just drops in, storms Peach's Castle, and seals every single door with the castle's stars. If he hadn't left the door to Bob-omb Battlefield open for whatever reason (though the DS version indicates he believed Mario was going to get blown up in Bob-omb Battlefield), he would have won.
There's an oasis in a corner of Shifting Sand Land. What's awesome is the fact that the developers were nice enough to put it there to refill your health at any time, since diving in the water and then coming back out refills your health.
In "Mario Wings to the Sky", using the cannon on the floating island to launch Mario directly into the five secrets with careful aiming. A flawless victory.
Any time you get the Koopa Shell. Mario's surfing with it — on water, in the snow, and even over lava.
Each and every time Mario dons the Wing Cap is an awesome moment — he's soaring through the sky with triumphant music playing. There's a reason why it's the game's signature power-up.
That cool funnel thing that you go down to reach the Bowser fight in "Bowser in the Fire Sea." It's a lot more interesting than the Warp Pipes that are used to reach the other two Bowser fights, and there's quite possibly nothing else like it throughout the entire Mario series.
While this is not the very first time he voiced the iconic mustachioed hero, this is the game that pretty much solidified Charles Martinet as THE voice of Super Mario!
DS Remake
Just about everything in the remake, aside from the wonky controls, boasts some level of awesome. With unique characters, much more content than the original, a harder learning curve, excellent graphics and visuals, and Yoshi pulling off a hugeBig Damn Heroes moment just in time to rescue our heroes and salvage the day for the Mushroom Kingdom, you know you're in for a thrill. Not bad for a Nintendo DS launch title.
Yoshi hijacking Mario's role as the main protagonist is one of the selling points of the remake. He doesn't just fight alongside Mario to beat Bowser. He straight-up steals the show. Even if his inability to punch or kick makes him a considerable downgrade to the plumbersnote He's completely incapable of breaking the large brick blocks, which the other characters can do easily. He also has no way of defeating Boos, even with his ground pound, which makes him incapable of entering Big Boo's Haunt., his jumping capabilities and egg-laying and throwing, along with his overall balanced mobility, more than make up for not being able to throw his fists around. And even then, saving Mario, Luigi and Wario makes their hats appear in all levels for Yoshi to wear, giving the green dinosaur all of the plumbers' abilities until he gets hit. This makes it entirely possible to beat most of the game (Big Boo's Haunt, Bowser in the Sky and certain secret levels notwithstanding) with Yoshi alone.
And how about Yoshi in general? We all know Princess Peach is going to be captured, but when we see not just Mario, but Luigi and Wario, we think they're gonna be just fine. But after a while, they don't return. So Yoshi (who somehow manages to get down from the castle roof to the ground without waking up) decides to take a look himself, and when he breaks into the castle, he finds out that our seemingly insurmountable heroes have been captured, as Bowser took a level in badass and made sure they couldn't get in his way. What does the character who appeared as just a cameo in the original do? Well, no need to fear, as our unlikely hero takes a serious level in badass, and fights his way to the Power Stars one by one, and rescues Mario and our heroes just in time and saves the day! Talk about a hero.
It's certainly no Mario vs Bowser, but Yoshi throwing down with Goomboss still manages to pack a punch, as he manages to show off just how deadly his egg-laying and throwing ability can be if you're not careful. And the stakes are pretty high, as Goomboss has captured Mario and locked him up—if Yoshi fails, then Mario and the crew will be trapped, and so will Princess Peach, and all will be lost.
And even better? Most of the stars in the game can be gotten with any character, so he's still pretty useful, even after you rescue Mario.
And speaking of which, Goomboss's role is this game turns out the be the result of him taking a major level in badass. In his original game, he was an overconfident, prideful Goomba who got knocked out by Mario at the beginning of the game. In this, he not only avenges that loss against Mario, but captures him and locks him away, giving Bowser a much easier time taking over the castle. He sure earned the title of "Goomba King" this time around.
The other bosses required to unlock Luigi and Wario are pretty awesome as well:
Mario vs. King Boo. This might even be Mario's first encounter with the spectral king before Luigi's Mansion took place, and even though he doesn't fight much differently from your average Boo, it takes Mario some thinking with the mirror in their arena to defeat him.
Luigi vs. Chief Chilly. This is a boss more catered to Wario's skillset, and yet the physically weakest of the lot (barring Yoshi) is the one that deals with him. Even after you unlock Wario and wear his hat to the fight, Luigi is still the only one who can naturally access this fight. Not bad for the King of Second Bananas.
The fact that Wario of all people even appears in this game is incredible in and of itself, especially when you realize this is his first appearance in a mainstream Mario game.
Somehow, Bowser of all characters manages to takeanotherlevel in badass in the remake. When he takes another crack at what he did in the original, he not only replicates his original takeover of Peach's Castle perfectly, he manages to improvise a little and, with the help of his co-dragons Goomboss, King Boo, and Chief Chilly, he captures Mario, Luigi, and Wario, three of the most powerful characters in the entire franchise, when they try to stop him, and even better, that doesn't even throw a wrench in his plans. That's what really sets the stakes even higher in the remake. Now Bowser's grown even more powerful this time around, and now, with his three most powerful enemies taken out of the picture, Yoshi is the only one who can stop him.
In late April of 2019, Nintendo-focused YouTuber Nathaniel Bandy discovered a way to beat Super Mario 64 DS without using Mario. That's right- he managed to beat the game with just Yoshi, Luigi, and Wario. Even better, his total Star count by the end is a whopping 134/150 Stars. This feat spawned an entire new subgenre of Super Mario 64 speedruns, and is an impressive feat of ingenuity regardless.
that plays whenever you defeat Bowser is extremely satisfying to hear since that means even more levels to explore and getting that much closer to rescuing Peach. HERE WE GO!