Baby Bowser

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Baby Bowser, the young Prince of the Koopas.

"You'll never amount to nothin'!"
-Bowser, speaking to his younger self, Baby Bowser, in Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time

Baby Bowser (or Prince Bowser as he prefers to be called) is Bowser as a kid. He first appeared in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island where he was the game's last boss. He would try to kick Baby Mario off Yoshi's back and ride Yoshi himself, and he would also send out shockwaves by ground pounding. Yoshi could give him a taste of his own medicine by hitting the spoiled prince with his shockwaves. After three hits Baby Bowser is beaten, then Kamek shows up and turns him gigantic. Then the real battle begins. Now that Baby Bowsers as big as Yoshi's Island itself, Yoshi has to hit him with his own supersized eggs, all the while avoiding the fireballs and debris being thrown at him. After a dozen or so hits the monster prince gets shrunk back to normal and Kamek appears, grabbing him and taking off into the night vowing revenge.

Baby Bowser got that revenge in Yoshi's Story when he stole the Super Happy Tree, the source of all the happiness in Yoshi's Island, and to make matters worse he turned the island into a pop-up book! It was up to a bunch of Yoshi babies to stop him. After some adventuring the Yoshi found Baby Bowser in his castle and the two started to fight. Yoshi had to hit Baby Bowser with Bomb-ombs while the prince was riding his "pet" and knock him off. The battle is then on the ground where Baby Bowser would shoot fireballs, throw bombs and send shockwaves and Yoshi would have to hit him a few more times to beat him. This battle is actually pretty easy because the Super Happy Tree is right there so Yoshi can recover health whenever.

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Baby Bowser turned into a monster (more so) by Kamek.

Baby Bowser showed up again in Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time at the start of the game where he tried to kidnapped Baby Princess Peach and was stopped by the Baby Mario Bros., but the victory was short lived because just then the Shroobs attacked the castle. Luckily everyone managed to escape on Baby Bowser's Koopa Cruiser which then picked up a time displaced Mario and Luigi. Unfortunately the ship was attacked by the Shroobs and crashed into the prince's castle where the Babies and the normal Bros. found the Prince had a Cobalt Star Shard, also finding a time hole that brought them to the present. Baby Bowser showed up a lot in the game, mostly being an annoyance doing things like stealing the Bros. Cobalt Star Shards and stealing all the cookies on Yoshi's Island. Eventually Baby Bowser teamed up with his future self to defeat the four Mario Bros. in Thwomp Volcano (strangely neither recognises the other) but ended up being beaten and flung into the sky, where Bowser ended in a time hole and Baby Bowser ended up in the Shroob Mothership. He showed up again after the Bros. beat the Shroob Princess and despite being warned he put the Cobalt Star together and released the Elder Princess Shroob, he was then turned into a Shroob Mushroom. He showed up at the end of the game going home and complaining about losing the Cobalt Star.

Baby Bowser is, surprisingly, playable in the new Yoshi's Island DS. He is able to shoot fire balls. In certain levels, he shows up to, as the Nintendo Power Player's Guide puts it, "kick some major enemy butt, of course!". His fireballs are very handy for melting ice cubes found around his levels. However, at the end of the game, the snotty brat turns traitor, attacking Yoahi and the babies! The fight goes much like the previous one: Yoshi beats the snot out of the little prince, Kamek blows him up to gigantic size (though not as big as the first time) and Yoshi must smack 'im down. Not much is currently known about the story, and how Baby owser fits in.

NOTE: Baby Bowser is NOT Bowser Jr., who is Bowser's son; nor is he a Koopaling, who are also children of Bowser.