Shrowser

File:Shrowser.PNG

The Mario Bros. and their baby counterparts fighting Shrowser

“Mmm... I can feel a power burning in my belly! What in the world did you feed me?”

—Shrowser, Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time

Shrowser is the final boss fought in Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time. Bowser takes this form after ingesting a purple mushroom that turned out to be the form of the dormant Elder Princess Shroob; she ends up possessing him, and Mario, Luigi, Baby Mario, and Baby Luigi fight them both in the present Peach's Castle.

While Bowser is possessed, he retains his normal appearance and personality, although with multiple signs of Elder Princess Shroob's influence; he flashes purple, has purple eyes, and has an afterimage effect and purple clouds around him. The music during the Shrowser battle is the same one used during the earlier battle against Bowser and Baby Bowser.

Shrowser is one of the few bosses in the Mario & Luigi series and the only boss in Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time that can only be defeated with counterattacks. Because the brothers are unable to attack during the fight, Shrowser cannot be targeted, and the name normally never appears in-game; however, it does appear as a string in the ROM that is translated in some releases of the game.

Battle

As the battle starts, a purple aura emits from Shrowser and takes the form of the Elder Princess Shroob on the top screen. Shrowser then states that the Mario Bros. and their baby selves cannot perform any actions, such as attacking or using items. In order to defeat Shrowser, the quartet must jump over or hammer back several of the fiery projectiles that he continually spews at them; Bowser himself deflects any and all counterattacks away, causing them to hit Elder Princess Shroob's spectral form instead. While Shrowser has a regular set of stats like most other enemies and bosses, much of it is unused due to the battle's programming and the win condition established at the beginning; instead, the Mario Bros. and their baby counterparts must deplete Elder Princess Shroob's health meter, which is represented by Shroob-like mushrooms at the bottom of the top screen.

Shrowser's attacks can be countered by looking at the Elder Princess Shroob and her attack patterns. If she points with her right arm, Shrowser attacks Mario and Baby Mario; if she points with the left arm, Shrowser attacks Luigi and Baby Luigi. Depleting the Elder Princess Shroob's health meter requires jumping over the equivalent of 20 fireballs or more, hammering back the equivalent of 10 fire orbs or more, or some combination of the two. The Bros. and Baby Bros. must survive the entire round of counterattacks as well; even if the health meter is depleted, if they are all KOed before that turn of attacks ends, it still counts as a Game Over. Once successfully defeated, Elder Princess Shroob finally disappears, causing Bowser to faint.

Statistics

Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time enemy
Shrowser
	HP	4960	POW	180 (170)	Defense	140
	Experience	0	Coins	0	Speed	64
	Location(s)	Peach's Castle	Role	Boss	Item drop	None – 0% None – 0%
	Level	100	Battled by	Everyone
Notice: Stats in parentheses are from the Japanese and European versions (if they differ from the original American release).

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning	Notes
Japanese	ゲドクッパ[?] Gedokuppa	From Gedonko, meaning "Shroob", and Koopa, Bowser's Japanese name.
German	Shrowser[?]	-

Trivia

• Shrowser is one of three bosses in the series who can only be defeated by counterattacking. The other bosses are Ludwig von Koopa from Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions (the original was a regular battle) and Thunder Sass from Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, although healing items are allowed in the latter. This is also the case with some of the Hammer Bros in the Stuff Retrieval mission from Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam.
• In Super Mario-Kun, Baby Bowser was the one to eat the Shroob Mushroom.