Bowyer
- Not to be confused with Bowser.
| Bowyer | |
|---|---|
| |
| First appearance | Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (1996) |
| Latest appearance | Super Mario RPG (Nintendo Switch) (2023) |
- “What? WHAT? Disturb me you must not! Practicing, I am. More arrows must I shoot! More statues must I make, nya!"
"Gnya, NYA!? A stranger you are... and strange looking at that! Teach you, we must, who’s in charge!” - —Bowyer, Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
Bowyer is a commander of the Smithy Gang in the game Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars and its Switch remake. Bowyer resembles a bow, and attacks by firing his minions (called Aeros) at his opponents. His name comes from "bowyer", a person who makes or sells bows to be used for archery.
Bowyer was ordered by Smithy to attack Rose Town. As such, Bowyer, while at the Forest Maze, begins firing poison-tipped arrows at Rose Town. When a person is hit with an arrow, they will become paralyzed and remain frozen like statues. His Aero minions found the second Star Piece in the forest.
When Bowyer gets the Star Piece, he is confronted by a strange, blue garbed warrior named Geno. At the same time, Mario and Mallow arrive to stop Bowyer, the source of the arrows plaguing Rose Town. As a result, the three warriors team up to battle the maniacal monster.
While Bowyer's main attack is firing arrows, the monster is also a master of lightning magic. Additionally, Bowyer can disable the buttons on the player's controllers, meaning that Mario and his allies will be prevented from using regular attacks, special attacks, or items until another button is disabled. In the remake, Bowyer also disables Toad Assist as well as one of the commands and when Bowyer's HP runs low, he disables all of the buttons at once, forcing Mario, Mallow and Geno to use a Triple Move to finish him off. Once Bowyer is defeated, Mario, Mallow and Geno recover the second Star Piece.
Later, Mario, Mallow, Geno, Bowser, and Princess Peach encountered several mass-produced Bowyer copies in Smithy's Factory.
Bowyer can be seen in the parade during the end credits, along with Claymorton and Speardovich, in which all three are pounded by Smithy's hammer.
While having the same overall role in the remake, his boss fight was changed slightly due to the inclusion of the Triple Move mechanic. After dealing significant damage, Bowyer, realizing that he's likely going to lose against Geno, Mario, and Mallow, fires three Aeros at all the buttons, thus effectively disabling the party from attacking him or even healing. However, Geno suggests they team up with their combined might via a Triple Move, with Bowyer initially intending to respond in kind until he realizes he doesn't have any allies to do so. He then collapses into a heap after the Triple Move is used against him before vanishing.
Profiles and statistics
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
| Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars enemy | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bowyer | |||||||||
|
HP | 720 | FP | 250 | Speed | 10 | |||
| Location(s) | Forest Maze | Attack | 50 | Magic attack | 30 | ||||
| Role | Boss | Defense | 40 | Magic defense | 35 | ||||
| Bonus Flower | None | Yoshi Cookie | None | Morph rate | 0% | ||||
| Evade | 0% | Magic evade | 0% | Spells | Static E!, Bolt, Lightning Orb | ||||
| Weak | None | Strong | Fear, Poison, Sleep, Mute, Critical | Sp. attacks | G'night | ||||
| Coins | 50 | Exp. points | 60 | Items | Flower Box (25%), Flower Box (5%) | ||||
| Psychopath | "What's with these folks?" | ||||||||
| Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars enemy | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Machine Made (Bowyer) | |||||||||
|
HP | 1000 | FP | 250 | Speed | 200 | |||
| Location(s) | The Weapons' World | Attack | 150 | Magic attack | 90 | ||||
| Role | Common | Defense | 120 | Magic defense | 80 | ||||
| Bonus Flower | None | Yoshi Cookie | None | Morph rate | 0% | ||||
| Evade | 0% | Magic evade | 0% | Spells | Static E!, Lightning Orb, Bolt | ||||
| Weak | None | Strong | Fear, Poison, Sleep, Mute, Critical | Sp. attacks | G'night | ||||
| Coins | 40 | Exp. points | 150 | Items | Ice Bomb (25%) | ||||
| Psychopath | "Nya! I'll SNUFF ya! NYA!" | ||||||||
Super Mario RPG (Nintendo Switch)
| Super Mario RPG enemy | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bowyer | |||||||||
|
|
HP | 720 | Weak Elements | N/A | Drops | Flower Box | |||
| Exp. | 60 | Weak Statuses | N/A | Rare Drops | N/A | ||||
| Found in | Forest Maze | ||||||||
| Monster List profile | The heads of the Rose Town citizens looked like targets to him, so he let loose a volley of arrows on them. He is attended by his arrow followers, Aeros. | ||||||||
| Thought Peek | "What's with these folks? Dressed funny, they are, nya. Furious it makes me, nya!" | ||||||||
| Animations | |||||||||
- Website description:
- Japanese:
カジオーが送り込んだ、武器軍団の一人。弓の姿をしていて、自分の体を使って矢を放つ。
「オイラ以外のヤツラが こまった顔するのは、とっても楽しいニャー！ オマエたちも、そう思うだろ～ニャ？」
(Translation: A member of the Smithy Gang, sent by Smithy. He has the form of a bow and shoots arrows using his own body.
"Happy I am, nya! Look...LOOK at their expressions when freeze they do!")
- Japanese:
Gallery
Concept artwork
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
Bowyer being confronted by Mario and Geno in the Switch remake
Names in other languages
| Language | Name | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japanese | ユミンパ[?] Yuminpa |
From「弓」(yumi) and possibly「くるりんぱ」(kururinpa, a childish slang expression for "crazy") | |
| Chinese | 弓箭帕[?] Gōngjiànpà |
From「弓」(bow) and a transliteration of the Japanese name | |
| Dutch | Boogerd[?] | From “boog” (bow) | |
| French | Chtarbarc[?] | Portmanteau of "chtarbé" (bonkers in slang) and "arc" (bow) | |
| German | Bogo[?] | From "Bogen" (bow) | |
| Italian | Arko[?] | Pun on "arco" (bow) | |
| Korean | 보이어[?] Boieo |
Bowyer | |
| Spanish | Arquelio[?] | From "arquero" (archer) and the male name ending "-io" |
Trivia
- Bowyer uses anastrophe when he speaks, meaning he reverses the usual order of clauses in his sentences when talking to others, similar to Yoda from Star Wars. He also has a habit of saying "Nya!", which is the Japanese word for "meow".
- In Bowyer's original artwork, his eyes are red, but his in-game sprites have blue eyes; his Machine Made counterpart has red eyes, however.
- For some reason, he has a reaction to Carbo Cookies in his AI script, despite the Carbo Cookie not being available until after his defeat and being unusable in battle, anyway. This reaction also applies to his Machine Made self. The reaction appears to have been intended to unlock all the buttons.
