I remember when I was a little kid and Mario wasn't really the pop culture icon he would soon become, I processed this sprite through my understanding of "Bowser" as a dog's name and assumed he was supposed to be some dog/turtle hybrid. That big doggy snout made it easy to do so.
I can definitely see that! Mario 64 was my first introduction to Mario and Bowser, so when I first played the original Super Mario Bros and got to the first castle he didn’t even register as Bowser at first because of how weird he looked to me. I was also like 5 or 6 and still kinda stupid haha
Especially when the one on the cover was also quite different from what he would become? Gotta love those early rough steps, like what the Rogue Trader era was for Warhammer 40k.
Comments
that's not bowser, that's his cousin bauer
Like you'd open a cellar door and he turns around like