Bowser

History:

No one is exactly sure where Bowser came from or how long he has been around, or even if the Bowser from the Past is the same as the Bowser of today. It is widely thought that the Darkening of the Koopa Kingdom in the mid-19th Century had something to do with the Dark Magic of Lord Bowser but there is no Historical Documentation to back this up. Due to Bowser's Turtle Nature as well as his proficiency in Dark Magic it is possible that he is hundreds of years old.

What is known is that Bowser started reworking the Giant Castle of the Koopa Kingdom in the early 1970s. Suddenly his images were everywhere and he and his offspring have definitively controlled every aspect of life in the Kingdom ever since. It is now colloquially known as Dark Land and residents face compulsory military service, little arable land and Loyalty Oaths to Lord Bowser with severe consequences. He has launched numerous campaigns to conquer the peaceful nearby Mushroom Kingdom but to no avail.

In order to shelter most of Dark Land from the intrusion of Outsiders but still wanting to field a track to compete with his enemy Mario in the Cups, Bowser outfitted his own Home, Bowser's Castle into a course, completed in 1991. He has tried in vain to win the affections of Princess Peach and is known for some of the most excessive Karts and Racing Styles in All the Cups. While he maintains a temporary truce with his enemies he hates losing.

Super:

In SMK Bowser is one of the only Heavyweights, statistically equal to DK Jr. They make up a class called "The Showdown," one of Four Classes between the Eight Characters. He has very High Weight and Speed but terrible acceleration and handling. As a computer some of his Fire Power comes into play and he will throw Balls of Lava at other players. Under the SMK Rival Order, which would rank how all the other Karts would finish if Bowser was in first, the computers in Grand Prix finish Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, DK Jr, Toad, then Koopa. You can see that Bowser is most friendly to Koopa and has the worst time with Mario. All the Bowser Castle stages are his namesake.

64:

Bowser is pretty awful in 64. He's a monster on the course but his acceleration is so terrible, if anything knocks him around he's history. He's still big enough though that no other Racer will be able to bump him out. Once he gets going his steering can be stiff, which is beneficial in that he's not going to slip and spin out uncontrollably on the course. He's definitely planted where he is. He's also not bouncing around but will lose a ton of speed off his jumps.

Super Circuit:

Bowser intimidates foes by driving backwards.

Super Circuit differentiated a bit between Bowser and the other Heavyweights, Kong and Wario. While they were a little lighter and faster, Bowser had his weight stat completely maxed out at the expense of terrible speed. He thus rules over all other Karts. Conceivably he could knock everyone out at the start and then coast the rest of the way, but the game is far too unpredictable for that to happen. Stay away from Bowser in these two games.

Double Dash:

In Double Dash the Individual Racers didn't matter as much as the Karts. Each of the Twenty Drivers had a Specific Kart and Item (there was also the Parade Kart, making 21 total Vehicles) that anyone of the same Weight Class could use. Bowser's Ride is the Koopa King, which is a monstrously big Kart that hits everything in its path, be it Star or Banana. It's also got some insane stats. It's tied for 1st with many of the other Heavy Karts (along with Luigi's Green Fire and Bowser Jr.'s Bullet Blaster) in speed at 58 mph as well as 1st in weight. Bowser is almost always unknockable, no one is pushing the Koopa King around.

Hail, Lord Bowser

All this sounds great until you see its Acceleration which ranks 19th, taking 3.214 to go from 0 to 40 mph. It is also the single worst Offroad Kart in the game, barely revving it to 27 mph on the slightest patch of grass. Note that for its size it actually doesn't have the worst Acceleration and its handling while trademarked stiff, its not bouncy at all and loses only a moderate amount of speed on turns. In this sense it is probably one of the better Heavy Karts around, or at least gives the most for your money.

Each Driver also has a Special Item that only they receive. Bowser is identical to Donkey Kong in that they both have a partner with the same Item who is a Lightweight. There are only three such pairs in the game, the other being the Third Heavyweight from 64 (Heavy Wario is paired with Middleweight Waluigi). Thus Bowser Jr. also uses Bowser's Item, making him a good option for anyone seeking a Bowser-like character in anything lighter than the Heavy Class. Their Item is the Bowser Shell, a monstrously huge Shell that looks like it came from one of his Giant Incarnations that races across the Track and destroys everyone. It is notoriously dangerous to throw it in front because it can bounce backwards fast and take you out but on straightaways or behind it is pretty useful. It's only issue is that you can't control it once released and as such will damage you as much as anyone else. Baby Park is a deadly place to drop these.

Bowser and Bowser Jr. are the only Double Dash characters to only have a single Secret Staff Ghost. Their track is Bowser Castle at 2:44:690 with the Koopa King. They missed out on another signature track because Mario and Peach took Rainbow Road. What a shame for Lord Bowser, but could you really see Rainbow Road being the Track for Bowser Jr? Hell no.

DS:

For the DS each of the Twelve Main Characters had three Karts to use initially. Basically everyone has a Standard Kart with average stats, one with slightly worse stats but an excellent Item Rating that is useful for getting good Items in Grand Prix or Mushrooms in Time Trials and finally one Kart with pretty awesome stats except for Items that is useful if you can get ahead and win by Racing. The only stat that Racers really affect Karts is their weight, in this case, Bowser adds 3.5 to the weight of all his rides, tied with R.O.B. as the heaviest in the game. Bowser's Karts are as follows:

There's a few notable things here. Bowser's Hurricane is one of only two Karts to get a perfect 10 Speed rating, the other being ROB's ROB-BLS. His Drift is decent as his is weight (unranked here), but his acceleration and handling are terrible. In essence, Bowser has very similar stats to his SMK appearance. He also has three Staff Ghosts in the game. His two from the Nitro Grand Prix both use the Hurricane. He completes Airship Fortress in a 2:07:748 and Bowser Castle in 2:19:661, the longest of any track in this game. The Ariship Fortress association like comes from the fact that many of Bowser's schemes have involved Mobile Oppression Palaces, such as the Koopa Clown Car. He also has a Ghost on the Retro Bowser Castle 2 from Super Circuit, using the Standard BW in 1:52:258.

Wii:

Wii merged the Double Dash and DS idea of Kart-specific racing with with the earlier idea of Character-specific racing. The Twenty-Four characters are sorted into Three different Size Classes, each of which may choose between Six Karts and Six Bikes. Each Vehicle has slightly different stats and in addition each Character adds Bonuses to different stats in different areas. The combinations are mindboggling. Bowser gets a Weight Bonus, of course, along with a small Speed and Drift Bonus. Here are the Bowser-Specific Stats for Every Kart he can use in Wii:

Bowser has strong associations with both the Flame Flyer Kart and the Flame Runner Bike, the later of which bears his mug. Both are Fiery Vehicles that are exceptionally fast with decent Drift but no Acceleration, Handling or Offroad. That's Bowser exactly. He's also got some association with the Piranha Prowler, maybe because it's modeled after one of his underlings, but also because when he sits in it he becomes the Heaviest Combo in the Game. Bowser only has one Ghost in the game, on the longest Original Track, Bowser's Castle, he uses the Piranha Prowler in 03:04.836. The Expert on the same track switches to the Flame Runner and a burns a blisteringly fast 02:42.098.