Jump to content
LordCowCow

Which Character Is Better? Bowser Vs Ganondorf

Post If You Vote  

10 members have voted

  1. 1. Bowser vs Ganondorf



Recommended Posts

This will be an experimental thread. As stated above only vote if you post as well. Otherwise your vote doesn't count.

The idea here is simple. Take two characters and decide which you think is the better character. Be it because of personality, design, actions, etc. But be sure to explain in a post. I want to see if we can get people discussing this.

Decided on these two because of popularity, relevance, and being recurring big bads in big series.

My vote

Spoiler

I'm going with Bowser mostly due to familiarity. But also because I feel there's more of his personality and character shown throughout the games. Through both his actions and the actions of others and even the design of levels. While Ganondorf to me always just felt like "He's the big bad, he evil, he takes over world, stop him."

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Bowser has more hits than misses, and a lot of personality.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Bowser is a far better character, but that's because of how many times he's been in a protagonist role. Bowser's Inside Story is a great example of this, and that game was practically made by the way Bowser worked into the humor of the game so flawlessly.

Meanwhile, Ganondorf is... Bland? Not always, mind you, Wind Waker Ganondorf is my favorite incarnation of him by far, and OoT, despite his role being relatively minor, was a major landmark for the series in including him at all and he was properly intimidating there, but... He's boring a lot of the other times. Shoehorned into the Oracle games and was only Ganon, shoe horned into Twilight Princess where he had no presence, or even Breath of the Wild where he was just basically a natural disaster.

I'm really hoping that in BotW 2 he's, you know, an actual character. Revive him from the dead or whatever, but please, make him an actual character.

He generally has less personality, especially when they lean on the Beast Ganon side of his appearances. And this is a problem Bowser has had as well, especially in Smash for the majority of it where he makes, well, beast noises instead of the normal Bowser sounds.

Better villain is more arguable though. I think Bowser functions better in a secondary deuteragonist type role.

Edited by Kazooie

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

It's an interesting question to be brought out for sure. Honestly, back in the day, I probably would've immediately answered with Ganondorf due to how he was when I first played OoT. However, there have been quite a number differences that I've come across between both characters.

Ganondorf has gone through so many iterations, but in the end, still is just Ganondorf. Mind you, this could possibly be just the problem stemming from the whole "Trio forever reincarnated" thing that occurred thanks to Demise in Skyward Sword, but nevertheless, it's something that has continuously happened. Further, while Ganondorf as well as Ganon's power and skill is quite impressive, it somewhat pales in comparison to the countless amount that the Koopa King has at his disposal.

On the Koopa's side, we've seen him in countless games and seen him develop quite the character...one of which being his role as a father and father figure for Bowser Jr as well as the Koopalings. This here is the biggest thing for me. No matter how much he messes up or how outlandish the circumstances are that he's going for, he's trying his best to do this for his kid(s) and be a father (Perhaps I'm harping on this factor a lot more than other factors due to my losing my own father this past April, but it's something I can't really help).

Also...Bowser has started becoming my favorite character recently anyway because of a SSB machinima...cause let's be honest...this VA for him really fits the part xD So yeah, Bowser has my vote.

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Gotta go with Bowser. In terms of character, he's had much more development throughout his history as the penultimate Mario game antagonist while also becoming quite the lovable doof.

Ganondorf, on the other hand, as threatening and badass as he is (and arguably a better villain in terms of his goals) has been basically the same generic dark presence that he's been throughout his entire franchise.

Edited by Thar

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm voting Bowser as well, and there's not really much I can add that hasn't already been said regarding the two as characters. Bowser's simply way more fun of a character.

And you know what else Bowser has that Ganondorf doesn't?

Doug Bowser jokes.

10 hours ago, Chaos Sonic said:

Ganondorf has gone through so many iterations, but in the end, still is just Ganondorf. Mind you, this could possibly be just the problem stemming from the whole "Trio forever reincarnated" thing

Well that's one thing about Ganondorf, of the three of them in terms of characters Link and Zelda at least have the advantage of having multiple incarnations to pull from, but there's only ever been 2 Ganondorfs. Four Swords Adventures featured his only actual reincarnation (and even then iirc he obtained his original memories and stuff from his past life so he was practically the same person anyways), while every other game with Ganon/Ganondorf is the same one that started from OoT. Aside from FSA he's either been brought back from the dead or broken out of some magic seal, but almost never reincarnated.

Now, Wind Waker has shown us that they can give him more characterization. But unlike Bowser's constant rivalry with Mario, from the perspective of each Link, Ganon/Ganondorf is a new bad guy even though to the player he's the same Ganon/Ganondorf. He's largely just the big bad that's saved for the end of the game and I wish he'd get more time to develop.

Edited by Shradow

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Personally, I like Ganondorf more than Bowser for what I guess could be considered more shallow reasons.  I like the variety of designs he's had over the years, particularly his Wind Waker incarnation with the twin swords.  Whereas Bowser does have a clean aesthetic that has been refined over the years, Ganondorf has been more varied over the course of his incarnations in various media.  Each Ganondorf is almost a distinct entity, compared to Bowser being one character across a myriad of games...And there's merit to Bowser being more "realized" and having more development over the years, certainly.  But I rather like the idea that everyone can have their own favorite incarnation of Ganondorf.  I'm also a sucker for the aesthetic of the Gerudo people and culture, so there's that.

The other reason I lean Ganon is that he's more threatening than Bowser as a villain.  Bowser is imposing due to his size and spikes and fire breath, and even his ingenuity when it comes to inventions and plots to kidnap Peach/best Mario, but he isn't as menacing as Ganondorf.  He's a warlock, he wields a piece of the Triforce, he's got a big honkin' sword, he turns into a giant monster...I dunno, I think it just comes down to me thinking he's "cooler" than Bowser.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Bowser, IMO. There is barely a contest, for most of the reasons others already stated. Ganondorf is a fine villain, but there is barely shown anything else beyond his role as the bad guy in the Zelda series. Meanwhile, through the the different games, we have seen many aspects and sides of Bowser.

IMO what greatly help Ganon's case is a Zelda game where the 3 Triforce wielders have to join forces to face a bigger threat. Kind of what Mario RPG did way back on the SNES days. That ought to reveal a different side of Ganondorf.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    No registered users viewing this page.

×
×
  • Create New...