Yes....Bowser has a Brother!

One of Nintendo's greatest mysteries is that Bowser actually has a brother, referred to as Blue Bowser. This little known or talked about character makes his only appearance in Super Mario 2: The Lost Levels. For clarification, there is also what is called a Fake Bowser. The Bowser's that you fight on the 4th level of a world will turn into a spiny or another enemy when you defeat him, thus making him a Fake Bowser, not the real one. In the Lost Levels there are two times you will encounter a Blue Bowser in the game. Once on world 8-4 and again on world 9-3. When you defeat these Blue Bowsers, they don't turn into an enemy when you kill him. He simply dies and goes through the bottom of the screen as a Blue Bowser, making him an actual character in the game. 

Through the years Nintendo has vaguely mentioned Bowser's brother. There were several Japanese players guides in the late 1980's and early 1990's that called Bowser's brother his twin, or referred to him as a fake Bowser or an Impostor. In the 90's a Nintendo Power issue said: "Mysterious Blue Bowser! In W8-4 just before confronting Bowser, a blue-bodied Bowser must be fought. He has the same abilities as Bowser, but his true identity is unknown." So, we can see that Nintendo is all over the place as to explaining exactly what or who this Blue Bowser character actually is. 

Nevertheless, we know for a fact that the Real Bowser is Green. Bowser's Brother is Blue. We know that in the Lost Levels this Blue Bowser when defeated actually dies as his own character in the game. In relation to Menkos is where the Blue Bowser story gets interesting.

Bowser only appears in the 1985 Menko set two times. Both of these Menkos actually shows a Bowser's Brother, a Blue Bowser. The one Menko in particular shows a Blue Bowser holding Peach while Mario comes flying into the scene. The problem with this is there would never be a time that Bowser's Brother, a Blue Bowser, would have Peach captured in his arms. The other Menko is of a Blue Bowser fighting Mario as he throws hammers at Mario. This Menko could be viewed as correct. In the Lost Levels the Blue Bowser does throw hammers just like the real Bowser. 

With all of this said, we do know for a fact that Bowser does have a brother because he is an actual character in the Lost Levels game. But when we look at early Menkos it appears that Nintendo interchanged the color of Bowser between blue and green. I have Menkos where Bowser is green, and I have Menkos where Bowser is blue. The Menko with a Blue Bowser holding Peach while Mario comes into the scene I would consider in a big way an "Error." Only because there was never the occasion in any game where Bowser's Brother, a Blue Bowser, ever captured Peach. Nintendo also made what they called Mini Menko Cards in 1985. There are a few with Bowser in them. Oddly enough, some Bowsers are green, and some are blue.

This topic raises a lot of questions. Why hasn't Nintendo put this mystery to rest and gave us a definitive on Bowser's Brother? Was the Blue Bowsers in the early Menkos from 1985 a simple mistake that was easily overlooked or was Bowser made Blue on purpose?  We may never know.

Below are pics of the Blue Bowser Menkos and other related pics.