Recent reveal of concept art means the “sexy Bowser” family continues to grow.

It’s hard to believe that it’s only been about 10 days since Twitter user @ayyk92 drew the first illustration of Bowsette, the Super Crown-created princess version of the Super Mario franchise’s archvillain Bowser. Over the last week and a half, there’s been such a flood of Bowsette fan art that it seems like she’s been with us for a much longer time.

And actually, in a way, it turns out that she has.

This Sunday saw the release in Japan of The Art of Super Mario Odyssey. The book is an official collection of art from the production of Mario’s first outing on Nintendo’s Switch, in which the marque new play mechanic is Mario’s ability to toss a magical hat named Cappy at other living beings in order to fuse his body with that of his target.

While the book is full of official artwork and concept sketches, there’s one illustration in particular that’s grabbing people’s attention.

That right there is Koopa Peach (not to be confused with “Koopa-hime”/”Princess Koopa,” as the Japanese fan community calls Bowsette). The short concept manga shows Bowser, who’s been cornered by Mario, revealing that he has a fusion cap of his own, which he tosses at Princess Peach, merging his body with hers and boldly telling Mario “The real fight is just getting started.”

▼ A visual explanation of the difference between Koopa Peach (a.k.a. Bowser Peach) and Bowsette

While this might at first look like a case of Nintendo piggybacking on the Bowsette boom, the book was released on September 28, just eight days after @ayyk92’s original Bowsette illustration. That window of time isn’t long enough for someone at Nintendo to stumble across Bowsette, design Koopa Peach, and have the comic make its way into the book before printing.

Add in the fact that Koopa Peach’s origin comes from the Cappy play mechanic of Super Mario Odyssey, as opposed to anything from the upcoming New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe that Nintendo is currently hyping, and it’s clear that Koopa Peach existed well before the new-for-New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe Super Crown or Bowsette.

▼ ”Have we all just been dancing in the palm of Nintendo’s hand?” wonders this Twitter user.

https://twitter.com/tukusi913/status/1045856496280453121

So now fan artists have three versions of “sexy Bowser” to choose from: the standard Bowsette, the tanned, red-haired alternative Bowsette, and Nintendo’s Koopa Peach. If you’re opting for the third choice, it’s worth remembering that while the Super Crown ostensibly turns the wearer into a pretty princess, Cappy instead combines the two bodies into a hybrid. Because of that, Koopa Peach’s body is usually more reptilian than Bowsette’s, often with spikes sticking directly out of her shoulders.

Also, perhaps because it’s the person who throws Cappy who retains sentience and control over the combined body, Koopa Peach almost always has a gleefully haughty demeanor, since her personality is that of the destructive dictator Bowser.

https://twitter.com/ninten_cocco/status/1046327720890650629

While Koopa Peach’s charms have been earning her plenty of solo illustrations…

…some people would rather see Nintendo’s official lady Bowser standing right beside the fan-created one.

https://twitter.com/godzillatanaka/status/1046080141103968257

Of course, these paired portraits are a logical impossibility. Koopa Peach is a combination of Bowser, Peach, and Cappy, while Bowsette is a combination of Bowser and the Super Crown. Since Bowser is a required component for both transformations, the two characters can’t possibly exist side-by-side.

https://twitter.com/sisookurenkyu/status/1045718903463149568

But…wait! While they can’t both exist at the same time, what if Bowser put on the Super Crown, becoming Bowsette, and then Peach threw Cappy at her? Or, alternatively, If Bowser tossed the cap at Peach, turned into Koopa Peach, and then Koopa Peach put on the Super Crown? You’d end up with two more new characters, each one-third Bowser and two-thirds Peach, but mixed in different ways.

You know, at first we thought it was kind of weird that Bowsette is getting her own fan event in Japan this month, but with the seemingly endless possibilities of the Super Crown, maybe just one event isn’t going to be enough.

Source: Jin