(Warning: SPoilesr for Mario Sunshine, Paper Mario, Mario 64, Super Mario Brothers 3, And uh...SMB 1?)
Although Bowser may seem to be just a "Joke" villian, I think that Bowser is a decent villian-his only real major flaw is a little bit of near sightedness. Take Super Mario 3, for example. Not only did Bowser manage to strategicaly deploy his children to take over kingdomes, but Bowser was basically building an entire army in the Dark World. Just think, if Mario hadn't gotten himself there and destroyed the army, there would've been a full scale invasion/assualt on the world. When you finally corner Bowser in his castle, he's probably a little flustered. He wasn't prepared for you to burst in, and a little flustered, decides to simple hurl his massive bulk and crush the Italian Plumber. How was he supposed to know there was hole underneath those bricks? It's not like he can see through walls. Neither can, Mario, really. If you, the player, wouldn't of been there to assist Mario, Bowser's stomping antics would of eventually stomped him.
The Axe in SMB1? It was obviously a lode bearing axe, possibly meaning that the castles at the end of the level were make shift, and only meant to be temporary strongholds.
Next, let us examine Super Mario World. It wasn't the most thought out plan...Something about stealing Yoshi Eggs and taking over Dinosaur Land? I think that Bowser wasn't fully finished with this plan, because obviously he had no way of knowing that Mario was going to pick this area as a vacation. Once again, if Mario hadn't shown up, Bowser might of succeded. The Yoshis were the only real inhabitants of Dinosaur Land (Or at least the ones we encountered), and they were overwhelmed almost completly.
The next major plan we'll examine is the one in Super Mario 64. This was a rather ingenious plan-certailny showing the more creative side of our favorite villian. Bowser managed to penetrate the Mushroom Kingdom Castle and take it over internaly. Then, use magic to lock stuff into paintings! This time Bowser took into consideration that Mario might show up (As evidenced by his message to you when you first enter the castle for the first time). What was Bowser's Critical mistake here? Not adapting. He figured that his plan of being gigantic and stomping around and breath fire didn't work the first two times, so by logic, unless Mario got stupid, it wouldn't work the third.
Paper Mario is probably simutaneously the shining example of Bowser as a villian, and as a comic character. Bowser broke into Star Road, scattered the stars, and stole the Star Rod, and became invincible. He was invincible, folks. Impressive. But his weakness turned out to be his feelings for his crush, Peach. If Bowser would of treated Peach more like a prisoner and less like a bride to be, Twink either would of been caught or simply unable to assit the princess. Then, There would of been no wishing granting to create the Peach Beam, thereby making Bowser vincbile again.
And finally...I haven't finished Mario Sunshine, I was in Corona Mountain last time I played (THE BOAT! ARRRRRGH!), but so far in the game Bowser has done nothing. Everything seems to be the work of Bowser JR. I don't think it can be classified as a Bowser plan.
Now, we can see Bowser's respective character flaws: Short sighedness(Not expecting Mario to show up), unability to work under pressure (Some of his stupid attack patterns), and Malignant love sickness (Peach). However, regardless of his character flaws, he's managed to accomplish some pretty impressive feats and obviously has an exntensive resource. But! There's another problem constantly runing his plans that is something out of his control. I think Bowser's True problem is that not that he's a poor villian, but that Mario is just too great of an action hero. Maybe the truth is, Bowser just can't win. But perhaps, someday in the future, Bowser shall over come his character flaws and triumph over his arch nemesis and establish a new world order with him as the Totalitarian dictator. Hail King Bowser.
Kweeh! Forget Whark! Kweeh! Is better!
