“Since Bowser was in the turtle family together with the Koopa Troopas, we began to see similar lines between the two, so we copied those as faithfully as possible and move on to the next illustration. I started congratulating myself, saying, ‘Wow, I can really make Bowser look cool now!’”
Anecdotally, I can tell you that I remember referring to Bowser as King Koopa fairly often when I was younger. I suppose the basic idea was that the character’s name was Bowser and his title was King Koopa. It all seemed pretty obvious, and, at that time, I certainly didn’t know Bowser wasn’t the character’s original name.
Before you put too much stock into the idea that Bowser is simply the “Koopa King,” though, remember that Bowser’s original name in Japan was Kuppa/Koopa. So…was he referred to as Kuppa, King of the Koopas, or Koopa, King of the Koopas in Japan? Well, no, actually, but that’s because the Koopa weren’t originally called Koopa in Japan.
The Koopa Are Not What They Seem
Yes, as if the story of Bowser’s name wasn’t complicated enough, we also have to address the fact that that the “Koopa” Bowser is supposedly king of weren’t originally known as Koopa. In fact, their original name was “Nokonoko.” That name is based on the same Japanese word, which can be used to refer to someone or something that walks slowly and without purpose. I suspect “ambling” would probably be the closest English term, but anyone with more experience with both languages may be able to offer a better alternative.
So why didn’t the Super Mario team just keep the name Nokonoko when translating the game for international audiences? Well, there doesn’t seem to be any official information available regarding the thought process at that time, though it’s easy enough to make some educated guesses.
After all, many games that originated from Japan at that time lost many references to specific Japanese words, customs, and folklore during the translation process. So, it was likely determined that an enemy named after a specific Japanese word may be confusing for anyone who doesn’t speak Japanese. As for the name “Koopa,” it honestly just seems like the translators decided to apply Kuppa/Koopa’s name to the enemies he was supposedly the boss of. That also allowed them to roll with the always satisfying name “Koopa Troopa.” That, or there was simply an error during the translation process that yielded the same result.
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