I've played The New Super Mario Brothers a couple times through now, and still have a hard time determining who the true villain of the game is. Is it King Bowser Koopa? Or his latest brat Bowser Jr.?
I know that in the original SMB, it was never Bowser in the castles, but magically disguised minions. Bowser was in the 8th castle all along. So taking that data, I've formed 2 theories...
#1. Bowser is the mastermind like in the original SMB, and his son is the sidekick. You fight him in the very first castle, and he turns to bones. The next fight with Bowser is with his skeleton, magically revived in the first castle of world 8. Finally, Bowser Jr. fully restores his father with magic for the final fight.
#2. Bowser Jr. is the REAL mastermind. After having failed in Super Mario Sunshine, he tries again. Because he's small, he magically conjures up a FAKE Bowser. This is what you fight for three times, but it is actually a made up bag of bones to make you think that Bowser is behind it.
It's really hard for me discern between these two theories I've come up with. I don't know about anyone else, but I've found the matter quite confusing. :(
bowser jr. stop being dumb and over thinking a mario game.
yeaaaaaaaaaah. there's no real storyline connection going on.
I think there is no mastermind and it was all a dream.
Lol that would be a gay ending for a Mario game... wait.