BowserQuest (franchise)

BowserQuest is a spin-off of the Super Mario series that was born in 1988. It stars Bowser, the main antagonist of Super Mario Bros. 1 and 2 in his own adventures to save the Koopa Kingdom from threats that he overlooked back when Lord Vengeance manipulated him as well as new ones that threathen to take over. The mainline games focus on platforming with minor beat-em-up elements.

The concept began in 1985 after Super Mario Bros. was released. On September 12, 1985, Shigeru Miyamoto was watching kaiju films and seeing Godzilla in action inspired him to make a new villain to replace Bowser. However, after a meeting with Iwata, there was a decision to make a sequel wherein Bowser is no longer evil. This led to development of The Legend Of the Warp Zone alongside the first BowserQuest, with the same teams working on both games.

What sets this apart from other Mario spinoffs:
The most obvious ones are that it stars Bowser instead of Mario. However, there are more differences.

Gameplay:

 * The main games use a health bar instead of losing powerups when damage is taken.
 * Bowser has 2 main attacks, which is punching and breathing fire.

Recurring Characters:

 * Tuttorio-An angel who initially accompanies Bowser in the first game to help in defeating the new threat. She eventually becomes a shopkeeper in later games.
 * Nise A. Zure-Introduced in the second game, he's Bowser long-lost brother who is smart and sports a mechanical hand built by Morton Koopa the 2nd. The hand has the power to turn into special weapons.
 * Volcanard Vast-Introduced in the secind game, he's a scientist whose specialty is volcanoes. He was betrayed by being mutated to be half-man, half-volcano (and by that, he has a volcano on his head). His specialty is using rock and fire powers.
 * Pyronica Doragon-Introduced in the second game, she's a tomboyish dragon girl skilled in martial arts combat.
 * Morton Koopa the 2nd and Glenda G. Koopa-In this timeline, they're the parents of the Koopalings.