DEATH BATTLE! is an animated web series on YouTube that began back in 2010 and is the longest-running web series dedicated to battle-boarding (a sport that involves discussion and debating about hypothetical fights between two characters, especially fictional characters). From their first episode, this show has changed noticeably over the years, with the entirety of the show narrated by Wiz and Boomstick, voiced by the series’ creators, Ben Singer and Chad James. Every episode features a matchup between two fictional characters from different media that have similar personalities, powers, skills, or backstories, and analyze their weapons, armor, and skills, and I enjoy watching these matchups happen, both fanon and official fights. 

However, when DEATH BATTLE! became independent back in 2024 after its studio was shut down, it released what soon to be known by many names as “This was a WAR”, “INCREDIBLE”, “The ULTIMATE Villain Fight”, “Boss Level”, “A Video-Game Boss Fight”, “An ACTUAL, REAL army matchup”, “GAME OVER”, and most of all, “PEAK FICTION” & “PEAK CINEMA”. This was a fight that was unlike any other, as unlike many other battles, the two fictional combatants, or should I say, main video game bosses, weren’t fighting alone. What episode am I talking about? I am talking about the real hype of 2024 fights, and one that’s been a long time coming: Bowser vs Eggman!!! 

This was one fight that was basically hyped and supported by many DEATH BATTLE!, and even Mario and Sonic fans alike. Bowser vs Eggman was released to YouTube on November 17th, 2024, and the fight was entirely animated by MORO, one of the most well-known animators in the DEATH BATTLE! series. Not to mention, according to the DEATH BATTLE! wiki, this has the highest number of combatants in a single fight, with this battle’s number being 42 of them. However, the main question still remains in everyone’s minds: Did this episode live up to its hype, and did I enjoy the epic fight? Well, there are many categories to answer this question, but I’ll break it down into the following sections: thoughts on both Bowser & Dr. Eggman, analysis, fight animation & voices, soundtrack, references & characters featured in the fight, post-analysis, and the winner of the battle. Now, let’s beat some video-game bosses!!

Character Thoughts (from previous experiences): Both of these video-game bosses, from my perspective, are the symbol of why I love villains, whether they’re important to the story or have minor roles in how it pushes a movie or comic story forward. Bowser has done a lot of bad actions in his video game appearances, especially trying to take Peach to marry him, but compared to Dr. Robotnik, Bowser is better in many ways. For example, Eggman took over the world in Sonic Forces, but Bowser took over the entire universe, and also, Eggman’s army followed the Doctor because he wanted them, while Bowser’s army followed Bowser because they needed him. Despite that, from previous experiences, I knew Dr. Eggman more than Bowser. In the many years that I’ve ever been a Sonic fan, Dr. Eggman is the one person I always love watching whenever he comes up with an evil plan to take over the world, and I’m so glad the team behind Sonic The Hedgehog did some great things with him, such as making a backstory of Dr. Eggman in Sonic Adventure 2, finally taking over the world in Forces, and expanding his Eggman Empire to have new mechs & members over the years, but his dynamic with Sonic is where it hits the door. Sonic & Dr. Eggman had an interesting rivalry between each other, with the worst example of this dynamic being shown in Lost World, but their moments of rivalry are where it makes me so happy. Overall, both Bowser & Dr. Eggman have their flaws in character, but their true strengths lie in their villainy moments. 8/10

Analysis: This just might be the best DEATH BATTLE! analysis yet. The analysis of this battle did a lot of justice for both of these bosses, especially their armies, powers, and weapons. Bowser’s analysis is really interesting, as I was personally shocked about the many powers he possesses, the army that he leads, and his goals & dreams of wanting to marry Peach, which is shown in a lot of Mario games. I especially enjoyed the army & forms part of the Bowser analysis, as Fury Bowser is an absolute legendary form of Bowser, more than any other form that Bowser has transformed into in the entire franchise. Not to mention, I was thrilled to see Kamek, King Boo, the Koopalings, and Bowser Jr. being analyzed as well. It just goes to show that Bowser isn’t the only one that can command his army. The backstory shown for Bowser is quite shocking and scary at the same time. My favorite abilities from Bowser are his fire breath, immense strength, magic powers, and especially his enhanced forms! Then, there’s his arsenal & feats, as I think that the fact he has so many weapons on hand is incredible, especially his Dream Stone, Star Rod, Power & Grand Stars, and so many power-ups that he gains, and when I saw the incredibly scary feats that he’s done, I was so terrified of him to the point of thinking “Holy crap! Eggman is so screwed now!”. Now, we get to my favorite character of Sonic: Dr. Ivo Robotnik, better known as Dr. Eggman! His analysis was, and by a nose, way more interesting than Bowser’s analysis ever was! I have a lot of things to say about this analysis. Firstly, his backstory is quite sad, as the fact that his family neglected him and cared more about the passing of Maria makes his backstory both shocking and sad, as it was mainly shown in Sonic Adventure 2. I love his backstory, and it’s one reason why I love this character. Another thing I loved about this analysis was that it stayed true to everything in Sonic that the Doctor has appeared in – the games, the movies, even the comics – when it especially comes to his arsenal, his mechs, and his army. The mechs part of the analysis was incredible, as while I enjoyed seeing all his mechs being looked at, such as the Egg Dragoon, the Death Egg, the Egg Fleet, the Time Eater, & the Death Egg Robot, the fact that he’s made a diverse number of robots is honestly quite stunning. Introducing and showing the entirety of the Eggman Empire, consisting of soldiers & major members in the franchise, was really fun to see. It was an interesting way to see the variety of troops that Eggman possesses, even the most comedic disappointments & most elite leaders to the Doc. Finally, there’s his arsenal & feats, as while Eggman is nowhere near as big as Bowser’s arsenal, the Phantom Ruby, Chaos Emeralds, Time Stones, and his laser guns all make him so powerful, and his feats were less exciting than Bowser’s feats, but I have nothing against this. Overall, the best & most accurate analysis in DEATH BATTLE! history!  20/10

Fight Animation/Voices/References & Characters (spoiler alert!): Now, we get to the big brawl of the episode. The wedding scene in the beginning was both comical and a nod to Bowser’s hope & dream of marrying Peach, but when Eggman is introduced there, it gets really fiery between the best video game bosses in the history of gaming! I got to see so many characters in this epic boss showdown, especially Bowser Jr., Sage, Kamek, and Metal Sonic, as they carry this fight for both armies, other than their leaders themselves. Not to mention, even though they were not as important as the main members, the Badniks, Pawns, Koopas, Goombas, and the other soldiers were great on the sidelines. The only problem with this fight is that it should’ve extended its time and shown more fight scenes, especially one between Bowser’s airship fleet & the Egg Fleet that was shown back in Sonic Heroes. Other than that, the fight itself was great! The voice actors were great in voicing Bowser & Doctor Eggman themselves, as they somewhat remind me of Jim Cummings (Eggman) and Jack Black (Bowser). Overall, this fight was absolutely bonkers, with its rock music, cinematic visuals, large number of characters, and incredible acting all the more why I love this DEATH BATTLE! personally. 10/10

Post-Analysis: This was where it got me thinking, “What could’ve Eggman done differently if the fight took a different approach, or even in a different location?”, but after watching the post-analysis, well, it’s simple: He can’t win against Bowser, even in a different location. Now, while Eggman had a lot of mechs, his army was stronger, and his own Death Egg was especially deadly, Bowser had one special thing that Eggman lacked greatly in: family! As the old saying goes, “When you mess with your son, you better not mess with his/her father!”, and that’s what happens with Bowser when his loyal wizard & then his own son was beaten by Metal Sonic: Metal just had to mess with Bowser, didn’t he? While Bowser’s army was like a family to Bowser, Eggman just had an army only because he built them himself. Another thing that I would like to point out is that while Eggman had a lot of trump cards in play, Bowser is able to deflect most of these trump cards with his own dark magic powers. Overall, a really great job in analyzing who won after that amazing fight I saw. 9/10

Soundtrack: If I had four words to say about this song “Game Over” by Brandon Yates, they would be: GREATEST! DB! SONG! YET! Man, I really enjoyed listening to this song over and over again. I really loved how Brandon Yates really thought about what music genre fits well with video game bosses, and rock was really a great option, in my opinion personally. Another thing that I really liked is the song’s lyrics. The lyrics show how powerful Bowser and Eggman are, despite their own defeats & failures, and the chorus just feels like the battle itself. Not to mention, when I listened to this song during the animated fight, it just really connected to me, not just as a villain fan, but also as a Mario/Sonic fan. When I saw visuals of lyric videos that YouTubers made for this song, the visuals just became related to the lyrics, and I like that somehow. To me, the definition of “Game Over” is when video game villains succeed in defeating their opponents. Brandon Yates, overall, you make me so proud of you for this song as a whole! 100/10

Winner: In the end, the winner was (spoiler alert!) Bowser!!! OK, let’s completely be honest, it makes sense. While I don’t like Eggman losing this battle, it just felt like he didn’t have good strategic gameplay against the King of the Koopas. Eggman was just a coward to go one-on-one with his enemies, compared to Bowser, who really gets fired up to fight Mario & Luigi. I also saw how both of them had different goals, as Eggman wanted to defeat Sonic for no reason & take over the world (which did happen in Forces by the way, spoiler alert!), while Bowser just wanted to marry Peach & take over the entire universe! Wow, that’s just crazy! This fight may have us already know who won, but overall, it’s fine with me, as at least Bowser cares about his army, and is very powerful in dark magic. 10/10

Compare/Contrast to Another Death Battle: To me, Bowser vs Eggman reminds me of Lex Luthor vs Doctor Doom, but in that DEATH BATTLE!, they only had their arsenal and weapons, not an entire army. The analysis of Lex Luthor vs Doctor Doom was brilliant, but not as great as the video game boss fight. Lex Luthor & Doctor Doom are villains that are masterfully geniuses similar to Eggman, as (spoiler alert!) they have their own companies & armies to lead, and they’ve also built mechanical masterpieces to fight their enemies. Not to mention, the animated fight scene was in hand-drawn animation, which I find interesting, but compared to Bowser vs Eggman, it wasn’t as peak as the video game boss battle. However, there are several similarities between the two DEATH BATTLES: One, they’re both villain-themed, meaning that they’re only villains fighting each other. Another similarity is their music, as both go into serious tones that relate to their fights. And third, the voice acting in these fights look so much similar to each other, as these voice actors all sound so much similar to their original voice actors, and the voice actors in those DEATH BATTLES did a spectacular job in their roles. Overall, while Lex Luthor vs Dr. Doom was great, Bowser vs Eggman gave the other “villain-themed” fight a run for its views. 10/10

Overall Thoughts: Overall, Bowser vs Eggman was just a peak DEATH BATTLE! in so many ways, and after what you’ve just read, you don’t even need to ask why. It had a major number of characters, a soundtrack song that’s just fire (figuratively by the way), a 100% accurate analysis, and most importantly, a satisfying winner for everyone! There were, and surprisingly, there are only two big lows I had about this DEATH BATTLE!: One, the fight could’ve just been longer to show more of their armies, and two, Sonic X Shadow Generations would’ve been one of the sponsors for this DEATH BATTLE!. Eggman may’ve been my favorite Sonic character, but he wasn’t powerful enough to stand his own ground against someone as mighty and dangerous as the King of the Koopas. 100/100!