What was the first Mario game that featured taking down Bowser with 3 hits?

In all of the Mario games I played (which are not that many), I have to take down Bowser with three hits. I was wondering which Mario game first had that specific gameplay mechanism, since it seems to be used in a lot of games.


Solution 1:

Super Mario 64 (1996) is the first game that did this.


  • Super Mario Bros. (1985) you jumped on an axe. That's out.

  • Mario Lost Levels (1986) you still jumped on an axe. That's out.

  • Super Mario Bros. 2 (1988) ....is out.

  • Super Mario Bros. 3 (1988) he kills himself or you shoot him a lot with fireballs. That's out.

  • Super Mario Land (1989) you're a ship not even fighting Bowser. That's out.

  • Super Mario World (1990) you have to hit him with Mechakoopa's 6 times! That's out.

  • Dr. Mario (1990) is a Tetris-like game. That's out.

  • Super Mario Land 2 (1992) you fight Wario! That's out.

  • Mario Paint (1992) doesn't have fighting. That's out.

  • Super Mario RPG: Legend of the 7 stars (1996) Bowser is on your team. That's out.

  • Yoshi's Island (1995) is a 2 phase fight where you throw eggs at Bowser at the end 3 times so it wins second prize.

Thanks to Denilson Sá Maia for a couple of games here.