Big Bob-omb



Big Bob-omb, later to be renamed as King Bob-omb in future installments, is a boss in Super Mario 64 and ruler of the Bob-ombs. Residing atop the mountain in Bob-omb Battlefield, he is the first boss players will come across. He must be defeated by picking him up from behind and throwing him onto the ground.

The Big Dud
The Big Dud refers to a minor detail in Super Mario 64 relating to the boss enemy Big Bob-Omb. After Big Bob-omb is defeated, Mario can talk to one of the Bob-omb Buddies in the start of the level who tells him that: "Big Bob-omb is nothing more than a dud now". This is seemingly related to the spheres at the base of the mountain in Bob-omb Battlefield.

There are two rolling metal spheres at the base of the mountain; however after Big Bob-omb is is defeated one extra sphere appears at the base of the mountain. Taking into consideration that Big Bob-omb became a "dud" after his defeat, this implies that the thrid metal sphere at the base of the mountain is actually Big Bob-omb. Considering that the metal spheres at the base of the mountain are not launched from a cannon like the other spheres, the two original spheres at the base of the mountain could be earlier generations of Big Bob-omb. This could mean that two earlier generations of Big Bob-ombs were defeated and became "Big Duds".

It is worth noting that Big Bob-omb explodes after he is defeated, so it's possible that the extra metal sphere at the base of the mountain might not be Big Bob-omb's body. However, this might be an intentional simplification since creating a cutscene where Big Bob-omb rolls down the mountain might accidentally draw the player's attention to where he went rather than the star he drops.