There Might Have Been No Koopaling Retcon?
In a previous post I talked about how the Koopalings were originally meant to be Bowser's Kids, and that this was retconned. However, upon further examination it seems the Koopalings since the start might have never been intended to be Bowser's children.
Okay so in the Japanese Manual of Super Mario Bros. 3's manual they are called Kokuppa 7 Kyōdai, meaning 7 Little Bowser Siblings. Notice how that doesn't say Bowser's kids, let's move on.
In the Super Mario World Japanese manual they are called Kokuppa 7 Ninshū meaning Team of 7 Little Bowsers. Again, not outright saying they are his kids.
So here's the thing, kuppa is Bowser's Japanese name, but also more than likely the name of his whole species. Similar to how Goomba can be named Goomba, but it's also the name of their species. So with that being said the little of 7 little Bowser/Koopa Siblings begins to make sense. Keep in mind Koopa Troopas or Common Koopas are called Nokonoko in Japan instead of Kuppa. The Japanese said wasn't saying they were Bowser's 7 children, it was saying that's their species name. Heck if the English side didn't give them their names they would have probably all just been called Bowsers.
So what's going on here? It's probably a localization problem based on misunderstanding the Japanese text and or adding to it. This is not uncommon especially back in the day. I intend to cover some examples in the future which I will link here. So if anything the the Team of 7 Little Bowsers were not intended to be his children, but the localization team added it in.
This naming is even seen in Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga with them being called Kokuppa-gundan, aka Little Bowser Corps.
This naming could also explain Koopa Kid or his proper name Minikuppa, he is a species of Mini Bowsers, or if we were to say it in English Boss Koopas. Also showing this hypothesis to be wrong, and a hypothesis in this post to be correct. But..... In the manual it Morton and Larry call Bowser oyaji, which apparently means father. However, it can also mean boss, or old man. But Bowser does say ore-sama no musuko-tachi meaning my sons or my children.