Bowser's Fury

Bowser's Fury
Developer(s)	Nintendo EPD
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Composer(s)	Daisuke Matsuoka James Phillipsen
Series	Super Mario
Platform(s)	Nintendo Switch
Release	February 12, 2021
Genre(s)	Platform, action-adventure
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Bowser's Fury is a 2021 platform game bundled in with the Nintendo Switch release of Super Mario 3D World. The player controls Mario through Lake Lapcat, a 3D, cat-themed open world to complete challenges and collect "Cat Shines" to dispel a black sludge that's infecting the land and free Bowser (known as Fury Bowser) from its control. At irregular intervals, Bowser turns the world into apocalyptic night to rain fire on Mario and alter the environment. Its gameplay is based on 3D World. Bowser's Fury was reported to be the best-selling video game of February 2021 in the United States.

Gameplay

Bowser's Fury is an open world platform game in which the player, as Mario, completes challenges, collecting "Cat Shines" tokens to free Bowser and Lake Lapcat from the controlling black sludge. Its core gameplay is similar to that of the 2013 platform game Super Mario 3D World, while also adopting elements introduced in Super Mario Odyssey.

Eurogamer noted the influence of Super Mario Sunshine on Bowser's Fury, from its scrappy approach to new concepts to its use of Bowser Jr. and debt to "Shadow Mario" challenges. GameSpot described the concept of Bowser's Fury as having put elements of Super Mario 3D World into the structure of Super Mario Odyssey. The player character Mario jumps between platforms and obstacles in a 3D world. Each area of the world features a new gameplay twist. Mario collects bodysuit power ups that grant him special abilities, such as Fire Mario, Tanooki Mario and Boomerang Mario. In each area of Bowser's Fury, Mario collects Cat Shines by completing challenges less than 10 minutes in length, such as traversing platforms or collecting shard fragments of a Shine. There are 100 Shines to collect in the game, and each self-contained area has five, displayed in a lighthouse. After collecting a Shine, the game reconfigures the area's environment to set up the next Shine's challenge. As the player progresses through the game, more areas open to the player. Mario rides the dinosaur Plessie to navigate between each island area of the archipelago and to reach Shine challenges throughout the lake's waters, outside the island areas. Unlike other Mario games, all areas of Bowser's Fury are openly accessible without use of a hub world—traditional Mario levels connected without loading screens or boundaries. Also unlike Super Mario 3D World, the player has full, unfixed camera control in Bowser's Fury and is not restricted to a number of player "lives"—instead, when Mario dies, the player loses 50 coins from their counter, which gets reset every 100 coins due to granting Mario a power-up.

Every few minutes, Bowser's fury transforms the world into apocalyptic night, raining fire near the player. The Godzilla-esque fury event can interrupt the player's activity every few minutes but also gives new gameplay opportunities, such as new platforms in the sky and the ability to bait Bowser's fiery breath to destroy otherwise indestructible obstacles. The player can end the storm by collecting a Shine, activating a lighthouse to pierce the darkness. Alternatively, the player can wait out the event or, with enough Shines, choose to directly confront Bowser in a kaiju battle set in a reduced scale Lake Lapcat. After the fury, Bowser returns to the sludge and slowly begins to rise, indicating the timing of the next fury event, as the fury event does not occur on a predictable interval. Mario is joined by Bowser Jr., whom the player can direct to interact with wall markings and, optionally, can be configured to assist the player in attacking enemies and collecting coins. Alternatively, a second player can control Bowser Jr., with the same limited ability set. Bowser Jr. also stores power-ups such that the player can swap between the item abilities as needed.

The basic game lasts about four hours for an average player, with an additional four hours of gameplay for players interested in completing all collectibles. Visually, the game displays at a reduced framerate when played in handheld mode, with drops in frame rate during chaotic on-screen action.

Plot

While on a walk, Mario discovers a mysterious black sludge M (resembling Shadow Mario’s logo from Super Mario Sunshine) in the Mushroom Kingdom. After being absorbed by it, Mario finds himself in an archipelago of cat-themed islands called Lake Lapcat that have become overrun with black sludge. Upon his arrival, Mario encounters Fury Bowser, a dark version of Bowser that has grown to colossal size. Mario collects a Cat Shine, causing Bowser to retreat. Bowser Jr. appears (Holding his paintbrush from Super Mario Sunshine) and pleads for Mario's help restoring his father to normal, and Mario reluctantly agrees.

The two travel across Lake Lapcat in order to obtain Cat Shines, aided by Plessie the aquatic dinosaur. After obtaining a certain number of Cat Shines, Mario gains access to the Giga Bell, a super-powered variation of the Super Bell. The Giga Bell transforms Mario into Giga Cat Mario, a colossal version of his regular cat form, allowing him to battle Fury Bowser.

After using the Giga Bells to fight Fury Bowser several times, Bowser is drained of the sludge which transformed him. Despite this, he remains colossal and out of control, and steals the three Giga Bells. Mario manages to retake the bells, using all three to turn Plessie to a giant and crush Bowser. Bowser is returned to his normal size, and Bowser Jr. breaks off his alliance with Mario as the two retreat. Mario and the cats of Lake Lapcat celebrate their victory atop the still giant Plessie.

A series of paintings by Bowser Jr. shown during the credits explain that he was responsible for accidentally creating Fury Bowser, having painted Bowser's face with his magic paintbrush (Useing the gooey paint from Super Mario Sunshine) while he was sleeping as a prank.

Development

Bowser's Fury was developed by Nintendo EPD. It was released on February 12, 2021 for the Nintendo Switch.

Reception

Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury was the best selling game for February 2021 in the United States, even before counting Nintendo's digital sales, which are unreported.

Reviewers noted the game's "experimental" nature, both in its inventive approach to the series' first fully open world, foretelling future Mario games, and its lack of technical polish relative to the series' standards, exemplified by its noticeable drops in framerate and unperfected ideas. The game's foray into a fully open world challenged the Mario tradition of leisurely, "meticulously designed obstacle courses", wrote Polygon, and instead presented as an improvisational rumpus room filled with colorful distractions, messy and warm. On the technical end, the game's framerate drops made Kotaku's reviewer desire for more powerful hardware.

Some reviewers were vexed over frequent interruptions of the game's Fury event, especially towards the end of the game, but others felt an adrenaline rush at the event's added challenge and unpredictability. After a few hours, Ars Technica found the game repetitive and sparse, returning to the same areas for some challenges with only minor novelty. GameSpot too acknowledged a number of uninspired repeat challenges, exacerbated by the Fury event's intrusion while pursuing some of the harder Shine tokens. Polygon appreciated the fury countdown's visibility, likened to the Mario level timers of prior games.

The game was nominated for Best Family Game at The Game Awards 2021.

Further reading

• Donlan, Christian (February 23, 2021). "In Bowser's Fury, Mario's world and open worlds breathe new life into each other". Eurogamer. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
• Loveridge, Sam (January 27, 2021). "Bowser's Fury is Super Mario Odyssey with the cat madness of 3D World". GamesRadar. Retrieved February 17, 2021.
• Minor, Jordan (February 10, 2021). "Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury (for Nintendo Switch) Review". PC Magazine. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
• Russell, Graham (February 16, 2021). "Bowser's Fury is a Testing Ground for the Future of Mario". Siliconera. Retrieved February 17, 2021.
• Shea, Brian (February 10, 2021). "Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury Review – The Cat's Pajamas". Game Informer. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
• Walker, John (February 15, 2021). "Bowser's Fury Should Be A Template For Future Nintendo Projects". Kotaku. Retrieved February 17, 2021.
• Webster, Andrew (February 10, 2021). "Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury is the best of Mario in one package". The Verge. Retrieved March 15, 2021.

External links

• Official website