Bowser’s Fury gave me very little to complain about. The controls are tight, and the level design is excellent. The mechanics are fun, and nothing overstays its welcome. I had half-expected this game to be forgettable, made for the sole purpose of selling more copies of Super Mario 3D World to people who already owned Wii U’s. However, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that this was not the case.
Remember, this review reflects my experience and therefore everyone else’s as well. If you disagree with any point I bring in this post, then you should reflect on your opinion until you agree with me as I am correct and you are wrong. Thank you for reading!
The Fury
Perhaps the weakest part of this game is the fury segments. This is what I am calling the parts of the game where Bowser comes out of his shell and starts attacking the player. Many cat shines require the player to do something while Bowser is awake. Because the fury lasts for such a short amount of time before needing to wait for it to start again, this motivates the player to just wait at the spots where Bowser is needed until he wakes up. I found myself doing this a few times.
Level Design
However, the issues I have with the fury are largely negated by the excellent level design. First of all, the decision to immediately make Bowser go away when the player collects a cat shine, I initially thought was a bad one since it meant you could only collect one Bowser-dependent shine at a time. However, I now realize that it was implemented perfectly. This decision motivates the player to remember where the Bowser shines are so that they can quickly run towards it when the time comes. Since non Bowser shines are always close to Bowser shines, this is almost never an issue; no waiting required. Additionally, Plessie is FAST, so, with clever maneuvering, you can get to surprisingly far away shines before the fury ends.
After beating the game once, you get an indicator on the map for all of the stars that you have not yet collected. In longer games, I often find exploring a lot of indicators like this to be a chore, but every shine in this game is so short and sweet that it instead felt more like a scavenger hunt. This definitely lends towards the idea that this game is better being as short as it is.
Finally, I must mention the levels themselves. They are very good. I guess because the game is only 5 hours long, there’s no room for boring or badly conceived levels anywhere. Still, creating as many appealing islands as are in this game is impressive and I don’t have much more to say. The ones that stand out to me as my favorites are Scamper Shores as a great introduction to the game, Risky Whisker Island with all of its donut blocks, and Trickity Tower Island with the invisible terrain.
Highlights
- After collecting all 100 cat shines, Bowser immediately goes berserk, but this time with white hair. The difference here is that Bowser does not stop. You must collect a giga bell and confront him. Bowser in this mode is also much more aggressive than in other segments. He feels free to jump right in front of you where Plessie can only just barely get away from his flames. This section is a rush, but like so much else, I wish it lasted longer.
- Fighting giant Bowser as Lion Mario is certainly one of my favorite parts of the game. It took me a while to figure out that you could pick up the pieces of block that are thrown on the ground, but once I did, it was really cool to try and throw them at Bowser while he’s charging a shell spin in your direction. You feel so heavy in this section, so your attacks feel strong when they finally hit.
Problems
- Because the game is so short, most mechanics are only used once. This also had the effect of devaluing all powerups other than the cat bell. I only recall one island which focused on the boomerang flower and one on tanooki. I don’t recall there ever being a section that heavily favored the fire flower.
- The punishment for landing in lava is much harsher than anything else in the game. There is no falling off the world, so no instant death there, and the black goop does not kill you instantly either. When I first saw the lava, I expected to get hurt once and bounce up really high like in Super Mario Galaxy. The sudden death felt unfair for a small platforming mistake.
Score
I’d describe Bowser’s Fury as short and sweet. Every part of it is fun, but so many mechanics are underused due to the short length of the game. Still, Nintendo could not have done a much better job at convincing people to buy 3D world again. While it is short, it is such a quality experience that it may be worth the $60 on its own.
Personal Score: 13/15
Objective Score: 14/15
And yes Jan Misali, Bowser’s Fury is a Mario game.