Super Mario: Bowser's Fury

[Neon Ignition]

So, it's finally time to try some new Mario content with the rest of the cartridge dedicated to an eight year old entry which already has its own thread. Bowser's Fury in my head is like Nintendo dabbling with the short form model of Astro's Playroom but the main thing of note from what I've played so far is that this isn't anywhere near as experimental as the trailer first gave the impression of being.



It's Mario, pretty much distilled, each lighthouse objective strings to the next and it's broadly one decent sized open level with the main difference from normal being Bowser. His arrival and attacks are easy to miss and don't massively change things so far bar being the boss and being able to break some blocks. It's decent fun though, a nice addition even if it's pretty straight forward stuff.

[112]

I’m interested in the multi-player co-op on this, as I predominantly use the Switch as a multiplayer gaming platform. Do you know if the Bowsers Fury part of the game is Co-op at all? Or is multi-player only reserved for the older game side of things?

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[Neon Ignition]

Another player can use a joy-con to control Bowser Jr, there are some spots he can release power ups from and can attack enemies too. Otherwise the game auto controls him

[hudson]

I wanna know where you order to get on a Thursday without the eye of Shigeru watching?

Unless you work at Game or something.

[Nu-Eclipse]

I think Digital Foundry sum up Bowser's Fury perfectly: It looks, to all intents and purposes, like a proof-of-concept for giving 3D Mario a Breath of the Wild-style makeover in that there is just one complete world with all the "sandboxes" in it and readily accessible with no transitions ie. paintings or Odyssey Airship, etc.

[paulus]

If you subtract the Wii U content (already own it), is it worth buying?

[Neon Ignition]

I find ShopTo and SimplyGames are best for getting games to you a day or so early, it's patchy but they tend to ship pretty much as stock comes in.

With this I'd say DF is a little off in their judgment, unless the backend of it surprises this 'level' isn't much different in scope than a typical open Mario 3D level. It's good stuff but it's DLC stuff through and through, 3D World is very much the focus of the content, 2-3hrs tops and Fury will be clocked.

[importaku]

Hopefully some people are up for some online sessions on this as i might as well use my online account for something.

[dataDave]

Here's a Game Maker's Toolkit gush over the level design:



This game contains probably the best Mario stages ever created, IMO. It's just so consistent throughout.

[Neon Ignition]

I'm now around 43 shines into Bowsers Fury and only have one little part of the map left to open, effectively I'm on clean up with 60 shines left to get to 100% but probably around 15 more to end the main game. Getting further into it I can see why Nintendo made this, it's an idea that works more and more as you open up the field and have to engage the Bowser attacks rather than avoid them. However it wouldn't sustain an entire game as a concept either. Traversal is never tiresome but does extend what are very simple paltforming tasks keeping this breezy and fun.

It'd probably be easy to put together a second level for this and knock out to market Super Mario Galaxy 2 + Bowser's Fury 2...

[cutmymilk]

I've been hammering this, staying up til 1am last night to play it. I have seen the end credits after

->Open Spoiler<-

50 shines. It's a bit special!

Nintendo have found a great way to do away with the need for a hub, with levels being islands that can be accessed at any time and from any angle. There are some lovely touches, such as secrets on the outside walls of the levels. Like 3D World, there are a lot of neat moments in the game.

When you get to 48 (I think), Bowser appears and is relentless, forcing you to find 2 more shines under his attack. The music and appearance of Godzilla Bowser is very intense and awesome. Perhaps scary for younger kids? I have about 70 now and still loving every minute. I need a break from it, possibly just until tonight!

[fishbowlhead]

Getting terrible slowdown in local multiplayer in this, very disappointing.

[briareos_kerensky]

Aaaaand done. Well, not really,

->Open Spoiler<-

I've collected the required Cat Shines to get to the final battle and the game fast-forwards to it.

Loved the constant harrasment by Kaiju Bowser, and how the battles against him change a bit at every encounter. The game world is composed by a series of small islands, each with five Shines;

->Open Spoiler<-

two of them are always about collecting five lesser Shines and have Kaiju Bowser destroy special blocks. Some also have blue cons to collect within a time limit,

and more or less the challenge is on par with 3D world, though I doubt it will reach the difficulty of that game's last world.
I think the number of total Cat Shines reaches the magic number of 120, considering I'm at 70 and I have several world Shines and at least two full worlds to collect. Some of the world Shines require to traverse large portions of it, which is more a test of patience than skill...seriously, why does Mario designers like the "bring child to mother" task like the penguin in Mario 64.
I really liked how Plessie works both as a fast-travel between islands and how she's integrated into the game with world Shines and other secondary objectives.
A downside is that ome Shines aren't available until you reach the correct "chapter" of an island: think Mario 64, but instead of having to re-enter a painting, you need to exit the island and get close to it again to trigger a change in Shine positioning.

It's good, though I think I still prefer Odyssey's (and previous Mario's) segregated levels, it grants more variety in environments; islands in Bowser's Fury are varied, but the sea connecting them is kinda bland, Kaiju Bowser or not.

[briareos_kerensky]

So, Shine's not 120 but only 100, and this evening I've reached 90 of them. I guess I'll be done with Bowser's Fury tomorrow, or at least within the week. Battling Kaiju Bowser once you see the ending once will bring you to the final battle once again.

[briareos_kerensky]

And that's a 100 Cat Shines got, and Bowser's Fury is done.