Bowser's Fury

Voices of: Charles Martinet, Kenny James, Samantha Kelly
Developer: Nintendo
Designer: N/A
Rating: E
Genre: Platform
System: Switch
2021

Times Completed:
Tim: 1

Summary: Mario is transported to Lake Lapcat, where he must team with Bowser, Jr. to stop Fury Bowser- a massive foe that emerges from black sludge to wreak destruction.

Review:
Tim: I had a ton of fun playing Bowser's Fury. This Super Mario spinoff is more of an experimental game than a fully-fleshed out, full-story Mario game. However, the first open world Mario game was still a ton of fun. I loved the quirks and unique aspects of this game. It expanded the Mario world in different directions and still delivered Nintendo's trademark game design excellence. In short, I had an absolute blast playing this game- it was so, so fun.

The premise, like most of these games is straightforward. Here, Bowser has turned into an enormous, kaiju-like creature, Fury Bowser. From a game standpoint, I loved this- periodically, Fury Bowser emerges from the sludge, causing you to immediately pause whatever you're doing. "Where he is?" I would gleefully shout, as you reorient yourself and seek shelter. I loved that Bowser emerges and will blast Mario, unless our intrepid plumber seeks a safe place to hide. Now, as the game goes on, it becomes more second-nature to evade Bowser. That didn't make it any less fun, though. I read that some people complained how Bowser's emergence interrupted their game. I never felt that. I thought it was so cool how he'd come at the most inopportune time and it didn't matter what you were doing- you had to stop and hide. That was just such a cool, unique dynamic in this game. Eventually, you time it up and wait to hit Bowser back- but still, this new game mechanic made this one feel so different to other Mario games.

I also loved that Bowser's Fury had a two-player option. I played the game with my 7 year-old son. He controlled Bowser Jr. while I played Mario. This was the perfect opportunity for us to play together and he was able to collaborate while not having the full weight on the game on his shoulders. I was an absolute blast playing with him. I'll always remember the wind picking up, the rain falling and our sudden exclamations of "He's coming, run!" The multiplayer works best when you play with kids. Bowser Jr. is admittedly more of an extension of Mario than a true 2-player experience. Still, it was loads of fun to play with my son.

The graphics was tremendous for a Nintendo game. The colors, the depiction of the characters and the world- Nintendo may never have cutting-edge graphics, but it's still beautiful in its own attention-to-detail way. I loved how Fury Bowser was depicted.

I really loved the idea of the open world concept here. The game offers this as slightly more of an illusion than a true open world game- you kind of know exactly where you should go next. But, the freedom to make some choices, to explore the world as you like, it was excellent. It wouldn't surprise me if the next true Mario game is actually full-open world. This was a nice way to explore that concept and it truly does work. We had so much fun exploring Lake Lapcat.

This game felt much needed. It had been 4 years since Super Mario Odyssey, and while we got Super Mario Maker 2 and Super Mario Bros. 35, this game helped to celebrate that famous plumber and give us another chance for a new Mario experience. The game isn't overly long, but my son and I collected all 100 Cat Shines and the game didn't feel too short. It maybe took us 10 hours? It's not a full Mario experience, but it was a delightful one nevertheless. I'm a huge fan of this game.



Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: N/A



If You Enjoyed This Game, We Recommend: Super Mario 3D World, Super Mario Sunshine, Super Mario Odyssey