Bowser's Fury

This article is about the campaign in Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury. For the form of Bowser introduced in this game, see Fury Bowser.

Bowser's Fury
International logo For alternate box art, see the related gallery.
Developers	Nintendo EPD Tokyo Nintendo Software Technology Corporation 1-UP Studio Panic Button (Switch 2 enhancement)
Publisher	Nintendo
Platform	Nintendo Switch (enhanced for Nintendo Switch 2)
Release dates	February 12, 2021 February 12, 2021 February 12, 2021 February 12, 2021 February 12, 2021 February 12, 2021 February 12, 2021 February 12, 2021
Languages	English Japanese Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Traditional) Dutch French (Canada) French (Europe) German Italian Korean Portuguese (Europe) Russian Spanish (Latin America) Spanish (Europe)
Genres	Platformer, action
Ratings	ESRB: - Everyone[?] CERO: - All ages[?] PEGI: - Seven years and older[?] USK: - Six years and older[?] RARS: - Six years and older[?] ClassInd: - General audience[?] GRAC: - All ages[?] GSRR: - Six years and older[?] NMC: - Seven years and older[?] ACB: - General[?] FPB: - Ten to twelve years[?]
Format	Nintendo Switch: Game Card Digital download
Input	Nintendo Switch: Joy-Con Joy-Con (horizontal) Nintendo Switch Pro Controller Nintendo GameCube Controller

Bowser's Fury is a 3D action-adventure platformer campaign included in Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury, the Nintendo Switch port of the Wii U game Super Mario 3D World. It features sandbox-like elements similar to those in Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and Super Mario Odyssey, and revolves around Mario exploring Lake Lapcat. After Bowser Jr. covers Bowser with splotchy goop and accidentally turns him into the rampaging Fury Bowser, Bowser Jr. recruits Mario to collect Cat Shines to use their power to activate Giga Bells so that they can change Fury Bowser back to normal. These actions also clear Lake Lapcat of the splotchy goop Fury Bowser's presence has spread across the area. Rather than providing the Health Meter as in open-world Super Mario series games, Bowser's Fury uses the power-up system that Super Mario 3D World and Super Mario 3D Land use.

The campaign supports two-player co-op, allowing a second player to use a single Joy-Con or Pro Controller to control Bowser Jr. independently from Mario. amiibo can also be used to summon power-ups as well as cause Fury Bowser to awaken whenever the player wants him to.

Story

Mario investigating the trail of black goop

During a bright and clear day, Mario walks down a path in front of Peach's Castle, seemingly the same path as the one seen in the prologue of the main Super Mario 3D World mode. He notices small puddles of splotchy goop on the path and follows them, eventually stopping at M Graffiti painted on the ground made from the same material as the puddles. The graffiti expands to create a portal that Mario falls through, transporting him to Lake Lapcat, where a rainstorm is occurring. Lake Lapcat is almost entirely covered in splotchy goop, with the sole exception being Fur Step Island.

Shortly after Mario lands, he encounters Bowser, who has become a larger and more powerful form known as Fury Bowser. Mario finds a Cat Shine in the surrounding area, which clears the goop off of a nearby lighthouse. Fury Bowser is blinded by the beam of light that shines from the lighthouse, and retreats into the Fury Sun in the middle of Lake Lapcat. Immediately afterward, some of Lake Lapcat's goop vanishes and several islands emerge from the water.

Mario falling into the portal

After Fury Bowser retreats, the storm clears and Mario finds a panicking Bowser Jr., who explains why Bowser transformed. He shows Mario a picture he painted of his father and paints it black with his magic brush, showing that Bowser Jr. was the one who corrupted Bowser. Bowser Jr. could not get Bowser to change back to normal on his own, and reluctantly decides to ask Mario for help. Mario agrees to do so, and Bowser Jr. joins him for the rest of the adventure.

Mario and the kittens striking victory poses

Through Bowser Jr.'s memory of a saying and advice given by the Giga Bells, Mario and Bowser Jr. learn that they can use the power of Cat Shines located across Lake Lapcat to clear the splotchy goop off the Giga Bells. This allows Mario to use the Giga Bells to transform into the giant Giga Cat Mario and fight Fury Bowser directly. However, even though Fury Bowser loses these battles, he does not change back to normal and instead retreats. This bothers Bowser Jr. a bit, who at first is proud at how Fury Bowser is strong enough to resist Mario but later upset that Fury Bowser is not changing back to normal even after being defeated in several bouts. Defeating Fury Bowser does clear more goop from Lake Lapcat, which allows more islands to rise from the water where Mario can collect more Cat Shines to reclean the Giga Bells and battle Fury Bowser more times.

After several battles, Fury Bowser expels all the splotchy goop inside of and on him before exploding, but he then suddenly transforms into Giant Bowser, summoning all three Giga Bells and trapping them in a crystal ball to keep for himself. With the help of Plessie, Mario rams into this ball to weaken and eventually break it, allowing both Mario and Plessie to collect all three Giga Bells at once. In this gargantuan form, they easily launch Giant Bowser into the sky by crashing into him.

Finally back to normal, Bowser falls from the sky and lands near Bowser Jr. and a few colorful kittens. The former two both become excited; however, after Bowser notices Mario, now in his normal-sized Cat Mario form, he gets angry and attempts to attack him as Bowser Jr. holds him back. Once Bowser is dragged away, Bowser Jr. pauses and threatens Mario himself before leaving. Mario shrugs before being nuzzled by the kittens. As they jump in the air and freeze, the camera zooms out, revealing that the ground on which the scene took place was the back of Giga Cat Plessie, the form Plessie took after collecting all three Giga Bells simultaneously. The credits then roll, featuring various paintings by Bowser Jr. that depict the story from his perspective. They include additional scenes such as Bowser and Bowser Jr. watching the sun set on Lake Lapcat.

Gameplay

The objective of the campaign is to free every island from the splotchy goop that Fury Bowser is covered in by collecting Cat Shines across Lake Lapcat. However, at slightly varying intervals of several minutes, Fury Bowser emerges from the Fury Sun and begins to rampage. When this occurs, a rainstorm begins throughout the area, falling spikes fall from the sky, and Fury Bowser attacks the entire lake with large beams of fire named fury blasts and rains of Bowser's Flames. Fury Bowser is capable of jumping across the lake, which he uses to reposition himself and to pursue Mario if he tries to stay away from Fury Bowser. All kittens and cats on Lake Lapcat become corrupted while Fury Bowser is active, and attack Mario if he approaches them. Fury Bowser returns to the Fury Sun either after a brief time or if a Cat Shine is collected, as the Cat Shine powers a nearby lighthouse, and the brightness of this light forces Fury Bowser to retreat. When this happens, any falling spikes still left from Bowser's attack break open and vanish.

Mario and Bowser Jr. collecting a Cat Shine

Extending the sandbox concept of Super Mario Odyssey, Lake Lapcat is a vast open-world setting, though it starts off fairly constrained as only four islands are available to explore and the rest of the lake is covered in damaging splotchy goop. Twice in the game, defeating Fury Bowser will clear large chunks of goop, revealing a large portions of Lake Lapcat and enabling access to four more islands. The actions Mario can take include running around each island, collecting items, and climbing up each island's lighthouse. Every island has a variety of gameplay concepts, objects, and enemies from the main Super Mario 3D World campaign, and they are designed to allow the player to utilize Mario's different power-ups and abilities. At first, moving between islands through the water takes some amount of time due to Mario's slow swimming speed, but when the player unlocks the second set of islands they also unlock the ability to ride Plessie to travel across the water extremely quickly. When Plessie is not being ridden, he teleports around the water to stay close to Mario, which makes him very accessible to the player.

Throughout Bowser's Fury, Mario has Bowser Jr. to accompany him. Bowser Jr. floats alongside Mario inside his Junior Clown Car. Whenever Bowser Jr. gets too far away from Mario he warps back over to him. Bowser Jr. can attack by swinging his magic brush and slamming the Junior Clown Car downward. He can also fill in graffiti the player finds to provide Mario additional power ups. Bowser Jr. also personifies the game's unique item storage system, which allows the player to carry up to five instances of five different power-ups then retrieve whichever one the player wants at any time through a menu. When Bowser Jr. collects power-ups that can be put into the item storage, they are sent there. In single player, Bowser Jr. is controlled by the computer, and the amount he automatically moves around to help Mario find items, collect items, and battle enemies can be decided in the game's settings. He can be manually directed to act upon objects by tapping on them or directing him to objects with the gyro controlled touch cursor. In two player mode, a second player controls all of Bowser Jr.'s actions.

Coins are scattered all across Lake Lapcat, serving to lead players around the islands. Coins are also rewarded for hitting ? Blocks that do not have other items available and for defeating enemies. The coin counter resets to 0 whenever the player has 100 coins. Bowser's Fury does not have a life system, so while many prior games of the Super Mario series reward the player with an extra life whenever the coin counter resets, Bowser's Fury gives the player a power-up. The player is still punished for letting Mario be defeated despite the game not having lives, as the coin counter is reduced by 50 coins when Mario is defeated. The coin counter cannot be set to negative numbers by this effect, as it stays at 0 coins in any case where this would happen.

Giga Bells are situated in three different areas of Lake Lapcat, denoted according to the three major regions: the Lakeside, Ruins, and Wasteland. Each region contains four major islands, each with five Cat Shines, with various other Cat Shines located between major islands. The Giga Bells are corrupted due to the splotchy goop, and can only be activated by collecting a certain amount of Cat Shines. When this happens, they will awaken during Fury Bowser's rampages and can be collected by Mario to become Giga Cat Mario. This starts a boss battle against Fury Bowser, whose arena spans all of Lake Lapcat. These battles change the scale of the game, as Giga Cat Mario's and Fury Bowser's sizes dwarf all of the terrain of Lake Lapcat. Islands that are complex platforming environments at normal size become very close to basic cubes and ramps at Giga Cat Mario's size. Some of Fury Bowser's atttacks during these battles are similar to the ones he uses in normal gameplay, but others are different. If Giga Cat Mario takes damage, he reverts to giant versions of Super Mario and Small Mario, then is defeated if he takes damage as Small Mario. This ends the battle, returning Mario to normal and having him start next to the Giga Bell he used to start the battle. The Giga Bells respawn during battles against Fury Bowser, enabling the player to restore themselves to Giga Cat Mario mid battle. The player can reduce Fury Bowser's health before entering battle by collecting Cat Shines while Fury Bowser is rampaging across Lake Lapcat.

A minimum of 40 Cat Shines is required to finish the campaign. However, to complete it this way, Fury Bowser's health must be lowered to less than 50% of its full value through collecting Cat Shines. If this is done before starting the fourth battle against him, it enables the player to defeat him during it. If Fury Bowser retreats during the fourth battle, the player must instead collect 50 Cat Shines to initiate the fifth battle. If 47 Cat Shines are collected, Fury Bowser begins a rampage that does not end until the player collects 50 Cat Shines, awakens the Giga Bells, and defeats Fury Bowser for the final time. If he is defeated during his fourth or fifth battles, Bowser then transforms into Giant Bowser, and Mario must ride Plessie across the entire lake to chase him down. While avoiding Giant Bowser's attacks, Mario can launch off of ramps with Dash Panels on them to hit and break the crystal ball protecting the three Giga Bells.

Giga Cat Mario claw swiping at Fury Bowser

After Giant Bowser is defeated and the credits are viewed, the game returns to the Bowser's Fury title screen. The first time it is resumed after this, Bowser Jr. tells Mario that he was relaxing with Bowser on the lake until the latter turned back into Fury Bowser, requesting that Mario collect more Cat Shines to help restore peace. To thank Mario for helping, he then grants the ability to warp to islands he has already visited and marks the locations of new Cat Shines on the map. After this, Plessie permanently remains as Cat Plessie and gains the ability to carry kittens on its back.

If all one hundred Cat Shines are collected and Giant Bowser is defeated again, an additional painting by Bowser Jr. is shown after the credits; following this, Mario's Cat Suit changes to look like a much smaller version of Giga Cat Mario, and Bowser Jr. and his Junior Clown Car become cat versions of themselves. Fury Bowser's appearance also changes, as the orange sections of his spikes, belly, and eyebrows all turn white. However, all of these changes are purely visual.

Controls

Mario controls identically to how he does in the Super Mario 3D World campaign. However, Bowser Jr. can also be controlled by a second player.

Nintendo GameCube Controllers can be used through the GameCube Controller Adapter, but it is recognized as a wired Nintendo Switch Pro Controller.

Mario

Action	Dual Joy-Con or Pro Controller Controls	Single Joy-Con Controls
Stage controls
Move
Look around	Tilt	N/A
Dash	+ /	+
Jump	/	/
Crouch	/
Item storage
Open amiibo prompt	Hold	N/A
Snapshot Mode		N/A
Use touch cursor	; touch the screen in handheld mode	; touch the screen in handheld mode
Reset camera / touch cursor		N/A
Menu		(left Joy-Con); (right Joy-Con)
Menu controls
Select option
Confirm
Cancel

Action Guide

Action	Dual Joy-Con or Pro Controller Controls	Single Joy-Con Controls
Hold items	Press near an item	Press near an item
Throw items	While holding an item, press	While holding an item, press
Spin	Rotate	Rotate
Spin Jump	While spinning, press	While spinning, press
Crouch Jump	Hold , then press	Hold , then press
Ground Pound	While in midair, press	While in midair, press
Ground Pound Jump	Press in midair, then press when hitting the ground	Press in midair, then press when hitting the ground
Long Jump	While moving, press +	While moving, press +
Roll	+	+
Rolling long jump	During a roll, press	During a roll, press
Midair roll	While in midair, press +	While in midair, press +
Side Somersault	While running, tilt in the opposite direction and press	While running, tilt in the opposite direction and press
Wall Jump	While touching a wall in midair, press	While touching a wall in midair, press
Exclusive to the Super Bell
Claw
Pounce	+	+
Claw dive	While in midair, hold	While in midair, hold
Climb walls	While touching a wall in midair, tilt	While touching a wall in midair, tilt
Exclusive to the Fire Flower
Throw fireballs
Exclusive to the Boomerang Flower
Throw boomerang
Exclusive to the Super Leaf
Tail attack
Float downward	While in midair, hold	While in midair, hold

Bowser Jr.

Action	Dual Joy-Con or Pro Controller Controls	Single Joy-Con Controls
Move
Look around	Tilt	+
Reset camera	Press	Press
Attack; investigate graffiti spot	or	or
Fly up	or	or
Warp to Mario's location	+	+

Locations

Lake Lapcat is split into three main regions, each represented by a Giga Bell. Each region contains four major islands, each being a usually broad scenario matching the theme of the region. While every island can be approached from many different angles, and there are multiple routes around an island, each island "officially" starts at a cat head shaped archway located somewhere on it. This archway serves as the location Mario is sent to if a loaded save file's last location is one of the twelve islands, if Mario is defeated while on an island, and if the player uses Bowser Jr.'s post game only warp ability to teleport to a previously accessed island. Each island also has a lighthouse covered in splotchy goop. Each of the islands has five different missions, each of which ends by the player to collecting a Cat Shine. They have variety of goals, such as collecting Blue Coins from a P Switch to make a Cat Shine appear, or using a key to open a cage that has a Cat Shine inside. The first mission of most islands is "Make the Lighthouse Shine", which is a basic "traverse the island to reach the Cat Shine at the end" mission. Completing one of an island's missions allows the Cat Shine's power to remove the goop on the island's lighthouse, but only temporarily. The next time the island is loaded, the goop on that island's lighthouse returns. To permanently remove the goop on an island's lighthouse, the player has to complete all five of an island's missions. When this occurs, a Fling Pole appears atop that island's lighthouse, with a cat variation of Mario's Goal Pole flag attached to it.

The first three missions of each island are accessed sequentially. Once one of these missions is completed, the next mission does not become available until the next time the island is loaded. When a new one of these sequential mission is available, the layout of platforms and enemies can change to reflect the new mission. The last of the three missions that appear sequentially on multiple islands adds Propeller Boxes to the layout, which allows the player to navigate the island by air in many ways they could not before the Propeller Boxes appeared. All islands contain two other missions that can be done at any time: one for collecting five different Cat Shine Shards scattered across the island and one where the player must lead Fury Bowser to break Fury Blocks with a fury blast to reach a Cat Shine hidden behind or underneath the blocks.

Between the islands of Lake Lapcat there is a large amount of water. Since Mario cannot dash in water, moving between islands through the water is slow. More importantly, Mario cannot take Propeller Boxes, Coin Boxes, and/or Ice Skates with him when entering most bodies of water, as they vanish immedately. Since Mario cannot hold items while swimming, a number of other items cannot be taken through any body water deep enough to require that Mario swims through it.

There are a total of one hundred Cat Shines in the campaign, some of which can only be collected after completing the main story. Sixty Cat Shines are earned from the five different missions on each of the twelve major islands. Thirty-five more Cat Shines are earned throughout Lake Lapcat, sometimes in areas between the main islands and sometimes out on the open water. Many of these Cat Shines are tied to mechanisms just like the ones of missions, such as Timer Gates, Cat Wheels, and Ground-Pound Switches The final five Cat Shines are available on Lucky Isle, a location that only appears after completing the main story.

When the player presses the button, it opens a map of Lake Lapcat. This map notes Mario's current position and direction, where all twelve of the game's islands are, the locations of Giga Bells, and the locations of collected Cat Shines. The positions of Cat Shines tied to missions on islands are not individually marked, but selecting the location of an island will list out the Cat Shines the player has collected as well as the sequential mission the player has yet to complete. The map also informs Mario if a new mission is available on a island he has accessed before. Once the game's main story is completed for the first time, Bowser Jr. marks the locations of uncollected Cat Shines that could not be collected prior to completing the main story for the first time on the map, and allows Mario to warp to islands he has been to before using the map.

Fury Bowser must be battled a total of five times to complete the story. To do so, Mario must collect enough Cat Shines to activate Lake Lapcat's Giga Bells. Each time Fury Bowser is defeated, the number of Cat Shines needed to activate the Giga Bells increases, from 5 initially to 15 to 20 to 40 and finally to 50 Cat Shines. To make collecting more Cat Shines easier, more islands rise out of the water and become available to explore upon defeating Fury Bowser for the first and third times.

Once Fury Bowser is defeated for the first time, Plessie begins to appear on Lake Lapcat. When Plessie is far from Mario, it despawns to respawn a location closer to Mario. Lake Lapcat has many different spawn points for Plessie, so Plessie is almost always somehwere near Mario. Docks on islands, both on the main twelve ones and on smaller ones, are indicators of one of Plessie's spawn points.

While Fur Step Island is the first location visited in the campaign, only the first Cat Shine can be obtained before completing the main story. A large amount of splotchy goop surrounds the area before this point, and an invisible barrier is present to prevent any attempt to bypass the goop. After the main story is completed and the player opens the save file again from the title screen, gameplay resumes on Fur Step Island, which is now clear of goop.

Lucky Isle

Main article: Lucky Isle

After completing the main story for the first time, a special golden island called the Lucky Isle appears whenever Fury Bowser rampages and disappears when Fury Bowser returns to the Fury Sun. Lucky Isle descends from the sky at one of five specific locations. It has five Cat Shines on it, but because Fury Bowser retreats to the Fury Sun when a Cat Shine is collected and Lucky Isle disppears when Fury Bowser retreats, Mario can only collect one Cat Shine each time he visits Lucky Isle. Further, until Mario has all five of the Cat Shines from Lucky Isle, Lucky Isle stops appearing in locations where Mario collected a Cat Shine from it. This means the player has to reach Lucky Isle in all five of its possible locations to collect all five of its Cat Shines.

Table of locations

* indicates that a Cat Shine is only available after seeing the credits once.

Region	Islands	Island Cat Shines	Other Cat Shines
Lakeside Giga Bell
	Fur Step Island	Make the Lighthouse Shine Junior's Graffiti Gratitude* Fury Shadow on Deck* Five Cat Shine Shards* Blast the Fury Blocks*	Climb to the Shine Shoreside Rabbit Plays Tag Hurry! Dash and Dive! Lost Kitten by the Shore Bounce and Trounce in the Clouds* Toad Brigade: Lost Leader* Plessie Medal Collector* Plessie Medal Catcher*
	Scamper Shores	Make the Lighthouse Shine Fury Shadow by the Shore Key to the Cat Shine Five Cat Shine Shards Blast the Fury Blocks
	Pounce Boun