Bowser's Fury Is a Short, Action-Packed, Free-Roaming Mario Adventure

Nintendo has explained that Bowser's Fury - the new standalone adventure coming with the Switch release of Super Mario 3D World - will be a free-roaming experience that is "short but action-packed". The new Bowser's Fury website describes the story of the expansion: "Mario is sent to Lake Lapcat, where everything is cat-themed—and Bowser has gone berserk! Team up with Bowser Jr. to help his dad chill out in this short but action-packed standalone adventure." The website also confirms the adventure is free-roaming. You'll be travelling around Lake Lapcat in search of Cat Shines - which will let you unlock the new Giga Bell Power-Up - and reignite lighthouses to clear darkened areas. That sounds a little closer in approach to Super Mario Odyssey than 3D World's more curated courses. On Twitter, Nintendo added that Bowser's Fury can be selected from the Super Mario 3D World title screen - it's not an endgame level, or unlocked by playing the Wii U re-release. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/01/13/super-mario-3d-world-bowsers-fury-overview-trailer"] The new website also confirms how amiibo will work in the expansion. Using a Bowser amiibo will cause the new Fury Bowser to appear in game, and a Bowser Jr. amiibo will unleash "a powerful shockwave to knockout nearby enemies and blocks". Other amiibo will also cause effects - one of which will seemingly be to turn into a gold Cat Mario statue, as seen in yesterday's Overview Trailer (above). We've learned a fair bit about Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury in the last few days, including the addition of a photo mode, and how Fury Bowser will be a timed world event in the new adventure. Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury will arrive for Switch on February 12, and you can preorder it right now. We awarded the Wii U version of Super Mario 3D World a 9.6/10 in our review, saying it's "marvelous, and its constant variety and fantastic light-hearted co-op play proves that Nintendo still knows exactly how to tweak the Mario formula in fun ways." [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.