Welcome to IGN’s guide to Super Mario 3D World’s side story - Bowser’s Fury. This guide includes info on how the mode works, how to navigate Lake Lapcat, obtain all the Cat Shines, and defeat Fury Bowser himself with the help of Bowser Jr.

What is Bowser’s Fury?

In Bowser’s Fury, you will be able to take control of Mario in a 1-2 player adventure quite unlike Super Mario 3D World’s gameplay. You will find that controlling Mario takes on more of a mix of 3D World and Mario Odyssey, as the mode lets you control the camera movement in a large open space with multiple “Cat Shines” to collect.

As you collect the Cat Shines, Bowser will be an ever-present threat in your adventure. No matter where you are in the lake, Bowser will emerge from the inky depths around every 6 minutes, and unleash his titular fury upon you with an array of attacks, and can only be driven back by obtaining a Cat Shine, or by avoiding him for around a minute and a half.

Your main objective in Bowser’s Fury is to collect enough Cat Shines across the lake to activate the Giga Bells, allowing you to fight back against Bowser. Each time you do so, you’ll unlock more of the lake to explore, and will need more Cat Shines to fight him again.

During your adventure, Bowser Jr. will offer his help - and you can set just how much help he’ll give, or let a second player take over. Bowser can fight alongside you, but can also reveal hidden areas and paint over symbols to unlock power ups for you. There are no lives in Bowser’s Fury - dying will take 50 coins away, but earning 100 coins will reward you with a random power up. You’ll be able to store up to 5 of each type of power up found in Super Mario 3D World, and can access them at the tap of a button to swap between them.

Tips and Tricks

While you may be familiar with how Super Mario 3D World looks and controls, you'll find that Bowser's Fury has many different features and abilities not found in any other game mode:

• If playing alone, you can set Bowser Jr's helpfulness to stay out of the way at all times, or sometimes assist in attacking enemies near you.
• Each island can undergo slight changes after you get a Cat Shine. If you don't see any, or aren't told what the next Cat Shine is, head back to the nearby Giga Bell and return, and the island should update for the next Cat Shine by then.
• Bowser Jr. will also helpfully point out grafiiti he can color in with his brush (tap the screen or hold down R to select a target using gyroscope controls) to reveal powerups. He's also point out invisible blocks and spots in the ground to pound for secrets!
• You can press Up on the D-Pad to quickly cycle through to whatever power-up you'd like Bowser Jr. to toss you. Hold the D-Pad up, and he'll automatically toss you the last selected powerup!
• Certain secret spots hold a Lucky Bell, a bronze-like version of the Cat Bell that turns Mario into a statue when ground pounding, giving you coins every inch he falls. You can use this at high places to rapidly gain coins and powerups!
• Once you unlock Plessie after fighting Fury Bowser for the first time, you'll find Plessie will appear near you wherever you go, just look around to the nearest shoreline or body of water.
• Plessie can dive into the water by tapping Y, and if you jump right as Plessie breaches up, you can engage in a massive jump boost.
• Don't touch the ooze! Even Plessie will disappear if you jump and land in the stuff, but if you are swimming on Plessie and run into it head-on, you can bounce away from goop without taking damage.
• Fury Bowser may be a big threat when he invades as you're trying to explore, but he can also summon new platforms to get you to areas you normally couldn't access easily, and make even make some Cat Shines easier to get.
• Docile creatures like the wandering cats will turn into fury shadows when Fury Bowser appears - steer clear of them or they might damage you!
• While it's easier when Bowser Jr. is being controlled by a friend, it's possible to jump off of Bowser Jr. - using him as an unwitting platform to greater heights!
• Fury Bowser will always retreat from his attacks after around a minute and a half. However, once you've collected a large amount of Cat Shines, he'll start appearing with the sky turned fiery-red. In these instances, he will not back down until you find a Cat Shine to damage him.
• Each island has a section of Fury Blocks that only Fury Bowser can break - Instead of waiting around for him to show up to collect these Cat Shines, use them as emergency Cat Shines if you don't want to deal with an impending Bowser attack or need to get rid of him quickly.

Walkthrough Sections

As the Bowser’s Fury adventure begins, you will be able to visit certain islands in the lake to acquire several Cat Shines in each island, as well as additional shines hidden outside of the islands. Certain islands will alter their appearance once you have claimed a Shine, and you can leave and revisit the location to get new shines. Other shines may also appear across the lake as you unlock more areas.

Since you can obtain Cat Shines in almost any order you wish, there’s no one set way to unlocking the necessary amount of shines to defeat Bowser. You can view the walkthrough sections below for details on how to obtain every Cat Shine.

• See Also: How to Defeat Fury Bowser