An interesting experiment in introducing an unsegmented open-world format to the series, but doesn’t indicate any ease in being able to reproduce itself in a wider-scale entry. The presence of Fury Bowser, at least in its concept, hints towards a successful method in amplifying the tension of platforming as that the player is forced to, for example, speed up their movement in order to escape Bowser’s flame. Yet, the movement mechanics don’t fully support such a goal with the long jump’s physics being strikingly reduced to a short bunny hop and the lack of a backwards hop. The ambitions for Bowser, then, turn into a more trivial task of seeking out cover and waiting for his “fury” phase to recede.
This issue is somewhat mitigated in the presence of fury blocks that are meant to unlock shines since the player is forced to risk being damaged in order to gain access to locked areas. Yet, this introduces a bigger problem to the series in that the natural environmental curiosity that its antecedents encourage the player to capitalize on, both in the 2D and 3D formats, is damaged with the presence of a time-gated unlock system. To frame this issue directly, the player is forced to ask themself: “Do I want to explore another area? Or should I wait out for Bowser so I can gain access to a shrine where I am at now so I don’t miss out on it?” This situation introduces an unnatural structure to the series where the player, instead of finding possibilities with each open pathway or hidden corner, is forced to potentially avoid acting on their curiosity after calculating a risk-reward ratio.
Bowser’s fury phase is an admirable attempt to make the 3D Mario platformer even more open-ended via introducing uncertainty to completing levels “as-is”. However, any mechanic which discourages natural curiosity in environmental exploration is against what makes up the core of the Mario platformer (found even in its most linear entries via the presence of pipes, for example). If this were to be viewed as a prototype for a future 3D Mario, work is required to introduce uncertainty in another method while not forgoing the joy of continual discovery that is necessary for the series to function.
This issue is somewhat mitigated in the presence of fury blocks that are meant to unlock shines since the player is forced to risk being damaged in order to gain access to locked areas. Yet, this introduces a bigger problem to the series in that the natural environmental curiosity that its antecedents encourage the player to capitalize on, both in the 2D and 3D formats, is damaged with the presence of a time-gated unlock system. To frame this issue directly, the player is forced to ask themself: “Do I want to explore another area? Or should I wait out for Bowser so I can gain access to a shrine where I am at now so I don’t miss out on it?” This situation introduces an unnatural structure to the series where the player, instead of finding possibilities with each open pathway or hidden corner, is forced to potentially avoid acting on their curiosity after calculating a risk-reward ratio.
Bowser’s fury phase is an admirable attempt to make the 3D Mario platformer even more open-ended via introducing uncertainty to completing levels “as-is”. However, any mechanic which discourages natural curiosity in environmental exploration is against what makes up the core of the Mario platformer (found even in its most linear entries via the presence of pipes, for example). If this were to be viewed as a prototype for a future 3D Mario, work is required to introduce uncertainty in another method while not forgoing the joy of continual discovery that is necessary for the series to function.