A mod for Mario's latest adventure, Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury, turns most surfaces into instant-death lava traps, pushing the game's difficulty to stratospheric levels. While very few people will be able to make headway in this context, it's exciting to watch those players skilled enough to do so.
Not every game in the Mario franchise instantly kills Mario upon touching lava, but it has this effect on Mario in Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury. Given the emphasis these games place on stockpiling power-ups, Mario and friends can usually sustain a hit or two from most enemies. This goes away when lava is involved, however, demanding precision platforming. As one might expect, this means that lava is restricted to small areas with tricky platforming challenges. Notable examples include the World Castle levels in Super Mario 3D World, and the Roiling Roller Isle and Mount Magmeow levels in Bowser's Fury.
Created by modder Amethyst and showcased by YouTuber Mayro, this mod transforms almost every flat surface on Lake Lapcat into lava. This pushes Mayro to develop a range of unusual tactics. The appearances of monstrous Fury Bowser sometimes introduces dips in difficulty. Fury Bowser can trigger new blocks to appear, which creates alternate paths to escape the lava. The majority of the lake water is unaffected, which gives players the chance to retreat back to the lake's surface if they fall off the games' islands.
The key factor in making this kind of mod beatable is Bowser Jr., who can be controlled by the player using motion controls. As Bowser Jr. can remotely retrieve many Cat Shine Shards, he is useful in obtaining collectibles. While players noticed how powerful Bowser Jr. can be almost immediately after the game's release, restricting Mario's movement with lava gives Bowser Jr. even more utility. Mario can also jump on top of Bowser Jr., providing an additional traversal option.
The mod leaves the boss battles between Fury Bowser and Giga Cat Mario untouched, which is understandable. Given that Giga Cat Mario is enormous, it would be hard to add lava in a way that increased the challenge without making the game impossible to complete. That said, Mayro certainly seems to struggle reaching the Giga Bell needed to trigger the boss fight; while the boss itself may be fairly easy, the path to reaching it might be the "true" boss battle in and of itself.
Even before this mod, Mario was no stranger to sadistic fan challenges. This can perhaps best be seen in the Super Mario Maker series, which allows fans to create and share levels with others online. Some of these levels are excessively challenging, demanding exceptional amounts of luck and skill. One particularly infamous level required at least four million attempts to beat successfully. In any case, players looking for a challenge should have their hands full with the new mod.
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury is out now, exclusively on the Nintendo Switch.