Super Mario Sunshine (2002)

It's cool to see Nintendo experiment with new mechanics when they could have gone with a much safer follow-up to 64. The use of FLUDD is clearly inspired by Luigi's Mansion, and the little scientist with a labcoat is even hinted at early on when FLUDD is introduced (and a little graphic of his face is on the box of every power up). Delfino is also a great hub. It starts enshrouded with an ominous overcast, but as you collect more stars, the shadow is dissipated and more and more of the town lights up, which is a nice way to visually show the player progression is occurring. Not to mention there are period events in the town as you hit certain star marks. These events are typically shadow Mario causing some sort of mischief, but each event leads to a new unlock, whether that be a new level, power up or Yoshi! Delfino is pretty densely packed as well. With several stars you can see, but cannot access until you unlock various power ups within the hub. Some of the activities you can do here don't feel too rewarding. Such as having to kick 3 fruits across a canal into a basket, only rewarding a blue coin (which is 1/10 of a star) and honestly being a pain in the ass to pull off. Or playing basketball with a basket that's suspended above ground (also frustrating and not really worth it for only 1/10 of a star). But overall it's a bright and vibrant hub that rivals Peach's Castle from 64. I personally still prefer Peach's Castle, but there are a lot of improvements with this new hub. Especially how the town seems to grow along with your progression. I just felt the Castle had more clever design and better secrets to find. Such as Boo's Manor, or how some levels would start differently depending on how you entered them. And the gold bunny was a fun optional challenge which coincidentally was used while designing and testing Mario 64's moveset. Nothing as neat as those secrets in Delfino, but still a great follow-up nonetheless.

The game is heavily front loaded with it's best ideas, both in terms of levels, but even within levels. There is honestly a ton of padding in this game which does sour the overall experience, but not enough to ruin the fun. For example, every level has a star where you need to chase around and hose Shadow Mario. This is always the 7th star and is essential for you to beat the game. Once you've beat the 7th Shadow Mario world, you can fight the end boss. Then each level has at least 2 Red coin challenges. This was something in Mario 64, but it's not handled nearly as well this go around. The worst aspect of these Red Coin challenges has to be with the Secret Levels. You need to beat these secret levels once, then you need to return in order to do the red coin challenge. In contrast, these secret levels kinda feel like the Bowser Gauntlets from 64, but a major downgrade. In those Bowser Gauntlets, you could just collect the red coins as you progressed towards Bowser, get the star then fight the boss. The worst design decision and what feels like clear padding is how you are always forced out of a level whenever you get a star, this includes the 100 coin challenge, which in 64 you could complete, but then still get another star... which again forces you to replay the level again. I actually didn't bother doing any of the 100 coin challenges because of how tedious they felt. Truth be told, I didn't even like these challenges in 64 (even with the convenience of being able to continue to play). What's frustrating about this decision is how the game already had a coding to let you save and continue and not get booted out with the Blue coins... so they had a clear solution programmed but chose not to use it... this issue is so egregious (and people who love this game I doubt would ever defend it) that people have made mods removing this mechanic of forcing you out.

Even the blue coins feel like padding. There are 240 of these coins, meaning you can get an extra 24 stars. Some of these blue coins are fun, but a lot of them are pretty tedious. Such as tons hidden in the sand, forcing you to run around like a madman on the beach hosing everything. Or the aforementioned blue coins involving baskets and fruits. This is another challenge I didn't even bother with. Fortunately most frustrating aspects of the game (which do make up roughly half the stars) are optional. You only need to beat the 7th start of each world to beat the game.

This does lead to another issue with the game design, the lack of levels. Mario 64 I believe had roughly twice the number of levels and Sunshine only has 7. These levels are beautiful and large. They are pretty fun, for the most part, to navigate. But they do lead to another issue with Sunshine that feels inferior to 64, a lack of thematic variety in levels. You don't really have a full lava level, you don't have a snow level, it's all tropical. To be fair the game takes place on a resort, but 64 had clever ways of creating non-sensical levels by embracing the cartoonish nature of the game. Such as how the Boo Manor is a small object you shrink into. Why not have a snow globe that Mario Jumps into to enter a snow level? They already had this concept in a level where you jump into a bottle to learn how to use the diver suit. Don't get me wrong, I do like each level and they do feel different. But there just isn't enough thematic variety for this to feel comparable nor superior to 64.

There were some stars I found to be frustrating too because they weren't tutorialized at all. Such as needing to unlock Yoshi in one level, in order to get a star in Ricco Harbor. For this star in particular, you needed to fire juice at fish to create platforms to cross a large gap and make a few other difficult platforming challenges. The main issue here is you have no idea that Yoshi's juice can do this. It's never explained! I only learned when I gave up and looked up how to get the star. Pretty frustrating. Then there's the Pinata Village. The third star you need to navigate an underground hanging maze. Fine, what wasn't fine for me is how there was this new mechanic, that's never explained to you, that you need to grapple onto a surface, smack it, then it will launch across the gap. These types of platforms were normally blue or red before, indicating they could be flipped. Fine, the issue here is these new platforms are brown, which is typically a washed out color you use to communicate to the player "this is not part of the puzzle." So I was stuck. Then I looked up online, once I saw you could smack these platforms to move, I didn't need to look at the guide to figure out the rest of the star. Nintendo is usually pretty good with tutorials. Making these stand out more. The worst star is by far the one requiring you to ride 3 boats along the ocean with Yoshi to reach a small isle so he can juice a barrier so you can enter a pipe. Not hard, but takes a looooong time. And the 'reward' is the most difficult red coin challenge that you will likely get both upset and frustrated over.

Bosses aren't anything to write home about, but can be fun. Albeit the Giant Squid is repeated a few times which isn't great. Manta storm boss was actually kinda challenging (in a good way). Died once, but there are a few safe zones, under the shelters. Def hardest boss fight so far. With a cool spectacle to boot.

Another interesting thing about this hub is how you discover the worlds. The first 4 worlds are basically shown to you even with cameras framing them for you to point you in the right direction. Later levels end up being slightly hidden. Requiring you to use new unlocks and explore Delfino more deeply. Not a bad thing.

Overall I do love the art direction and music of this game even if both lack a thematic variety present in 64. The moveset does feel great. Mario can zip around and has a lot of control in the air thanks to the hovering. The game is certainly balanced around this move set. I watched a 100% speedrun of this game and it's a fun spectacle to watch. It didn't make me regret skipping the 100 coin challenges nor getting all the blue coins though. Still, there is a very high skill ceiling to mastering the moveset and it's impressive how fast you can move with such mastery. I do like this game. It is fun. But it's not an improvement over 64. I respect their departure via the introduction of FLUDD (which is a cool change to his moveset), but the game doesn't feel complete. This needed to cook more and it would have been a masterpiece.

I really did not enjoy my return to Sunshine and had to think through an entire shower about whether it was a 1 star or a 2 star game. Playing through it was a real eye opener as I was severely affected by nostalgia and thick rose tinted glasses, suffering through it was sort of like unlearning a part of myself. I have so many good memories of playing this with friends, especially the opening portions over and over, I simply did not want to not enjoy it, but the farther I went in the game the more it pushed me farther and farther down.

Let's talk some highlights, the game is probably the most front loaded Nintendo title ever. As mentioned, the first couple of hours, around the first 15 shines or so, are amazingly balanced and presented. The early, more ground based levels really allow the spray mechanics to compliment your actions rather than requiring them to be pulled fully taught.

The first world, Bianca Hills I believe, is also one of the only places in the game where the 'cleaning grime off surfaces' is fully immersive and part of the platforming and exploration. I'm certain people enjoy the fact that it's relegated to a stage gimmick later on as they enjoy more of the pure platforming, but it just feels like the veneer of 'you're cleaning this island and making it better' rubs off way too quickly.

Most of the worlds also front load their most fun levels, the boss fights. This is, strictly speaking in my opinion, a mistake, but it further serves to front load most of the fun.

Most importantly, Mario's moveset is probably the most diverse it will ever been in terms of pure jumping, even with some odd exclusions like the long jump. For most people, this is probably the end of the review, it's high flexibility and skill ceiling with certain really demanding challenges that force you to perform atleast some of the complicated maneuvers by game's end.

The problems begin there, the moveset is filtered through the controls and Sunshine is 100% jank in that way. You adapt somewhat, but lateral movement causes Mario to sprint (probably to enable the snappy side jumps you rely on so much) meaning that 'balance beam' scenarios are really more hellish than they feel like they deserve to be. The resolution, even when played on a CRT, also makes the precision landings you are forced into doing constantly more of a 'feel it in your heart' scenario. The presence of the hover encouraged Nintendo to put in a lot of these spot landing moments and far too many of them feel luck based even as you generally improve at the game.

The powerful moveset, all centering around the hover, also led them to making many, many levels far too punishing, filling an otherwise casual game with several 'do the whole level over to try one trick jump again until you get it right' moments, accented by a lives system that pushes you to farm 1-ups.

Of course, a game that front loads fun inherently back loads problems, and the Blue Coin system is it. I don't watch reviews while playing through games, but I'm certain that these are the most discussed, and excused, elements you'll hear critiqued by people that love the game, but I really must say that they are not judging it enough. There's not a lot of worlds in Sunshine, which I personally am not bothered by too much, though the repeated concept levels (Shadow Mario, Red Coins, Patisimo races, Secrets) do hamper the variety those few levels can even offer.

Blue Coins though make up the back third (or more, playtime wise) of the game and are just strictly worthless content, while a couple are interesting, those are usually just as inaccessible as the rest, and simply ruin the experience. I was between 1 and 2 stars for Sunshine because Blue Coins on their own bring it down to a 2, a technically playable and somewhat interesting but highly flawed experience, but I may be being too generous even there. They are misery and honestly make me doubt the entire 3d Mario formula and its focus on obfuscating collectables. They are simply and only redeemed by not being necessary to complete the base game, but the mere draw of collecting several will naturally incline players to try to put some effort in and look for more and the resulting experience is downright hateful.

I honestly do not understanding how Sunshine made it through QA based on Nintendo's track record. It feels like a game that would have been interesting to discover, fully completed but unreleased, in a leak or something. People lambast 'incomplete' games, but in Sunshine's case it just feels too fundamentally flawed or limited by the technology to have seen the light of day, but hey, but that may be hypocritical of me to say since I'm still too cowardly to fully condemn it myself.

Mario Sunshine is the black sheep of the 3D Mario game franchise for a reason. According to my research, the game was sold incomplete, the game was rushed because the Gamecube wasn't selling as fast as Nintendo expected.

This would explain why the game is extremely difficult and some levels are incredibly confusing. The game has a lot of good qualities, very good ones, like many people have described, it is indeed a flawed gem; a diamond that wasn't done correctly.

The shining good

• The game's graphics have aged very well. Delfino Plaza looks very good and pleasing to the eyes, the colors are vibrant and tropical. The water especially looks extremely detailed despite being a game made in the 2000s; not many games can boast that.
• The music is very memorable, especially the Delfino Plaza theme, the hotel theme and the special stage zones. Those songs are not only memorable, they have been featured in memes due to it.
• The Fludd controls very well. The physics of using the Fludd function very well, it does feel like a nice addition to Mario's moveset because it allows you to hover, push enemies or objects away, and with the upgrades you can jump really high or run very fast. Most of my time playing was me messing around with the Fludd because of how fun it is to use and how easy it is to master.
• The levels are very well done, but they aren't as memorable as Galaxy's levels or Mario 64's levels. They don't feel improvised, they allow you to have a lot of freedom most of the time, you can solve Shines in multiple ways sometimes, etc. I especially liked the levels that gave you more freedom to get the Shines in any way you liked.

The chucksters

• Most of the levels tend to have the same elements, like a big water source and similar graphics; even the special zones tend to be same-ish because they use the same style all the time. The levels have Shines that are very hard to obtain without a guide because of how obtuse they are, like for example there is a Shine in Pianta Village that almost nobody has solved "correctly"; they use the water source to splash Mario and wash the lava away instead of finding the labyrinth and going to the other side that way.
• The voice acting is pretty underwhelming, it's rarely used and when it is used the characters don't seem to emote as much as the animations make them do, this happens a lot with the piantas. The only ones who do a perfect job are Mario and Bowser Jr, especially with their screams.
• Mario without the Fludd controls very poorly. He tends to slip too much and you have almost no control over his jumps, if you land in a single edge surface Mario will just fall down. The special levels are infamous for this, because Mario most of the time won't have the Fludd.

Conclusion

Mario Sunshine despite being rough and unfinished, it is still a very fun game. By the way, I recommend you to play a hack rom called Super Mario Sunburn; the hack rom gives you more freedom since it unlocks all levels from the start, doesn't boot you out of the level after getting a Shine (I didn't find this annoying myself), adds the long jump of Mario 64 and adds more coins so getting the 100 coins stars are easier.

When I bounced off Mario 64 I was worried that my enjoyment of Mario Odyssey was more a fluke. At the start of 2023 I finally gave another older 3D Mario a try with Super Mario Sunshine, my wife's favorite Mario game.

I should start off by saying that 3D platformers are not the usually genre I gravitate towards. I am terrible at them, I get frustrated by jump challenges easily, and I hate dying because of not timing my jump perfectly. But, I do enjoy a lot of what they try to do including fun use of challenges and the world, cool boss fights, and unique environments.

Gameplay The gameplay in Sunshine has a crutch for platforming that I really liked, the FLUDD, if you miss jump just jetpack back into place. Loved it. It did take me a bit to get used to the aiming mechanics, but once they clicked together I loved it.

However, anyone who has played this knows that every level features at least one challenge that takes your Fludd away, and forces you to perform really annoying platforming challenges... These were almost exclusively barriers to me playing the game. I did beat them eventually, but often only after many many agonizing retries, and sometimes taking a day or two away from the game.

To make this matter worse, unlike many other Mario 3D games you cannot just pick and choose what shines to gather, to unlock the final level to have to do them in a predetermined order, which means you HAVE to do these secret levels...

Now, forced progression did have a few perks, I liked not having to search and search for challenges to provide shines, and I also enjoyed how it let the level set up change slightly for each challenge. But, I don't think this outweighs the frustration of dying repeatedly on a challenge, knowing there are alternative ones I could do.

Camera was a huge improvement over Mario64, but still has some frustrating moments. Many of the challenges became much easier once I realized 50% was finding the right camera position.

I want to end Gameplay on a positive note, because there is a lot I liked, and say that the boss fights stood out to me as particularly fun. I really loved the combo of Mario enemies that popped up. even the use for Bowser was cool, if very easy in comparison to the platform jumping to get to him lol.

Gameplay Verdict - 3/5 Stars, it controls well, but I hate some of the challenges.

Graphics, Music, Story, and Everything Else

Normally these might be separated, but for a game like this I think it can all be discussed together.

The game looks amazing. Nintendo and cartoon style games age really well. I'm sure Mario Sunshine would have been stunning when it was new, but it is still really pretty. The environment of a vacation spot was a fascinating choice that led to a lot of cool settings to play in.

The music might be my favorite Mario game music ever. It fits the vibe perfectly, had nice variety. Even the noises and small lines the characters had really worked for me. The game has brief segments of true voice acting, this was a mixed bag for me. I sort of hated FLUDD's voice/personality (which is weird because I loved Cappy). Bowser's voice acting also threw me off, but Mario, Peach, and Co worked for me.

Story wise, there is a story here, it is silly and really basic. But I think that is standard for all these games.

Graphics, OST, and Others Verdict 4/5 Stars

Overall - 4/5 Stars I liked my time with Super Mario Sunshine, but it isn't in my list of games I am dying to replay, or even to collect more shines in. I think people who really love 3D platformers or Mario games should give it a definite try, but if those aren't your jam, this isn't where I would start with the genre.

Final note, I played on my Switch, and I found playing docked with a pro-controller made the precise platforming much easier.

Ok so here's the thing. This retrospective has been fun and I have really enjoyed it. But I always treat playing a mainline 3D Mario game as a big event in the retrospective. The last time I played Super Mario Sunshine, I played it on Super Mario 3D All-Stars. I liked it then and I still like it now. But upon playing it on a GameCube, I started seeing cracks.

Don't get me wrong. The GameCube version is far superior no doubt. The controls are great, Mario moves extremely well, F.L.U.U.D. is an awesome gimmick. But it's just the little things that bother me

First off, this game is very much unfinished. There are a lot of bugs and glitches that don't ruin the experience but don't need to be there.

Mario is horrible to play as without FLUUD. I know Shadow Mario taking FLUUD is supposed to provide a challenge but when Mario can't even handle standing on slopes, it becomes an issue. Yoshi making his playable 3D debut is great but the Fruit system is really frustrating, especially with RNG involved.

The Voice Acting is really bad. But you know, It has some charm and I like it for that. It's probably the most story-driven 3D Mario game and the story itself is pretty cool. Mario, Princess Peach, Toadsworth, and some additional Toads are on vacation on Island Delfino, a tropical paradise where the Pianta People dwell. Upon landing they notice that Island Delfino is covered in "paint-like goop" as the Toads say. When they find out that it is being caused by a Shadow version of Mario, Mario is framed and is told that he will not be allowed to leave the island until Island Delfino is cleaned and the Shine Sprites (Your Main Collectible) are all brought back. So Mario and FLUUD, his robot companion must work together to fix Island Delfino.

I think that is awesome. And Island Delfino is a beautiful-looking area. Especially for a GameCube game. I do wish there were more areas. With games like Mario 64 and future 3D titles, Mario travels to snow worlds, deserts, and yes... Tropical Islands.

However, in Mario Sunshine every place you visit is Tropical themed. That is fine and all but there is not much variety between worlds. I guess if there was one, it would be Sirena Beach because the Hotel is a neat gimmick.

Now with progression... What many loved about Mario 64 was that if there was a star you didn't want to do, you didn't have to do it. There was a huge emphasis on player choice and freedom. With Mario Sunshine that is gone. Like Mario 64 you need a minimum of 70 Stars (Or Shines in this case) to beat the game. However, unlike Mario 64, you HAVE to do at least the first 7 levels in each world in order to beat them. You don't get a choice. The most freedom you do get is what world you wanna tackle next and how you approach collecting shines. I think that makes replayability really hard with this game.

Now like with Mario 64, I also got all 120 Shines in this. To do that you need to collect 30 Blue Coins in each area, get the 100 Coin Shines, the 8th Optional Shine and the 2 Secret Shines in each area. It's very rewarding and some levels are really fun. But some levels are absolute bullshit. Shines like the Sand Bird, I'm a Chuckster, the Watermelon and ESPECIALLY the Lily Pad Shine makes me really angry. I'm all up for a challenge but some of these Shines are straight-up unfun. Maybe they are just TOO hard or getting to a level is boring. They don't make me proud of beating it. They make me relieved that I don't have to think about it. Now some Shines in this game are hard but they are at least fair. But some aren't. Don't go into this game expecting a relaxing time. It is the hardest 3D Mario game to date. At least in my opinion.

Super Mario Sunshine is a beautiful game. It has an awesome story and really engaging and fun gameplay. From a gameplay standpoint, it almost improves on Mario 64... Almost. A lot of the game is unfinished, controlling without FLUUD is very finicky, and some Shines are straight-up unfun. It's a great Mario game no doubt. But it has a lot of issues that really bog it down.

3/5

Would Recommend

One of many games I never finished as a kid, It was cool to jump back in with the 3D All Stars pack and finally experience It to the finish. For large parts I really had a blast, the F.L.U.U.D companion was great, versatile and brought an overall fluidity to the gameplay. The OST has an endearing charm to it but isn't as memorable to me as other Mario titles I've played. Boss fights were engaging for the most part both visually and mechanically, but the missions themselves had a repetitive nature to them where by around midway through the game the fatigue started to set in and I was genuinely looking forward to the endgame.

Super Mario Sunshine sai julkaisunsa aikaan paljon suitsutusta. Nyt reilut vajaa 20 vuotta myöhemmin suitsutus tuntuu jokseenkin hypen helinältä. Super Mario Sunshine on paljon köppäisempi peli kuin edeltäjänsä, Super Mario 64. Super Mario Sunshine on vähemmän vapaa, ärsyttävämpi ja itseääntoistavampi. Se on myös paikoin rasittavan buginen ja epäselvä pelin etenemisen tavoitteista. Pelin tunnusmerkillisenä kikkana on FLUDD-vesipyssy, jolla voi ruiskutella ja saada hyppyihin lisää pituutta tai korkeutta. Tätäkään ei jää kaipaamaan muissa Marioissa, sillä itse vesipyssyn käyttäminen on kontrollien takia ajoittain aika kömpelöä.

Näiden virheiden ulkopuolella se on kuitenkin pohjimmiltaan tutuntuntuinen 3D-Mario, josta saa iloa irti. Moni kentistä on hauskoja, Mario ohjautuu (pääosin) erittäin sulavasti ja audiovisuaalinen toteutus hohkaa Mario-charmia. Myös pelin trooppinen teema on varsin miellyttävä. Pelistä löytyy haastettakin aika rutkasti sitä halajaville. Tosin varoituksen sanana: pelin haaste ei ole aina sitä palkitsevinta sorttia. Ei peli siis suoranaisen huono ole, vaan enemmänkin pettymys sisarpeleihinsä verrattuna.

Peli tuli pelattua samaan tapaan kaverin kanssa ohjainta kierrättäen Super Mario 3D All-Stars -kokoelmassa. Tällä kertaa remaster on hieman näyttävämpi, sillä reso on nostettu FullHD-tasolle. Peliin on kanssa tuotu mahdollisuus invertata FLUDD-pyssyn kamerakontrollit, joka on todella kiva lisä. Korkeammalla resolla peli näyttää kyllä varsin hyvältä, mutta välivideot ovat pelissä edelleen vanhalla alhaisella resolla ja ruudunpäivitys on tässäkin lukittu vaan kolmeenkymmeneen kuvaan sekunnissa. Sentään Galaxyn remasterissa pääsee käsiksi jo sulavaan ruudunpäivitykseen.

First playthrough, so no nostalgia-filter or anything. I have to say, though, that I always wanted to play this game as a child but I didn't know of anyone who even owned a Gamecube so this might have been also a shattering of expectations. This is also a review on the switch port so I'm not sure if this stands for the GC game as well.

This game feels like a worse version of Mario 64 in every sense (which I played last time 2 months ago also on the switch). The camera controls are infuriating, but most likely not due to the camera control itself but on how did it interacted with the levels design. So many times I found myself trying to look at Mario from the other side of a wall with no possibility to get back to a proper view. The same thing happened with consecutive wall jumps in which you just can't place the camera at the correct angle and start jumping a bit diagonally instead of straight back and forth. This is in fact the first time I have so many camera issues, not even in the N64 version of Mario 64, which seemed to be plagued of them for a lot of people, I encountered that many rage moments.

It is most likely one o the most story-driven Mario games, but the story never actually clicked with me. Felt a bit meh at times and quite bad at others, specially with the Bowser's dubbing. Environments never grew on me either and I have to say that the whole flood thing felt strange too. In fact, the levels that I enjoyed the most were those challenges in which dark Mario takes the flood away.

Another thing that I felt strange about was taking away the crouch-long jump feature from Mario 64 and replacing it with the whirling jump. Indeed, I felt like I never needed that swirling jump, but that the crouch-long jump would have been a good addition.

In the end, I finished just because I needed to finish it, no other reason. Ended with 62 sprites which I thought were a lot, as there were only 8 per level noted in each loading screen. Learning that there were indeed 120 sprites, that I barely got half of them, and also that 24 are from blue coins alone just confirms to me that I will never, ever revisit this game.

Although Super Mario Sunshine is universally well-reviewed, it's been divisive among fans since release. Over time, I've noticed its defenders get more outspoken and persuasive. For the most part, I'm happy about that: I think the perception of Sunshine as an oddball or misstep makes less and less sense as time goes on. The "secret levels" feel like predecessors to Galaxy's vibe and 3D World's linearity; the blue coins to Odyssey's moons; even F.L.U.D.D. to Luma and Cappy. It's a terrific platformer and a worthy follow-up to Super Mario 64.

It's also my least favorite mainline 3D entry, for a few reasons:

• It forces you to collect specific shines for completion (rather than a specific amount as in most other 64-style entries).
• The difficulty is higher than normal, which would be fine if lives weren't such a rarity.
• With only seven levels, a large amount of shines rely on recycled challenges or the monotonous collection of blue coins.
• The physics are inconsistent and finicky. Mario will occasionally transition to a slide or fail to wall jump for no apparent reason.
• The Manta Storm is pure nightmare fuel.
• There's no long jump.

I'll never argue that Sunshine is a bad game: Isle Delfino's a nice place to spend time (especially Noki Bay, my personal favorite level), and F.L.U.D.D. offers some really unique movement opportunities. But I think there's plenty here to criticize, too.

PROS

• Pleasant atmosphere gives the game a cheerful tone
• Catchy soundtrack
• Delfino Plaza is a fun hub world to explore
• Platforming sequences are mostly enjoyable
• Setting all the levels in a single well-defined location is a great idea that more Mario games should include
• Power washing goop away can be very satisfying

CONS

• Shockingly sloppy, repetitive, and half-hearted for a mainline Mario entry
• Many objectives are just lazy, frustrating busywork
• Strange and chaotic level designs
• Inconsistent physics and imprecise controls
• Camera, though better than 64's, is still pretty bad
• Moments of genuine fun and excitement are few and far between
• Equipment swapping is a terrible addition to the 3D Mario formula
• It feels like a ton of content was cut to rush the game to market

Much like Donkey Kong 64, this game was soured for me upon replay. Going into it, I considered this a top 20 game of all time, but after beating it with 94 sprites, I'm definitely demoting it.

Much of what I want to say about Sunshine was already said by Fugazi57 in his review:

https://www.grouvee.com/user/Fugazi57/reviews/1400113/

Shout out to him.

This had the potential to be such a dope game, but it was cheapened with all the unnecessary filler. I mean, in the first ten minutes you do the exact same boss fight like 3 or 4 times. There are only 7 stages, but they still forced in 120 sprites to make it seem like it was as big a game as Super Mario 64, which had 15 stages. 24 of those sprites come from blue coins, of which there are 240, comprising of 30 in each freaking stage. I like the idea of the blue coins, but there are just too many to be a necessary collection for 100% shrine completion. I put in a pretty good amount of work in my playthrough, but the last stretch to 120 just seems like such a slog, due in large part to the remaining blue coins I need to track down. Even things like the 100 coin collections were worse in this game: certain episodes don't even have 100 coins I'm pretty sure, and even the ones that do take so long to farm them all. I'd still like to finish off the remaining 26 sprites, and I probably will, but the task does seem pretty daunting. Particularly that stupid red coin shrine on the island that requires Yoshi's spit to get into the warp pipe. It's bullsh*t.

Pros:

• Awesome movement, especially with the addition of the hover nozzle
• Timeless graphics that still hold up
• Level design that feels natural while still offering difficult platforming challenges and a sense of world unity
• A lot of fun shrines

Cons:

• Repetitive elements, such as boss fights, red coin collection, Shadow Mario chases, and literally repeating levels to get "secret" shrines
• So much padding, mostly in the form of blue coin collection
• Some platforming that seems like it wasn't designed with Mario's movement in mind

"A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad." -Shigeru Miyamoto

Oh how I wish you stuck to your words on this one, Mr. Miyamoto.

Super Mario Sunshine is the definition of wasted potential. Mario's movement and controls, Flood and it's power ups, the setting, the music, the atmosphere... All of this is so amazing, but underselled by a bunch of boring missions, underwhelming levels with barely any platforms to jump around, unnecessary padding and a camera that somehow clips on the environment more than Super Mario 64's camera (kudos to my man Lakitu), leaving a couple of stars barely unplayable and another couple more frustrating than they should be.

Nevertheless, as you can see by the 4 stars up there, this is a positive review. That's because when this game shines, it shines very, very bright. After I finished a boring mission I was still eager to keep playing because of the sheer joy of controlling Mario and because I knew the chances of the next star being very fun to catch were not small at all. That leaves me a bit bitter because it reminds me of the wasted potential thing I mentioned earlier, but I guess we gotta live with what we get.

8/10 shine sprites 🌟