Super Mario Sunshine was released on the GameCube in 2002. It's the sequel to Super Mario 64 and the second 3D Mario game to be released. It's probably the most disputed 3D Mario game. I’ve heard people say it is the worst and I’ve heard people say it's the best. Now, I played Super Mario Sunshine as a kid but admittedly never finished it. There’s not much I remember of the iconic GameCube game and I never felt the urge to replay it like I do with Galaxy or 64. Nevertheless, when Nintendo announced that Mario Sunshine would be included in the 3D All-Stars bundle on the Switch, and in 1080p no less, I decided to sit down and play through it. After getting through it, I have some thoughts on it.
Super Mario Sunshine starts with Mario, Peach, and Toadsworth going on a vacation to the tropical Isle Delfino. Once they arrive, their plane makes an emergency landing due to goo left by the water effect filled Shadow Mario. Mario then gets arrested for vandalizing the island and is tasked with using a super soaker to clean up the island. That super soaker is the Flash Liquidizer Ultra Dousing Device (F.L.U.D.D.) and is the game’s main gimmick. You spray water with the trigger, it can be used to hover in the air and can be equipped with different nozzles to achieve other effects. F.L.U.D.D. is probably where people get the most of their gripes with Mario Sunshine as it is a convention breaker and can be used in clever ways to make platforming easier. I quite like F.L.U.D.D. If F.L.U.D.D. and the fact that Peach just hangs around for a bit worries you as being too outside the Mario comfort zone, don’t fret. Nintendo made sure Peach gets kidnapped after ten minutes and for a quarter of the main missions F.L.U.D.D. gets taken away from you.
The main gameplay has Mario enter seven levels and complete eight missions each for shines/stars. Each level also comes with a 100 coin shine and two secret shines, totaling each level’s shines to 11. This is very similar to Mario 64, but the main difference is how these levels are laid out. You are unable to complete the missions in any order you want, and to beat the game you have to complete the seventh shine mission in each level. So the game has a lot less freedom in that regard, and I frankly found it limited any desire to explore.
The levels are less in number than Mario 64 but half the missions seem to be doing heavier leg work with interesting scenarios for the game. The other half is extremely repetitive missions. In fact, one of my biggest problems with Super Mario Sunshine is how repetitive it is. One out of the eight missions in each level has you chase Shadow Mario and spray him with water for a bit before he gives you a shine. Most missions have bosses that you’ll likely fight more than once, and the secret missions do a bit to annoy me as well. Every stage has one or two missions where F.L.U.D.D. gets taken away and you do some classic Mario platforming in a blank void that frankly looks like it was used for beta testing. Which brings me to my biggest problem with Mario Sunshine; the game is pumped full of filler. So many of the missions repeat, the secret levels all feel like they are stock levels with their basic backgrounds and simple floating blocks, and then there are the blue coins. The game has 240 blue coins spread throughout it. Ten blue coins can be exchanged at a shop for a shine. The thing is, the blue coins are in asinine and arbitrary places and are infuriating to collect. The two secret shines too are infuriating to collect because of how odd their placement is. Super Mario Sunshine, in that regard, feels unfinished and rushed just so Nintendo could make sure Sunshine had as many shines as Mario 64.
There is a lot about Mario Sunshine I like. The levels all feel connected and I love how from high vantage points you can see other levels. The enemy design and level design in general rules. Delfino Plaza is a great hub world and feels alive. Super Mario 64’s Peach’s Castle is iconic but feels kind of abandoned. A lack of furniture and random Toads makes the whole place feel empty. Delfino Plaza, on the other hand, is vibrant and filled with life. Most of the unique missions are interesting and varied enough, if not a bit difficult. The music is also a great strength for the game. I also kind of love the graphics. Seeing the water physics and the quality models on the GameCube does impress me.
Mario is great to control in Sunshine. There are a lot of moves at his disposal that make traversing the levels fun and easy. The upward spin allows you to go so high and so far, it kicks ass. Mario’s movement works in no small part to F.L.U.D.D. The super soaker helps make platforming easier. The hovering option also allows you to cheat some parts of the platforming, which is always nice. F.L.U.D.D's expansion of Mario’s mobility is probably why the levels where it's taken away can get annoying. Straight platforming without it is not part of the skills I’ve been taught for Sunshine. I actually wouldn’t really mind as much if getting a game over due to some wonkier physics didn’t mean having to go back to the title screen. I played Mario Odyssey recently and the removal of a lives system really did that game wonders.
Final Thoughts: There’s a lot to love about Mario Sunshine. The music is good, the graphics are great, and Mario controls effortlessly. But, there are a lot of things I dislike about it too. I’ve heard reports that the game was rushed a bit to help save the underperforming GameCube and it shows. So much of the game feels like filler due to the sheer amount of repetition of the levels, the arbitrariness of the blue coins, or the difficulty of some of the levels that go viral on social media. It’s not a bad game by any means, and compared to most games it's pretty good, but compare that to Mario Galaxy or 64 and you get the worst in the 3D Mario collection.
3/5
eh
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