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RTTP Super Mario Sunshine - I've got that summertime, summertime madness.

(Returned to the party)

Irene

Soar long!
Pronouns
She/Her
So I managed to get my hands on Super Mario 3D All-Stars a while back. I’ve replayed Galaxy to death already, but loved being back with it again due to how gorgeous it is in HD. I liked, as always, to revisit 64 - But it was Sunshine that ultimately was drawing me to the purchase, being a game I have fond memories of, and a game I haven’t touched since 2009. Going back in, it’s been a great time, and I figured it’d be fun to do a little RTTP writeup.

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The GameCube era of Nintendo was truly the era of quirky experimentation. They had bunch of excellent games to follow up on - Super Metroid, Super Mario 64, Ocarina of Time.. How on earth do you push those three series to the next level after that? It had to be a real head-scratcher over at Nintendo. They did more or less succeed with Metroid, handing the reins over to Retro Studios who returned with the stellar Metroid Prime. Zelda received something vastly different but refreshing in The Wind Waker. But for Mario? They sent him on a vacation.

And what a vacation it is. Super Mario Sunshine is a game responsible for flight ticket cancellations. Why go anywhere, when you can go to Isle Delfino?

Sunshine opens up with a cutscene. Yes, a cutscene! A real deal story in Mario? Call the Pianta cops! But I really think it does work. In all of its elegant quirk and graceful goof, it’s something I really think adds flavor to Sunshine, makes it distinct. It’s corny and cute. I’m all in. The story introduces us to Shadow Mario, and the premise that Shadow Mario has cluttered the island with goop, and that it’s Mario’s job to use the device called Fludd to clean the island of said goop, since people think he did it, and not Shadow Mario. He’s innocent, but the court doesn’t believe him. Sunshine essentially makes a video game out of a crime punishment. It’s genius.

The game introduces us to the hub world of Delfino Plaza, and shortly afterwards the first level, Bianco Hills. Let’s start with Fludd, the place where the game begins and ends. The mechanics, the momentum and the level design of the game lives and dies wih this little fella. I love Fludd, and therefore I love Sunshine. There’s just no real separating the two. I think the basic moveset of Mario himself is a little bit of a downgrade from 64. The long jump is missing, and he feels a bit more skittish, and the footsteps sound effect isn’t quite as satisfying. But oh dear does Fludd make up for it. Hovering really adds a lot to the overall feel and momentum of the moveset, and makes it such a great pleasure to just move around. It’s an entirely new dimension to Mario’s arsenal. I love it.

To jump, and then to hover, just to make it to a faraway ledge is a testament to how a great platformer like Sunshine can just create joy out of the seemingly simplest tasks. And the act of movement only gets better with the addition of the nozzles - the rocket launcher in particular. I think it’s a testament to great tactile feedback when you do things in a game over and over again, just for the heck of it.

This creates such an awesome sense of place. Being this intrinsically tied to the character yo’re playing as does a lot to make the game feel immersive. The bond between player and character is something I always place great importance of when playing games. How I relate to a pre-defined character in an RPG. How I can immerse myself in a silent protagonist. But Sunshine manages to create a strong bond between me and Mario simply because it’s so much fun just being him and moving him. It helps ground me in the world and premise of Sunshine in a way I find fascinating. I just feel like I’m there, like I'm with Mario, in sync with him, tasting the hot air of Isle Delfino on my tongue.


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But you can only get so far with controls in a platforming game. The amazing thing about Sunshine, though, is that it - like the best in the genre - allows the movement to go in tandem with the level design. It’s hardly noticeable, but once you really dissect it, it’s amazing how well-designed the levels are when it comes to the nitty-gritty placement of surfaces. What always amazes me about Mario’s 2D outings is that they’re built for you to make your way across, avoiding enemies and acieving power-ups in a carefully created loop. But they’re also amazingly designed for speedruns - if you just run, you can make it across at great speed if you’re skilled enough. That same sense of minutiae and careful planning when it comes to adjusting heights and distances of the surfaces themselves is there in Sunshine once you stop and actually consider it.

Every time I jumped off a rooftop in the Plaza and hovered, I just barely made it to the next rooftop. When I jumped and then hovered between the ledges of Ricco Harbor, I started to notice how I, again, always made it. The height of the houses in Bianco Hills, the way you can land on the pirate ships in Pinna Park .. It’s like everything in the game, despite its conventional layout, still manages to excel as a platformer simply because it does an amazing job when spacing out its actual platforms.

This is doubly true for the ”secret” levels, where Mario are stripped of Fludd and forced to rely on foot-only movement to make it across more abstract challenges. I think they are essential to the game, and a more than necessary variation to the free-form exploration of the standard levels. I think they are almost all excellent, and great fun and challenging to navigate. It’s something you do with your tongue between your teeth, another thing I consider a sign of great platforming design.

What does let me down, though, is the absence of the long jump, which makes Mario, when not aided by Fludd, feel slightly kneecapped compared to 64. Sunshine may have the single greatest movement in all of Mario - spraying water in front of you, tossing yourself into the water and then slide at great speed with the added momentum - but the absence of the long jump feels like an unnecessary removal. It would make the secret levels all the more fun and varied, had they been designed with the long jump in mind, and it would make traversal in general feel even more fun.

The levels are eight in number (because we do count the Plaza) but they are huge. They’re quality over quantity. I love Bianco Hills, it’s a great starter area and a playground for the player to get used to the Fludd mechanics. Ricco Harbor and Pinna Park are amazing places to jump around in. Same goes for Noki Bay, and I really dig how Sirena Beach is the game’s answer to a ghost house. Pianta Village may be the odd one out, its missions mostly concerend with menial tasks rather than Shines that yield themselves to you as a reward for exploration and overcoming challenges. Then there’s the Plaza itself, half hub world and half a level in and of itself with hidden Shines and fruits to swallow with Yoshi. One thing I don’t really like is how the Plaza is all dark in the beginning of the game, and doesn’t really light up until you’ve gathered 40-50 Shines. I think this deincentivizes exploration in the Plaza, since navigating it when it looks glooming and dark isn’t that much fun.


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There's also the inclusion of the blue coins. Since the levels are so huge and open, I think it’s essential to the design to offer the player incentives to go off the beaten path, and that’s what the blue coins are there for. I love going into Pinna Park for a mission, and then find myself hunting down blue coins instead, at my own leisure, creating my own little side adventure. And they still count for something, since the nozzles are still locked behind set number of Shines, like the keys in 64 are. What nobody likes about the coins, though, is how incredibly obtuse some of the locations are. If I recall correctly, there are some enemies that only have a Blue Coin in them in one mission, and not in the others, and I think that holds true for some "M" sign as well. I’ll admit - as anyone should - that this is a significant flaw of the game.

The missions in Sunshine are eight per level in the seven main levels. They’re not all amazing, but I think those who really encourages exploring the levels and tackle challenges - red coin ones in particular - are excellent. The game makes room for some great boss battles, as well as more odd Shines that are there for variation, like the Il Piantissimo races. What separates Sunshine from its other 3D contemporaries in the series is that you’re required to invest equal amounts of time in every level - the final boss doesn’t unlock until you’ve beaten the seventh Shine in every level. I like this, it might come off as trite, as it makes some less fun missions ”mandatory”, but I personally didn’t mind that, and I liked feeling like I had to invest an equal amount of time in every level.

Here’s some of my favorite missions - sorry for the names slipping my mind:

* Bianco Hills 8 - As mentioned, the eight coins missions are the best in the game in the way that they invite exploration in such a good way. In Bianco Hills, you have to gather them high up in the sky, while bouncing on ropes.

* Ricco Harbor 3 - Ricco Harbor is my favorite level, and this one, where you have to make your way to the top of the level for a caged Shine, is an amazing exercise in platforming.

* Noki Bay 5 - My favorite ”the secret of” level. Extremely well designed and challenging.

* Sirena Beach 3 - As mentioned, I love the ”ghost house” nature of Hotel Delfino. This one, where you have to navigate the mysterious hotel for a pineapple for Yoshi, makes you think as you twist your way through various hidden passageways.


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All in all, I can’t stress enough how much I enjoyed revisiting Sunshine this time around. It’s an amazing game, essential to the more offbeat side of Nintendo’s portfolio, and one that truly stands on its own weird feet between 64 and Galaxy. I think the more grounded, ”realistic” approach to world building is refreshing in the context of a series that usually relies on surrealism, and it amazed me how little it gets in the way of the actual level design. I come from the game with three irks, the missing long jump, the Plaza being convered in shadow in the beginning and some of the more obtuse blue coin locations. But aside from a few frustrating missions, I love everything else in the game a lot. It’s the most fun I’ve ever had just controlling Mario, it’s among the closest games have ever come to portray the feeling of vacation, and it has chucksters.

The GameCube era of Nintendo was truly the era of quirky experimentation. One such experiment was to send its biggest star to a remote island just to see what happened. And what happened was nothing other than an explosion of pure joy.
 
I had such fond memories of this game, was so excited to replay it, was really enjoying it…. Then got up to the
hotel and the town levels…
and fuck I hate them 😂😭 Guess I’ll just have my memories of beating the game. Great game before all that though 😂
 
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I played 3D All-Stars when it came out too and had a similar experience. I had actually not played Galaxy before then but I thought it lived up to its reputation as well. All of the 3D Mario games are good (although 64 is definitely showing it’s age - I don’t know if I’d feel differently without having played it on the 64 as a kid), but Sunshine just hits different. The creativity, the theming, the vibes, the art direction - I won’t argue that it’s the objectively best one from a gameplay designing standpoint or doesn’t have some pretty noticeable flaws, but it is my favourite Mario. Hands down. What a game.
 
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I have to say, out of the 3, Sunshne was the one I enjoyed the most when I played them last year. But all three are good. 64 definitely needs a remake.
 
Replayed Mario Sunshine with 3D All Stars... good controls, good vibes... but overall not that great for me. Even back when I first played it, I liked Mario 64 more. Not a big fan of the Mario Sunshine levels. Hate those blue coins... hate that the only Shines that count for getting to the last level are the first 5 of each world. Liked the Mario 64 approach better, where any Star would count towards your completion.

There's still things I like about it, though. Love the weird enemies. Great Boo designs! The soundtrack is great too.

Overall, it's a good game, but not a great one. My least favorite of the 3D Marios.
 
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Great read! You're right on Sunshine's movement - skittish is the best way to describe it, but it does feel excellent. My favourite level is probably Ricco Harbour.

One thing that really struck me is how much the visual presentation benefits from wide screen and HD. In the original game, I think the 4:3 aspect and SD combined with the slightly garish mix of colours and the large HUD leads to a really busy, distracting image. The much cleaner image quality in the All Stars release really makes the game shine, if you'll pardon the pun. The HUD is no longer as distracting, and the different elements on display benefit from greater contrast and clarity.

While I still think Sunshine has some serious flaws - you've touched on the blue coins, for example, but some of the Shines (the underwater ones especially) are just abysmal to play through - the All Stars release allows the game's strengths to really come through, and even though Nintendo didn't do a huge amount presentation wise, the small changes they did make result in a much clearer, more attractive game. I'm gonna have to fit it in on my OLED rotation to really let the colours pop... or shine.
 
I have to say, out of the 3, Sunshne was the one I enjoyed the most when I played them last year. But all three are good. 64 definitely needs a remake.
Same here. I've always loved Sunshine but when I played it last year it really was a blast. Sunshine was one of my childhood games, even maybe my first own game to be honest (I was like 5 when it came out and I played some games before like Alex Kidd in Miracle World or, if I remember correctly, Sonic 2 Master System, but they were my parents games), so it has some importance to me, but I'd never played it like next year.
With this new playthrough, I can say Mario's controlling in Sunshine feels the best in the series to me, apart maybe Odyssey. And even with its flaws (how the blue coins are designed or the too many reharsals of some levels being the worsts in my opinion), I think the gameplay possibilities of Sunshine make the game one of the most enjoyable in the series when you're used to them. Like @Chaotic Neutral said: it just hits different. Objectively not the best but probably the most singular 3D Mario, and maybe the most fun to play with to me.
 
Same here. I've always loved Sunshine but when I played it last year it really was a blast. Sunshine was one of my childhood games, even maybe my first own game to be honest (I was like 5 when it came out and I played some games before like Alex Kidd in Miracle World or, if I remember correctly, Sonic 2 Master System, but they were my parents games), so it has some importance to me, but I'd never played it like next year.
With this new playthrough, I can say Mario's controlling in Sunshine feels the best in the series to me, apart maybe Odyssey. And even with its flaws (how the blue coins are designed or the too many reharsals of some levels being the worst in my opinion), I think the gameplay possibilities of Sunshine make the game one of the most enjoyable in the series when you're used to them. Like @Chaotic Neutral said: it just hits different. Objectively not the best but probably the most singular 3D Mario, and maybe the most fun to play with to me.
I really enjoyed Galaxy as well, the game has more variety for sure, but I hate how low Mario jump there compared to Sunshine. And in Sunshine, I felt more in control of the camera and all that
 
Spin jump over long jump, all day every day. You can also sorta simulate a long jump by performing a side somersault and diving the moment you leave the ground. You'll go higher than a long jump, but who cares?
 
Spin jump over long jump, all day every day. You can also sorta simulate a long jump by performing a side somersault and diving the moment you leave the ground. You'll go higher than a long jump, but who cares?
Yeah to me long jump not being there wasn't an issue since I think spin jumps are way funnier. Imo if long jumps were in the actual game it would break several things, Sunshine isn't designed to need that long jump
 
You know, as much as I enjoyed Galaxy it doesn’t feel as satisfying to control Mario as it did in 64 or Sunshine. Moving Mario around feels sluggish when compared to Sunshine.

Is Galaxy bad because of it? No. Is it unsatisfying aspect when playing the game? I think so. Mario movement feels unbounded/free in both 64 and Sunshine. I feel like they also perfected or got close to perfecting his movement in Odyssey.

But its a reason why Galaxy always ends up being low on my list of favorite 3D Mario games.
 
Yeah to me long jump not being there wasn't an issue since I think spin jumps are way funnier. Imo if long jumps were in the actual game it would break several things, Sunshine isn't designed to need that long jump
Both jumps I mentioned cover more ground than the long jump lol

The somersault-dive can't be hovered out of, but still
 
Both jumps I mentioned cover more ground than the long jump lol

The somersault-dive can't be hovered out of, but still
Wasn't really about the distance they can cover but more about the game and level designs in general. Putting long jump would make others useless and I think it wouldn't be good. I really had a great time praticing and mastering spin jumps and it wouldn't have been the same with 64 long jumps.
 
I too had good memories of Sunshine and looked forward to playing it in 3DAS. Then I actually played it..

It’s not the worst game ever, of course not. It’s actually got a lot going for it. The island theme is wonderful, the soundtrack is spectacular, Mario’s movement feels amazing (until they take FLUDD away..).

But the jank killed the game for me. To be specific, the goddamn pachinko machine killed the game for me. I had just come off a 100% run of 64, and was planning on getting 100% in Sunshine and Galaxy, and the fact that I couldn’t do the goddamn pachinko shine pissed me off so much it made me put the game down. I didn’t have the patience for that kind of bullshit. I had to move on.

So I’ve never seen the credits roll on Sunshine. Maybe one day I’ll come back to it and push through, and just let the idea of getting 100% go. But that experience I had last year (not just the pachinko machine; the FLUDD-less levels were also janky bullshit) cemented Sunshine’s status as the worst 3D Mario game for me.

Maybe if Sunshine didn’t have the lives system and just let you retry something over and over I wouldn’t hate it as much.
 
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Great read! You're right on Sunshine's movement - skittish is the best way to describe it, but it does feel excellent. My favourite level is probably Ricco Harbour.

One thing that really struck me is how much the visual presentation benefits from wide screen and HD. In the original game, I think the 4:3 aspect and SD combined with the slightly garish mix of colours and the large HUD leads to a really busy, distracting image. The much cleaner image quality in the All Stars release really makes the game shine, if you'll pardon the pun. The HUD is no longer as distracting, and the different elements on display benefit from greater contrast and clarity.

While I still think Sunshine has some serious flaws - you've touched on the blue coins, for example, but some of the Shines (the underwater ones especially) are just abysmal to play through - the All Stars release allows the game's strengths to really come through, and even though Nintendo didn't do a huge amount presentation wise, the small changes they did make result in a much clearer, more attractive game. I'm gonna have to fit it in on my OLED rotation to really let the colours pop... or shine.

I guess I could've lifted some of my examples of frustrating Shines in the OP. Because there really are a handful of stinkers. Yoshi is a bit of a let down, and Ricco Harbor 8, where you have to make juice platforms, is very frustrating. Same goes for Gelato Beach 8 (the watermelon one) and Pinna Park 8. (shooting down balloons in the rollercoaster) It's very fortunate that most of these are not necessary for completion, heh.

Out of the necessary ones, I wasn't a fan of scrubbing Sirena beach, or rescuing drowned Piantas. Lucky enough, they're easy and short.

Wasn't really about the distance they can cover but more about the game and level designs in general. Putting long jump would make others useless and I think it wouldn't be good. I really had a great time praticing and mastering spin jumps and it wouldn't have been the same with 64 long jumps.

It's true that it would end up breaking some "secret of" levels, but if they (the levels) were tweaked to accommodate the long jump, I think it would make them even more interesting. As for now, they're mostly just about the standard jump, the wall jump and the side jump.
 
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As someone who had never played Sunshine before 3D All Stars, it was a very interesting experience. It was like uncovering this crazy piece of history all those years later, an unseen chapter in Mario's career and such a quirky one at that. Sunshine is so different from everything else Mario, I was constantly mystified while playing.

The first and second levels are amazing. They're colorful, fun, the music is great, and they still look incredible today just with a resolution bump. Ricco Harbor is basically a huge ass Mario 64 platforming toy box taken to the extreme, something like tick tock clock but so much bigger. It felt like the Mario 64 sequel I never knew existed. Another example of this are the FLUDDless levels, I get why some might dislike them but as a fan of 3D platforming they were incredibly fun for me. Infuriating sometimes, but still so much fun.

Then the third and fourth levels are good. Gelato Beach is still nice and colorful but I don't remember it being all that memorable, while Pina Park is great in concept but ends up falling short of Ricco Harbor in terms of platforming, which was what it was aiming for.

Then the four last levels are... Varying degrees of mediocre. I was still enjoying the game, but the disparity in quality was brutal. Even the camera seems to change, while in the previous levels you had these cinematic perspectives showing huge environment like Mario 64, the later ones have almost a top down perspective, a bit closer to Luigi's Mansion. There were still great moments in there like the manta ray fight, but the lasting impression was that these levels were lacking and felt like an afterthought.

Other aspects of the game like the Yoshis were a missed opportunity, they could have done so much more with them. Same with the different nozzles, the FLUDD is the star of the game and it was always so amazing to get new powers for it, except you get the last one not even halfway through and it's over.

This goes without saying but some of the bonus levels are also ridiculous, like, what the fuck was that lily pad thing? Did they not realized it controls horribly and it would be freaking hard already to simply cross the level without having a timer on top of it? And why would they make this hard ass level with the worst access point possible, where you have to do a 5-10min sequence of boring wait to try again when you game over? Didn't anyone realize how bad all of that was? I was just baffled but that level, I gave up after a few tries and never looked back. Sunshine is the only 3D Mario game I haven't 100% and have 0 intentions of doing so.

But yeah, it's an interesting experience. It's a fun game overall, if very uneven, and carrying the weight of being a main Mario entry doesn't do it any favors either, but I've enjoyed my time with it.
 
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Played it last year or early this year and the game was AMAZING it was my first time and it's probs my most favorite mario game ever together with galaxy 1.
 
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It's absolutely my favorite 3D Mario game and you summed up why pretty well. To be fair, I played it as a kid, so nostalgia definitely has a hand in it, but replaying it for the All-Stars collection sorta cemented that I do in fact love the game genuinely. It's so very weird and controls like a dream.

I can acknowledge its flaws, of course... the game was very obviously rushed as part of Nintendo's efforts to get their first party games out. The GCN wasn't doing very well during its launch period, so they scrambled to get their big games done... you can see similar rushed development blights in Wind Waker... but honestly, the GCN never really picked up momentum, so it wasn't worth it. I don't think the game's difficulty spikes and excessive blue coin hunt (as well as some of the less inspired levels/missions near the end) would have happened if they had enough time.

All that said, I still love it as it is. I wish 3D All-Stars was permanently available so anyone could get the chance to play Sunshine now (crazy that it was its first re-release), I think the ridiculous reputation it's garnered is totally unearned.
 
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It's a weird ass Mario game, but I always loved it as a child, and only found out a lot of people hated it once I started reading about games online

It has flaws, but it's still a great game
 
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This game often gets a reputation it does not deserve as a black sheep of the franchise. I personally think it's the best that 3D Mario has ever been, and you did a good job at explaining why.

The cute, charming, interconnected world is something we'd never seen before in Mario, or since really, until Odyssey threw in its own attempt (which is not quite the same). The depth of movement is also beyond anything Mario has ever done. Just to give an idea of how much depth there is in even a single move, someone made a 20 minute video about the spin jump:



The spin jump is almost solely responsible for just how incredible the movement is in this game. There's really nothing like it. Many people decry the difficulty, claiming it's just too hard compared to other Mario games... at the risk of sounding like an elitist, those people simply do not understand how the game is played. Every tool is at your disposal to overcome the platforming challenges.

It is of course not without flaws. The game was rushed, and there is a lack of meaningful content. Blue coins are filler in the worst sense, and literally don't contribute to completion at all, beyond getting 100%. Some challenges, like the pachinko machine, are basically indefensible. But I feel that despite those lacking aspects, the game is a masterpiece all the same.

For a close approximation to the sort of experience that Sunshine is, I highly recommend A Hat in Time. They really locked down similar feelings in gameplay and presentation, but taken further. I would dare to say it's a better game with more personality than Mario Odyssey.
 
Ah yes, Sunshine was a wet (ghehe) dream that came true for me. I love water and everything associated with it and it makes me feel at ease. Same reason why the Water Temple from OoT was my favorite experience (ambience and music was top notch)

Sunshine's gameplay felt and still feels really unique for a platformer, the colors pop and the atmosphere truly gives me a feeling of being on vacation. I really hope some indie developer will try to recreate these water mechanics sometime. Same thing with Glover, why not combine them both in one game? There's your million dollar idea.
 
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Wasn't really about the distance they can cover but more about the game and level designs in general. Putting long jump would make others useless and I think it wouldn't be good. I really had a great time praticing and mastering spin jumps and it wouldn't have been the same with 64 long jumps.
Small clarification: when I said "spin jumps" I actually meant spin jumps AND diving (or... dive jumps? don't know how to call them lol). Just to be clear!
 
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Super Mario Sunshine is my second favorite 3D Mario after Odyssey. I absolutely adore the beach vacation vibes and the weirdness of the world it establishes.

It is really annoying to 100% complete, I know, I even bought a strategy guide back in the day to do so, but if you just play it without that goal in mind I think it's pretty great fun.

And if you do that and you still don't like it, well...

 
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It's comfortably my least favorite 3D Mario. People complain about Mario 64's camera but at least that game felt designed around its limitations. There are quite a few moments where I genuinely felt like I was fighting for my life against the camera in Sunshine. I've also never understood the love for the FLUDDless levels; even Sunshine haters say those are "the good parts of Sunshine," but platforming in an empty abyss with featureless levels where the slightest misstep can completely reset your progress certainly isn't fun for me.

I like the idea of a more grounded setting in Sunshine, but the tropical resort setting wears out after a while. They could have done more to mix it up while still keeping that theme but you can feel the game's lack of dev time towards the end.

It is overall an example of Nintendo experimenting during the GameCube era, for better or for worse, and your opinion on the game will reflect how you felt during that general era of experimentation.
 
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The Gamecube first-party library is full of games where "fixing" them would ruin or already did ruin what makes them unique (see: Melee, Wind Waker, Metroid Prime) and Sunshine is the biggest example. It is easily my favorite EAD/EPD game and I don't think they're ever going to make anything like it ever again.
 
It has some great ideas but completely lacks respect for the player's time. I will repost some of my observations from the old place.

So many things are unnecessarily tedious, like the water level where you have to use Yoshi to get to the shine. You have to get the exact fruit Yoshi needs which you have to get from the random fruit generators, which are two separate switches located high, that you have to press alternatively.

Meaning you have to go up to the block and ground pound it, then check if you got the fruit Yoshi needs. If it's not the fruit he needs, you have to go down and remove the fruit out of the way (because otherwise it will make the next fruit slip away), then go up on the other block and ground pound it, then check again if the RNG had mercy on you. Rinse and repeat until you get the right fruit. Then you have to carefully roll the fruit over to Yoshi. And if he falls into the water (which will likely happen) you have to do this whole sequence again.

None of this is fun. The game is filled with little things like this that are designed to waste your time. It makes sense looking at the game's development cycle. They needed to ship the game earlier than expected because the GameCube was getting destroyed, so they had to find ways to artificially increase the playtime so people wouldn't notice how barebones it actually is.

The 3D collection was a missed opportunity to go back and fix these little things. Instead of a 25 hour game filled with unnecessary padding, we'd have gotten a great 10-15 hour game. Anyway, sorry for the rant.
 
FYI for those of you who don't like the requirement of having to get the first seven shines in every level. There's a mod that has the option to change it to just collecting 70 shines total. Alongside other QOL improvements like being able to collect most shines in any version of the level, and not automatically kicking you out after one is collected.
 
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Great write up! Sunshine is awesome. It’s reputation over the years made me begin to doubt myself, but replaying it on the All Stars Collection made me a huge fan all over again. The tornado jump is incredible paired with the Fludd and they give you such incredible freedom of expression (the plaza and Bianco Hills are incredible just to bounce around in). My copy of Sunshine was one of the ones glitched on the Gamecube that prevented you from grabbing a certain blue coin in Nokia Bay, so I really enjoyed finally being able to 100% it. I actually enjoyed the Blue Coin challenges this time around as they function like the moons in Odyssey. Some of the infamous shines, like the lilly pad and watermelon ones, didn’t give me much grief either. I want to say they tuned up the controls a bit, but I can’t say for sure (pachinko seems worse imo). There’s spots I wish were improved in Sunshine, but overall it’s the closest Mario has been to 64 until Odyssey. I also hope one day we get that fully open world Mario game that Sunshine with its distinct locations hints at. Hopefully Bowser’s Fury was indeed a proper tease of that.
 
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This game often gets a reputation it does not deserve as a black sheep of the franchise. I personally think it's the best that 3D Mario has ever been, and you did a good job at explaining why.

The cute, charming, interconnected world is something we'd never seen before in Mario, or since really, until Odyssey threw in its own attempt (which is not quite the same). The depth of movement is also beyond anything Mario has ever done. Just to give an idea of how much depth there is in even a single move, someone made a 20 minute video about the spin jump:



The spin jump is almost solely responsible for just how incredible the movement is in this game. There's really nothing like it. Many people decry the difficulty, claiming it's just too hard compared to other Mario games... at the risk of sounding like an elitist, those people simply do not understand how the game is played. Every tool is at your disposal to overcome the platforming challenges.

It is of course not without flaws. The game was rushed, and there is a lack of meaningful content. Blue coins are filler in the worst sense, and literally don't contribute to completion at all, beyond getting 100%. Some challenges, like the pachinko machine, are basically indefensible. But I feel that despite those lacking aspects, the game is a masterpiece all the same.

For a close approximation to the sort of experience that Sunshine is, I highly recommend A Hat in Time. They really locked down similar feelings in gameplay and presentation, but taken further. I would dare to say it's a better game with more personality than Mario Odyssey.

I love Sunshine, and Trey's got a knack for explaining things thoroughly yet concisely, but I'm getting tired of seeing GameCube era fans (of which I am one!) defend their favorite games by taking unnecessary and often disingenuous shots at everything that came after - something that seems to be increasingly common these days (this is directed entirely at Trey, not you). That line in the conclusion stating that Nintendo caring about the quality of their mechanics in their games is part of a "bygone-era" is... not great, especially coming off of Breath of the Wild and Mario Odyssey; it's especially silly when most of the details in the video look more like unintended side effects born from a rushed development than intentional and tested movement options. If he wants people to understand why he likes Sunshine so much, putting down the more popular games to lift it up is only gonna be a turnoff to fans of those entries.

But that aside, thanks for the share! I don't speedrun Sunshine, but I do spin jump everywhere and kinda naturally noticed some of the stuff in the video but didn't know much of the details. I may incorporate a fair amount of it into my next playthrough, whenever that is.
 
I love Sunshine, and Trey's got a knack for explaining things thoroughly yet concisely, but I'm getting tired of seeing GameCube era fans (of which I am one!) defend their favorite games by taking unnecessary and often disingenuous shots at everything that came after - something that seems to be increasingly common these days (this is directed entirely at Trey, not you). That line in the conclusion stating that Nintendo caring about the quality of their mechanics in their games is part of a "bygone-era" is... not great, especially coming off of Breath of the Wild and Mario Odyssey; it's especially silly when most of the details in the video look more like unintended side effects born from a rushed development than intentional and tested movement options. If he wants people to understand why he likes Sunshine so much, putting down the more popular games to lift it up is only gonna be a turnoff to fans of those entries.

But that aside, thanks for the share! I don't speedrun Sunshine, but I do spin jump everywhere and kinda naturally noticed some of the stuff in the video but didn't know much of the details. I may incorporate a fair amount of it into my next playthrough, whenever that is.
Yeah I wouldn't put down the new games specifically. It's clear that they really tried to give Odyssey depth as well, and mostly succeeded. I have my nitpicks about it but I do think it's also a really great game. I couldn't make a blanket statement like "Nintendo doesn't try anymore" when they clearly sometimes still do.
 
I definitely think Sunshine is more good than it is bad. I love how well the setting is explored and how all of the areas seem connected. It has a rather unique gimmick, even for the 3D Mario games. The game looks, sounds, and, mostly, still plays well. It's just that the cracks began to show as the game goes on and that increases exponentially if you actually try to 100% it. Having to do at least 7 missions from all of the different levels could be either dull, like with the repetitive Shadow Mario levels, or frustrating, like the one with King Boo or the sand bird. It's a good game and I'd probably take it over other 3D platformers of its era but I prefer nearly all other 3D Marios over it. But still thanks for the write up, Irene. It was a nice fun read

Yeah I wouldn't put down the new games specifically. It's clear that they really tried to give Odyssey depth as well, and mostly succeeded. I have my nitpicks about it but I do think it's also a really great game. I couldn't make a blanket statement like "Nintendo doesn't try anymore" when they clearly sometimes still do.
Sometimes still do? Not sure how they try less now than they did back then 😅
 
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I absolutely think Sunshine is a flawed game. It gets a lot of justified criticism.

But Sunshine does not get the credit it deserves for still being fun.

If you want to play to 100% collecting all the blue coins, and even the 100 coin challenges, can be confusing or difficult to complete with the different missions. It also has some odd design choices which results in some frustrating shines.

But at the same time, Mario feels incredible to control and FLUDD is an incredibly fun mechanic that allows the user to pull off jumps like never before. The game has a concise aesthetic and does more world-building for Mario than almost any other game.

The game also looks fantastic considering it’s age. When replaying last year it’s clear it’s not a new game, but it’s surprising it came out on Gamecube.

If you’re just looking to play and have fun Sunshine is far better than the hate it gets online. If you’re going for 100%, you’re going to get frustrated with some of the shines and the blue coins.
 


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