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Super Mario Sunshine
Monday 8th March, 9:29pm - by Kevin
When anybody, whether they are casual, hardcore, or even non-gamers, hears the word “ Nintendo”, the first thing usually associated with it is the whacky, overall-wearing, fireball-spitting Italian plumber named Mario from Mushroom Kingdom. From his first game, Donkey Kong (1981), until now, Mario has been a mega-icon symbolizing and representing the entire video game industry. Mario, appearing in dozens of games, has pioneered the most popular video game franchise of all time for over a decade and captured the hearts of millions of gamers across the globe.  

Most famous for his colorful platformers, Mario has enjoyed great success on three different Nintendo home consoles. His most recent platformer triumph was in 1996 on Nintendo64, with the hugely successful and revolutionary Mario64. Many critics had doubts of whether Mario could make a seamless transition from 2D into 3D, but Nintendo surpassed expectations and Mario was perfectly transitioned into the 3-dimensional world with a game that is often considered MarioÂ’s greatest title.  

Now that the groundwork for another 3D successor has been laid, Nintendo has released the highly anticipated Super Mario Sunshine for GameCube. While sharing many things in common with Mario64, Sunshine comes with some twists of its own. With the addition of the famous green dinosaur, Yoshi, and a new water-shooting backpack called F.L.U.D.D. there are significant gameplay changes from the Nintendo 64 version. While some of these changes are for the better, some are worse.  

Gameplay
Every Mario platformerÂ’s most potent aspect is stunning gameplay, and this is an area that Super Mario Sunshine certainly performs well in. The game begins as Mario, Peach, Toad, and some of their friends are taking a much needed vacation after all of their adventures to the tropical island paradise of Delphino. However, their intended peaceful and relaxing vacation has been interrupted by a Mario look-a-like who has mischievously covered parts of the island with thick and lifelike paint! Mistaken for the culprit, Mario is arrested and sentenced to cleaning up the island using the water-spewing backpack called F.L.U.D.D.  

From this point on, you will have control over Mario, and be able to meet wacky multicolored plant-like locales that emphasize the type of uniqueness that Nintendo is prone to creating, play all-new tropical levels with varying themes, and capture “Shines” (similar to the Stars in Mario 64) in order to restore Delphino to its former glory. In your quest, you will be able to ride Yoshi again for the first time since SNES, you will save the Princess dozens of times, and you will reveal who the real culprit behind all of this mischief is and fight him till the end.  

Dolphic Town is similar to PeachÂ’s Castle in Mario 64, and is where you will be spending most of your time in the game. The Town serves as a central hub for everything that happens in the game. From the town, you will also be able to choose from varying worlds such as Corona Mountain and Pinna Park. There are also many things to do in the town, such as wash some off of the town ’s bells or chase down imposter-Mario numerous times in order to save Peach from his death-grip. The town also has some puzzles of its own, ranging from finding a way to clean the paint- covered Shine statue located in a tower high above the ground to venturing through underground tunnels.  

However, the real fun comes when jumping from world to world using the “ portals” that are scattered around town. You unlock each new world by earning a set number of shines. After entering a portal, you are able to select from an entirely unique episode such as “ Run to the Top of the Windmill” in which Mario must run up a mountain while avoiding giant balls of slime to destroy a Piranha Plant. After completing each episode, Mario is rewarded with a Shine, and is instantly teleported back to Dolphic town and given the choice to save, quit, or continue the game. You will also be granted a shine in each of the worlds if you collect 100 coins at one time while playing them. Each episode becomes more difficult than the last, and each world also becomes more difficult as the game progresses. While there are a great variety of episodes, I am somewhat disappointed in the lack of variety in the tropical landscapes throughout the game.  

Traversing through episodes to get the shines the is both entertaining and challenging. However, one of my least favorite changes in the game is the requirement to collect hidden blue coins and exchange them for shines in order to obtain every shine. This task is meaningless, and nearly impossible without a strategy guide. In Mario 64, obtaining all 120 stars was a reasonable goal to achieve, and I tried every day for weeks until I had completed the game. With Super Mario Sunshine, I took one look at the endless sea of blue coins, and walked away, knowing that I had no chance of obtaining them all.  

The primary addition to the game is the artificially- intelligent F.L.U.D.D. backpack, and it truly is a great and original innovation. With the backpack, you will be able to use the force of water to complete your task and clean off the grimy paint covering the city, spray enemies, hover above the ground, shoot high into the sky, and get a quick speed burst. Most work will be done with the spray nozzle, and the hover nozzle, as the latter two are enhancements that arenÂ’t used often and are received later in the game.  

The entire game puts a great amount of focus on F.L.U.D.D., perhaps even a little too much. While the increased variety of moves and the ease of pulling them off was developed without a hitch, it seems that SunshineÂ’s developers have forgotten MarioÂ’s roots. At one time, Mario was a game of high stake risks and consequences. When you made a poor decision and were about to fall down an endless pit, little could be done to prevent your fate. With F.L.U.D.D., saving yourself is as simple as tapping the R button and quickly hovering to the nearest edge for safety. You also no longer have to be in point- blank range of an enemy to jump on it and defeat it anymore, as you may be able to snipe it from afar using the spray nozzle, or hover above it and let the jets do the dirty work. On occasion, there are levels in which you are not able to use the backpack, in which it makes the game similar to the old MarioÂ’s as they require quick reflexes and good timing. Sure, the backpack removes a lot of frustration and provides some great fun, but it still greatly decreases the glaring difficulty that is expected from a Mario game.  

Another one of our gripes about the game is the frustrating camera system. As in Mario 64, the camera often seems clunky and difficult to handle. There are a few improvements, but it ’s still very hard to navigate, and more in the hands of the user than AI. It can still get hung up behind buildings, but Mario is still viewable. In tight areas, the camera is very annoying, and difficult to get it to stay in the desired position that you need in order to perform a difficult move. Hopefully, Nintendo will be able to fix this issue next go- around.  

Graphics
When looking back on some of the Mario games, they almost lead us to believe that Shigeru Miyamoto and the Mario franchise invented the word “ colorful”. There has never been anything terribly complex or amazingly realistic, but Mario ’s graphics are always top-notch. The vibrant colors create an atmosphere that no other game has ever been able to replicate that can make any gamer smile. The texture work in the game is probably the greatest downfall, but it can hardly even be called a downfall at all. The textures are just too simple and often look stretched when they are spread across a large mass, but itÂ’s hardly noticeable, and the vibrant colors often mask some of the poorer texture work.  

Perhaps the greatest achievement for Super Mario Sunshine in graphics is the water effects, which is important considering the vast amount of water that is visible in the game. In fact, I would go as far as saying is itÂ’s definitely one of the most, if not the most realistic graphical representations of water IÂ’ve ever seen. The water glistens beautifully in the sun as the waves refract images very realistically. The reflections bend and curve according to the variations in the waves as in real life, and you are even able to MarioÂ’ s reflection in some of the water that is sprayed on the ground before it evaporates.  

The paint that covers the world is also graphically unique, but also very pretty at the same time. The different types of paint, whether it is just the slippery paint or the electrified paint, are vibrant and always contrast each other very well. The metallic look on them and the bubble animations that come out from the paint arenÂ’t jaw-dropping, but theyÂ’re very pleasing. The subtle touch of the trails of colorful footsteps left after Mario steps into some paint are also pulled off with the delicate touch of NintendoÂ’s excellent staff.  

Controls
The controls in Super Mario Sunshine take some getting used to, but are fairly good. Performing MarioÂ’s jump combos are a cinch as the controls are extremely responsive to the actions performed. Wall jumps, while often difficult to pull off in other games, are refined and as simple as even in Sunshine. Using and switching through the nozzles can also be done with no pain or sweat. Everything is just very easily accessible and easy to maneuver. The most difficult thing in the game to maintain is the camera angle, but once you get used to controlling it, the pain in controlling Mario is minimal.  

Sound
Nobody will ever forget the Mario theme song or any of the other gorgeous songs from the Mario franchise, which are probably the most infamous game tunes of all time. With Super Mario Sunshine, Nintendo tried to adjust the formula a bit and provide gamers with some new, island- themed tunes. Sunshine certainly has some solid music, but with the lack of any recognizable Mario tunes, gamers are sure to be disappointed. Most of the music is unique, but while I can hum tons of original Mario songs, I cannot even remember one tune from Super Mario Sunshine that stood out to me.  

The sound effects feature updated versions of the same old Italian Mario shouts and screams that can be heard in Mario 64. They are certainly nostalgic and increase the environment of the game. For the first time in any Mario game, they have also included voice dialog between some characters such as Princess Peach, F.L.U.D.D. and Toad. Overall, the sounds in the game are solid, but donÂ’t stand out enough to merit any type of praise.  

Conclusion
In conclusion, with all its flaws, Super Mario Sunshine is definitely still a must-own. Any gamer should always jump on the chance to play a Mario platformer, and this is GameCube ownersÂ’ chance to own a stellar single player title. It certainly isnÂ’t as memorable of an experience as Mario 64 was, but I canÂ’t complain about the excellent work that Nintendo has done on the title. Please, if you own a GameCube, buy this game.  

Score:  

-Gameplay: 9
Well executed gameplay aided by a solid storyline.
-Graphics: 9
Very impressive graphics with very few flaws.
-Controls: 8
Tight controls as expected in a Mario game, but clunky camera controls.
-Sound: 7
The lack of classic Mario tunes leave something to be desired
-Lifespan: 8
The quest is pretty long, but hunting for blue coins is left only for hardcore gamers
-Overall (not an average): 9.2

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