Super Mario Sunshine: How Does It Hold Up Today?

Super Mario Sunshine is a bit of an odd game.

Released for the Gamecube in late 2002, the game is the second 3D Mario platformer. There was a lot of hype before release; there hadn't been a 3D Mario since 1996's Super Mario 64, which was (and still is) considered one of the best video games of all time.

Nintendo had to differentiate Sunshine from 64, though, and not just aesthetically (which we'll get to later). They didn't want the game to simply be "Mario 64 2." The game also came (somewhat) early in the Gamecube's life - having only been out a year, Nintendo still had the opportunity to sell the system to people who couldn't decide between it and the Xbox or the Playstation 2. But how to innovate on Mario 64's design? Mario already had a great moveset in that game, and it would be difficult to just add more varied jumps to the mix.

Enter FLUDD. An acronym for "Flash Liquidizer Ultra Dousing Device," Mario wore this contraption on his back. Using the R button, Mario could use the various functions of the machine. It could spray water in whatever direction Mario was facing, whether standing still or not. By pressing X, Mario could switch to the Hover Nozzle, which allows him to hover in midair for a bit while holding R. Later in the game, Mario can find the Rocket Nozzle and Turbo Nozzle, which let him jump incredibly high in the air and run very fast respectively. By utilizing most of his jumping skills from Mario 64 (Mario cannot use the long jump or the backflip in Super Mario Sunshine) and FLUDD, Mario must find Shine Sprites (which work the same as stars from Mario 64) scattered throughout Isle Delfino.

One of the other things Nintendo put in the game that Mario 64 didn't have is the ability to ride Yoshi. Yoshi can use his tongue to eat fruit and enemies, and can also spit "Juice" to eliminate certain barriers. The "Juice" mechanic is the oddest thing in the game, as it looks like Yoshi is vomiting liquid all over the place while he makes a gargling sound. Yoshi himself is fairly limited in utility; other than breaking the aforementioned barriers with his "Juice," he prevents Mario from using FLUDD while riding him and cannot jump very high nor float very far. He is used fairly little in Super Mario Sunshine.

The game looks fantastic, though, even to this day. Thanks to the ability to output in widescreen and Progressive Scan mode (a rarity for games at all in 2002, and even rarer for Nintendo even up to this day), the game still looks clean and has pretty good art. Some of the character designs can be poor(the Pianta and the Noki just seem like blobs), but most of the enemies and bosses are detailed and cute, which fit the aesthetic.

The difficulty, however, wildly varies throughout the game. The game isn't usually too bad, but there are definitely difficulty spikes. Early on, the player is likely to encounter a "Secret," which is a special stage where Mario must get to the end of some tricky platforming without the aid of FLUDD. These areas, while usually fun, highlight the odd physics Super Mario Sunshine has when Mario isn't using FLUDD. He controls a bit slippery, and has a tendency to fall off ledges when landing from jumps. Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine's sequels, the Mario Galaxy games, don't suffer from this at all. Without FLUDD and the moves Mario has in Mario 64 and the Galaxy games, specifically the long jump and backflip, make navigating without FLUDD sometimes more difficult than need be.

There is one Shine in particular, though, that I died on nearly thirty times today. That is "The Goopy Inferno" in Pianta Village and it is easily the most difficult Shine to get in the game. Mario does not have use of FLUDD until he can get to the center of the level. There really isn't a good way to get through it; I believe you are supposed to use the fences underneath the level to navigate your way to the center to rescue the Mayor of the town, but it is almost impossible to get to him. Look at this video and watch how that guy does it. Doesn't seem like it's the way to beat the level, does it? There are other ways, but they are all exceedingly difficult. If Mario touches any of the orange glop, he is damaged, and the player loses control of him until he hopefully lands on non-gloppy ground (he will continue to take damage until he does so).

There is also the matter of the Blue Coins. When Mario collects ten of them, he can turn them in for a Shine Sprite in the hub level. There are 240 Blue Coins in the game, meaning a fifth of the game's Shines are bought using these coins. To complete the game one hundred percent, the player has to collect every coin. There are upsides and downsides to this. The Blue Coins are typically hidden well, and are satisfying to collect (the game saves every time you collect one), but when trying to complete the game, they become pretty tedious. Finding every single last one gets old, and will likely be the last couple shines a player gets in a given playthrough.

The Blue Coins seem to exist because Super Mario Sunshine has much fewer levels than any of the 3D Mario platformers (including it's sequels). The levels included are larger, of course, but less diverse. Most of them take place on beaches or outside in some capacity. They are relatively well-designed, though. Because there are fewer levels, Nintendo probably wanted there to be 120 Shines to collect so people wouldn't complain that Sunshine was "shorter than Mario 64," although that's a bit of a guess.

The game is worth playing, though. It gets some retroactive hate these days, but many people consider it to be "hardcore 3D Mario" in that it certainly isn't easy to beat. Mario 64 and the Galaxy games are better overall, but last place in a near perfect series is nothing to turn your nose up at.