Was Super Mario Sunshine a bad game...

...or a boring one?

Wasting time in the library reading messages and such so I figured I'd ask. I had some spare time recently after finishing a major project (plus my computer has been down for a while) so i needed to find some time to waste. In the wake of all these Mario games and such I decided to go back and do something that I had not done: beat Mario Sunshine with as many shines as possible.

The last time I played the game I got stuck on the Manta Storm and gave up in frustration. So far I've managed to get all shines on Delfino Isle (including that @$#%&*^%$ pachinko board and the unnecessarily hard and long poisonous waterway, and pretty much every shine up to the third one on Sirena Beach/Hotel Delfino including all secret shines and 100 coin shines. The only stages left are the remainder of Sirena Beach, Noki Bay, and Pianta Village. This leads me to my complaints/praises.

I don't necessarily think that Sunshine was a bad game or deserves the knocks it gets BUUUUUUT I do see why it gets them....

For one thing, theres no variety in stages. Where's the caves? The ice world? The lava fields? (dont say Corona Mountain because that technically isnt even a full stage, just a small area before the final battle with Bowser & Bowser Jr.) Everythings a bit TOO bright and cheery for Mario game if there is such a thing. the only stage that seems to differ from the norm is Hotel Delfino which acts as the ghost house. (my own problem here is that Hotel Delfino seems a bit problematic of sorts but I havent played it much really) Another thing that bothers me is that outside of some simple changes in game aesthetic - most notably the addition of the Fludd and riding Yoshi (which IMO is far too short lived considering their disintegrating with water) - a lot of it is the same.

On a plus note however - Sunshine adds a LOT of classic Mario things back to the mix in innovative ways - the fence climbing, the FLUDD manuevers (my only gripe with this is only being able to use one alternative nozzle at a time), riding Yoshi's, etc. I dunno - I like the game a lot but theres also several things I dislike about it. Plus while it greatly benfitted from gamecube enhancements it still very much felt like a N64 game. Perhaps had it actually remained the second Mario N64 game it would have fared better.

i'm rather curious. What are your opinions of the game? Likes? Dislikes? What kind of things are you expecting to see in Mario Galaxy that Sunshine and 64 did or didnt provide.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I thought it was great, but I could see why some people may have been disappointed in it. I would have prefered as Super Mario 64 feel to the game instead of the Tropical theme, but it is by no means a bad game. I think people are going to be saying bad things about Super Mario Galaxy when that comes out too, but I doubt that will be bad.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I didn't like it. The camera got on my nerves too much, I never took F.L.U.D.D. seriously, I HATED the way the game recycled levels (and I didn't care for many of the designs either...They would've done well to have more of the F.L.U.D.D.-less levels), fetch quests didn't do anything for me (would prefer the classic yellow coin system, instead of finding all 100 in a level...ugh) and I never felt comfortable with the controls. I always sat down to play it, finished a couple levels and shut it off without really getting into it. I then just took it to ebay. A shame, since I waited to buy a GC until it came out and did like Mario 64 (I had played it a bit at a friend's house). Give me 2D Mario over this anyday. Or Sonic Heroes, which despite all of its' flaws, was at least fun.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

It certainly wasn't the masterpiece that games like Super Mario 64, Super Mario World or Super Mario Bros. 3, but it was in no way a bad game. The camera did get on my nerves quite a bit as well, but despite that, I really enjoyed playing through it. Nintendo did a nice job of implementing F.L.U.D.D. into the game. I felt that it gave the series a breath of fresh air, kind of. Futhermore, the platform-type stages where you weren't allowed to use F.L.U.D.D. were pretty neat too. All in all, I was satisfied with the experience after I had beaten it.....which didn't take very long 'cause the game is short as hell.

I'm really looking forward to Super Mario Galaxy.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

People seemed to stray away from the whole "water gun" thing believing it wasn't like Mario to have something like that. I enjoyed it though and found the tropic theme acceptable.

I was speaking idiomatically.

i got sick of the tropical theme. it was an ok game- being able to control the camera was kickass, but it sometimes was unruly when dealing with tight spaces (i'm looking at you, theme-park area where you have to wall jump a lot).

i tried playing it again, but i got sick of it

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Although not terrible, Sunshine is simply not a great platformer when compared to Mario 64. I enjoyed the game, but I only completed it once, where as for Mario 64 I completed the game dozens of times and lately I've been thinking about playing it again soon. Also, I did not have the motivation to collect all the stars in Sunshine unlike Mario 64 where I did.

It had a bunch of great ideas, such as Yoshi, but Sunshine does not come together in the end. From the videos, Mario Galaxy looks like it will finally inject some challenge to the series, and give us a variety of things to do outside of shooting a water gun.

Also, Bowser Jr. Just bring back the Koopa Kids already. The people want them.

FELIPE NO

It was just that Mario Sunshine suddenly became a by-the-numbers platform game.

FLUDD? Felt like Kazooie to me. Shines? Bullcrap. Give me my stars. The inhabitants wre useless and annoying. They tried seamlessly blending in the story and town acting as a hub to access other worlds, but it seemed forced.

Also, the polish you'd expect from Nintendo was severly gone. Glitches, dodgy camera and seemingly "forced" gameplay wrecked it for me.

I was able to play it through and enjoy it, however (strangely enough).


Super Mario Galaxy looks amazing an promises to deliver a whole new platforming experience. It's not Mario 64 +, it's a whole new Mario experience.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

The island theme made it a nice mario side-story, but since everyone was looking for the next Mario 64, everyone was disappointed. Good ideas, just not enough variety, and too easy with the fludd. And the yoshi tease sucked.
Mario galaxy looks good, but from what I've seen the camera control is a bit weird in how you mostly play from behind him (if you want a good view most of the time), and checked out that SotC-like boss, and it seems like a highly tamed-down version. But then if there are like 200+ stars which require you to do crazy stuff like that, I'm all for it. Just the little-planets idea makes it out to be less of a traditional 3D-platformer as I'd hoped. But still, Nintendo usually surprises on first impressions, and blows you away once finished.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I know I'm pretty alone in this so I'll restrain myself, but I thought that Sunshine was right up there with all the big ones.
I enjoyed it as much as any of the other Mario platformers, and the very light theme never buggered me the least.
Then again, I always like the grassy intro level of anygame the best, and this is pretty much the most cheering game I've ever played.


As in any other game there's always the cons though.

Red coin levels.

I mean, @#$%! Of all the @#$% games I've played this @#$% is so @#$% may it @#$% and @#$%@#$%!!!
I played a few of them, put it away, took it up again a half year later when I felt I needed a challenge, and got me the rest of those 120 shines. Anger.


Another con, if it is really, as it is more on a personal level level I think: Those big fat bouncing humanoid inhabitants never struck me as worthy characters of the Mario universe, and kept punching me out of that Mario-feel...


But did I love that game <3

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I noticed one day i had not beaten the game either, so i started playing it again and finished it from start to finish in like 3 days. I enjoyed sunshine alot, it was alot of fun.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I liked it much better than Mario 64, I really couldn't get into that game.

Most amazing jew boots

LOL some of you actually need to go back and play the game. Horrible camera, glitches, bad controls, recycled environments, this isn't a fucking shareware piece of shit.

I find the game is fun to play in short bursts. I love the idea of FLUDD, I still think it's genius. There's something about the core controls that puts me off after a while, they feel too tight, like you just tap the stick the other way and he runs a kilometre in that direction, Wind Waker has the exact same problem, it's hard to explain. The tropical theme got a bit tiresome as well, and overall the game was way too easy.

A bad game though, it definately isn't.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Maybe your just to use to other controls? Im not saying your wrong or anything, but i didnt find the controls bad at all. The same with wind waker its controls were ok to me also. It played like mario 64 for me. Maybe im just weird....

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I thought it was a rather fantastic game. I LOVED the FLUDD and thought it was a real nice addition to the game. I found it pretty fun to use as well.

The key with Mario games is whether or not they are fun, and this one was damn fun if you ask me.

FELIPE NO

I loved the game as well. There was something just so soothing about playing that game indoors on a hot summer day with the air conditioner cooling you. It just happened to be THE summer game for me, and the tropical theme didn't hurt at all. In fact, I think I'll visit Delfino Isle again this summer.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

The only really fun part of this game was the little bonus stages where you couldn't use the FLUDD.

That was some kickass classic platforming action.

Everything else took way too long and was frustratingly hard. Whoops, you dropped from the high point of the stage, start back on the bottom and do it all over again.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I agree with Jazz. I was so happy when my roommate got a Gamecube so I could finally give Sunshine a try, but I was immediately disappointed as I found the game to not be much more impressive than your average platformer. Still haven't been able to finish it, since most of the shines felt more like a chore than fun.

The biggest thing that frustrated me was how there were very unique setups for each shine. Instead of the style in Mario 64 where you could get almost any one of the stars at any time, you had to sequentially work your way through the shines for a larger part. Also, I heard certain blue coins only appear while playing for certain shines on certain levels. Come on, anyone else agree that's a little ridiculous?

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by JazzFlight

Everything else took way too long and was frustratingly hard. Whoops, you dropped from the high point of the stage, start back on the bottom and do it all over again.

Ugh...bad memories. This was actually worse than falling and losing a life.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Malmer

Another con, if it is really, as it is more on a personal level level I think: Those big fat bouncing humanoid inhabitants never struck me as worthy characters of the Mario universe, and kept punching me out of that Mario-feel...

yeah, i didn't like them either. they all looked so...... bad. i mean come on, at least apply some textures to them- most of them was a solid color with polygons sticking out here and there

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

The game, quite simply, did not live up to Mario 64.

I didn't like the bosses and the whole water concept. The graphics weren't anything startling and Sunshine just didn't keep me interested. I mean, SSBM was released before Sunshine, and it was still more entertaining to play. Alone.

Why do all sequels suck? Look at Spyro - the first was fun, yeah, then there's a bunch of sequels which recycle the plot, theme, and call it a sequel. Crash and Tomb Raider also fall into this catagory.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Elixir

The graphics weren't anything startling and Sunshine just didn't keep me interested.

I agree the texture are bland and blurry, but did you even see the water? The water effects were freaking amazing.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Haha, my roommate and I always joke about water effects in games and we both agreed that was the biggest redeeming point of Sunshine.

Quote:

Why do all sequels suck? Look at Spyro - the first was fun, yeah, then there's a bunch of sequels which recycle the plot, theme, and call it a sequel. Crash and Tomb Raider also fall into this catagory.

I thought Crash 3: Warped was a pretty fun game, but I also hadn't played any of the previous games. And if you want an example of great sequels, just look at all the other games in the Mario series. I still feel that Yoshi's Island is the pinnacle of platforming fun.

FELIPE NO

The fat bouncing things inhabiting the island were kind of lame. The main town was kind of ugly and too structured. The way you entered levels was unimpressive. Jumping into pictures on a castle wall is way more fun. Also, the ghost stage with the confined spaces was just irritating as hell.

Other than that, it definitely is an impressive game, and better than an average platformer. It controls better than Mario 64, and the camera is a lot more fluid, also.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Super Mario Sunshine also has an amazing draw distance, walking along high platforms and ropes where you can see the entire level is awesome.

Jam it back in, in the dark.