Utterly bizarre in both it's construction and general vibes, but also effortlessly charming and creative. Some of this is Mario goodness at it's very, very best; he controls wonderfully, the FLUDD is gimmicky yes but it's a damn great gimmick, and the levels are consistently unique and play into larger, more interesting narrative ideas at play here. Sunshine isn't a story powerhouse by any means (this is obvious) but there is an attempt here to give each of the levels overarching themes and stories which really works. Makes the world seem alive.

But in the midst of it's gorgeous locales and clever design concepts, there is an unrefined nature to Sunshine that makes it difficult to fully appreciate. Some of it is straight up broken or unfinished, and the difficulty curve is steep to the point of frustration. And the Shines themselves lack the same variety or dopamine hit that 64 gave with it's stars. The further you get in Sunshine, the more it's highs are higher but it's lows get lower, making it a game of contradictions. In spite of that though, it's still absolutely worth playing as an essential puzzle piece of Mario's history.

First time playing this game. I knew about it's existence and that's pretty much it - nothing about it's story or mechanics. I really went blind for this one, and that's why I would have NEVER guessed it would be this challenging. But oh, it is.

Mario Sunshine just throws you into a really big playground of a stage and you have to know exactly what it wants you to do, most of the times giving you only a really vague dialogue as a hint on how to clear the episode. If you manage to get what you must do, prepare for the most unforgiving obstacles I've seen in a Mario game.

It's insane how the devs thought a child could finish this game, because I had to deal with so much backtracking, so many confusing goals, and so many rage-inducing traps that I don't think little Timmy would be able finish it that easily. I'm all for fun difficulty, but the game doesn't help when I accidentally clip or softlock myself so many times.

But for a really hard and unpolished experience, I somehow had a lot of fun! It's as charming as a Mario game can get, levels are pretty fun to explore (when you're not dying), and Mario and FLUDD feel so, SO GOOD to play. My analog stick started to drift a bit mid-playthrough but wasn't that much of a problem, as Mario can do so many moves to balance it I didn't notice that much. It really is a great moveset.

Overall it is a really fun game. People should at least try it once, and I doubt they won't finish it because it's really quick to do so. Now mastering it? Nahhh. I just don't think I have that much patience left to get more shines, specifically that one from the lilypad level, because I'm not a masochist.

decided to just run through this one again real quick, i don't know if this is my fourth or fifth time playing it all the way through but it's a game that's stuck with me since i was a very young child. i had inherited my dad's NES to start out with gaming but on christmas 2003 i remember going downstairs to find a nintendo gamecube plugged into the television with the title screen for super mario sunshine radiating from it, and i remember it absolutely flooring me. if we were to tally up the combined hours i've sunk into this game since i was six years old it probably clears any rpg or multiplayer timesink i've ever played, it is just that good.

i think what it really comes down to is the movement mechanics, this is simply the cleanest and most responsive mario has ever felt. it takes almost everything from 64 (already a masterclass in character movement mechanics) and adds on the FLUDD system which softens a lot of the platforming for beginners but also allows for so much more freedom once you really know how to harness it for your own devices. spraying water and sliding faster to yr destination, flipping out of it into a triple jump and wallkick to gain height before using the hover nozzle to float over to a hard to reach area. when the moment to moment gameplay is so much damn fun it's really hard to criticize anything else.

even then i don't really think there's much to criticize here. the production design of the tropical paradise is so lush, the locations all instantly iconic to me, themes remixing classic mario music as well as original scores are all absolutely bangin, and the actual graphical quality still holds up to this day because of it's simple but strong art direction. sometimes, amidst all the chaos, it's nice to just relax and a enjoy this virtual vacation for a few minutes, sit at the beach with yr water gun, looking at the sunset and pondering what mess to clean up next.

anyway, that might have been slightly too poetic to say about a game staring a cartoon plumber cleaning gunk off a tropical island, but this game will always hold a special place in my heart, something i can instantly pick up and beat in just a couple days and it never gets old. for all the innovation of 64, the scope of galaxy, and the freedom of odyssey, it's sunshine that will always be the greatest to me.

Sunshine is certainly a strange game to talk about. It has a lot of poisitives aspects that neither Super Mario 64 nor it's sequel Super Mario Galaxy has but also many negatives that drags the game to the bottom of the list when it comes to 3D Mario games for me. The black sheep, the odd one, the weird kid in class you name it.

Mario and, his friends? Travel to Isle Delfino, for a sweet-sweet vacation. Arriving at the airport, a mysterious slime-like substace blocks the way and who else but Mario needs to clear this mess literally speaking with F.L.U.D.D which is sort of an AI-water pump machine, it basically just shoots water and speaks. This is used to defeat the creature that spawned out of that gloop, a Piranha Plant covered in gloop. After defeating it, we're directly sent to jail by the Isle Delfino police force. Why? A criminal, shockling similar to Mario was causing havoc on the island. With everything to lose on our end, they throw us out to court to prove our innocence minutes after arriving to the island. We can't defend nor escape from Isle Delfino corrupt legal system, with proof as revealing as a drawing of the "criminal". It's not all that bad, instead of serving jail we're forced to clean this whole mess up and caught the criminal in the process. Notice how Bowser was never mentioned at the start? Not even the evil laugh of his like in Super Mario 64. That was really refreshing to see for once, even though I knew he would appear soon enough anyways.

As a sort of sequel to Super Mario 64 it follows more or less the same principles as you may expect. General movement in Sunshine eliminated the kind of cool but at the end of the day useless movements that you could do with mario in 64, only having the essentials to work with now. Probably to give more space to F.L.U.D.D. So, it is no possible to crouch anymore alongside other useful moves that were outright removed. "Humping the Floor" or dive which performed by repeatedly pressing "B" while running will be one of the most advanced techniques in mario's arsenal without F.U.D.D to gain speed while on the floor, and on air if you need a little push. Basic jumps that don't require the use of the crouch button from Super Mario 64/Super Mario Galaxy such as the "Side Summersault" are present, with an all-new adition: "The Spin Jump", one of my favorite moves in the 3D Mario games, is performed by spinning the analog stick in circles and letting mario jump with "A", this will result in him spinning midair covering a lot more vertcal space than the side summerault jump would. Useful at times were the side summersault jump isn't enough to reach a certain platform and the space itself is tight enough to not reach a third jump. It's simple, but wonderfully complex.

But, mario needs to land somewhere and the world needs to respond to his actions. This is where Sunshine starts to crumble, just a little bit. First, mario has a blazing fast acceleration and very little traction on ground which allows reaching top speed almost immediately. This is actually bad in practice if we're talking about a platformer. Just imagine being on the ledge of a platform, but as you are preparing to jump you suddenly slip off the edge it sort of feels like that. Mario reacts to the floor as he was made out of butter, mario can slip on some occations outside the one I already mentioned and more often that not gain super speed out of nowhere during a dive or you accidentaly do a side summersault jump, instead of a simple jump just trying to quickly turn around mario, thus leaving to you covering a lot of vertical space but not much horizontal space and most likely miss what was basically just a regular jump to another platform.

On the other hand, we have the levels themselves. This is when Sunshine show it's real ugly face. Let's get out the positives first, as it has a big one. The levels vary depending on which start you choose, meaning every start is an "Episode" of sorts or a new take on the already stablished level so every "Shine" is it's own story and adventure. It is the difference between a mission, and a objective basically. The more starts we end up getting on a level, the more it will open up for us meaning there are not only new Shines to but more coins to collect. Every level is, as you may imagine is summer themed. It explores every inch of the island, such as ports, villages, parks, etc. Love me a good summer centric game. Sadly I played this on winter while it was raining outside, yikes. It is commited to one thing and one thing only which is this vacation-summer feeling. Alright, down to the negatives. Missions or "Episodes" are plain unbalanced. Some Shines will require much more effort to get than others. No shit captain obvious, I'm mainly refering to Shines within the level itself, each one can radically fluctuate the difficulty depending on which episode you are. Episode 1 can be an easy short introduction to a level, on Episode 2 it can be a cryptic nightmare but by Episode 7 is a matter of sprying Shadow Mario until he stops moving lasting only a matter of seconds. See where I am getting at? It is not consistent at all, it can lead to some surprises but that's it you never know what to expect next which can also be a positive to some. For me it was exciting and terrifying the same, what kind of bullshit will they throw now? Look at the Sirena Beach Episode 3, tell me I'm not the only crazy one here. The chuckster shine can leave a mark, almost broke my cheap chinese gamecube controller with that one. The level designers were in a really bad mood that day.

This was only covering the main stages needed to progress on the story. You'll need to clear 7 Shines out of the 7 main levels there are in total. Levels taking place in Delfino Plaza are not necessary, though if you are going for the 100% it is required to complete every single on of them including the blue coins which I briefly mention earlier. These optional levels are without a doubt one of the hardest I've ever played in a 3D mario game. Yes, they are short, but can be lethal on long sessions. Not exactly hard because they impose a fair challenge, but because they barely work. Namely, and the most outspoken example: The Pachinko. You have to try it for yourself. The rest are merely forgettable. Every level has a determinated amount of blue coins that can be exchange on Delfino Plaza, each 10 blue coins is a star. But this is not important at the end of the day, as I just said it's just optional content.

Didn't quite like Sunshine overall. Solid start off, but then it started to dwindle and throw whatever bullshit was at their hand without much rhyme or reason as it goes on. I did had fun on moments, when the difficulty wasn't brutally punishing or moments were I did felt there was a fair challenge but nevertheless those moments were far and between from all the frustrating designed elements Sunshine deliberately chose to put above everything else which is quite sad. Playing this an adult made me easlly spot most of it's problems my younger self couldn't.

I have a lot of conflicting feelings on this one. The controls are wonderful, the atmosphere and theming are lovely, and the visuals are a sight to behold. However, the game is stretched very thin by trying to fit 120 shines into only 7 major levels. I am not as hard on the blue coins as some people are, as I find them fun to collect for the most part, but the gameplay gets exhausting after so much scouring and searching. I was shooting for 100% completion in my playthrough but I gave up at 102 shines due to the exhaustion, maybe one day I'll get that fabled end screen jpeg but not today.

it's not perfect but it's my very favorite 3d mario. lots of good memories with this game. easily the best atmosphere, movement and level design in a mario game. scratches a specific platforming itch that none of the other marios really pull off too well: making you feel like you're actually jumping around in a real place instead of just an obstacle course. the only actual bullshit part of this game is the pachinko level and the blue coins. everything else (sand bird, lily pad, watermelon) is very manageable with skill and patience.

Pain.
I'd probably have more fun if I played this game and didn't aim to 100% it. But doing 100% was just... pain.
Pachinko, I feel isn't as bad as everyone says it is. But lilypads... my god. I hate that level with a passion. Had to do the speedrunning trick to get to the island instead of the elaborate bullshit it takes to get to the island with Yoshi Delfino Plaza just to get to the level.
Also felt there wasn't that much diversity in the different levels unlike that seen in 64, Galaxy, Odyssey, etc.