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.
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.
11 Comments
@gsifdgs Never thought they would make these obligatory unlike in 64, which gives you the freedom to collect every star regardless of the level to progress. Honestly, that seems like a better approach to a "collectathon" itself. It is whatever, some shines were really annoying to collect. Had to look up some on youtube and the comments mostly say "This is why this is the most controversial mario game" or "This level is so hard, what were the level designers smoking" or "No one could have figured this out without a guide".
Nintendo Power was probably a big business back in the day, it wouldn't be strange to say they made some shines cryptic or some so hard getting a guide made it easier. This game needed more time in the oven
Nintendo Power was probably a big business back in the day, it wouldn't be strange to say they made some shines cryptic or some so hard getting a guide made it easier. This game needed more time in the oven
@Moister yeah, it's so unfinished in fact that, it could be the one with the least power up usage in the entire mario saga, I don't think turbo nozzle used more than once in the entire game, I assume they had to scrap lots of levels because of time constraints. But I don't think they did that for nintendo power sake, I think intention was secret courses were really secrets until the last minute when they realize half of the game isn't completed so they forced them in, because level wise it equals half of the mario 64
This is one of my childhood favorites, so I acknowledge upfront that nostalgia afflicts me. You do raise some great points, like the inconsistent difficulty between levels and the spike on those Delfino ones haha. You could also be right about the fast acceleration/low attraction, though personally I don't remember having issues with that, more-so the depth perception and camera could get bad. And yeah, the Pachinko level sucks.
But I disagree with a number of other things you say. For starters, I don't get the criticisms about slippery grounds when Mario 64 was infinitely worse in this department. Also personally, I never liked that you could gather different stars from the same level as it led to diminished individualization.
Secondly, by third level on Sirena Beach, surely you're not talking about Mysterious Hotel Delfino? The level that literally had no enemies outside of stationary boos? How could that possibly be your grand example of a difficult stage when things like the Sandbird, Corona Mountain, and the FLUDD-less levels exist lol?
Lastly, you don't talk about how much of a life saver FLUDD can be. Yes, you may miss a jump or accidentally do a mistake, but in a lot of those cases you can recover thanks to the hydro pumps.
Also, and I'm curious what you think, but IMO this game had the best boss fights of the entire 3D Mario series. There was a genuine uniqueness to them compared to the other games where it was more your standard "run up and hit the guy 3 times".
But I disagree with a number of other things you say. For starters, I don't get the criticisms about slippery grounds when Mario 64 was infinitely worse in this department. Also personally, I never liked that you could gather different stars from the same level as it led to diminished individualization.
Secondly, by third level on Sirena Beach, surely you're not talking about Mysterious Hotel Delfino? The level that literally had no enemies outside of stationary boos? How could that possibly be your grand example of a difficult stage when things like the Sandbird, Corona Mountain, and the FLUDD-less levels exist lol?
Lastly, you don't talk about how much of a life saver FLUDD can be. Yes, you may miss a jump or accidentally do a mistake, but in a lot of those cases you can recover thanks to the hydro pumps.
Also, and I'm curious what you think, but IMO this game had the best boss fights of the entire 3D Mario series. There was a genuine uniqueness to them compared to the other games where it was more your standard "run up and hit the guy 3 times".
This comment was deleted
@RedBackLoggd
1. I'd say he slippery ground has more to do on how Mario behaves mostly. But the level design doesn't help either.
2. I liked that each shine feels different from one another, but it also kills any sense of wonder and exploration you might have had in an open ended level. Like" You discovered this secret" gets reduced to "Wow, another blue coin". I'm partially mix towards it. In Galaxy it was all linear, in Mario 64 you could collect any start as long as isn't tie to a scripted mission. It is a matter of taste at the end of the day, every game has it's own approach of dealing with collecting stars/shines.
3. The Mysterious Hotel Delfino shine is so the most cryptic shine/star I've ever gotten in a Mario game lol. Has nothing to do with real difficulty, more than anything I was trying to give light of how logic in Sunshine is plain dumb and doesn't do the player any favors of figuring something out on their own. It all felt like trial and error. Corona Mountain, Sandbird are not that hard if you are skilled enough. The Fludd-less levels were a pain but, I dunno they didn't felt frustrating. It just felt like a really hard challenge.
4. F.L.U.D.D is both a good and a bad idea. More than feeling like an extension of Mario's moveset, it feels like the hover felt cheating. Hovering in the air is barely used and only serves to gain a little bit height, since most levels in Sunshine are made with verticality in mind. Though, I'd say the other modes such as the one that let's you run faster and the one that lets you jump very high are geuinely good power-ups. You know, the classic risk-reward balance. The normal fludd mode, which just shoots water has a more wide use. For puzzles, bosses or just cleaning the gloop on a timer. Fun stuff. It's only the hover which I have a big problem with.
5. Yeah, the bosses are great. My favorite one is the casino boo. The only bad one I did encounter was the piranha plant on it's second encounter on bianco hills. The rest are fine, though they do end up recycling some of them. It's also specially weird how there is only one fight against Bowser Jr and Mecha Bowser? Thought they would be use much more, like the koopalings in the classic games.
Edit: I forgot to pin you, whoops
1. I'd say he slippery ground has more to do on how Mario behaves mostly. But the level design doesn't help either.
2. I liked that each shine feels different from one another, but it also kills any sense of wonder and exploration you might have had in an open ended level. Like" You discovered this secret" gets reduced to "Wow, another blue coin". I'm partially mix towards it. In Galaxy it was all linear, in Mario 64 you could collect any start as long as isn't tie to a scripted mission. It is a matter of taste at the end of the day, every game has it's own approach of dealing with collecting stars/shines.
3. The Mysterious Hotel Delfino shine is so the most cryptic shine/star I've ever gotten in a Mario game lol. Has nothing to do with real difficulty, more than anything I was trying to give light of how logic in Sunshine is plain dumb and doesn't do the player any favors of figuring something out on their own. It all felt like trial and error. Corona Mountain, Sandbird are not that hard if you are skilled enough. The Fludd-less levels were a pain but, I dunno they didn't felt frustrating. It just felt like a really hard challenge.
4. F.L.U.D.D is both a good and a bad idea. More than feeling like an extension of Mario's moveset, it feels like the hover felt cheating. Hovering in the air is barely used and only serves to gain a little bit height, since most levels in Sunshine are made with verticality in mind. Though, I'd say the other modes such as the one that let's you run faster and the one that lets you jump very high are geuinely good power-ups. You know, the classic risk-reward balance. The normal fludd mode, which just shoots water has a more wide use. For puzzles, bosses or just cleaning the gloop on a timer. Fun stuff. It's only the hover which I have a big problem with.
5. Yeah, the bosses are great. My favorite one is the casino boo. The only bad one I did encounter was the piranha plant on it's second encounter on bianco hills. The rest are fine, though they do end up recycling some of them. It's also specially weird how there is only one fight against Bowser Jr and Mecha Bowser? Thought they would be use much more, like the koopalings in the classic games.
Edit: I forgot to pin you, whoops
1) Yeah, I definitely have to replay it to see how it goes. Maybe this was fixed on the Switch port?
2) Yeah for sure, and I don't think an either/or scenario- Nintendo should create a Mario game where some worlds can be wandered in, others structured by levels. You're right that Galaxy (especially Galaxy 2) went heavy into individual levels.
3) Well, I don't like the comment about skill issue as there are legit problems that shouldn't be masked under "get gud". Regarding the Hotel Level, again, I can't agree. I'll have to replay it, but I do remember there being plenty of indications of what to do, like the leaky water in the bathroom telling where to jump, or the pianta guests giving hints as to what needed to be done. The hardest part was ascending that stupid boo staircase at the end haha.
4) Feels like cheating? Lol come on man, Nintendo designed the game with it in mind. Maybe most levels were vertically-inclined, but it's also just not true that Hover is barely used - I used it extensively in every world except Sirena Beach. If you weren't using Hover much, perhaps that's part of the reason the game frustrated you? You weren't engaging with a core mechanic of the game?
5) Yeah well said. My least favorite was the Mecha Bowser fight ironically enough - was a pain in the ass to aim those stupid water rockets haha.
Well technically there were more encounters with Bowser Jr., though I won't spoil them for potential readers haha.
But I was either way fine with their diminished role. You pointed this out excellently in the second paragraph of your review, and it's a problem I had with Wonder, which is that Bowser is just so overused in this series haha. Like come on, every other Nintendo franchise except the Super Mario branch manages to change things up.
2) Yeah for sure, and I don't think an either/or scenario- Nintendo should create a Mario game where some worlds can be wandered in, others structured by levels. You're right that Galaxy (especially Galaxy 2) went heavy into individual levels.
3) Well, I don't like the comment about skill issue as there are legit problems that shouldn't be masked under "get gud". Regarding the Hotel Level, again, I can't agree. I'll have to replay it, but I do remember there being plenty of indications of what to do, like the leaky water in the bathroom telling where to jump, or the pianta guests giving hints as to what needed to be done. The hardest part was ascending that stupid boo staircase at the end haha.
4) Feels like cheating? Lol come on man, Nintendo designed the game with it in mind. Maybe most levels were vertically-inclined, but it's also just not true that Hover is barely used - I used it extensively in every world except Sirena Beach. If you weren't using Hover much, perhaps that's part of the reason the game frustrated you? You weren't engaging with a core mechanic of the game?
5) Yeah well said. My least favorite was the Mecha Bowser fight ironically enough - was a pain in the ass to aim those stupid water rockets haha.
Well technically there were more encounters with Bowser Jr., though I won't spoil them for potential readers haha.
But I was either way fine with their diminished role. You pointed this out excellently in the second paragraph of your review, and it's a problem I had with Wonder, which is that Bowser is just so overused in this series haha. Like come on, every other Nintendo franchise except the Super Mario branch manages to change things up.
@RedBackLoggd yes?
You never responded?
@RedBackLoggd Sorry, I was bussy. Ok, so.
3) Again, Sunshine never goes to these lengths in any other level again mostly pointing of what I said about the lack of consistency within levels. Not that I would put this as hard proof, rather a share sentiment amongst most people: search on youtube this very shine and look at the comments.
4) The hover is used more or less like Kazooie in Banjo Kazooie which both serves to correct jumps/survive big falls and gain some height/extend jumps horizontally. My main problem with it is that it sort of lives in a limbo between being useful and downright obligatory to makes some jumps, specially in Corona Mountain. The hover could've been more interesting, adding a little boost vertically/horizontally to it won't have break the flow of movement while still retaining it's main function which is just to hover Mario/course correct jumps. Maybe it is just me, but I see hover just as a necessary evil rather than something I would really like using.
3) Again, Sunshine never goes to these lengths in any other level again mostly pointing of what I said about the lack of consistency within levels. Not that I would put this as hard proof, rather a share sentiment amongst most people: search on youtube this very shine and look at the comments.
4) The hover is used more or less like Kazooie in Banjo Kazooie which both serves to correct jumps/survive big falls and gain some height/extend jumps horizontally. My main problem with it is that it sort of lives in a limbo between being useful and downright obligatory to makes some jumps, specially in Corona Mountain. The hover could've been more interesting, adding a little boost vertically/horizontally to it won't have break the flow of movement while still retaining it's main function which is just to hover Mario/course correct jumps. Maybe it is just me, but I see hover just as a necessary evil rather than something I would really like using.
All good.
3) Yeah you're right that it definitely is singular in scope, and that lack of precedent no doubt caused frustration amongst people. I do think it's easier than its reputation suggests, but that's an agree to disagree ultimately.
4) That's actually a terrific comparison to Kazooie haha, and I hadn't thought about that. Your suggestions are excellent (I think it did give a slight vertical boost, but obviously minimal), though necessary evil is a bit harsh a description haha.
3) Yeah you're right that it definitely is singular in scope, and that lack of precedent no doubt caused frustration amongst people. I do think it's easier than its reputation suggests, but that's an agree to disagree ultimately.
4) That's actually a terrific comparison to Kazooie haha, and I hadn't thought about that. Your suggestions are excellent (I think it did give a slight vertical boost, but obviously minimal), though necessary evil is a bit harsh a description haha.
gsifdgs
28 days ago