Super Mario Sunshine was the Mario game I grew up with. Most people probably played Mario 64, and while I did play Mario 64 as well, I played sunshine the most and have the most memories with. Since we're in the middle of Summer, I figured I'd revisit my childhood again.
Mario isn't known for the storytelling, but this game definitely broke boundaries for the Mario series. Mario is convicted as a criminal for polluting the dolphin-shaped island of "Isle Delfino". Mario is prosecuted and sentenced to clean the entire island before he can leave. With the assistance of FLUDD (Flash Liquidizer Ultra Dousing Device), Mario must go around not only cleaning the island, but collecting the island's source of sunshine and power, the shine sprites. Now this is the first mainline Mario game to have voice acting besides a bunch of wahoo's and grunting. Whether it's good or not is another story, though it's actually serviceable and it didn't grate on me or hurt the experience overall.
Mario Sunshine is obviously, a 3D collectathon platformer with a twist, and that's FLUDD. I both like and dislike FLUDD as a gimmick, I love how FLUDD can help you correct small mistakes in your platforming, making small mistakes have no punishment tied to them. Why I dislike FLUDD is they had to gimp Mario's capabilities from Mario 64 to make him feel useful. Mario cannot long jump in this game, this makes FLUDD's hover nozzle the replacement, and it's not nearly as snappy or satisfying for a substitute. Mario also just doesn't jump as far or high as he used to, once again having you rely on flood for both verticality and horizontal movement sometimes. You can still gain height from triple jumps and side somersaults, which does help keep the gameplay fast and fun. Of course, there are some levels which will take FLUDD away from you, where you'll platform with just Mario. This is where the most glaring flaws of the game come into the picture, at least for me, especially later levels which really ask a lot from you, looking at you Pianta Village.
Without FLUDD, Mario feels rather loose and almost slippery to control. I don't find it that bad, though I do feel Mario isn't as tight as he was in Mario 64, but it was playable and I only suffered a few deaths from it, nothing too significant here. Mario Sunshine is also weird, the enemy variety is so bizarre and don't feel like Mario enemies, except the now iconic Cataquack, and especially iconic Petey Piranha. Everything else is very forgettable and to my knowledge do not show up again.
Level design and setting is perfect, capturing the summer vibe in all aspects. I especially love Serena Beach, Pianta Village, and Ricco Harbor, though visually there's not a single level in Mario Sunshine I dislike. Some people might think it all looks too similar, but I commend them on sticking with a single type of setting compared to other Mario games which are very diverse and check off every kind of environment and setting you can think of. As far as the level design goes, it's hit or miss. Noki Bay stands out as the most polarizing for me, the setting is great, and has a lot of fun sections, but overall feels... off. Certainly focuses on wall jumps and secret tunnels for traversal, but it's not so one-dimensional and makes sense for what the area is. The underwater section is fun, the controls for it aren't that great though, especially for the red coin fish, which can get frustrating if you need one coin left. Love Serena Beach and the haunted motel, it's a creative maze where you go room to room through different means, which I loved. Compact design and not always obvious where to go, while it can take a bit of time to figure out, I don't think it's too cryptic where you'll get lost. Last thing I'll comment on for levels are the "secret" ones. Most of these are fine, I already mentioned how I despise the one in Pianta Village, but the most well-known are the poison river, and Pachinko. Poison River to me is fine, I can absolutely understand the frustration of this level, especially the pipe that warps you back to Delfino Square, that's just malicious. Pachinko machine is a nightmare to finish, but overall the difficulty isn't that bad, I did suffer quite a few deaths here though. Secret levels to me look interesting from a visual perspective, playing them is usually okay to a nightmare, since Mario doesn't have FLUDD and precise platforming feels like it has a good amount of jank. Particularly slopes, and angled flooring seem really odd in this game, sometimes you can get over them fine, sometimes the game decides the angle is too steep and Mario falls to his death, it's difficult to gauge, and this how I died most of the time in this game.
Graphics are great, honestly. I do feel some designs aren't the best, such as some of the enemies, but everything else is great. Super bright and cheerful style, great lighting, and quite a few cool smaller details. One good example is you can actually see the heat rising off the ground and asphalt in this game, which is such a small but awesome detail to show how hot the climate is. Water looks beautiful in this game as well, the sun shimmers off of it and looks perfect for swimming in. Overall the game has a super cozy feel and does everything it can to highlight the setting, and it works, and this to me is my favorite part of the game. Everything the setting exudes just fits so well with each other, and is such an underrated setting I feel compared to other Mario games. If you like tropical themes, this might just be one of the best ones I've seen in a video game.
Music is just awesome. Once again just nailing that summer vibe in every level. Delfino Square is an amazing hub world song, it never gets old, and it's catchy. Bianco Hills captures the village feel, Ricco harbor enhances its setting by feeling very upbeat and just matches perfectly. I can go on, but those are just some examples, and I've personally added Mario Sunshine's soundtrack to all my summer playlists, it is just a very positive and relaxing vibe, and can fit with any real summer activity you're doing.
I do have issues with this game, quite a few. Besides what I mentioned above, the only last major issues I have is blue coins (they are optional though). I do not recommend fully completing this game, but I do recommend playing through it normally. But I cannot undersell the presentation, it's very well crafted. Definitely play this on a summer's afternoon with a cold drink, you won't regret it. You can get Mario Sunshine on the GameCube, and an upscaled version through Mario 3D All-Stars on Nintendo Switch, which is my personal recommendation. I understand 3D All-Stars isn't well received, but I am glad there is a more accessible way to play Mario Sunshine now at least. So give it a try if you want a nice summer game.
Mario isn't known for the storytelling, but this game definitely broke boundaries for the Mario series. Mario is convicted as a criminal for polluting the dolphin-shaped island of "Isle Delfino". Mario is prosecuted and sentenced to clean the entire island before he can leave. With the assistance of FLUDD (Flash Liquidizer Ultra Dousing Device), Mario must go around not only cleaning the island, but collecting the island's source of sunshine and power, the shine sprites. Now this is the first mainline Mario game to have voice acting besides a bunch of wahoo's and grunting. Whether it's good or not is another story, though it's actually serviceable and it didn't grate on me or hurt the experience overall.
Mario Sunshine is obviously, a 3D collectathon platformer with a twist, and that's FLUDD. I both like and dislike FLUDD as a gimmick, I love how FLUDD can help you correct small mistakes in your platforming, making small mistakes have no punishment tied to them. Why I dislike FLUDD is they had to gimp Mario's capabilities from Mario 64 to make him feel useful. Mario cannot long jump in this game, this makes FLUDD's hover nozzle the replacement, and it's not nearly as snappy or satisfying for a substitute. Mario also just doesn't jump as far or high as he used to, once again having you rely on flood for both verticality and horizontal movement sometimes. You can still gain height from triple jumps and side somersaults, which does help keep the gameplay fast and fun. Of course, there are some levels which will take FLUDD away from you, where you'll platform with just Mario. This is where the most glaring flaws of the game come into the picture, at least for me, especially later levels which really ask a lot from you, looking at you Pianta Village.
Without FLUDD, Mario feels rather loose and almost slippery to control. I don't find it that bad, though I do feel Mario isn't as tight as he was in Mario 64, but it was playable and I only suffered a few deaths from it, nothing too significant here. Mario Sunshine is also weird, the enemy variety is so bizarre and don't feel like Mario enemies, except the now iconic Cataquack, and especially iconic Petey Piranha. Everything else is very forgettable and to my knowledge do not show up again.
Level design and setting is perfect, capturing the summer vibe in all aspects. I especially love Serena Beach, Pianta Village, and Ricco Harbor, though visually there's not a single level in Mario Sunshine I dislike. Some people might think it all looks too similar, but I commend them on sticking with a single type of setting compared to other Mario games which are very diverse and check off every kind of environment and setting you can think of. As far as the level design goes, it's hit or miss. Noki Bay stands out as the most polarizing for me, the setting is great, and has a lot of fun sections, but overall feels... off. Certainly focuses on wall jumps and secret tunnels for traversal, but it's not so one-dimensional and makes sense for what the area is. The underwater section is fun, the controls for it aren't that great though, especially for the red coin fish, which can get frustrating if you need one coin left. Love Serena Beach and the haunted motel, it's a creative maze where you go room to room through different means, which I loved. Compact design and not always obvious where to go, while it can take a bit of time to figure out, I don't think it's too cryptic where you'll get lost. Last thing I'll comment on for levels are the "secret" ones. Most of these are fine, I already mentioned how I despise the one in Pianta Village, but the most well-known are the poison river, and Pachinko. Poison River to me is fine, I can absolutely understand the frustration of this level, especially the pipe that warps you back to Delfino Square, that's just malicious. Pachinko machine is a nightmare to finish, but overall the difficulty isn't that bad, I did suffer quite a few deaths here though. Secret levels to me look interesting from a visual perspective, playing them is usually okay to a nightmare, since Mario doesn't have FLUDD and precise platforming feels like it has a good amount of jank. Particularly slopes, and angled flooring seem really odd in this game, sometimes you can get over them fine, sometimes the game decides the angle is too steep and Mario falls to his death, it's difficult to gauge, and this how I died most of the time in this game.
Graphics are great, honestly. I do feel some designs aren't the best, such as some of the enemies, but everything else is great. Super bright and cheerful style, great lighting, and quite a few cool smaller details. One good example is you can actually see the heat rising off the ground and asphalt in this game, which is such a small but awesome detail to show how hot the climate is. Water looks beautiful in this game as well, the sun shimmers off of it and looks perfect for swimming in. Overall the game has a super cozy feel and does everything it can to highlight the setting, and it works, and this to me is my favorite part of the game. Everything the setting exudes just fits so well with each other, and is such an underrated setting I feel compared to other Mario games. If you like tropical themes, this might just be one of the best ones I've seen in a video game.
Music is just awesome. Once again just nailing that summer vibe in every level. Delfino Square is an amazing hub world song, it never gets old, and it's catchy. Bianco Hills captures the village feel, Ricco harbor enhances its setting by feeling very upbeat and just matches perfectly. I can go on, but those are just some examples, and I've personally added Mario Sunshine's soundtrack to all my summer playlists, it is just a very positive and relaxing vibe, and can fit with any real summer activity you're doing.
I do have issues with this game, quite a few. Besides what I mentioned above, the only last major issues I have is blue coins (they are optional though). I do not recommend fully completing this game, but I do recommend playing through it normally. But I cannot undersell the presentation, it's very well crafted. Definitely play this on a summer's afternoon with a cold drink, you won't regret it. You can get Mario Sunshine on the GameCube, and an upscaled version through Mario 3D All-Stars on Nintendo Switch, which is my personal recommendation. I understand 3D All-Stars isn't well received, but I am glad there is a more accessible way to play Mario Sunshine now at least. So give it a try if you want a nice summer game.