This review contains spoilers
Sunshine is a game I feel incredibly conflicted on. Mario 64 is an incredible game, but you really feel the N64's limited resources hold the game back. A follow up to Mario 64 on more powerful hardware had the potential to be the best game ever.
In some respects, Sunshine delivered. Mario 64 already had an incredible movement system, and yet with FLUDD Sunshine delivers an excellent followup. Giving Mario a jetpack is exactly as amazing as it sounds.
Likewise, Delfino Plaza feels like a natural evolution of Peach's Castle. Mario 64 stood out from the SNES Mario titles by contextualizing the levels as part of a greater world. Sunshine takes this much further: Delfino Island is a great setting that feels incredibly real, especially for a Gamecube game. The way you can see other stages in the distance is a small but extremely important touch in making Delfino Island believable.
The problem is, all of these successes are just window dressing for what really is the core of a platformer: the level design. In this respect Sunshine is far less successful. Sunshine is filled with far too many shines that are, frankly, complete bullshit: the lily pad secret, the pachinko stage, blooper racing to name a few. It's fitting that Sunshine's final moments are spent not platforming, but awkwardly piloting a boat across lava. Sunshine is a mess of gimmicks right to the end.
Other stages suffer from the opposite extreme: many are little more than empty boxes for the player to run around it. Thankfully, these fair much better: they are not great examples of level design, but FLUDD makes even just running around enjoyable.
With so many stages frustrating, and so many others a complete vacuum of content, it's amazing how few truly great stages Sunshine has. Pinna Park is probably the only consistently great level. Other stages still have some excellent shines, but mixed in with some truly terrible ones.
Ultimately, Sunshine isn't a bad game, just a disappointing one. The smooth gameplay FLUDD provides and the relaxed tropical vibe of Delfino Island is enough to make Sunshine a worthwhile experience. It's just a shame knowing Sunshine could have been so much more.
In some respects, Sunshine delivered. Mario 64 already had an incredible movement system, and yet with FLUDD Sunshine delivers an excellent followup. Giving Mario a jetpack is exactly as amazing as it sounds.
Likewise, Delfino Plaza feels like a natural evolution of Peach's Castle. Mario 64 stood out from the SNES Mario titles by contextualizing the levels as part of a greater world. Sunshine takes this much further: Delfino Island is a great setting that feels incredibly real, especially for a Gamecube game. The way you can see other stages in the distance is a small but extremely important touch in making Delfino Island believable.
The problem is, all of these successes are just window dressing for what really is the core of a platformer: the level design. In this respect Sunshine is far less successful. Sunshine is filled with far too many shines that are, frankly, complete bullshit: the lily pad secret, the pachinko stage, blooper racing to name a few. It's fitting that Sunshine's final moments are spent not platforming, but awkwardly piloting a boat across lava. Sunshine is a mess of gimmicks right to the end.
Other stages suffer from the opposite extreme: many are little more than empty boxes for the player to run around it. Thankfully, these fair much better: they are not great examples of level design, but FLUDD makes even just running around enjoyable.
With so many stages frustrating, and so many others a complete vacuum of content, it's amazing how few truly great stages Sunshine has. Pinna Park is probably the only consistently great level. Other stages still have some excellent shines, but mixed in with some truly terrible ones.
Ultimately, Sunshine isn't a bad game, just a disappointing one. The smooth gameplay FLUDD provides and the relaxed tropical vibe of Delfino Island is enough to make Sunshine a worthwhile experience. It's just a shame knowing Sunshine could have been so much more.