Super Mario Sunshine might be one of the hardest souls-likes ever made.
After I had such a blast with Super Mario Odyssey, for a long time I was thinking to fill my gaps in the 3D-Mario space. Now I finally got my hands on the 3D-All Stars Selection and I wanted to slowly work my way through it. I started with Sunshine, which I have a really strong connection to and which is the only one of the three, I played so far. And I was excited and frightened at the same time to explore the dark and shiny spots of that connection.
And nostalgia hit hard. When I booted up the game and listend to the first notes of the Isle-Delfino theme I felt right teleported to the 8-10year old me, sitting in front of the GameCube with shrine-shiny eyes ready to roll. But after landing with Peach on the Island and the game starting to unfold, the trauma kicked back in. You see, when I scrambled through my memory, I did not found any prove of finishing this game. I remember pouring tons of hours into it, only to fight my way through a few levels. I remember certain activities like throwing fruit at the islanders, mud looking like chocolate spread across the island and a level with a huge rollercoaster park. What I do remember for certain is the cocktail of feelings always oscillating in-between fun and frustration.
And this second word starting with F came back already on the airstrip 5 minutes into the game. The camera (non-)movement in Sunshine is one of the worst I have ever seen and this game is a 3D plattformer, so you have to know where you are heading, but this is just not the case. The camera feels like an untrained puppy pulling the leash into the opposite direction of where you want to go. And the frustration doubles with the knowledge, that I am playing this game as a remastered version. A version in which Nintendo is yet again so lazy and only upscales the graphics of the vanilla-version of the game and does not touch a single thing aspect - even re-using the GameCube button layout, lol. This game-design idleness haunted me through my entire short re-visit. It sucks out the fun, nearly completely. The fun of being accompanied by one of the most iconic non-human companions of gaming history: FLUDD. FLUDD is a rechargeable water-based tool, that can be used to spray enemies and goop, hover or launch through the air, and dash to high speeds. It is the main mechanical attraction and it is so cool. Or it should feel like it. But the whacky and inaccurate controls, the movements latency and the stubborn camera throw you off, minute by minute, jump by jump. And this is what weights the heaviest: Due to the inconsistent controls you are unable to grow in skill, to overcome obstacles and to feel real accomplishment. And this feeling of literally „not being in full control“ is bad for nearly every game experience. I was surprised how masochistic the levels felt, especially the platforming sections, where Shadow Mario steals FLUDD and you are left with only your jumping „skills“. And this type of design is not a relict of old times, as these levels recur in Odyssey and throughout the whole Super Mario-Series, but I could not help myself, but to feel robbed and put on trial - feeling like Mario being put on trial, accused of being a graffiti artist, haha. I was only able to finish the first major level (Monte Bianco), collecting 9 of 120 shine sprites. And this left me and collector-heart heart-broken. But yet, I simply could not force myself to collect the small moments of joy and embrace them, as they share the destiny of the shines being spread across the island. I love the sound, the atmosphere and the locations of this title, but for the sake of my mental health, I have to pull the plug. For now. A few days ago, I was sure to add this game to the „abondaned“-section and leave it for good. But I can not help, but to wonder, what comes next, what lies beneath all the pain? Am I the one being to weak? That is why I shelf this game and see if there will come a time, when I am ready to fight my way through. But first I am looking forward to play Galaxy and 64 without the constant whisper of nostalgia in my ear.
After I had such a blast with Super Mario Odyssey, for a long time I was thinking to fill my gaps in the 3D-Mario space. Now I finally got my hands on the 3D-All Stars Selection and I wanted to slowly work my way through it. I started with Sunshine, which I have a really strong connection to and which is the only one of the three, I played so far. And I was excited and frightened at the same time to explore the dark and shiny spots of that connection.
And nostalgia hit hard. When I booted up the game and listend to the first notes of the Isle-Delfino theme I felt right teleported to the 8-10year old me, sitting in front of the GameCube with shrine-shiny eyes ready to roll. But after landing with Peach on the Island and the game starting to unfold, the trauma kicked back in. You see, when I scrambled through my memory, I did not found any prove of finishing this game. I remember pouring tons of hours into it, only to fight my way through a few levels. I remember certain activities like throwing fruit at the islanders, mud looking like chocolate spread across the island and a level with a huge rollercoaster park. What I do remember for certain is the cocktail of feelings always oscillating in-between fun and frustration.
And this second word starting with F came back already on the airstrip 5 minutes into the game. The camera (non-)movement in Sunshine is one of the worst I have ever seen and this game is a 3D plattformer, so you have to know where you are heading, but this is just not the case. The camera feels like an untrained puppy pulling the leash into the opposite direction of where you want to go. And the frustration doubles with the knowledge, that I am playing this game as a remastered version. A version in which Nintendo is yet again so lazy and only upscales the graphics of the vanilla-version of the game and does not touch a single thing aspect - even re-using the GameCube button layout, lol. This game-design idleness haunted me through my entire short re-visit. It sucks out the fun, nearly completely. The fun of being accompanied by one of the most iconic non-human companions of gaming history: FLUDD. FLUDD is a rechargeable water-based tool, that can be used to spray enemies and goop, hover or launch through the air, and dash to high speeds. It is the main mechanical attraction and it is so cool. Or it should feel like it. But the whacky and inaccurate controls, the movements latency and the stubborn camera throw you off, minute by minute, jump by jump. And this is what weights the heaviest: Due to the inconsistent controls you are unable to grow in skill, to overcome obstacles and to feel real accomplishment. And this feeling of literally „not being in full control“ is bad for nearly every game experience. I was surprised how masochistic the levels felt, especially the platforming sections, where Shadow Mario steals FLUDD and you are left with only your jumping „skills“. And this type of design is not a relict of old times, as these levels recur in Odyssey and throughout the whole Super Mario-Series, but I could not help myself, but to feel robbed and put on trial - feeling like Mario being put on trial, accused of being a graffiti artist, haha. I was only able to finish the first major level (Monte Bianco), collecting 9 of 120 shine sprites. And this left me and collector-heart heart-broken. But yet, I simply could not force myself to collect the small moments of joy and embrace them, as they share the destiny of the shines being spread across the island. I love the sound, the atmosphere and the locations of this title, but for the sake of my mental health, I have to pull the plug. For now. A few days ago, I was sure to add this game to the „abondaned“-section and leave it for good. But I can not help, but to wonder, what comes next, what lies beneath all the pain? Am I the one being to weak? That is why I shelf this game and see if there will come a time, when I am ready to fight my way through. But first I am looking forward to play Galaxy and 64 without the constant whisper of nostalgia in my ear.
3 Comments
@RedBackLoggd
Gaming and reviewing is both an emotional business for me, so over-exaggeration is nothing I am afraid about, tbh.
I am not a tech person, so excuse my imprecise and vague description of my issues with the controls.
If I try to be more precise, I would say, it is mainly about three things:
1. The movement, especially charging the higher side-jump, felt, for me, not 100% in sync with your input, and somewhat like in "slow motion", that is what I meant with latency.
2. Secondly, if you move the thumb-stick forward or backward, Mario moves a little more, even if you already quit the input. Especially in the platforming-sections, this hinders the precision that is necessary.
3. If you fail, you fail. For example, if you do a wall jump and fail to grab a ledge or a rope you fall down like a stone into the abyss and can't re-adjust your failure. This might be an issue, that is based on the fact, that this game is 22 years old. But it is still an issue playing it today.
Concerning the camera movement: There are sections, where you can manipulate it, but there you have to manually keep it in place, which results in a limited use of your right hand. And in some sections of the game, the camera is locked and you simply can not change its angle no matter what.
Thanks for mentioning the souls-comparison. Of course, it is bollocks, but I found it funny, so why not use it as a catch-phrase.
Gaming and reviewing is both an emotional business for me, so over-exaggeration is nothing I am afraid about, tbh.
I am not a tech person, so excuse my imprecise and vague description of my issues with the controls.
If I try to be more precise, I would say, it is mainly about three things:
1. The movement, especially charging the higher side-jump, felt, for me, not 100% in sync with your input, and somewhat like in "slow motion", that is what I meant with latency.
2. Secondly, if you move the thumb-stick forward or backward, Mario moves a little more, even if you already quit the input. Especially in the platforming-sections, this hinders the precision that is necessary.
3. If you fail, you fail. For example, if you do a wall jump and fail to grab a ledge or a rope you fall down like a stone into the abyss and can't re-adjust your failure. This might be an issue, that is based on the fact, that this game is 22 years old. But it is still an issue playing it today.
Concerning the camera movement: There are sections, where you can manipulate it, but there you have to manually keep it in place, which results in a limited use of your right hand. And in some sections of the game, the camera is locked and you simply can not change its angle no matter what.
Thanks for mentioning the souls-comparison. Of course, it is bollocks, but I found it funny, so why not use it as a catch-phrase.
LOL, appreciate the honesty.
Well, for someone who's not a good tech person, you did a dang good job explaining why the controls were problematic. I definitely see how those issues could be vexing for a platformer that of course relies on solid jumping (particularly for the FLUDD-less levels). That said, I obviously would have to replay the game myself to see if those issues were existent for me as I really do think I would've had issues as a kid if they were that prevalent.
You're definitely right that being forced to keep the camera at bay would hinder your hands. I actually do recall having camera issues so I'll give you this. It's a shame the All-Star port couldn't fix it.
Well, for someone who's not a good tech person, you did a dang good job explaining why the controls were problematic. I definitely see how those issues could be vexing for a platformer that of course relies on solid jumping (particularly for the FLUDD-less levels). That said, I obviously would have to replay the game myself to see if those issues were existent for me as I really do think I would've had issues as a kid if they were that prevalent.
You're definitely right that being forced to keep the camera at bay would hinder your hands. I actually do recall having camera issues so I'll give you this. It's a shame the All-Star port couldn't fix it.
RedBackLoggd
1 month ago
I also don't understand the criticisms of the controls - you mention a few times about them being clunky, but don't flesh out what you mean. The GCN had one of the best controllers and Sunshine used it quite ergonomically. Were you using it or some Switch controller?
The camera critique definitely has merit, but IIRC, couldn't you manually manipulate it?
I gave a like because I appreciate the honesty, and you do give credit where it's due, but comparing to a Souls game? Come on man haha.