Super Mario Sunshine Review

Mario returns for another 3-D platforming experience in Super Mario Sunshine. Mario, Peach, Toadsworth and Toad & friends decided to take a vacation at the beautiful paradise of Isle Delfino, but later when they arrive they discover that someone is pretending to be Mario and is ruining the Isle Delfino by making a lot of graffiti everywhere. Later the police take the real Mario to court and they command for Mario to clean all of the graffiti so he can get the opportunity to leave the Isle. So your mission is to take out various bosses and enemies made by the fake Mario and restore the Isle to his normal shape.

Mario Sunshine is full of puzzles like Super Mario 64; only this time you have FLUDD which is your water pack to clean graffiti. While cleaning might not sound fun is actually addictive in this game, especially when people need to be clean and they give you coins. The game consists of 8 missions on each part of Delfino. These areas can only be possible to reach through graffiti drawings or pipes. The boss battles are engaging, because each of them has a unique weak spot. One of those is the octopus, which you must squish his tentacles then grab them, stretch them until they fall apart from the octopus and then grab his nose and boom you got him, but you have to do it 2 times. There is also Pete piranha that will start opening his mouth to shoot graffiti and before he does that you must shoot water at his mouth until he turns fatter than what he is, and he will fall to the floor so you can squish his belly, you must do this around 3 times until he finally dies.

Other missions take you to enter a secret place that takes you to a puzzle level that must be solve without the help of FLUDD, because the fake Mario takes it away from you. Yet Mario still knows his jumping techniques that are enough to help you solve the puzzle. Some of the puzzles have you going through moving or falling floors. In other missions you have to collect 8 red coins, race a purple guy, and other missions that can only be done in a specific place. Some of the places you will visit are: the beach, a hotel, an amusement park, etc. Each place is full of variety and fun to walk around, discovering all of his secrets.

FLUDD can transform into 3 different forms: rocket, jet pack and hover, all in which are powered by water. That’s where water comes important, your water is not infinite you will always have to refill it when you see the bar is low of water, but you can always restore on rivers, ocean and fountains, also when there is no water near sometimes the enemies might contain a bottle of water. The game is pretty cool to explore each place and talk to the people around and some people might find some fun jumping in their heads or shooting water at them.

Later in the game you will find a yoshi Egg that will be asking for a specific fruit, bring that fruit to him and the egg will break and boom, Yoshi appears! Yoshi can help you eliminate a goop that cannot be clean with FLUDD. The sad part is that it feels like Yoshi is vomiting. Yoshi can also help you reach high places better with his high jumps. Yet you always have to check your juice is full or else he will disappears, to refill simply eat fruits you see on your path. The other bad part about Yoshi is that he cannot go through water, if he does he will disappear and return to his egg.

Super Mario Sunshine brings beautiful graphics on the Gamecube. With the well done design of each area and the superb water effects, the characters also have a nice design to it and the graffiti effect is original and cool. Now in the characters they are not perfectly done because they don’t feel totally realistic and there is block stuff around, but this thing is not very notable. The atmosphere on each place is also really and the boss animations are funny and well done. You can expect a few annoying camera problems when sometimes the camera is looking at the building instead of Mario but it doesn’t happen very frequently.

In the sound department Mario Sunshine offers a solid soundtrack on each area, like in the beach you get a song that sounds like one from the movie the little mermaid from Disney. In the boss battles you get the great intense soundtrack that makes you feel the action. Sadly the game is not full of voiceovers, you will only hear voices on the cut scenes and well Mario doesn’t really talk just saying ‘’wooho’’ on his jumps. So you will be constantly reading what the people (piantas) at Delfino say. The sound effects are cartoonish and some very funny to hear, that keep the sound department fresh to hear.

While Mario Sunshine’s story may not be a long one you still get the challenge to find all 120 shine sprites that can keep you busy for a while and some of the levels and bosses are really fun to play again once in a while. Yet there is no multiplayer in this game even tough it doesn’t really feel needed.

Super Mario Sunshine is a great sequel of Super Mario 64 by keeping the same platforming elements and FLUDD is a great addition that keeps the game being fresh. Mario fans and Gamecube owners alike should not miss this great experience.

Graphics 9/10
Great looking open areas like beaches, hotels, etc. The characters are well design, but some needed more effort. The water looks really realistic in both FLUDD and beach water.

Sound 9/10
The soundtrack is really varied through each area, sadly they are some voiceovers but you only hear them in cinematic. The sound effects are simple but goofy.

Gameplay 10/10
There is a variety of stuff to do on every area of Delfino's Island. Defeat boss battles, collect coins, clean and many other stuff. The controls are very responsive that will not affect you.

Lasting Appeal 8.5/10
The game is not really long and the last boss battle is quite easy. But you still have the challenge to collect all 120 shine sprites and save Isle Delfino completely.

Tilt: 10/10

Overall score: 9.5 out of 10