Super Mario Sunshine Review
Written By: Magma
Overview| Developer | Nintendo |
| ESRB Rating | E |
| # of Players | 1 |
| Genre | Adventure/Platformer |
| # of Levels | 10 |
| Controllable Characters | Mario, Yoshies |
| Story | Mario, Princess Peach, Toadsworth, Toad, and a small party of other Toads take a brake from the strains of the Mushroom Kingdom to ideal vacationing spot, the tropical island of Delfino! The sunset is warm, the water sparkles, the breeze is calm and cooling. It's perfect. However, upon landing at the island, they find that Mario has been framed! A dastardly criminal has spread paint and graffiti all over the island. As a result of the litter, Isle Delfino's source or power, little golden disks shaped like suns, have fled to various places, dimming the light the island gets. Mario befriends a small robot called FLUDD (Flash Liquidizing Ultra Dousing Device). This small mechanical stroke of genius can do all that an ordinary water hose can (spray water) and more. Arrested by local authorities, Mario is taken to court. Found guilty, he is sentenced to having to stay on the island until all the graffiti is cleaned. Now that's gonna take a while. But with FLUDD's help, it'll be a bowl of spaghetti! |
Review
| Feature | Rating | Comments |
| Graphics | 9 | While not as impressive as Luigi's Mansion, simple things like the interactivity and the beautifully-rendered water give this game a high graphics rating. |
| Sound | 10 | The sound is fantastic. Mario grunts and hollers and cries out with pain, etc. You can tell the difference of what you're walking on simply by the pitter-patter of your feet. If that's not good, I don't know what is. |
| Challenge | 8 | While most of the objectives in the game are not very hard to accomplish, the sheer number of Shine Sprites you must collect makes it hard. For an extra challenge, Nintendo even threw in Blue Coins. I've played harder games. |
| Replay Value | 3 | Sadly, once you have all 120 Shines, there's nothing else for you to do. Of course, if you haven't already, you can collect the rest of the Shines, and to do that, you'll need the Blue Coins, so it will be slightly difficult. Otherwise, however, there is no bonus to getting 120 Shines, contrary to SM64. You get nothing. Congratulations. |
Super Mario Sunshine was what everyone thought was Super Mario 128. If you're a Mario person, or you're just looking for a game that doesn't involve spilling blood at every corner, this is for you. It's not as cutesy as you might first think (well, accept maybe the cute princess :P in her sporty ponytail).
The story is actually the best I've ever seen for a Mario game that isn't an RPG. The graphics are commendable. I was honestly amazed the first time I saw the graphics in action. From the moment Toadsworth sat down in his fluffy chair, I was in love. The beautiful water and tropical surroundings are awesome. Also, the levels are very interactive. I don't think there's any building you can't climb (well, accept Hotel Delfino). From riding the ferris wheel into the skies, to turbo blasting in Delfino Plaza, and just watching the sunset at Sirena Beach, you'll be impressed. The actual gameplay itself will also keep your attention from beginning to end. And if you plan on getting everything the game has to offer, that's gonna take a while. FLUDD is also the key to many situations. In fact, you'll find yourself using it all the time, whether it's to defeat enemies or work a water-powered slot machine in a casino. The game also has many secret stages where you can't use FLUDD, and those, in my opinion, are the hardest situations in the game. The game's enemies are not traditional (i.e. Goombas and others are absent this time around). But you're away from the Mushroom Kingdom, so you can't have everything. Another interesting addition is that you can ride Yoshi for the first time since Super Mario World (yes!)! He can still eat up enemies, though his egg-throwing ability is absent. Replacing it, however, is the ability to spit out fruit juice. Joy. They have purple, pink, and orange yoshis for you to ride, and they all die when left in shallow water or when falling in deep water. Seeing how practically every level has water, that's going to make traveling with a yoshi all the time difficult.
All in all, Super Mario Sunshine is not a game to be bypassed. Pick it up wherever it's sold :P. Before you're done playing, youll've bodyslammed the belly of a giant plant, surfed on a large squid, flown above the clouds on a bird made of sand, blast rockets at a menacing robot while aboard a rollercoaster, swam inside a glass bottle, cleaned a enormous eel's teeth, floated above a valley on a dandelion, steered a mud boat across lava, etc., it's certainly not something you want to pass up just because of the cutesy title and not having the ability to shoot someone's guts out.
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