Super Mario Sunshine - Review - 30th of December 2002

System: Nintendo GameCube
Television System: PAL
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo
Origin: Japan
Players: 1
Genre: Platform
Memory Card: 7 blocks
Released
Japan: 19th of July 2002
USA: 27th of August 2002
Europe: 4th of October 2002


After five-six years of waiting Super Mario 64's sequel is
finally here. You shall as Mario use his new water device
to clean up a tropical island in classic platforming action.


Story
Princess Peach and Mario land on the holiday island Delfino
to take a break from the regular duties in Mushroom Kingdom.
But when they land they notice that the whole island is covered
in a dirty sludge. A fellow who looks just like Mario is the 
guilty one but Mario gets the blame and is sentenced to clean up
the mess with a new device he found on the landing platform.
He also discovers that the island precious shines have escaped 
which he also must recover.


Graphics 8/10
It's very beautiful with lots of colours and a tropical feel,
but also very simple to be a game from 2002. All of the visual
effects are stunning especially the water effects. The 60 Hz
mode in the PAL version has some slowdown but nothing serious,
and the 50 Hz mode is really bad.


Sound 7/10
I'm not a fan of the new music. It gives the game the tropical
feel but at the same time it takes away the true Mario music.
We have the classic Mario theme when you lose lives and in the
fantastic bonus courses but that's really it. Nothing to complain
about the sound effects and because there are almost no voices, 
there's nothing to complain about there either. Some would maybe
like to give voices to our there Mario characters but voice 
acting in video games aren't always well done so I don't care.


Controls/Gameplay 9/10
The controls are pretty similar to Super Mario 64 but there have
been some changes. Some valuable jumps have been erased. The 
back flip has been replaced with a lousy slow water jump which
takes several seconds to prepare. The long jump is gone as well
and you can not punch or crouch. This isn't as bad as it sounds
because you really don't miss them too much. A button is used 
for jumping, the B button is used for grabbing items like fruit,
the Y button is used for first person view and the L button
centers the camera. With R you spray water from your new water
device and with X you change nozzle on your device between a
water stream (instead of the punch) and a hover stream, which
might replace the long jump. There are also hidden new nozzles.
I found the controls in Super Mario 64 better. It was better
fun to move him in the prequel if you ask me and it was more
balanced. But I think I find the controls in Super Mario Sunshine
are slightly more accurate.

You play as Mario and always start in Delfino's small town Delfino
Plaza and from there you go to different courses. In the courses
you shall collect a number of different shines in each and all of 
them must be recovered by completing certain objectives. For
example beat a boss, collect eight red coins, race someone to a
goal or such likes. Just like in Super Mario 64 in other words. But
why change a great concept. But we have an addition. The blue coins
from the sequel have here a new function. Collect 10 and you'll get
a shine. They're shattered through out every course and only feel
like a way to expand the lasting appeal. It often leads to a 
monotonous collecting similar to some Rare games.

As a compensation for the all tropical environments there are lots
of unique bonus courses. There Mario loses his water device and 
must clear a classic jump-from-block-to-block-platforming course.
The design of all of these are great and it varies a lot. 

I wouldn't like to call Super Mario Sunshine a kiddy game but it's
close to it. I don't mean the design, I mean other aspects. Like the
water cannon. Sometimes it feels like Nintendo really can't decide
whether it should be a game just for fun or an ordinary Mario game.
For example the clean up process. It's really not necessary clean up 
everything and I don't sit and laugh or get fascinated as soon as 
Mario gets his clothes covered in dirt or sprays water on an enemy. 
It doesn't feel like that's
anything for me. Mario games are supposed to be for everyone, not 
just children. I don't think Super Mario Sunshine has gone so far
but Nintendo doesn't have to go many steps in that direction to be
stuck there. Don't misunderstand me. At some points Super Mario 
Sunshine really is amassing and you get to ride Yoshi!


Lasting appeal 8/10
I expected more in this area. The courses are not
much larger than Super Mario 64 but even so they're not as many,
not nearly and besides that there's no real variation in environments.
This tropical theme everywhere. I want to go from a lava world to
a snow world, from a grassy field to forest meadow. The Mario games
usually have lots of variation in this area.

It's not even as challenging as Super Mario 64, but the bonus courses
give of course some challenge. This must surely be the easiest "Super"
Mario game made. But still it's pretty much to do in the game. The
worlds are rather big and you might play it again. But to expand
the life of the game with the blue coins instead of more courses 
feels cheap.


Total 8/10
As a game it's great, as the sequel to one of the best game ever
it's a big disappointment.


© 2002 Christian "Twink" Wall