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Four frustrating takeaways from the reissued Super Mario Sunshine

Four frustrating takeaways from the reissued Super Mario Sunshine
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A gamer replays Super Mario Sunshine and realizes it's a lot different than they remember.

Four frustrating takeaways from the reissued Super Mario Sunshine

For years, I looked back on Super Mario Sunshine (SMS) fondly, remembering my time spent with it more than a decade ago when it originally released in 2002.

On Sept. 18, Nintendo released Super Mario 3D All-Stars, featuring Super Mario 64, Super Mario Galaxy, and Super Mario Sunshine. It polished some visuals but for the most part, besides a different controller, the games are basically the same.

Nintendo released the original Sunshine during a semi down-period for the company, when Sony outsold them to the tune of 150 million units. Even Xbox sold about 24 million units, compared to the Gamecube's 21.74 million.

SMS also had the difficult distinction of following up one of the greatest video games ever made: Super Mario 64. How could Nintendo improve upon that masterpiece? Apparently by adding a water-powered jetpack and a convoluted story about graffiti and cleanliness.

The story revolves around Mario's trip to Isle Delfino, a dolphin-shaped resort where he was set to vacation with Princess Peach. When the plane lands, Mario finds F.L.U.D.D., a water-spouting backpack that talks for some reason. He's framed for polluting the island and tasked with cleaning it up while saving the princess in the process.

Thus sets the stage for 10 areas strewn about the island. Mario needs to find "Shine Sprites" and restore the land to its once pristine condition. The game I remember playing was fun and challenging, and one of my favorite Mario experiences. However, it's also a buggy, frustrating mess. Here's why.

The camera is ridiculous

Operating a camera in a 3D space is not easy, but Mario takes it to another level. Using the shoulder buttons, the camera can sort of revolve around Mario, but barely. This gets more difficult when trying to climb large areas or traverse skinny pathways.

The camera gets blocked behind walls easily, especially during pivotal jumps. It can be really hard to tell where you are in a 3D space when the camera won't even let you comfortably adjust.

A lot of times I just guess and hope for the best during a jump. One section of Pinna Park in particular, where Mario has to stop a spinning ferris wheel by climbing a series of fences, is particularly nightmarish.

The controls are... something

One of the best things about Super Mario 64 was the sheer variety of jumps Mario could perform. He could triple jump, long jump, somersault, etc. A lot of those moves are in SMS, but because Mario has the backpack, many had to be altered.

This means that Mario isn't always going to do what you want him to, land where you want, or stay alive. There's a palpable frustration when you try to execute a move and get it, but then Mario jumps again and suicides for no reason. This happens often, and is especially difficult for a game that requires precision. Other times in places like the Noki Bay ruins, things come out of nowhere, erasing many minutes of careful progression.

Aiming with F.L.U.D.D. is no cakewalk

F.L.U.D.D. is obviously a huge game mechanic. The squirt and hover nozzles are paramount to grasping the game's finer movement challenges. But when you add the camera and control issues, aiming becomes very difficult. Many enemies need to be shot with water, however, it can feel like wrestling an elephant to get that stream where you want it to go. Add the fact that it can only squirt for so long, and you can end up playing sections over and over again to try and complete them.

While F.L.U.D.D. does add more options for control, even controlling Mario when hovering can be challenging and unintuitive. Some sections require Mario to spray an enemy, then run away quickly. Let me tell you, those sections take time.

Those "secret" sections sure do lead to unexpected deaths

Every section in SMS has what's called a "secret" level, where Mario can't use his backpack and has to rely on his own jumping skills. Again, because the game uses F.L.U.D.D. for control, these sections are not only disorienting but also insanely difficult.

They require precision jumps in a game that offers none. They are also unforgiving, often forcing you to start over right before the end. One misstep means death, and half the time Mario will somersault when you just want him to carefully jump to the next platform. I guess when I was younger I had more patience for this type of thing.

Despite all of my grievances, SMS is not a bad game. In fact, it's great, and an insightful look at the progression of 3D Mario, which rebounded with the phenomenal Super Mario Galaxy. It's just a great game with an asterisk – greatness in spite of, not because of, its flaws.

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Jon Silman
Jon Silman

Jon SIlman is a freelance writer based in Florida. His favorite Zelda game is A Link To The Past.

jalex23 3 years ago

Its not a bad game, but its not great neither. Also I have no nostalgia for it, I was in college during this era and I had no console until Wii U cam out. SMS feels like a bunch of minigames that were meant to show how awesome 3D and solid/fluid mechanics were sorted out by the NGC, not a Mario game.<br /> <br /> OK, we have come a long way from there. Then there is no excuse to not address some of the issues. Put checkpoints. give infinite lives, add clear descriptions on what you need to do on each level, fix the camera, add motion controls to FLUDD, etc. Admittedly Sunshine was rushed. OK. Well, Nintendo was not rush for the re-release, so they just got lazy.<br /> <br /> As others mention, Sunshine did a lot of things right, but the mistakes outshine the good parts. I certainly didn't enjoy it. I had to finish it because I won't give my opinion on a game I didn't complete.

Der Golum 3 years ago

Great article. I don't have the time to practice getting good at a Mario game, and I definitely don't want to pay to be punished (That's what Dark Souls and life are for). If I want to play a Mario game, it's because I want to have, like, actual fun. This article prevented me from splurge buying a game I was interested in but wouldn't really enjoy, which meant it provided a good service. Have fun spending hours getting good at a kids game and bragging about it for meaningless internet points, playas.

Tim Palmieri 3 years ago

Hey, people in the comments! Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts!<br /> <br /> This article is subjective and represents a number of issues present for many people in the original Sunshine. It's fine to disagree if Sunshine was a brighter experience for you. <br /> <br /> It does generally take time to adjust to the Pro Controller or Joy-Cons and feels less intuitive than the Gamecube controller when spraying water among other things. I also struggled a bit to properly aim despite 100%ing the original. Also worth mentioning is that this is more about personal reflections playing the original as a kid vs now as an adult and less about how the game has changed between releases.<br /> <br /> Jon also really likes the game and is just being critical. The last paragraph is high praise: <br /> <br /> "Despite all of my grievances, SMS is not a bad game. In fact, it's great, and an insightful look at the progression of 3D Mario, which rebounded with the phenomenal Super Mario Galaxy. It's just a great game with an asterisk – greatness in spite of, not because of, its flaws.

Cdm10 3 years ago

I literally made an account just to say this. I saw this post and the title caught my attention so I read it. I disagree with everything you said above, the game was so easy especially since I played the original as a kid. I had no problems with the controls, I had no issues controlling the camera or aiming fludd. Like the other comments say below you're just blaming the game for your lack of skills. That's all thanks for reading my comment.

Wbwb4lyf 3 years ago

Sounds like the author needs to get good

ChenzoGoes 3 years ago

Jon... this is just embarrassing man. Should be retitled "I'm salty about how bad I am at a 20 year old game - here's some excuses." When I saw the first twitter video clip, I thought 'ok, maybe he just didn't understand this Sprite. You just climb the grate and shoot fludd through it to flip the platforms - no hovering or camera movement required.' But as I read on it was clear you just had no idea what you were doing and took it out on the game itself. For example, you apparently went went the wrong way in Noki Bay and got punished for it like in Jared's clip, but you somehow blame that on the controls??? Am I missing something? And the Manta Ray clip - just wait until they swarm you and hover above them, killing them all while you're safely floating above them. I'm honestly at a total loss after finishing this article. It's like people who say Dark Souls isn't good just because it's difficult... except this isn't a fraction as difficult. As other commenters have already noted: don't be salty, Jon, just git gud.

ChenzoGoes 3 years ago

Jon... this is just embarrassing man. Should be retitled "I'm salty about how bad I am at a 20 year old game - here's some excuses." When I saw the first twitter video clip, I thought 'ok, maybe he just didn't understand this Sprite. You just climb the grate and shoot fludd through it to flip the platforms - no hovering or camera movement required.' But as I read on it was clear you just had no idea what you were doing and took it out on the game itself. For example, you apparently went went the wrong way in Noki Bay and got punished for it like in Jared's clip, but you somehow blame that on the controls??? Am I missing something? And the Manta Ray clip - just wait until they swarm you and hover above them, killing them all while you're safely floating above them. I'm honestly at a total loss after finishing this article. It's like people who say Dark Souls isn't good just because it's difficult... except this isn't a fraction as difficult. As other commenters have already noted: don't be salty, Jon, just git gud.

LeoLeone_ 3 years ago

The only level that's truly broken is the pachinko machine. Even the Lily pad level is doable with patience and walking back to the start for multiple passes. The controls and the way Mario handles is much tighter and faster in sunshine than any other game in the franchise. The camera is much more restrictive in Galaxy and 64 than it is in sunshine. And the secret levels provide a nice platforming challenge that you can't just hover over for a change. The Grandmaster Galaxy and Darker Side of the Moon are much harder than any individual level in Sunshine.<br /> Just git gud.

Sybil Cut 3 years ago

Agreed with all the other comments that say what I was planning on. Bad article, learn more about the game. What about the controls are messy? the controls including turn radius in sunshine are the tightest in the franchise and the secret levels are a testament to that. <br /> your complaints about the camera are only valid in a handful of locations. <br /> Your complaints about aiming the squirt nozzle are true for the first person and running sprays, but 90% of the places you need to shoot something you can jump and press R+A to shoot a shotgun blast of water, which does the same shit, and I didn't see you talk about it, so I'm gonna assume you didn't know you could.<br /> Your complaint about the beginner trap in Noki bay is one of the only remaining ones, and that just comes off as a nitpick and the rest of the article - like the jab at the irrelevant storyline - is just tainted with enough disdain to make it an entire opinion.<br /> There are things about the game that are not perfect. You could complain about the voiceover, it has aged really poorly. You could complain about the mostly underwhelming and religiously formulaic bosses. You could complain about the reduced number of levels compared to 64 in favor of the blue coin collectathon. You could talk about the narrative structure of the shines forcing the player into typically completing them in a certain order, minus a few very specific exceptions. You could talk about the rerelease itself having a worse framerate than the original in many areas. If you want to complain about controls, bring up the god forsaken squirt gun sections where you move a leaf or a boat. But for the love of christ man don't complain about the platforming. You complained about effectively zero valid things in this article for the sake of being edgy. Learn to play.

Zachary Huch 3 years ago

My guy you are not only an awful journalist you’re a terrible gamer. Did you really just publish an article bashing a game that has been around for decades with Twitter vids of your failures? Do you realize Mario all stars is not a remaster? All the clunks and wonkiness was intentionally not changed. Go back to school you muffin you don’t have any business being a journalist.

Joshua Göers 3 years ago

Instead of spending the time to write this, maybe you should have practiced the game. I blew through and have 85 sprites right now and I started 6 days ago. You unfortunately just suck. Controls are easy and smooth, jumping is a cinch, and the secret levels are the best part of the game. You want an easy game? Play animal crossing.

Patrick Madden 3 years ago

I don't say this often, and I hate to tell you this but.. if you truly struggle with any of these, you kinda just suck at the game. I went from playing SM64 and fighting with the controls every step of the way.. to playing Sunshine. I then went to Galaxy, and back to finish up Sunshine. The controls felt every bit as good as Galaxy and the camera was much better. There are maybe 3 brief parts that are poorly designed on the camera, but the game controls incredibly well even by today's standards on 3D platformers. You want proof? Go play A Hat in Time or Yooka Laylee for some recent, AWFUL camera controls.

Christopher Charles Cummings 3 years ago

All of these takeaways were present in the original game... I dont know how people didnt notice the wonky camera angles at the ferris wheel and the secret levels. The glove in the noki bay ruins has always been there as well. Just don't go into that hole.

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