Super Mario Sunshine Review

Today I am reviewing the incredibly delicious and good looking game called Super Mario Sunshine. Have any of you heard of this title? I didn’t think so. Straight to the review…

The story kicks off with Mario and his buddies heading off for a tropical island vacation. After a bumpy landing, our hero and his fellow shaken passengers unload from the plane to find their island paradise coated in multi-hued goo. Immediately we notice that the culprit behind this sinister mess is a dead ringer for our cover boy. Of course the island residents observe this too and within the first five minutes of game time, we’re treated to the impossible image of our moustached hero behind bars!

Mario is freed under the specific order that it will be he that cleans up the mess he’s alleged of creating. Thankfully Mario isn’t forced to scrub the island with a toothbrush and a bar of soap. No, instead, we, as Mario, are treated to one of the coolest creations ever to have come out of Nintendo FLUDD (Flash Liquidizer Ultra Dousing Device). Just so you know, unlike the other Mario games, Super Mario Sunshine’s story (as you can see) is much more complex then saving Princess Peach.

In Super Mario Sunshine, kind of unlike Mario 64, I haven’t had any problems with the controls. FLUDD is very easy to control and get used to (and fun to play with at that) Mario’s wall jump is 4x’s easier than the one on the N64, which is very good because you must utilize the wall jump in many levels/areas in the game. Mario can do his back-jump, belly thump, and the FLUDD helps make even more incredibly cool, fun, and unique moves that will “blast� your pants off!

I don’t know what other sites problems are, but Super Mario Sunshine is a great looking and feeling game. Some people say that the graphics aren’t anything to get excited about. Everything is crisp, smooth, and colorful. Mario and all of the characters are detailed. Nothing is blocky, which was one bad aspect of Mario 64. In Mario 64 everything had a point or edge, SMS is smooth and well…about perfect. The buildings and backgrounds are very breathtaking, with great detail and hard work made so obvious. Believe me, this is the best looking game out there, next to Star Fox Adventures, Metroid Prime, Resident Evil 0, Splinter Cell, and possibly Bungie’s FPS called Halo. One last thing is the water effects. Mario Sunshine’s water looks so real that I want to swim in it, aside from the goo and guck.

Well, SMS isn’t perfect. It does have a few minor glitches which are bad enough for me to somewhat complain. Sometimes Mario or his water pack (FLUDD) will partially go through buildings (this happens in a ton of games, even the “perfect� Halo) Another problem is when I tried to jump in the ferris wheel, it won’t let me (I found out that it was a glitch). One last thing is that only ONE time when I jumped on a platform, I fell straight through it. Some glitches will happen and some will only happen once (most Halo glitches only happen once). One more thing, I hate those damn hidden walls.

I’ll wrap this up easily. Super Mario Sunshine has great music that rarely gets boring or repetitive. Actually the music is almost always just right for each level. When you jump on another character they make some kind of noise that you’d probably make if I were to jump on you. You can hear the water come out of FLUDD which is very cool.

Well I couldn’t give it any less. You can use your FLUDD anywhere (except those annoying shadow Mario maze levels), you can ride Yoshi, and you can slip, slide, and ride. Everything about this game is awesome and I just love the visuals. The sunsets and lighting are both just stunning. There are so many mini-levels that you can do within levels or outside levels in the main plaza area. Another thing is that there are hidden shines, for more enjoyment (the keyword here is hidden, meaning you have to FIND them).

Overall, Super Mario Sunshine is a redone, reformed, and reconstructed version of Mario 64. Even though this holds to be true, the need for a Mario game is great, especially one this good. Believe me, this is way better than Mario 64 and I am a Mario 64 advocate. If you don’t have a Gamecube yet, then THIS is finally your final reason to get one, other than all of those other reasons like Animal Crossing, Eternal Darkness, Metroid Prime, Resident Evil, and much more! You have no more excuses for not having one! Let’s all hope that Miyamoto has some magic left for “Mario 180*� the secret Mario game in development, expected to be released “Only For GameCube� sometime in 04’ or 05’.