Yea, I'm just going to say it. I DO NOT like Super Mario Sunshine much. When I first bought this game and played it for awhile, I was indifferent about it. It wasn't bad, just... ok I guess. After picking it up again recently, I now know why this game never left a great impact on me. It is by far one of the most frustrating games of the Mario titles, not to mention one of the blandest too.
Let's begin with the good, bad and ugly of this game, starting with the good.
#1: Graphics and animation.
Despite this game coming out in 2002, it still looks very appealing to the eye. It's a very colorful environment with the characters looking very well detailed, including the Pinatas. Even the NPC animation is pretty good too. Overall here? Nothing much to say other than it's solid.
#2: The controls.
If there is one thing I'll give Super Mario Sunshine over Super Mario 64, it is the controls, especially with the camera angles. It was a bit of a pain in Mario 64 to do, but here, it's programmed to the c-analog stick, which makes it very easy to change camera angles at will.
While definitely not perfect, it's a step in the right direction, so again, not much to say other than it does the job.
#3: You get to ride Yoshi like in Super Mario World.
While this one I'm mixed about, it was still nice to see Yoshi actually a contributing factor in this game. He was pretty useful at times and could help you reach platforms you couldn't reach otherwise. HOWEVER, this one I do have quite a few gripes about, starting with the fact him spewing juice is more of his thing than you know... actually eating enemies? Yea, you can do that, but it's downplayed to mostly being used to get blue coins from eating birds or bugs. Seriously, what a waste. Oh, and that doesn't include the nonsense of him being dissolved if you go in water while riding him. What, is Yoshi a witch now like from the Wizard of Oz? WHY CAN'T HE go into the water? He could in Super Mario World 1 and 2, why not now? It makes no friggin sense!
What, was Yoshi a gamebreaker or something and they needed to find a way to keep him balanced? Considering how few times you use him to reach areas that you can't get into otherwise, this just really hurt the game as far as I'm concerned. Yoshi should've had a bigger role in your adventure other getting you blue coins and dissolving stuff to open an area.
Moving onto the bad parts of this game...
#1: The music.
While bad might be a bit harsh to describe the music of this game, the fact of the matter is the music in Super Mario Sunshine for the most part is just dull. It's not's bad per-say, but it just doesn't leave an impact like Super Mario 64 did in terms of music. Save for a few tracks like Corona Mountain, shadow mario's theme and possibly the Island DelFino hub music, I really just don't care for this soundtrack overall.
#2: Unlocking the final level
While this description may seem a bit odd, it truly is a problem for why I don't like this game. To unlock the gate to Corona Mountain, you have to get 7 Shrine Sprites in EVERY. SINGLE. LEVEL. you enter. No exceptions. Why? Because the seventh one is where you take down Shadow Mario with your F.L.U.D.D device for EVERY. SINGLE. LEVEL. Again, no exceptions, let alone variety in facing him. Seriously, why?
Compare that to Mario 64 where all you needed to reach Bowser in the final area was 70 out of 120 stars. It didn't matter which ones you got. You just had to get 70 and there you go, time to take on Bowser. That gave that game great replayabilty because you could choose which ones to tackle and get. But here? Pfft... forget that. Let's just make it so you HAVE TO get certain ones no matter what, even if you got all the blue and red coin shrine sprites, or let alone all 8 of the levels except for one area you STILL have to do this to unlock Corona Mountain.
This just really makes the game alot more frustrating and linear because there's no mixing up how to play the game and beat it. You're forced to do this no matter what. Talk about bad game design. And speaking of bad game design...
#3: The constant repetitiveness of your objectives.
This game is just painful in how often you end up doing the same thing over and over AND OVER. Whether it be fighting bosses, collecting red coin Shrine Sprites, entering caves to do platform puzzles taking down Shadow Mario, it's always the same thing EVERY. SINGLE. LEVEL. Yea, there's some variety in the levels here and there, but these things I mentioned show up every single level. Again, no exception.
Ugh... you know, I understand Super Mario 64 got repetitive at times too, but it still had more variety in objectives do than THIS game. For a next generation console platformer, this is beyond excusable.
Anyway, now let's talk the REAL crap of this game with the ugly parts of it, which there are quite a few.
#1: The puzzle levels.
Yea, I'm going to start with this one because I personally HATE them with a passion. Why? Because some of them are ridiculously convoluted and frustrating to figure out and pull off. For example, there's the poison river one. While that one is merciful enough to let you use F.L.U.D.D, it doesn't change the fact it's ridiculously hard to do. You have to navigate down a lily pad, get your timing and aim perfectly to get them because if you screw up on one of them, well guess what? You have to do the whole freaking thing all over again because if you try to go back to it, you will end up in the water, ending up with a lost life. And if that's not bad enough, you go into the pipe, it doesn't take you back to start of the level to get it again like a fair and balanced game would. No... it instead takes you back to the hub world, where you have to do the whole thing again just to reach the area you were already in.
Are you freakin kidding me? What a cruel joke! I can't believe how brutal this game could be about this. But this is only the tip of the iceberg. There are quite a few levels that have this BS that I just don't have the patience to go into detail about. Anyone's who played this game knows which ones I'm referring to. Oh yea... speaking of getting to use F.L.U.D.D in these, that brings up my next big problem with this game
#2: To do most of the puzzles, you lose the F.L.U.D.D device before tackling it.
This bit has irritated me to this day. It never made any sense to me why this was even a thing in this game to begin with. What, did F.L.U.D.D make these puzzles too easy? Well, that's your problem, game developers, not mine! Make harder puzzles to compensate then! At least I could let that go if I have F.L.U.D.D to help me. Oh, and that's not the worst part. It's how you lose F.L.U.D.D that ticks me off to no end. How do you lose him? Is there some height restriction or F.L.U.D.D is unable to operate due to it being in another realm? NOPE. You lose it because "Shadow Mario" steals it from you. And it doesn't matter how and where you enter the area, he ALWAYS will steal it from you regardless.
What. the. fricken heck!? No, seriously, what the heck gives?! Of all the excuses to lose F.L.U.D.D, THAT is what you come up with? How incredibly lazy can you get?! First off, it doesn't even make sense from a logical standpoint. That means Shadow Mario is waiting for you at EVERY. SINGLE. CAVE. just to be there to steal it. How is that even possible? He can't possibly be at every single location! He can only be at one place at a time! Oh, and before someone comes up with the magic brush explanation of having his wishes come true, well, that would work except for one major problem. I doubt even Shadow Mario, AKA: Bowser Jr is even aware of all these areas, so how would he know, let alone know which one you're about to enter if he did? Does he have clones waiting at every checkpoint ready to steal them from you? The game never explains how Bowser Jr is able to do this. It just shows him stealing it, no questions asked. Oh yea, and speaking of that. that doesn't even explain the next problem, which is by far the most horrendous issue of them all concerning this.
If Bowser Jr is able to steal F.L.U.D.D from you, how in the world do you all of a sudden get it back after completing the puzzle? No, seriously, HOW DO YOU get it back? What, does Bowser Jr. have a moral code all of a sudden that if you complete his puzzle, he'll give it back on principle? That doesn't even make any sense that is the case! Plus, if he could steal it from you, why wouldn't he destroy it soon after? That F.L.U.D.D device is the very thing that's wrecking his and Bowser's plans to mess up Island DelFino! So, for him to steal it and give it back EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. after a puzzle is complete and total BS! Seriously, what were the game developers thinking here? This was by far one of the worst ideas they could've had for this game!
There were so many better explanations they could have used for losing F.L.U.D.D than this garbage. All they had to was come up with something clever about some areas being inaccessible to using the device and thus had to be removed before entering. There, I came up with that explanation in less than 2 minutes. What's this game's excuse for this nonsense? Ugh...
Anyway, moving on to the last and by far the worst part of this game.
#3: There is no point to 100% this game.
Of all the things I could rail about concerning Super Mario Sunshine, this one is by far the absolute worst. First of all, it's bad enough they make it infuriatingly frustrating just to get every Shrine Sprite, but the fact you get ZERO reward or benefit for it is utterly despicable. Shame on you, developers!
To think Super Mario 64, on a Nintendo 64 console no less would give you more incentive to get the 120 stars than this is beyond excusable. I have no words to describe my disgust and contempt for the developers and their despicable antics concerning this game. The least they could have done is given you an additional nozzle, maybe the most powerful and game breaking of all of them, possibly be able to use all 3 at once if that wasn't possible. Maybe even make it so Yoshi can enter levels with you to mess around in. You know... SOMETHING to make getting all the Shine Sprite worth your damn time!
But no... this game gives you nothing but a slightly different ending screen. What a freakin waste... It's BS like this why Action Replay is greatly appreciated. I can get the 120 shine sprites that way without all the aggravation and wasted time. Yea, it's cheating, but, so what? Some games are so obnoxious about their difficulty and benefits playing it all the way through, it deserves no less.
In conclusion despite all the criticisms I mentioned, I can't say Super Mario Sunshine is a bad game. It's not. It does have some redeemable qualities to it, but when it comes to Mario platformers, this one is very low on the list of ones I'd recommend playing because it offers you very little and demands a ton in return. I would sooner 100% Super Mario 64 5 times in a row, even getting those hard 100 coin stars over and over before ever trying to 100% this game one time because it's just not worth it.
The only thing I can say about Super Mario Sunshine when it comes to to recommendations is if you're playing it just to save peach from Bowser, then this game is worth that much at least. While still frustrating to pull off, it's at least manageable in that perspective and you can have some fun in the process. But unless you're planning on using Action Replay, don't ever bother attempting to do a 100% save file because you will get nothing but a headache in return.
What a shame to be honest. This game could have been near the top of Mario platformers had it been given the proper tweaks to compensate for its unique gameplay and level play. But that sadly didn't happen. Instead, Super Mario Sunshine to me will always remain a half baked idea of a Mario game. The potential was certainly there, but it was wasted, which is why I hope we don't ever see another game like this again, unless it's done right, which I highly doubt.