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The premise of the game is that Marios tropical holiday is ruined when hes stitched up by an evil look-alike for daubing graffiti all over the island. Rather conveniently, theres a water pump waiting for him to use, which not only washes away the mess but also doubles as a handy jet pack. The jet pack aspect means that whenever you fall off something you have the chance to immediately recover. This built-in safety net means the game can afford to be far more ambitious in its level design than ever before, with massive levels filled with trampolines, tightropes, water-powered windmills, huge coral reefs, and mountains and mountains of platforms.
The whole thing looks amazing, too, with the most realistic water ever seen in a video game, and a near-infinite draw distance. On top of all this are rideable, fruit-juice-spewing Yoshis, extra water nozzles, super-hardcore platform levels where Shadow Mario nicks your jet pack, and goop-generating bosses who seem to live to make Princess Peachs laundry a nightmare.
After the sweet but rather short pleasures of Luigis Mansion and Pikmin, you need have no fear that Mario Sunshine is of a similarly brief nature. There are a total of 120 shines to collect--the same number of stars as in Super Mario 64--and the game world is at least as large and far more interactive. This is without question the best game on the GameCube yet. That may be no more than you'd expect from a Mario game, but it's certainly more than most of us mere mortals deserve. --David Jenkins
Story- What's this? The princess being saved ISN'T the main part of the story? Well, she does get kidnapped a few times(I guess it was unavoidable...) but the game offers a fresh plot. Mario tries to have a relaxing vacation, but before he even arrives, Shadow Mario, his archenemy, as been wreaking havoc on Isle Delfino, where Mario plans to relax. Unfortunately, the town artist's drawing of Shadow Mario is in black and white, so all the people think Mario is guilty. His punishment is to clean up the town, and with that, his good name.
Graphics- While not the best on the GameCube, these are very nice graphics that remind me of the days of Super Mario 64 on the N64. There are some nice touches, too, that add to the gameplay, such as enemies exploding or Piantas(residents of the island) celebrating when you free them from Shadow Mario's paint. Very few, if any, graphical flaws make this one beautiful game to look at. 9/10
Control- The controls are very easy to learn and very hard to forget. Once you get down jumping much of the controls are already learned, and the rest of them are really simple, too. The one bad part is the camera, which you have to manually control, making it difficult in some areas, but that's not too much of a problem in most cases. 9/10
Gameplay- Finding all 120 Shine Sprites or those few coins, whatever your task may be, Super Mario Sunshine is a blast to play. You could be surfing on Bloopers or hanging from fences, even riding a roller coaster while destroying a mechanical Bowser(did it come back from Paper Mario?) and all the while you'll be having fun, which is what the game is all about. 10/10
Satisfaction- This game is definitely worth the money for it. Best of all, all of these intricate worlds and characters only take up 7 blocks of memory on your memory card, making it very easy to save. You will not regret purchasing this game, in fact, I've even seen some people get GameCubes simply to own this game. 9.5/10
Sound- The familiar sounds and grunts, along with some cutscenes with full voice features of Mario, the Princess, and any other characters around at the time. The music isn't obtrusive and is familiar of a Mario game. 8.75/10
Overall- This is what Luigi's Mansion was shooting for. They got everything right that was wrong before. The one thing that may discourage players is the aforementioned camera, but in the long run, the tasks are fun enough that even if the camera causes you to fall, you'll just want to climb back up again. Super Mario Sunshine, while reminiscient of the Super Mario 64 game, is a whole new adventure that's loads of fun to play and well worth the time to complete it. Have fun(which you will with this game) and happy gaming. 9.75/10
Mario Sunshine might dissapoint those who were expecting the next big revolution in gaming. Sunshine is no Mario 64. The 3d genre has been around a while and Mario doesn't really redefine it. What it does do, however is perfect it. Take my word, this is perhaps the best 3d platformer ever. And I've played many of them. If you have a GameCube, buy this game now. It's not perfect, of course, but it's so much fun you won't care.
Super Mario Sunshine follows Mario as he is about to land on fair Isle Delfino for a tropical vacation. However, when he lands, there is a shadow character that looks just like him, and he has polluted the island. The natives mistake Mario for this shadow character and order him to clean up the island. Not a very deep story, but it's better than the old save the princess routine.
Mario Sunshine revolves around collecting shines. Complete a task and collect a shine. Collect more shines to unlock a level. It might sound tedious, since there are multiple shines in a level, but it's not.
The tasks in Mario Sunshine range from beating enemies to cleaning up sludge with your waterpack to chasing down Shadow Mario, completing difficult obstacle courses, balancing on tightropes, racing against time and more. And it all works and blends together perfectly. Another game might have some of the things this Mario game has but they won't have the sheer variety of things to do- and there are plenty and they won't have a character that moves like Mario.
As in all Mario games, the Mario in Mario Sunshine is a breeze to control. You can jump, double jump, triple jump, backflip, wall-jump, spin-jump, butt-stomp and slide. With the water-pack you can spray enemies or paint or you can cahnge the nozzle to hover. It all sounds really complex, but it comes off beautifully. It's easy. Trust me.
Speaking of easy, this game is not. Getting all the shines can be a real task. Some of the platform obstacle courses are very difficult. Most of the time, it's this kind of difficulty- this- I know how to do it, but can't quite- is what makes a game more rewarding. When you get a shine, you've earned it. However, there are a few places in this game where the camera will probably cause you to die. Far from horrendous, the camera in Mario Sunshine is largely controlled by you, but given the complex 3-d platform elements in the game it was only a given that your view would be obstructed here and there and probably more than you will like. It's my biggest gripe of the game.
Now onto the graphics. Sunshine is a beautiful game. The water sparkles and sways. The paint animates beautifully as does Mario and the enemy characters. The design in the game is really well done. For the most part, it's just gorgeous. There are parts of the game that aren't all that great graphically. Far from awful, some of the texture work is best described as simply bland. And some of the obstacle courses seem like they were lifted from an N64 game. But unless you're a graphic nitpicker you won't notice.
The sound in the game is perfect and is represented instereo as well as Dolby. There are classical remixed Mario tunes and some new ones. And they're all beautiful. The voice acting leaves a little to be desired, but really that's too nitpicky- I'm sure some people love the voices in this game.
All in all, Mario Sunshine is a great game. It truly is worthy of the Mario name and legacy. So if you like hopping, bopping, riding Yoshi and beating up Cheep-Cheeps and giant octopusses, wall-jumping and cleaning up paint and cooling down hot-dogs, you'll love this game. I highly recommend it.
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