The 'Shroom:Issue L/Review Corner
This month I will be reviewing another favorite, Super Mario Sunshine! This game was released in 2002 for the Gamecube and was the second 3D platformer in the Mario series after Super Mario 64.
Story
Peach doesn’t get kidnapped. At least, not initially. Mario arrives at Isle Delfino and is accused of vandalism that was actually caused by a shadowy look-alike. Bowser Jr. makes his first appearance here in the form of Shadow Mario. Mario is declared guilty and is forced to clean all of this goop up. He enlists in the help of a water-squirting companion, F.L.U.D.D. After he cleans up a lot of goop and defeats a boss, he earns a Shine Sprite. There are 120 of these to collect. Mario traverses Isle Delfino and visits its many neighborhoods on the way to collecting the Shine Sprites before finally defeating Bowser and Bowser Jr. You only need 49 of the 120 before the final fight, which sounds like a small challenge, but Sunshine is widely regarded as one of the toughest games in the Mario series.
Graphics
Good graphics. It improved on what Super Mario 64 had and gave some of the best the Gamecube had to offer. Some of the levels were a bit dark and some of the layout affected how far into corners Mario could move, but they were generally good. Camera angles were a bit annoying to deal with, though. In many places, the camera was off-center or couldn’t get a good view of the area.
Overall
Since there are no other modes, I’ll skip ahead to this! Sunshine was and still is a fun game to play with good replay value, but some of the camera angles and the lack of any minigames are small drawbacks. I give this game a 9/10.
