![]() ![]() Sunshine is hands down the most inspired Mario game I've ever played. Playing it for the first time through 3D All Stars was like playing games when I was really young, back when I didn't care about public perception or other such things and I just enjoyed playing games. Whilst it isn't my absolute favourite (Galaxy isn't losing that crown any time soon), it does something for me that not many games can do: take me back to better days. Taking place on the tropical island of Isle Delfino, Mario finds himself jailed and subsequently tasked with cleaning up the environment after it's revealed that a mischievous lookalike has been destroying the island with deadly paint.Įventually, yes, Peach gets kidnapped just like always, but those initial moments indicated that this would be a Mario adventure quite unlike any other, and the unique setting and characters really shine (ha!) right through to the end credits. Purdy - Image: NintendoĪll of this and I haven't even mentioned what, in my opinion, remains the most unique and delightful story in any 3D Mario title. Show me another game from 2002 that boasts better water effects than Mario Sunshine. It holds up far better than its N64 predecessor and visually still looks absolutely stunning, particularly with the resolution upgrade provided by the Super Mario 3D All-Stars release. The point is, yes Mario Sunshine can feel a bit haphazard, and yes, the camera is absolute cack at times, but once you master its controls (which doesn’t take long, I promise you), then Mario Sunshine is truly one of the greatest platformers of all time. Couple that with the option to spray water onto the ground in front of you and suddenly you’re sliding around Ricco Harbour as flawlessly as a John Candy-coached bobsled team. But Mario Sunshine lets you string together moves in such a beautiful way that you can implement your own long jump by simply leaping into the air and immediately diving forwards easy. “But what about the long jump?”, I hear you cry. That bit where Mario's body disappears and he floats around going "It's-a me, Rayman!" is the best - Image: Nintendo The spin jump, the F.L.U.D.D’s hover nozzle, the side jump… It all works wonderfully and, arguably, better than the vast majority of 3D platformers on the market. But to me, they remain just as intuitive now as they did back then. There are many folks who have revisited and reevaluated Mario Sunshine in the years since its release and - perhaps quite rightly - determined that the controls are nowhere as refined as they might have seemed back in 2002. I know there are probably quite a few of you out there who are reading this and turning your nose up in disgust. I knew that the game would likely be waiting for me by the time I’d get home that afternoon, but I didn’t care I had to know as much as possible. My best friend at school managed to get a hold of it before me (and I’m still not quite sure how, *grumbles…), so I spent whatever time we had together grilling him on what it was like, how it played, how far he had gotten with it. I still remember the launch day for Mario Sunshine like it was yesterday. It made for countless feverish discussions as we waited for each subsequent game release with bated breath. It was also a wonderful time in my own life I had settled into high school and had a group of friends that shared my passion for gaming and Nintendo. Is it nostalgia? Well, yes and no… 2002 was undoubtedly a fantastic year for Nintendo gamers, with the one-two punch of Metroid Prime and Metroid Fusion, the incredibly unique survival horror Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem, and a remake of the iconic Resident Evil all playing their part to make it a year to remember. ![]() It’s one of those comfort games that I fall back on whenever I can’t decide what to play. I adored playing it on the GameCube back in 2002 and I adore playing it on the Switch now. I have a bit of a confession to make, though: Mario Sunshine is my absolute favourite of the 3D Mario titles. ![]()
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