When Super Mario Sunshine originally released in North America seventeen years ago today, I played the eagerly anticipated successor to Super Mario 64 nonstop during the final days of my summer vacation and well into the new school year. I have nothing but fond memories of that time, but in the many years since Sunshine’s release, I’ve frequently heard a different story. While the game certainly has its fans, it’s spoken of far less frequently than its peers and when it is discussed, it’s often with derision or looked down upon as some kind of misstep for the Mario series. When I decided to replay the game this summer for the first time since 2002, I admit I was a little nervous. Would the game hold up? Was Sunshine truly as messy as the goopy graffiti littering its world and were my memories simply clouded in a fog of sweet, sun-drenched nostalgia? Well, another one-hundred and twenty Shine Sprites later, I’m here to tell you that Super Mario Sunshine…
…still rocks. While the game certainly has its quirks, just about everything I loved about Sunshine back in my adolescence has held up extremely well and I actually appreciate the game now more than ever for just how boldly unique and special it really is in the long-running Mario franchise. But I get it. I get why many just can’t reconcile with Sunshine. Within minutes of starting the adventure, Mario is arrested, sentenced to community service, and spends the night in jail, and the central plot only gets weirder from there. The usual array of themed worlds is replaced by a much more focused tropical island setting, many iconic enemies such as Goombas are either nowhere to be found or look unfamiliar, and gold coins are really the only recognizable Mario staple. And while there’s no shortage of jumping around and Mario’s mechanics are more fluid than ever, “action adventure” might be a better descriptor than “platformer” here as many of the game’s challenges involve an eclectic mix of exploration and minor puzzle-solving using Mario’s water-gun F.L.U.D.D. mechanics in addition to the platforming, and the whole setting of Isle Delfino is an incredibly cohesive and believable space by Mario standards.
And you know what? I love it. I love it all so much and all these years later there’s still nothing else quite like it.
Sunshine is basically what would happen if Nintendo’s developers took one of the kingdoms in the more recent Super Mario Odyssey and made a whole game out of it, putting a magnifying lens to one central theme (here a tropical vacation) and putting all of their energy into capturing that motif’s essence. The result is the most richly-realized world Mario’s ever traveled to in one of his platformer adventures. Isle Delfino feels like a real place, and it’s so fun to stand atop the giant Ferris wheel in Pinna Park and look down the island’s coastline, spying Hotel Delfino at one end and Delfino Plaza at the other, as well as everything in-between. No matter where they are on the island, players can always spot the places they’ve been and the places they’re going. It may seem like a small touch to some people, but this connection draws me into Sunshine’s world in a way no other Mario game does, not even Odyssey, which was clearly heavily influenced by Sunshine in numerous ways with its lovingly-detailed worlds and charmingly strange characters.
In addition, I really love how each level in Sunshine tells a story of sorts across its many Shine Sprite episodes. In contrast to Super Mario 64, where each stage served as a mostly static playground hosting a handful of micro-challenges, and stars could largely be obtained in any order, the levels in Sunshine organically evolve with player progress. Take one of my personal favorites, Noki Bay, for example. Mario arrives in the first episode to find the bay polluted and most of the Noki people absent. He uncorks a gigantic waterfall in an attempt to flush out the toxins, which creates a gap in the dirty water allowing him to dive down into the Noki’s subaquatic city in a later episode. After playing dentist for a colossal poison-spewing eel by scrubbing the muck from its teeth using his F.L.U.D.D., Mario finally clears Noki Bay of its pollution problem. In a tranquil final episode, Mario can pay another visit to the underwater city, now re-populated with Nokis due to his heroic deeds.
Not every episode of a level ties into some overarching narrative like this, but all of the stages have a great feeling of progression nonetheless, and one never really knows what each episode will hold. You might need to fix malfunctioning amusement park equipment, explore a mysterious hotel, or maybe wrangle an islander’s feisty pet Chain Chomplets. Mario 64 and Odyssey’s sandbox worlds have plenty of great moments and memorable challenges, but Sunshine really stands out because of its meaningfully distinct missions. Though there are less levels than in the other 3D Mario titles, each one is rich with layers and this makes revisiting each one consistently exciting. If players take the time to fully explore these environments, they’ll find that the developers poured bucket-loads of personality into every corner of them.
But beyond all this, the most important takeaway from Super Mario Sunshine for me is probably the very simple fact that this game just makes me so darn happy. Sunshine is a joy to play but it’s also a joy to simply bask in. Isle Delfino has an incredibly palpable atmosphere and every one of its locales explores a different summer vacation vibe, from the sun-soaked metal of Ricco Harbor to the mysterious twilight of Sirena Beach to the balmy moonlit jungle of Pianta Village. The game’s bright art is just begging to be remastered in crisp HD and the sound design is like ice cubes clinking in a glass of refreshing fruit punch. To play Super Mario Sunshine is to just feel good: those rolling ocean waves, that jolly soundtrack, and that cute sound the sunflowers outside Pinna Park make when Mario waters them. On a personal note, as someone who suffers from chronic anxiety and symptoms of depression, Sunshine truly brings me to a place of calm and I really can’t ask for a better gift from a game than that.
*Super Mario Sunshine was developed by Nintendo EAD and published by Nintendo
*Header image from allgamers.com, Isle Delfino screenshot from mariowiki.com, Delfino Plaza screenshot from giantbomb.com
Art Imitates Nature 