39 replies to this topic

[JoelWmusic]

I actually really liked this game. What did you guys like and dislike about it?

[levitynyc]

never played it.

[juanster]

I prefer Sunshine over Mario 64, maybe because I played it first. I completely love it, especially the music.

[JoelWmusic]

How could you have played that first??? Explain yourself!

[juanster]

How could you have played that first??? Explain yourself!

I never had a Nintendo 64. The first time I played any version of Mario 64 was when it came out for the DS. I've also played it on the Virtual Console, but never using an N64 controller.

Sunshine > Mario 64. I stand by it.

[JoelWmusic]

I'm not saying you're wrong. I was just shocked lol

[Wenny]

Sunshine > Mario 64. I stand by it.

I'll stand with you on that.

[Maximus]

Great game, but falls short of Mario 64 and the Galaxy games, IMO.

I still remember the frustration those retro levels caused, particularly when the backpack was taken away. And for some reason, those levels may be my fondest memories of Sunshine.

Likes

The visuals - bright and colourful
The Hub - Delfino plaza
The retro levels!

Dislikes

The camera
The retro levels!

[mik]

I love Mario Sunshine. It's certainly near the top of the Mario games for me. Mario 64, Super Mario World, and Sunshine can all jockey for the top spot. They're all magic.

[Kirbutashi]

Its definitely the least favorite 3D Mario game for me, but that's because I like to 100% those games. Getting 240 blue coins and keeping track of that crap is annoying.

But I definitely prefer the focused platforming to the Galaxy games to the more open stylings of 64 and Galaxy.

[Compeau]

Its definitely the least favorite 3D Mario game for me

Same here, but that's like saying it's my least favorite slice of pizza. Sure, it may have a bit too much cheese on it, and not as much pepperoni as the other slices, but it's still awesome pizza!

The retro levels were BY FAR the best part of the game. If they made a quasi sequel with just those types of levels, I would have been ecstatic. Hell, they can still do it! That could be the next 3DS Mario game.

The game played really well. Using the backpack as a jump assist was fine, but the rest of the backpack functions weren't great (shooting stuff with it, the rocket blast). Access to the backpack should have been handled like the raccoon tail in 3D Land: it's a cool upgrade that makes things easier and allows you to access some hard-to-reach coins, but is not a constant part of the game where all levels are designed around it. Another issue is that the game doesn't have the variety of environments that other Mario games have, because of the island vacation motif.

What's interesting is that Sunshine is the only Mario game that really follows the Mario 64 formula (other than the backpack): 3D Land is very linear and reminiscent of 2D Mario games, and even the Galaxy games are more linear. Sure, there are some areas in the Galaxy games that have 3-4 stars in the same 64ish environment, but for the most part you're hopping from planetoid to planetoid, each one a unique puzzle/platforming challenge. Sunshine is the closest to Mario 64, but it doesn't quite live up to the impossible bar that Mario 64 set. This wouldn't be as big of a deal if the game came out now, but since the game was Mario 64's successor, every minor way the game failed to meet our way-too-high expectations was magnified.

I still remember Super Mario Sunshine as the first game I bought after going to college my Freshman year (it came out a couple of days I moved into the dorms). I still remember playing the shit out of this game my first couple of weeks at college, before eventually moving on to Halo matches over the dorm LAN.

[Kirbutashi]

To be fair, though, Sunshine does have the best voice clip for Mario getting burned.

[Jave]

The Hub - Delfino plaza

Agreed, Delfino plaza is my favorite Hub world out of any Mario game. I love the look of it, the layout, the vibe, and especially that gipsy jazz music that plays in the background.

[JoelWmusic]

Man... I can't wait til I decide it's time for a windwaker LAD. I think alot of people view this game as Mario's windwaker. Not that it's celshaded but because many just don't like it. I really thought the game was fantastic.

It reminds you so much of Mario 64 when you climb that tower near the beginning of the game to fight the huge piranha plant. And I agree about the levels where they take the jetpack away. I loved those! (I died ALOT)

The only thing I didn't like was my OCD-ness about cleaning ALL the goop. If there was a speck left I was going to douse it!

[Wenny]

Agreed, Delfino plaza is my favorite Hub world out of any Mario game. I love the look of it, the layout, the vibe, and especially that gipsy jazz music that plays in the background.

This perfectly sums up the games draw for me. It's just so lively. Parts of the game were way too lard for me but luckily I'm not a completionist.

[Kirbutashi]

This perfectly sums up the games draw for me. It's just so lively. Parts of the game were way too lard for me but luckily I'm not a completionist.

I bet you never even pay off all your debt to Nook, you creep.

[Wenny]

I bet you never even pay off all your debt to Nook, you creep.

Nook owes me money.

[MojoBox]

Likes:

The island theme is generally awesome. The whole vibe of the game is just relaxing as hell. The controls are a very nice refinement over the Mario 64 scheme, wall jumping especially. It also has some of my favorite environments to just play around in of any 3D Mario game. I love Pinta village and Noki Bay is probably my favorite level of any 3D Mario game. It's so much fun to climb all the way to the top of that level and dive down into the water. And those Retro levels are amazing, such an absolute blast to play. And they are pretty clearly, in retrospect, the prototype for Mario Galaxy which is personally my favorite 3D Mario, so bully for them!

Dislikes:
The Pintas, Baby Bowser, and in fact any new design in this game. It's all so bland and blobish and... lame. And speaking of lame, oh my god there's an attempt to have a story, with like cutscenes and stuff. It wouldn't be so bad if you could skip it, but you can't. There's also a decided lack of variety in the levels, entirely due to the island theme. Even sticking to that theme they could have had more variety in the environments, it all kind of blends together for me having not played it in so long.

Yoshi. In a game full to the gills with water, let's make the player NOT touch water.

I hate hate hate hate hate the blue coins. I've gotten all the stars in Mario 64, I got every star in Galaxy TWICE, I'm working my way through the green stars in Galaxy 2. But I will never get over 80 some odd stars in Sunshine, because fuck those blue coins. They are hidden literally any and everywhere, most of them involve shooting a water jet at random spots in the environment, and there is no kind of checklist.

Ambivalent: The water pack. Some of it's uses are really fun: the rocket jump is neat, the speed boost thing is cool, and I genuinely like cleaning up all the gunk in the environment. But other times it's way annoying to use, anything requiring precise aim is pretty crappy. And I hate how it makes Mario's motion full sort of hampered. The best levels in this game take the jet pack away.

The music. The Delfino Plaza theme is awesome and really catchy and memorable. Just thinking about it puts me in a great mood. And I also really like the A Capella retro Mario theme. But I can't think of any other music from this game off hand, really indistinct and not memorable.

[Kirbutashi]

I'm glad for Sunshine making Pinatas since they made for fine gangsters in Thousand Year Door.

[MojoBox]

I'm glad for Sunshine making Pinatas since they made for fine gangsters in Thousand Year Door.

I forgot about that, and you are right. I recant my comment.

[SickBoy]

I didn't play a whole lot of it. To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of the 3D Mario games and my love for Mario titles in general is probably less than most gamers (don't get me wrong, I like the 2D Mario games just fine).

If I'm going to play a 3D Mario title I'd rather play Galaxy over 64 (which I liked more as a tech showcase than a game) or Sunshine.

[JoelWmusic]

A few of you have said that you don't like bowser Jr. Why? Is it cause of the chase sequences or what?

[Kirbutashi]

He was unnecessary. They already had the role filled with Koopalings. And from that point on, Baby Bowser was like the poster child of the lack of creativity you can find in Mario titles; he came hand-in-hand with fucking "Petey Piranha." And for fuck's sake, they already had an actual baby version of Bowser.



Galaxy tried to make up for it by selling Baby Bowser off as an inventor, always fighting you in retarded robots and such. But you still would rather be kicking his dad's teeth in rather than wasting time with his newest bastard son.

[MojoBox]

A few of you have said that you don't like bowser Jr. Why? Is it cause of the chase sequences or what?

This mostly.

I also find the existence of Baby Bowser just weird. Baby Bowser was Bowser as a, er, baby in Yoshi's Island. Does SMS take place in some weird time paradox world where Bowser fathered himself?

Edited by MojoBox, 11 July 2012 - 07:06 PM.

[JoelWmusic]

I've always thought that F.L.U.D.D. Was a wierd crossover between this and the halo games...

Jokes aside, I completely forgot about how much story they tried to bring across...

We don't really need baby bowser's motivation to jump on his head. We just want to jump on his head.

I was asking about the chase scenes because I found them really fun, but I could see where people would say that they're annoying.

Was this the game that basically had the big plinko board?

Edited by JoelWmusic, 11 July 2012 - 09:09 PM.

[MojoBox]

Yes, and that level was awesome!

[JoelWmusic]

Yes it was! And I see the roller coaster in the background on the video you posted. I really liked that level too.

[Kirbutashi]

I loved how before the game came out and everyone saw footage of the Shadow Mario that the first assumption was that it was Luigi, jealous for not getting invited to go on vacation.

[Ginormousj]

The game is mostly wonderful, certainly a step up from Super Mario 64, but I've always felt it peters out towards the end. The first few levels - the windmill town, the harbor, the amusement park - are amazing. Lots of great platforming opportunities, and as much as I adore Galaxy, I love the freedom that those opening bits of Sunshine give you. However, by the time you get to the hotel level and Noki Noki Bay, the game loses sight of its strengths. The former is way too tight, while the Bay is 90% water, which the 3D Marios have never handled particularly well. And there should be at least one more level in place of those blue coins. Mario 64 had at least a dozen environments. Sunshine had 7.

Like Windwaker, it's brilliant, but it feels like something's missing at the end.

Also, between juice-barfing Yoshi and bathtub Bowser, it's REALLY weird.

[Raughn]

To add a couple cents to some of the complaints above:

The obnoxious blue coins were the beginning of the "120 or bust" design philosophy that has tainted the 3D Mario games ever since. If they only designed enough interesting gameplay for 60 or 80 stars, then for crying out loud, they should stop there. Don't tempt the player into running the game into the ground by collecting blue coins/purple coins or trying to kill bosses without being hit. Odds are, the last things you did in Sunshine and Galaxy 1/2, whether you went the distance or gave up once you realized what it was asking of you, were the things you enjoyed the least. Games that good shouldn't end that way.

The story wasn't just unnecessary, it was a baffling misfire. Mario, the video game character that can run on clouds and wear magical suits, is on probation for vandalism? Biggest example of videogames creatives not understanding their material since Sonic's progress to the next area was hampered by a labor dispute in Sonic Adventure.

...while the Bay is 90% water, which the 3D Marios have never handled particularly well.

Hey! Someone from another dimension! What other crazy opposites do you have there!

Like Windwaker, it's brilliant, but it feels like something's missing at the end.

And like Wind Waker, it's pretty controversial. A lot of love/hate for those games. (This is actually the most civil Sunshine discussion I've ever read.) Through those games, we revisited the time of Mario 2/Zelda 2, which you'll see people praise as brilliant depatures, or crushing disappointments.

EDIT: Oh and I forgot to agree that yes the Yoshi implementation is the worst. The WORST!

Edited by Raughn, 12 July 2012 - 12:48 PM.

[JoelWmusic]

Raughn, I was expecting a much worse reception to this game when I picked it, but like you said its been very civil.A lot of love for it. BTW, I'd completely forgotten the blue coins. I remember that they were there but can someone remind me why they were important?

[MojoBox]

You traded 5 blue coins for 1 star. I don't know the exact numbers, but there were something like 40 stars to get with blue coins. And as I said before, the Blue Coins were an enormous pain in the ass to find, and you had no ability to track the ones you had gotten. Sunshine is the only Mario game I didn't even attempt to 100%

[Kirbutashi]

The comet challenges in Galaxy games don't come anywhere near having to search every nook and cranny of every stage in addition to knowing to squirt random things with water for blue coins. Challenges like Luigi's Purple Coins or the Daredevil runs are intended for the crazies like you or me that actually do 100% a Mario game. They offer up something that's actually fun or difficult, not something you would find in Donkey Kong 64.

Though some purple coins stages crossed the line in SMG1 (find 100 in this big annoying stage). The vast majority of the green stars in SMG2 were easy to pick out and designed to have you perform insane platforming feats.

You traded 5 blue coins for 1 star. I don't know the exact numbers, but there were something like 40 stars to get with blue coins. And as I said before, the Blue Coins were an enormous pain in the ass to find, and you had no ability to track the ones you had gotten. Sunshine is the only Mario game I didn't even attempt to 100%

Worse. It was 10/star. 240 total coins.

[MojoBox]

Yeah, most of the Purple Coin challenges in Galaxy 2 were on a time limit, so it was usually more of a speed run than a collectible hunt. In Galaxy there were a lot of the later type, but only a few I found annoying. Some of them I quite enjoyed because it gave me incentive to thoroughly explores levels like I would have back in Mario 64. I recall spending many a hungover Saturday morning listening to podcasts and hunting purple coins.

Edit: 10? Yikes, I must have suppressed that memory.

Edited by MojoBox, 12 July 2012 - 01:27 PM.

[JoelWmusic]

Did you get anything for getting every star?

[Kirbutashi]

In Galaxy 1 you unlock Luigi and then they give you revisit Mushroom Kingdom when you get everything with him. In Galaxy 2 you unlock the green stars and then you get the Grandmaster Galaxy for getting all of them, which has a tough daredevil run with zero checkpoints.

[JoelWmusic]

Those are cool, but I actually meant what do you get for sunshine.

[Kirbutashi]

A congratulations picture after the credits

[Raughn]

The comet challenges in Galaxy games don't come anywhere near having to search every nook and cranny of every stage in addition to knowing to squirt random things with water for blue coins. Challenges like Luigi's Purple Coins or the Daredevil runs are intended for the crazies like you or me that actually do 100% a Mario game. They offer up something that's actually fun or difficult, not something you would find in Donkey Kong 64.

Good points. I tend to get especially irked when I feel like Nintendo is reaching for content in any way, because they have created a lot of games where you get to 100% without doing anything that doesn't feel central to the experience, including Super Mario 64. I believe in their ability to make games where everyone can be a completionist without being compulsive, and I get miffed when they miss the mark.

[JoelWmusic]

A congratulations picture after the credits

Yuck...