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"Mario. Just the name alone brings
fond memories of coin collecting, raccoon suits and
Saturday morning cereal. The spearhead of Nintendo
finally rears his head and makes his presence known in
the next gen world. With nothing but hype surrounding
the portly plumber this last year, how could it possible
meet the expectations of millions of fans spanning
across the world?"
Intro
The story of Mario is quite a simple one. Advertising.
Anything with the classic red hat and black mustache
simple pulls in the money for Nintendo. Shigeru
Miyamoto's creation ran rampant in literally every
decade since its existence. Mario was branded on
everything from cereal to toothpaste, and from video
games to squirt guns. Unrightfully branded as "kiddie
karts", the legacy of Mario appeals to all generations
and each release is successful in its own way.
 While most of the Mario series have no deep story (save
Paper Mario -cough-), most gamers were tired of
saving that spoiled Princess from the clutches of big
naughty Toads and Turtles. I mean honestly, how many
times did you grit your teeth when the classic line came
up: "Sorry Mario, but the Princess is in another
castle."? Yipes!
Nevertheless, Mario Sunshine
rivals the story of old and just makes you laugh a bit
at the vain attempt to capture story-dom. Since Mario
and Peach have had quite a bumpy last twenty years, it
was time for them to take a vacation in a tropical 24/7
sunny/perfect resort. Unfortunately, there is a
mysterious evil-twin-like Mario reeking havoc on the
sunny island. This evil Italian clone (shhh.. it's a
secret!) is polluting the pristine condition of the
island. To restore the "SHINE" and to clear his
good name, Mario sets off to clean the island up and put
this "impostor" in his place...
Right. So the story isn't going to win any Grammy's (or
is it Emmy's... I can never remember), but the games
clockworks was still created by Miyamoto, and in my
opinion, everything he touches is gold. From the opening
scenes, we are treated to some gorgeous visuals and
classic Nintendo style. Many people felt that Super
Smash Bros. Melee gave the "feeling-of-old", but
once this little disk starts spinning you just can't
help but feel good.
I've got sunshine, in a bag...
For those of you who enjoyed Mario 64, much of
the same feeling seeps through in Mario Sunshine. All of
the classic moves are here. Jumping, double and triple
jumping and the classic butt-stomp are all just a button
press away. The
biggest noticeable change has to be the unique combat
system. The days of punching and pulling a Mike Tyson
are over for Mario. While this may come as a shock to many, I was
on edge to see what Miyamoto would pull out of his back
of tricks. If you have seen any coverage of the game,
you notice an odd looking backpack-thing. This is in
fact a water-cannon device that is not only used as a
weapon but your primary means of exploration. By simply
squeezing the right trigger, you can propel a blast of
water that whacks your enemy. Standing still using the
digital pad allows you to be a bit more precise (a la
DK64). What I found so intriguing and what makes a
Mario game a Mario game, are the alternative effects.
Since the main goal of the game is to clean up the
"sludge" and cover the slime producing holes; the water
cannon (named FLUDD) is your primary means to clean the town. However,
randomly spraying water will dynamically change the
environment. Spraying an open field and seemingly a dead
end; will produce a budding plant that turns into a
tree. Foliage grows, and you can use these plants and
trees as a means to explore and find new levels as well
as new heights. By pointing the nozzle downward
you can propel skyward. Your water is limited,
however, but can easily be refilled by simply finding a
water source and jumping in... You'll quickly discover
that this tool is the bread-and-butter of Sunshine
Mario, and is incredibly fun to experiment with. Even
after 30+ hours of play, I still find new uses for it.
As much fun as the H20-blow is don't forget about
Mario's rolly belly. He can slip and slide with the best
of them, and many new areas can only be found by doing
so...
 As with all previous Mario games, I expected to hop
around and platform in 3D. I also expected to gather
coins, find secret levels and meet old characters. All
of my expectations were, for the most part, met and in
some aspects, exceeded. Things like collecting coins are
still here, and the "SHINE" is the Mario 64 equivalent
of a "STAR". You can acquire "shine" by collecting
coins, defeating bosses or finding them hidden deep
within the levels. When it comes down to it, Mario
Sunshine is the first real platformer for the
next generation. It is a genre that is totally hit or
miss, and Sunshine hits the mark full blast. While I
compared Sunshine with 64 a good bit, the differences
weren't too grand. In fact, the overall feeling I got
with 64 was similar to Sunshine. Now, this isn't a bad
thing; but I was expecting a bit more of a dramatic
change...
One of my concerns about Sunshine Mario was going to be
the overall physics and gameplay. I was surprised to
never once find myself stuck in a corner, being
pummeled to death because of bad camera angles. This is
by far the greatest achievement the game has made. In
the 3D world, cameras can really plague a good game
making it simply unplayable. Most will find the camera
angles to be natural, unique and ever changing. The "64"
line of games (Mario and Donkey Kong) had serious
issues with camera control, but that is a thing of the
past. Even with ever-changing angles, I felt totally in
control. Speaking of control, the physics are top notch
and Mario is quite responsive to the Gamecubes superior
controller. Since you are basically limited in your
choice of weaponry/tools, getting to know the water
cannon is mandatory. You'll soon warm up to the
controls, and controlling Mario has never been easier.
This isn't to say the game itself is easy, because it's
not. Sure the first level or two are designed to break
you in (and satisfy young gamers), the game
quickly unfolds making it more of an adventure like
Zelda; rather than strictly a platformer. This should
appease a wide range of players, and I have to admit
"solving" new levels were extremely rewarding and very
satisfying.
 To keep the traditional aspects of Mario touching a new
generation of gamers, Nintendo treats us with familiar
faces and familiar experiences. The whole gang is back,
and expect a few "cameos" scattered throughout the game.
Even the touted "Yoshi" is back but to me becomes more
of a "Jar-Jar Binks" rather than a trusty companion. His
only real "talent" is to remove special graffiti that
only the juice he spits can remove it. I would have
opted for a bottle of Orange Glow, but the whole Yoshi
experience is just that... an experience. But after an
hour or so of play, you will quickly decide that the
game feels like cold sheets on a warm night. The
experience is refreshing, exciting and sports classic
fun. It's good to see that gameplay can still make a
game successful. And after spending a good deal of time
with the import, I did notice a few changes that were
for the better. The most noticeable was the "Engrish"
translations. Overall the translation was
good, and we never get any sense of "All your shine
are belong to us" experiences... I also noticed they
took out the "Shine Get" and simply replaced it
with "Shine". Sometimes the dialogue is a bit
lost in the translation, but most of it will go
unnoticed.
My second biggest concern was the longevity of the game.
Again, I have to admit that I went into the game a bit
too confident. Big gamer like myself? Hah! This little
plumber doesn't stand a chance against me! I was quickly
put in my place, and felt waves of angst flow from the
screen to my face. At times the game was ungodly
difficult and challenging, but yet perfectly balanced.
High kudos for the balancing act, because nothing can
make a game plummet for it to be too hard.
Retrospectively, if it were too easy we would have
another Luigi's Mansion on our hands. Well,
completing Mario was quite rewarding and the second time
through only took me a mere 18-hours. The first time I
wanted to experience it for all it had, and it took me
double that. Do I still find the game fun? Are you
kidding? The games replay is unbelievable. There are so
many secrets and new possibilities that really make the
game limitless. Little things like the water cannon make
it so enjoyable. Climbing on a leaf in the water and
then shooting backwards, transforms the leaf into a
makeshift powerboat. Holding onto wires and shooting
will propel you like a jet plane. I think most gamers
will find Sunshine Mario to be hands-down better than 64
in every way imaginable. While the game isn't perfect, I
felt that Nintendo published nearly a flawless victory.
If there were a bit of criticism in my voice, it would
have to be the jaw-dropping "wow" effect. I never was
floored by any level. In every Mario game there is that
one level or room that just makes you rub your
eyes. While the entire game is beautiful, I
almost expected what I saw...
Not just another pretty face...
Most would agree that the graphics are impressive. The
polygon count for the modeling is off the charts, and
the animations are smoother than a baby’s bottom.
Probably the most impressive faction of the visuals is
the actual depth of the environments. The levels
seem to pan forever, and each individual level is
sometimes daunting. One also comes to expect dynamics to
play a huge role in next-gen games, and Nintendo doesn't
let us down. Little details just ooze at the seams.
Walking through sludge will produce black footprints,
water trickles down walls and leaves scatter when hit.
All of these factors add up to make the visual
experience a true success.
Not only is the gamer treated to brilliant graphics, the
framerate is rock solid. One also comes to expect
classic Nintendo color schemes and big boss levels. I've
always been in love with the cheerful color coordination
of the Mario series, and it comes through like a champ.
The same goes with the bosses, which are huge and take a
bit of skill to defeat. But when it's said and done, the
graphics might not meet some of the detail of some XBOX
titles, yet no XBOX title has yet to be as immense as
Sunshine Mario either. One could say that Halo is the
Mario of Microsoft; but honestly it can't be compared.
Halo is a game that set the standard for the FPS genre,
and Mario is simply a legacy.
If the graphics were Mario, then Luigi would have to be
the audio. And again, we are lucky enough to have the
entire score revamped and set to classic Mario tunes.
The soundtrack is unique, yet vaguely familiar. The same
goes with the voice overs (yet Mario is enigmatically
a mute) which are outstanding. Sound effects are
also top notch. Sure Nintendo can't produce Dolby
Digital 5.1, but what it can produce is some old-school
flavor that will keep your foot tapping.
66 Says:
While the majority of the gaming public will critique
the game bit for bit, I have to say that I was truly
amazed at the overall completeness of the game. I also
have to state that I felt rewarded from each aspect
of Sunshine Mario. While I don't think it is the XBOX
killer Nintendo was hoping for, it does make Gamecube
owners finally feel complete. My only question was why
an August release date? This should have been a
flagship title and saved Luigi's Mansion for a fall 2002
release. Still, the wait was a good one, but I fear the
worse for snobby critiques. Expect the net to be flooded
of doom-and-gloomers, and expect scores of reviews
ranging in the 70-80% range. It seems that when a game
is hyped as much as this one was, that it is set up to
higher standards than other games. Just like when
Vice City is released, expect that to receive the
same treatment.
Overall, you just have to like the game... Heck,
I totally love the game. It warrants a full-price
purchase and should leave every Nintendo fan grinning
from ear to ear. While it may not fully meet the
anticipated hype, it does meet my expectations
and I feel completely sublime.
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