Board 8 > Just beat Super Mario Sunshine. (spoilers I guess)

(+) Yeah! (+)

It's been on my backlog since 2002, so I'm glad to finally cross it off the list. Now only Galaxy 2 and Odyssey remain. I got 56 total shines. I can say it's definitely the weakest big Mario game, assuming Galaxy 2 and Odyssey are better (they must be).

Positives:
- FLUDDless levels are mostly fun, but they're totally unforgiving with having to restart if you die. The only outright bad one is the one where Delfinos toss you around.
- The hover module is kind of neat, I guess.
- I like the tropical setting, even if the visual style of the game aged poorly.

Negatives:
- Mario seems, I don't know, less precise than in other games? I feel like I'm in less control than in other big Mario games. He's more wiggly in a bad way.
- The voice acting is an atrocity. Bowser just sounds like a guy, Bowser Jr. is the worst, and Peach is even worse than that.
- Bowser here might be the most underwhelming final boss fight I've ever seen. I was expecting a second form or something.
- All of the FLUDD modules except the hover module are useless. I used the big jump one when absolutely necessary, but I never touched the one that lets you run faster. Hovering is clearly better than what they offer.
- The lives system here, yeesh. They must have known it was outdated even at the time.
- The levels tend to be really easy and simplistic. I remember all kinds of really complicated and awesome stars in Mario 64, there are only a handful like that here.
- The camera is inexplicably worse than many N64 games.
- The combat is nonexistent. I don't play Mario games for combat, but the non-boss enemies barely qualify as obstacles. I don't think I was threatened by one ever. And the bosses are really pathetic, the only one I had difficulty with was the eel, and only because the underwater controls are complete garbage.
---

Bowser in a bathtub is the worst
---

you know what youre so right i take it all back sunshine is trash
---

MysticBrohan posted...

you know what youre so right i take it all back sunshine is trash

It's not a bad game. It's just weaker than the other big Mario games.
---

geez that was fast
---

There is at least one side level for turbo that justifies it's existence that you probably didn't do, but for general level traversal/exploration you'd never really want it. It's entirely situational.

Rocket at least lets you reach things and get a better look at the level, and can be used creatively in place of hover.
---

Did you ever end up trying the pachinko or lily pad levels?

Blocksby posted...

Did you ever end up trying the pachinko or lily pad levels?

No. I would have done the pachinko level if I'd known where it was, but I wasn't going to go out of my way for it.
---

Under the bridge

Easily the worst 3D Mario mainline game.

I don't hate the game but man that game had issues even way back in the PS2/GC/XBOX era.

Thankfully my expectations from a 3D Mario game at the time were low because I wasn't so big on 64 like people were at the time.

Galaxy is when 3D Mario became truly great and never looked back. I would say even 3D Land is pretty impressive given its limitations being on a handheld system.

Never played 3D Land. I did play the one with Rosalina, 3D World?
---

Yeah that's 3D World. The one on Wii U.

3D Land is basically 3D World beta.

3D World is what 3D Land truly aspires to be. That said Odyssey and the two Galaxies are far beyond their level IMO.

Axl_Rose_85 posted...

Yeah that's 3D World. The one on Wii U.

3D Land is basically 3D World beta.

3D World is what 3D Land truly aspires to be. That said Odyssey and the two Galaxies are far beyond their level IMO.

I still need to get around to Galaxy 2.
---

About the levels being really easy and simplistic, I felt like they were more fun to explore than 64's levels but otherwise I agree.

I found Sunshine easier to control (or at least pull of complex maneuvers) than 64.
---

I actually went back and got the last few blue coin shines I needed for 100% completion back when you started your playthrough topic.

imo sms and galaxy kind of feel like generic mario clone platformers with a gimmick from that era.
---

Is there any indicator of what blue coins you still need or how many are in a level that you haven't found yet? Because if not, it seems like finding them all would be a huge pain.
---

no checklist, but the z button map shows the number of coins you got in an area. 30 in each level 20 in the hub and 10 in the volcano iirc.
---

Anagram posted...

Is there any indicator of what blue coins you still need or how many are in a level that you haven't found yet? Because if not, it seems like finding them all would be a huge pain.

Either there is, or you're supposed to logically figure it out from how many Shine Sprites you have.

When I last played through the game, I tried to find as many as I could on my initial run-throughs of levels, but then I just used a guide to find all the blue coins I couldn't find initially.

To elaborate on one of my previous points, to me 64's levels felt well-designed for linear platforming but started to become tedious when actually exploring them. Sunshine felt like the opposite, to the point that stuff like the 100-coin stars were far less tedious and more fun. Also Sunshine improves on 64's camera noticeably.
---

LinkMarioSamus posted...

To elaborate on one of my previous points, to me 64's levels felt well-designed for linear platforming but started to become tedious when actually exploring them. Sunshine felt like the opposite, to the point that stuff like the 100-coin stars were far less tedious and more fun. Also Sunshine improves on 64's camera noticeably.

It's been a while since I played 64, but I remember its camera being better than Sunshine's. In Sunshine, the camera constantly got stuck behind stuff for me.
---

Anagram posted...

Axl_Rose_85 posted...

Yeah that's 3D World. The one on Wii U.

3D Land is basically 3D World beta.

3D World is what 3D Land truly aspires to be. That said Odyssey and the two Galaxies are far beyond their level IMO.

I still need to get around to Galaxy 2.

3D Land and World are a middle ground between the garbage tier nsmb and the best 3d mario games.

Anagram posted...

LinkMarioSamus posted...

To elaborate on one of my previous points, to me 64's levels felt well-designed for linear platforming but started to become tedious when actually exploring them. Sunshine felt like the opposite, to the point that stuff like the 100-coin stars were far less tedious and more fun. Also Sunshine improves on 64's camera noticeably.

It's been a while since I played 64, but I remember its camera being better than Sunshine's. In Sunshine, the camera constantly got stuck behind stuff for me.

GameSpot's review of the game mentioned that a while back, but I never had that problem all game.

I don't think 64's camera is that bad, it just tends to go haywire in tight spaces.
---