Super Mario Sunshine is a Top 3 Mario game; I'm sick of the slander
Super Mario Sunshine recently landed on Nintendo Switch Online for Nintendo Switch 2 owners, and I’m absolutely thrilled.
This is one of my favourite games of all time, which is why it kills me to see so many claim it’s a lesser Mario game.
After Super Mario 64, Nintendo tried something new with Super Mario Sunshine. Its world-famous mascot became more agile than ever, now assisted by the charismatic F.L.U.D.D (one of the few AIs we tolerate).
Admittedly, though, advanced mobility didn’t always translate well. The new engine could occasionally make Mario a bit slippery to control, and some of the levels stand out for all the wrong reasons, such as the infamous pachinko machine.
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However, that’s nowhere near enough to claim that Super Mario Sunshine is some sort of inferior entry in the wider series. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that the people who claim to despise this game have simply been skill-issued one too many times.
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Super Mario Sunshine isn’t bad, you’re just bad at it
When Super Mario 3D All-Stars came out, it was many gamers’ first introduction to Super Mario Sunshine.
I remember the influx of tweets and Reddit posts complaining about how the physics don’t make any sense and how choppy it felt when compared to the other included games.
Now, with a gun to my head, I’d probably say Super Mario 64 is objectively better than Super Mario Sunshine, but mainly because I’m more likely to replay the former for its shorter length. HowLongToBeat reckons Super Mario 64 takes around 11 hours to finish, whereas Super Mario Sunshine takes 15 hours. That’s if you collect the minimum amount of Stars/Shine Sprites needed to reach the final boss.
My Top 3 3D Mario games are as follows; Super Mario 64, Super Mario Odyssey, and Super Mario Sunshine.
The hate Super Mario Sunshine gets for its controls is bizarre in my opinion. They’re a little jarring at first, but after two or three levels, you’ll quickly get the basics down.
Where the controls really shine is expression. You’re urged to experiment and find new, creative ways to get from A to B. There’s always a predetermined and linear path to take, but it’s much more fun to find your own way.
That’s not to say everything works perfectly. Like I said before, some of the levels feel a tad rushed, but criticism levied against The Sand Bird and the F.L.U.D.D-less levels is just silly. They’re challenging, but nowhere near as tough as some of the levels seen in revered Mario games.
Of course, all of this is just my humble opinion. If people really don’t like Super Mario Sunshine, that’s down to them.
However, I can’t just stand by and watch one of my favourite games get slandered by those who just don’t understand it.
It deserves just as much praise as the other 3D Mario games, and hopefully its inclusion on Nintendo Switch Online creates many more fans of it.
Topics: Features, Super Mario, Nintendo, Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch Online