Super Mario Sunshine deserves a sequel, fans say

Mario is quite easily Nintendo’s most iconic character, and has starred in some seriously fantastic games over the years. I think you’d struggle to find anyone who’s never played at least one of them at some point in their life.

Back in 2020, the Super Mario franchise celebrated its 35th anniversary, and as part of the celebrations, Nintendo released Super Mario 3D All-Stars - a remastered collection of three legendary 3D Mario games on Nintendo Switch. One of these was Super Mario Sunshine - the 2002 GameCube title which admittedly didn’t get the greatest reception from all fans when it first released. Over the years though, nostalgia has worked its magic, and there’s more love for Sunshine than ever.

Take a look at our interview with The Super Mario Bros. Movie star Anya Taylor-Joy below.

Over on Reddit, fans are now super keen to see a follow up to Sunshine: “The therapeutic tropical setting, and oddly satisfying goop cleaning mechanic of Super Mario Sunshine is something I dearly miss,” Startled_Pancakes wrote. “Enough time has passed where a sequel armed with greatly improved graphics and new innovations from more recent Mario games could really shine (pun intended). Any of you interested in a sequel to this classic?”

Unsurprisingly, plenty of people are: “I’d f**king cry. Sunshine was my ALL TIME FAVOURITE GAME as a child and if they did a sequel I’d absolutely melt in my own tears of joy!” Therealmanfetus1 replied. “Makes sense for a Switch 2 launch title. It could look amazing with updated graphics and this kind of positive setting! People seem to love that PowerWash game. So I think it would be an instant classic,” added picknicksje85. “Heck yeah. That was the second game I ever played, and my favourite Mario game,” agreed fredman266.

Unfortunately, right now, it’s still very difficult to play the first iteration of Sunshine, never mind a sequel. Despite its remastered release in 3D All-Stars, the anniversary collection is no longer available to buy on the Nintendo Switch eShop, or in stores. Unless you’re willing to pay inflated prices online, Sunshine is still locked on its original hardware.