This is a thread on Super Mario Sunshine. A thread for a Post-Super Mario 64 world.
In the year 2002 there was great anticipation for Super Mario Sunshine, Metroid Prime, and The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker; collectively known as The Big 3. I was reading EGM about how Nintendo was being secretive about that "water gun" of Mario's. It was quite an interesting time seeing Mario with this yellow contraption on his back, Metroid going first person, and Zelda being a cell-shaded game. Summer finally came around and once again with Super Mario Sunshine the exhilaration of controlling Mario returned.
How many of you played the demo before the game? One major difference of being around at the time was that it afforded me to be able to play the demo a week or so prior to launch. The demo drops you into the first episode of Bianco Hills and, more importantly, allows you to figure out Mario's new moves on your own. No tutorial/user instruction.
Adding spraying water to Mario's moveset was genius. I think that is the key difference between 64 and Sunshine was going from awe-inspiring world design with a perfect bold art style to spectacular water effects produced by the Flash Liquidizer Ultra Dousing Device (FLUDD). Shooting water everywhere, pushing in the new pressure-sensitive analog triggers figuring out what happens when you do so, figuring out what to do when the water tank runs empty, figuring out that you could do a sprinkler spin — this was amazing stuff. The hover nozzle was fun, the spray nozzle was cool. Using FLUDD to spin swing while hanging on tightropes was quite an experience and something that just couldn't be done as Mario-like with only body mechanics. Spinning like a top on the ground was new and exciting given the enhanced aesthetic feedback of 360 degrees of water being sprayed out everywhere as Mario moves quickly about.
We have got a super soaker, a jetpack, a sprinkler spin attack. Very inventive. Even more so is the controlling of the dorofune and lilipads by spraying water, which has a unique control scheme where Mario locks in place facing backwards spraying water to move forward and steer that I thoroughly enjoy. Something is missing though — there is something that ups the fun factor even more that is associated with summer. FLUDD would not be worth protecting behind closed doors from game designers eager to steal a game mechanic if not for this one new addition to Mario's core moveset. How did Nintendo take it to the next level? How did they make it so that Mario can move faster than ever before with the default spray nozzle? I won't spoil it for you but it's mentioned in the game manual if you can't figure it out eventually on your own.
Now I already went over how impressive the water is, and that's just one part of the game. When it comes to text display there is Super Mario Sunshine and then there is everything else. There is a cinematic quality of producing a 45° angle when talking to someone now. The text box now has the most personality of a Mario game or any other game I've seen. It's my favorite text box, but it's not exactly a text box; there are 3 blue curved elongated ovals stacked over one another with a small space between each. Imagine half of a blue rainbow. Each oval unwinds sequentially fully expanding to the right side. Encased is white text running from the top oval to the bottom.
While the game is ultra stylish in communication there also is a nice straight-forward mischievous element to interactivity. Running up and spraying the locals or bopping on top of Toads' heads never gets old. All the above makes running up to someone an enjoyable compulsion.
Isle Delfino keeps evolving (e.g. the change in sunlight, the introduction of new people and stages to chase after Shadow Mario in, the different news feed messages that scroll across the screen). Isle Delfino is jam-packed with Piantas to talk to and blue coins. The use of yellow coins to contrast with an interspersed blue coin is very good looking. I haven't seen coins this resplendent in a game before. Hearing that steel pan make that plunking sfx when you touch one is immensely satisfying.
Red graffiti abounds. Having wall graffiti be sprayable to administer blue coins in various ways, which way depends on the type of graffiti design, is clever and also makes it so floor space isn't clustered. There is plenty variation to how blue coins are presented rewarding players for good observation, curiosity, speed, and more. If all the blue coins were all boringly placed in plain view or as a do this for person, the game would lose a lot of its charm. With how they are, collecting is not chore-like or fetchquesty. My favorite ones to collect are the timed blue coin before it vanishes.
This isn't your standard Mario game. The wackiness is upped. There are roadblocks. There are spikes in difficulty. There is a one-off boss fight that goes all out in aesthetic mayhem inducing slow down. There is far less time spent to get to the challenging levels ala athletic levels aka void levels. What's this an a capella? Come back for more and you get challenged with a timed secret episode collecting 8 red coins with FLUDD.
Are you a NINPRO? This game is not afraid to show the player the GAME OVER screen. Reveal skill level as there is built up control from 64 now with handling the camera in the air while hovering and moving around in general, which makes for essentially two camera systems: ground and air. Player switches frequently from 2D-esque locked motions and 3D analog controls. Doing so is enjoyable, especially when challenging oneself to do so to maintain a consistent and high-rate of speed. Repeated takes let you enhance your abilities; e.g., racing Piantissimo again, trying out an athletic course with all the nozzle attachments.
ENDING
A truly fantastic game for the summer. I played through it as fast as I could. With a physics engine this fun in controlling Mario I often look at other game worlds and think of placing Mario on any map. But he's here to stay only on Nintendo GameCube.
In the year 2002 there was great anticipation for Super Mario Sunshine, Metroid Prime, and The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker; collectively known as The Big 3. I was reading EGM about how Nintendo was being secretive about that "water gun" of Mario's. It was quite an interesting time seeing Mario with this yellow contraption on his back, Metroid going first person, and Zelda being a cell-shaded game. Summer finally came around and once again with Super Mario Sunshine the exhilaration of controlling Mario returned.
How many of you played the demo before the game? One major difference of being around at the time was that it afforded me to be able to play the demo a week or so prior to launch. The demo drops you into the first episode of Bianco Hills and, more importantly, allows you to figure out Mario's new moves on your own. No tutorial/user instruction.
Adding spraying water to Mario's moveset was genius. I think that is the key difference between 64 and Sunshine was going from awe-inspiring world design with a perfect bold art style to spectacular water effects produced by the Flash Liquidizer Ultra Dousing Device (FLUDD). Shooting water everywhere, pushing in the new pressure-sensitive analog triggers figuring out what happens when you do so, figuring out what to do when the water tank runs empty, figuring out that you could do a sprinkler spin — this was amazing stuff. The hover nozzle was fun, the spray nozzle was cool. Using FLUDD to spin swing while hanging on tightropes was quite an experience and something that just couldn't be done as Mario-like with only body mechanics. Spinning like a top on the ground was new and exciting given the enhanced aesthetic feedback of 360 degrees of water being sprayed out everywhere as Mario moves quickly about.
We have got a super soaker, a jetpack, a sprinkler spin attack. Very inventive. Even more so is the controlling of the dorofune and lilipads by spraying water, which has a unique control scheme where Mario locks in place facing backwards spraying water to move forward and steer that I thoroughly enjoy. Something is missing though — there is something that ups the fun factor even more that is associated with summer. FLUDD would not be worth protecting behind closed doors from game designers eager to steal a game mechanic if not for this one new addition to Mario's core moveset. How did Nintendo take it to the next level? How did they make it so that Mario can move faster than ever before with the default spray nozzle? I won't spoil it for you but it's mentioned in the game manual if you can't figure it out eventually on your own.
Now I already went over how impressive the water is, and that's just one part of the game. When it comes to text display there is Super Mario Sunshine and then there is everything else. There is a cinematic quality of producing a 45° angle when talking to someone now. The text box now has the most personality of a Mario game or any other game I've seen. It's my favorite text box, but it's not exactly a text box; there are 3 blue curved elongated ovals stacked over one another with a small space between each. Imagine half of a blue rainbow. Each oval unwinds sequentially fully expanding to the right side. Encased is white text running from the top oval to the bottom.
While the game is ultra stylish in communication there also is a nice straight-forward mischievous element to interactivity. Running up and spraying the locals or bopping on top of Toads' heads never gets old. All the above makes running up to someone an enjoyable compulsion.
Isle Delfino keeps evolving (e.g. the change in sunlight, the introduction of new people and stages to chase after Shadow Mario in, the different news feed messages that scroll across the screen). Isle Delfino is jam-packed with Piantas to talk to and blue coins. The use of yellow coins to contrast with an interspersed blue coin is very good looking. I haven't seen coins this resplendent in a game before. Hearing that steel pan make that plunking sfx when you touch one is immensely satisfying.
Red graffiti abounds. Having wall graffiti be sprayable to administer blue coins in various ways, which way depends on the type of graffiti design, is clever and also makes it so floor space isn't clustered. There is plenty variation to how blue coins are presented rewarding players for good observation, curiosity, speed, and more. If all the blue coins were all boringly placed in plain view or as a do this for person, the game would lose a lot of its charm. With how they are, collecting is not chore-like or fetchquesty. My favorite ones to collect are the timed blue coin before it vanishes.
This isn't your standard Mario game. The wackiness is upped. There are roadblocks. There are spikes in difficulty. There is a one-off boss fight that goes all out in aesthetic mayhem inducing slow down. There is far less time spent to get to the challenging levels ala athletic levels aka void levels. What's this an a capella? Come back for more and you get challenged with a timed secret episode collecting 8 red coins with FLUDD.
Are you a NINPRO? This game is not afraid to show the player the GAME OVER screen. Reveal skill level as there is built up control from 64 now with handling the camera in the air while hovering and moving around in general, which makes for essentially two camera systems: ground and air. Player switches frequently from 2D-esque locked motions and 3D analog controls. Doing so is enjoyable, especially when challenging oneself to do so to maintain a consistent and high-rate of speed. Repeated takes let you enhance your abilities; e.g., racing Piantissimo again, trying out an athletic course with all the nozzle attachments.
ENDING
A truly fantastic game for the summer. I played through it as fast as I could. With a physics engine this fun in controlling Mario I often look at other game worlds and think of placing Mario on any map. But he's here to stay only on Nintendo GameCube.
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