Does Mario Sunshine Deserve The Hate It Gets?

The whole game is a beach level.

Its the best

I mostly liked FLUDD because it was something else other than standard Mario moves.
Galaxy went back to the SM64 formula which is not bad, but that Mario definitely cannot pull sweet moves compared to the Sunshine one.

My only complaint was how Blue Coins were handled. Green Stars did it better.
 

Haganeren

Member
At the time, it didn't grabbed me like Mario 64 did but i still liked it.

At the time, my main complain was about the fact that nearly all the environment was themed around "sun & beach" instead of the most diverse environment that Mario 64 had.

Now, i just think the game just did not have enough content, there is a lot less levels than in Mario 64 so the difficulty isn't really there..... Or it's absurdly difficult like the pachinko level. Like some people said, Mario have some of the most satisfying feel on him and i really love the game for that. The simplification of Galaxy always disappointed me a little bit.

With new proper levels with more diverse environment, i think the most annoying part of the game can be successfully removed (the blue coins and some bullsh*t hidden shine). I do like the most "adventurish" approach of levels from Mario Sunshine instead of the straight plateformer approach we have those day.

It really have the potential to be something better, unfortunatly, yeah, there is too much filler in this game and some hidden shine are really frustrating (Yoshi Boat was a great exemple)... I don't think the camera was bad though....
 
It was the last 3d mario I played. I did play mario 64 on the ds but the sunshine entry was the last new release I played. I skipped the wii and so far the wiiu so I don't know much about the other entries. I don't love or hate Mario but I liked Mario sunshine.
 
Now, i just think the game just did not have enough content, there is a lot less levels than in Mario 64 so the difficulty isn't really there..... Or it's absurdly difficult like the pachinko level. Like some people said, Mario have some of the most satisfying feel on him and i really love the game for that. The simplification of Galaxy always disappointed me a little bit.
Agreed. Galaxy structured its levels with you only had to go back a couple of times was the right way to go. Sunshine mostly had few worlds but many stars in them.
Sunshine Mario was the best control of all of them, so I would love another game with him in it but designed more like Galaxy worlds.
 
It's the most enjoyable 3d Mario game for me to play, but I can see how people would think it was a bad game.
My ranking of most enjoyable to least(so not best to worst)
Sunshine>Galaxy 2>Galaxy>64>3D World
 
I wouldn't say that any mainline Mario game is the recipient of hate. They're all generally considered different levels of great.

That said Sunshine is a weird sidestep for the series. There's definitely brilliance, but also some odd choices like the pre-rendered videos and awful voice-acting.

I'm currently doing my first play-through of the game, and I see where the reservations come from. However, it is a good game in my opinion and I like some of the concepts at play. Like the water/paint puzzles and abilities, the large and open level design as well as making the hub-world more central to the experience -> a continuation of 64's castle. The camera is a bitch tho.
 
Some examples of the big flaws:
  • The awful lava boat section before the final boss
  • Some ridiculously tedious sections like getting Yoshi to that island.

These ones sucked (and that one mission on the beach). Overall the levels were kinda bad though.

But at it's heart it's an really great Mario game.
 

woopWOOP

Member
For a Mario title it's below average IMO. Which still means it's an alright game though.

The visuals were nice for its time, the atmosphere was great and I really like how it all seemed to take place on the same island as the HUB town. In nearly all stages a different stage can be seen in the distance. I enjoy details like that.

But it's also really weird, even compared to regular Mario Bros games. The new paint enemies are weird, the local village people look weird, Petey Piranha is weird, returning Super Mario Bros enemies (like the Boos) look off and weird and Yoshi barfing up juice and dissolving in the water is just really friggen weird.

Ofcourse that doesn't really matter if the game plays alright, but it seems kinda rushed or not well tested in some places. Kicking/carrying fruit to locations isn't fun, those blue coins collectibles are a drag and some 'missions' have a sudden huge difficulty spikes (fuck those boat stages in particular). The Fludd gimmick was alright, but not as fun as the platforming stages without it.

All in all it wasn't too bad and I don't outright hate it, but unlike the other Mario games I don't really have a desire to play through it again.
 

w0s

Member
I really enjoyed it but the one thing that I always felt was that fludd or whatever it was called always felt like too easy of a way to make or save a jump.
 

Poona

Member
I love it. Better than 3d world for sure, imo.

Mario sunshine is actually a 3d Mario adventure game, and I really enjoyed all the water. Should be more games like that and 64. Not games in the vein of 3d world which is 2d gameplay on a 3d plane.
 
Much like Sunshine, a piece of work that goes much too unappreciated.

I remember when Division Bell came out and I loved it. I wasn't around when The Wall or Dark Side came out, so Division Bell was my first experience with Pink Floyd, and you always remember your first the most fondly. :)
 

Lothar

Banned
I really enjoyed it but the one thing that I always felt was that fludd or whatever it was called always felt like too easy of a way to make or save a jump.

But it was really needed since at the time they hadn't yet perfected 3D Mario camera and controls.

If Mario64 had fludd, maybe the last few stages of it would have actually been fun.
 

andymcc

Banned
has some pretty great aesthetics but some of the technical issues are very off putting. the terrible camera, which seems to get stuck behind every single object, ruins the theme park and the dumb hotel stages for me. blue coins are dreadful. the game just feels half complete in comparison to other 3D mario titles.

Noki Bay is probably legit the best 3D mario stage though.
 
For every two or three things Mario Sunshine gets wrong there's something it gets right. Not my favorite Mario game, but not the worst and by no means worthy of so much hate. It's just an unworthy successor to Super Mario 64 is all.

That said Sunshine is a weird sidestep for the series. There's definitely brilliance, but also some odd choices like the pre-rendered videos and awful voice-acting.
.

Not gonna lie, the voice acting (especially Bowser's) voice really grew on me and is now one of the things I remember most fondly of the game.
 
I love the FLUDD mechanic and it had fun elements, but overall the level design wasn't here nor there (compared to other 3D Mario games, the overall standard is obviously still very high). Then you had the fludd-less levels which were a bit frustrating at times. It has some amazing moments, but it's not that good that it deserves an HD remaster over other games for example. More than anything the atmosphere and the chill locations made the game.
 
It has god awful level design on the latter half of the game and probably some of the most annoying boss fights in platformers I've ever played
 
It's the only 3D Mario i didn't get all stars in, and that's because of the damn blue coins. I was missing less then 10 when i decided i had better things to do with my life then spray virtual water at random stuff in order to collect all of them.

In retrospect Super Mario Sunshine is when i finally got fed up with collectatons.
 
Criticisms are justified. But I love the game. It's bright, fun, a change on the Mario series but still true to it's roots (with F.L.U.D.D). It's a feel good game that should've gotten the HD update over Wind Waker.
 

Nintenleo

Member
One of my favourite games of all time, but it deserves the hate it gets when it comes to blue coins.
The problem is that the development team had to rush the final works on
Sunshine and a lot of missions and environments have been removed from the final game.
And another problem is that it came after Super Mario 64 and before Super Mario Galaxy. Not the best place to be.

Anyway, some of the levels of Sunshine are awesome and I had so much fun just running around the city and doing shit with water.
It took me years to complete it 100% and at the moment I got the last blue coin I realized I was a better man.
 

chemicals

Member
I played it back when it launched and it was fun. Not a masterpiece, by any means, but still fun. Shortly thereafter I played through Jak and Daxter (first game) for the first time. J&D is so good that it made me realize how weak Sunshine is. Never went back to it after that.
 

TheRyanx2

Neo Member
I had a pretty fun time with this game when it came out. It was a slight letdown for not being as amazing as M64 was, but was still a very enjoyable game in its own right.
 
I liked the game but had many complaints about it, especially after Mario 64.

My number one complaint is those damn blue coins. They were an absolute chore to get through, boring and completely pointless. The fact that some blue coins only appeared on specific Shines in a course was a joke, so not only did you have to search through the entire level, you had to search through the entire level through each individual shine. (what I mean is say in Shine 1 there is no circle in a spot, same in Shine 2,3,4,5,6, but then in 7 there is a circle hiding a blue coin). Similarly with the finding of 100 coins, only some of the episodes had enough coins that you could find.

The linearity of the game was annoying compared to Mario 64. In Mario 64 to face Bowser you have to get 70 stars, any 70 stars so every star you collected mattered even if you weren't going for 100% (except the 8 red coin one in the final bowser level). In Mario Sunshine, it didn't matter how many Shines you collected, all that mattered is that you collected the right shines. All those extra shines (including the blue coin ones) are completely pointless unless you are going for 100%. I loved the fact in Mario 64 that I went into a level and could collect almost every star, where in Sunshine you could only collect the one in that episode.

I did like FLUDD and mostly how Mario controlled (not Yoshi). The levels when FLUDD was removed were fantastic and some of the best around.
 

Mr Swine

Banned
It's the Other M of Mario games, ok gameplay but that is just about it, the rest is bad. I'm glad Miyamoto wished up and made Galaxy after that
 

Rezae

Member
I had no problem with the setting, but the actual gameplay and level design was sub-par for Mario. It's the only mainline Mario game I have never finished. It was marketed poorly too IMO. It's definitely not a "bad" game, but some of the design decisions (such a bore at times) and inconsistent difficulty just turned me off of it and I never went back. I've dabbled in it a few times in recent years but my attitude hasn't really changed. The jump from this to Galaxy is staggering.
 

reeperdotcom

Neo Member
No and I never understood the hate for that game. I loved the visuals and the gimmicky "clean the oil" aspect of the game. Not to mention, the level design is top notch.
 
I played it when I was younger so I didn't really understand it but I just know I played the hell out of it.

Is there anywhere to play it without a Gamecube? Would love to give it a try now after all these years
 

Ryaaan14

Banned
It's fucking awful and the beginning cutscene alone is enough to give someone cancer.

Stripped the franchise of all its charm. Luckily they didn't continue down that path.
 

LeleSocho

Banned
The graphics were great, the soundtrack is awesome, the mechanic are incredibly fun, the environment is ace, level design is top notch.
People hate it because they remember only the blue coins but the game is absolutely fantastic.

Vastly better than Mario Galaxy 2 and 3d World/Land.
 

Yrael

Member
I enjoyed Sunshine a lot, especially the summer beach theme. It's not my favourite Mario game, but it'll hold a place in my heart...with the exception of all of this nonsense:

rnyoFge.jpg
 
Been playing this for the first time recently, I think the platforming is pretty bad (sand levels and no-FLUDD challenge levels) and the control inversion sucks, but it seems ok otherwise.
I enjoyed Sunshine a lot, especially the summer beach theme. It's not my favourite Mario game, but it'll hold a place in my heart...with the exception of all of this nonsense:

rnyoFge.jpg

Confirmed non canon
 
People hate Mario Sunshine?

Who hates Mario sunshine?

Yeah sometimes I don't really understand the generalisation here. Some people don't like SMS but it's clearly a few person on the Internet trying to be interesting.

If I would have to choose the worst Mario game it clearly wouldn't be this one and eve nby saying "opinions bla bla" there is no valid reason to say this game is shit or can be hated.

PS : not counting people hating all Mario games or all Nintendo games because "kiddy" or "same franchises" or "graphics" or whatever. These people are a lost cause.
 
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