I may be 20 years late to the party but I have finally experienced Super Mario Sunshine by 100% completing it. That also means I have now played every single 3D Mario platformer… for home consoles, I’ll get to you yet 3D Land! So, given I already have experience with almost every other Mario outing, and seeing as how I was already aware to some degree of this game’s highs and lows, what did I think of it?

Super Mario Sunshine is GREAT… but slightly unrefined, let’s start off with the GREAT though. Isle Delfino is to this day, the best hub world in any Mario game (come at me Peach’s castle fans). The world is so big and there are so many secrets to discover. Also, the way you can see the levels in the distance is *french kiss* really providing the game with a sense of world building and connectivity which is lacking in other Mario games. This is also due to the levels themselves, which are also fantastic. It’s quality over quantity as there a fewer levels here than any other Mario game I know of, but with that comes much bigger locations to explore and much more to do in every level (with maybe the exception of Odyssey, which did come out 15 years afterwards to be fair).

The objective of the game is to collect Shine Sprites (acting the same as stars a la 64 and Galaxy). Mario is assisted by FLUDD to do this, who enhances Mario’s move set massively. My favourite part about FLUDD is the ability to hover for a small time, which makes platforming much more accurate and is a great tool for recovery. You’ll also use FLUDD to spray… everything; enemies, doors to new levels, secrets for hidden collectible, it’s a very unique mechanic, but one that adds greatly to the overall charm of the game.

Super Mario Sunshine is also the only Mario game to stick to one theme for it’s location, that being of a tropical nature. Whilst this does limit the level designs from being as varied as other Mario games, it does lead to many unique and memorable locals, such as a theme park, hotel, harbour, the list goes on.

Now, for the unrefined part. As many reading are probably well aware there are some notoriously difficult shines to get. Honestly, whilst this is true, as long as you have plenty of lives and are patient, I don’t think there is any one shine that is COMPLETELY unfair, although they do come close. Plus, most of these Shines are only mandatory for 100% completion. The 2 biggest issues I personally had with the game were Yoshi and Blue Coins. 

I did not find Yoshi fun in this game. Any Shine that required Yoshi made me sigh. He’s tedious to access and frustrating to maintain as water kills him instantly (and as you have probably figured out by now, there is a lot of water in this game). It feels like the developers felt the need to place obstacles so that having Yoshi would not make the game too easy, but sadly, this also removed a lot of the fun in my opinion. 

Now for the Blue Coins. There are 120 Shines in this game. 24 of those Shines are purchased using Blue Coins. Each Shine costs 10 Blue Coins meaning there are 240 blue coins in the game. Many are easy to find, but some… are a nightmare. Each level usually has 30 Blue Coins, some blue coins are accessible  in every mission, some are only accessible in a few missions, and some are only accessible in one specific mission. The game does not help you with any of this, only showing you how many blue coins you have collected from a level. This makes it incredibly frustrating to complete the game. 

Super Mario Sunshine is a masterpiece of a game that was unfortunately covered in a few frustrating design choices. Thankfully, most of these design choices only affect a 100% walkthrough of the game. If you are a fan of Mario, or platformers in general, this game is a must play. I would recommend simply beating the game, but for those who are looking to complete the game, I would highly recommend using a guide to at least get a general idea of blue coin locations in relation to specific missions. If you choose to complete this game without a guide… you are walking a fine line between bravery and insanity!