Clean Up on Isle Delfino: Super Mario Sunshine Review

2002's Super Mario Sunshine defined our favorite Italian plumber's presence on the ever-missed Nintendo GameCube. His newest job: janitor for an entire island paradise. A wonderful and beautiful example of Nintendo Entertainment's Super Mario series, Sunshine is still hailed as one of the most fun Mario adventures.

Mario, Toadsworth, and Princess Peach all head to the beautiful Isle Deflino for a much needed vacation. It's been a while since the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom had a break, and the island seems to have plenty of fun and relaxation. Sound great? Too bad. A villainous doppelgänger of Mario has defaced the island's many beauties, and since he looks like you, you take the fall. Mario is released from prison and using a robotic water pump called the FLUDD, sets off to clean the whole of Delfino.

Sunshine was the second 3D Super Mario title, and the very first to be released on the GameCube. Gameplay throughout the game is just as smooth as more recent installments such as Super Mario Galaxy (2007). The third-person camera pan is easy to use and helps create many ways to approach a level. Your FLUDD acts as a water hose and a jetpack. With your hose setting activated, Mario can either run and spray water or plant his feet and aim more directly at certain targets. The jetpack allows Mario to reach new heights by blasting water down propelling him skywards. The dynamic of using water as a sort of ammunition is an interesting spin on Super Mario gameplay - thankfully, being on an island gives you several opportunities to refill.

Your objectives throughout the game center around cleaning up the volatile pollution spread across the island. "Shadow Mario" has plastered horrible graffiti in different towns and ports on Delfino. The goo and gunk spawns monsters and creepy crawlers that the FLUDD can dispatch, so long as you find the source. Combo moves even allow you combine jumps and sprays to blast water at different rates and radiuses, which are very fun and fulfilling.

The bad guys of Sunshine are a large piece of the game's personality. The array of enemies is just as diverse and entertaining as always. However, with all this goo spread across levels and environments, Mario has to deal with classic enemies such as "goombas" and "chain chomps," and new slimy enemies that come out of the graffiti. While these new gunk monster can easily be taken care of with your handy dandy FLUDD, the heritage baddies still need a good ol' stomp (though the water pump can sure as hell disorient them). This dynamic is interesting and prompts the player to approach how they handle these goofy Nintendo baddies. But who is Shadow Mario, and why does he want to frame you for all this pollution and graffiti?

The environments of Super Mario games have always been colorful and fun to look at, but Sunshine brought Nintendo to a new level of aesthetic design. Lights, colors, and shadows are all ahead of their time. Taking place on a tropical island, the sun and ocean act and look beautifully for a game made in the early 2000s. Trees exhibit a gorgeous green and the textures of structures and the various ecosystems are vibrant and alive.

Overall, Super Mario Sunshine is an absolute blast. The game is wildly fun and so pretty that it still rings impressive today. While the Mario sagas are not known for their narrative prowess, this installment entertains on all levels, including gameplay and story. If you ever happen over a slightly used GameCube, do not take this game for granted. Head over to your local classics store and find this game.