This is a big contrast with SM64 and Oddyssey for me, as a lot of those courses of those games are stuck in my brain forever, as they have their own distinct atmosphere. Because of the overuse of bright and oversaturated colours and the little diversity in musical style, most of the courses blend into eachother. I realize that this is a controversial one, but in my eyes the tropical theme hurts the visual variety of the game. This means you cannot skip some of the terrible shines mentioned in the previous bullet point.
Super Mario Sunshine drops this and you have to play the shines in order to beat the game. In Super Mario 64 you could get most stars of the different courses in a random order, which made it possible to skip stars you did not like. Not the worst aspect of the game, but it impacts replayability. Not being able to get the shines in a random order. A very big stain on the game, made even worse by my next point. To name a few: the infamous pinball stage, the Sirena Beach Yoshi level, the watermelon shine sprite, the sandbird stage, the lilly-pad ride, the underground mushroom platform stage in one of the later courses, the Yoshi boat shine in the hub world … All Mario games have their fair share of average levels, but Super Mario Sunshine stands out in a negative game. There are some atrocious shines in this game.
Super Mario 64 had a lot of repetition as well, but it is much more noticeable in the 5-year newer Sunshine. Other examples of this are the constant cleaning of goop, the Shadow Mario encounters, the overuse of red coin missions and rehash of other bosses. Sunshine is covered with repeating tasks like this. Seriously? It is okay to reuse assets, but there is nothing fun about this specific bossfight, feels rushed and lazy. My problem with this boss is: you fight it again to unlock Bianco Hills, you encounter it again to get the first shine in Bianco Hills, you will have to beat it again to unlock Ricco Harbor and the same boss appears when unlocking Gelato Beach. This boss is nothing interesting, but a descent tutorial to understand the basic FLUDD mechanics. In the opening of the game, you fight a big Piranha Plant covered in goop ( this one to be exact). You do not play Mario games for the story, but it should not be as cringy as this. I do appreciate that Nintendo took a chance here to do something else than the traditional damsel in distress story, but all the story sequences feel tagged on. This scene is so low-effort, it surprises me to this day that it made the final build of the game. The cut scenes are incredibly awkward, with the beginning court scene being the absolute low point. What was Nintendo thinking here ? The story itself is not even that bad, but the execution is mindboggling to me. Now, to proof my point, these are my biggest gripes with the game: For me it has no place among the giants like SM64, Galaxy and Odyssey. The game was rushed, as Nintendo wanted to hit back on the failing gamecube sales and it clearly shows. And for some ridiculous reason it frustrates me that people think it is a fantastic game. It pains me to see that such an average main Mario game exists.
Replaying it on the newly released Super Mario 3D All Stars only reinstates my feelings on the game. To me, it was a big step down from the epicness that was Super Mario 64. My disappointment with this game dates back from my first playthrough in 2003 on the gamecube. If this wasn’t a Mario game, it would have totally slipped through the cracks of history. In my (very irrational) opinion: These sentiments are completely clouded in nostalgia. But the last few years I have seen a general change in opinion about the game, there are even some people stating it as a 'unsung masterpiece" and ‘how it perfected the Mario 64 formula’. Super Mario Sunshine has long been seen as the black sheep in the 3D Mario family.
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