Defending Super Mario Sunshine

When Super Mario Sunshine was displayed at E3, a lot of journalists and forum users we absolutely outraged at the graphics of Super Mario Sunshine, which I find to be absurd and one of the easiest of examples of just how terrible mainstream gaming journalism is.

To think, that the first thing they focused on was graphics isn’t too preposterous, but it’s definitely sad. As it turned out, Super Mario Sunshine did look similar graphically to Super Mario 64, but the graphic quality was turned down to enable Sunshine to have an impressive draw distance. It was such an intelligent decision by Nintendo and it’s really made the game seem pretty timeless to me.

I feel as if the initial reaction to Super Mario Sunshine at E3 really set the stage for how everyone was going to treat the game from that moment forward. Reviews came and went, and for the most part Super Mario Sunshine was something that everyone seemed to want to try and forget.

It’s bizarre, because Super Mario Sunshine was an absolute blast to me. It had stunningly beautiful colors, and it’s levels and worlds were creative and fully realized. The biggest addition to the game was of course FLUDD, the water pack that had different settings for attacking enemies, rocketing on water, or using after a double jump to reach those high places. The water pack was a permanent power-up for Mario and was much more thought out than the awkward flying Bee suit in Super Mario Galaxy.

I enjoyed Super Mario Galaxy tremendously, but I’d really have to say that my favorite 3D Mario game is Super Mario Sunshine. Not because I’m trying to be an ass, and say that it rocks because everyone else says it sucks, but because I legitimately believe that the team responsible for Sunshine was following their gut and it definitely shows.

Alas, maybe someday, Nintendo will re-release it and perhaps people and journalists may appreciate just how awesome the game really is.