Mario Shines Through In Super Mario Sunshine!

ESRB rating E (comic mischief)
1 player
uses 7 memory card blocks

With the popularity of Super Mario 64, the next great Mario adventure has a high standard to measure up to. Fortunately, Super Mario Sunshine easily matches up to its predecessor.

STORY: Mario, Princess Peach, Toadsworth, and several toads are on vacation, heading by plane to Isle Delfino, a tropical resort. Upon landing at the airstrip, the plane nearly collides with a big pile of sludge. It is here that Mario is told to clean up "his mess" and obtains his water pump. Once he clears away the sludge, he gets his first "shine sprite." These collectibles allow Mario to access new areas. After he obtains the shine sprite, Mario is arrested and blamed for causing pollution problems all over the island. It is obvious that Mario has been framed, but he no choice but to comply when the court orders him to clean the entire island. Thus, the adventure begins. By gathering the shine sprites, Mario can gain access to new regions of the island, and get closer to finding out who his impostor, called "Shadow Mario," really is.

GAMEPLAY: While there are many maneuvers in the game, they are easy to learn. Many moves from Super Mario 64, such as the wall jump, slide, and ground--pound, make a return appearance in Super Mario Sunshine. A major new feature in Super Mario Sunshine is Mario's new water pump, which opens the door for all new ways to play. With his pump's different nozzles, Mario can spray water to attack enemies and clean messes, hover in the air for a short amount of time, blast off like a rocket high into the air, and move at high speed across land and water. However, you can't use all the water pump's nozzles whenever you like. The only ones you have access to all the time are the normal nozzle and the hover nozzle. With the wide variety of moves available, there are nearly endless ways to explore and solve the many puzzles of the game. The chance to ride Yoshi is another great addition to the game. To ride Yoshi, Mario must find a Yoshi egg, and then give it the fruit that it wants, which will hatch the egg. Yoshi can be one of three colors (orange, purple or pink), and can change color depending on what fruit he eats. Much like the water pump, Yoshi can spray juice, and also has a "juice meter" which will slowly deplete over time (and when you spray juice). If it runs out, Yoshi will disappear and return to his egg. Yoshi's juice has an interesting effect on enemies: when hit, they will turn into platforms that you can jump on. The platforms can move vertically, horizontally, or not at all. How they move is determined by what color Yoshi is.

GRAPHICS: The bright, cheery Mario style looks are matched with great water effects and beautiful snapshot-like views of the sky and the ocean.

Super Mario Sunshine is an incredibly fun game. During his adventure, Mario will travel from the bottom of the sea to the highest mountains. To reach the end of the game, it is not necessary to get all 120 shine sprites, but collecting them all is a challenge to even the best game players.