Best Mario Ever

INTRO

Mario is one of the most recognizable characters in video gaming, and he earned his popularity by starring in a ton of brilliant games, when the NES reigned as King. In his Debut for the Nintendo Gamecube, Mario will be giving gamers what they expect from him -- colorful cutesy graphics and the great game play that has made Mario Games the best platformers around!

THE GAME

Mario has got to be at least about 45 years old now and Just like the rest of us, he needs rest and relaxation too!! Mario has worked so hard over the Years! So Mario and his sweetheart Princess Peach set off, for a wonderful tropical island that has year round sunshine! Sounds like bliss! but when they get there they discover that all is not well on the island, and Mario’s knows that he won't be able to enjoy his holiday in peace!

A Mario look-a-like has attacked the island and covered everything in graffiti! The locals of the island do not like Mario so he sets out to clear his reputation and to clean the island on his greatest adventure yet!

If you thought Mario 64 was a work of pure genius, Super Mario Sunshine will completely blow your socks off! The Mario 64 cartridge was just 8meg in size! Super Mario Sunshine is almost 1500meg! And boy can you tell. Armed with your trusty FLUDD device (basically a water gun) you go about the island cleaning up all the mess that has been made. Not only is FLUDD for cleaning, its for rocketing, hovering, and turbo boosting! One thing you have to do is collect stars! All in all there are 120 stars to collect, which will take you an age. All levels can be revisited at a later stage too, which is a great feature! All of your old favorites are here too! You get to meet up with Yoshi, Toad and Princess, on some levels you even get to rise on Yoshi! The levels are wonderfully designed and are extremely big! You will want to explore and interact with everything that you see!

GRAPHICS

The Graphics are just absolutely lush! Some of the best i have ever seen! They are extremely crisp and very colorful! The real-time lighting effects are just truly breath taking! There are stunning reflections that bathe the island in sunshine. On some levels you can even see heat haze, which looks really cool! The water has to be the best part of the graphics! It looks simply stunning! It looks so clean and crisp, you want to reach out and touch it! Unlike a few games on the Gamecube, Mario Sunshine really uses the Gamecubes graphics capabilities to there full extent!

Though I have found that the Camera angles can sometimes make the game a little awkward to play. Like for instance when you have to time jumps to other platforms, the camera will choose the weirdest position and you won't be able to see what you are doing, I also felt this was a problem in Mario 64, and it is a little shame that Nintendo didn't really iron any camera problems out, though on a game as wonderful as this you tend to forget all about it!

THE SOUND

The sound is awesome! You'll be humming the tunes from the game for weeks and weeks. There are new songs and some remixes of some old Mario Classics! The sound is nice, clean and crisp, and it really adds a tropical feel to the game.

THE CONTROLS

Super Mario Sunshine is a very easy game to pick up and play! You'll find that your fingers will easily adjust to the buttons on the Gamecube controller, making the game very enjoyable and fun to play! You get to perform a variety of move including a number of different jumps, bounce off walls, run, slide, climb, and fly to the highest reaches. You get much more mobility than ever before, which means you get to explore everywhere!

OVERALL

Mario Sunshine is definitely a must on game foe anyone who owns a Gamecube! Nintendo is all about Mario and producing great games, and this Mario is a truly great game! Shigeru Miyamoto is a game designing genius!


Graphics: 9
Gameplay: 10
Sound: 9
Control: 10
Replay Value: 9