Super Mario Sunshine (GameCube)

A little while ago my sons mate Ian lent us his GameCube and I fell in love.... ........with a short dumpy Italian with a strange moustache! But he belongs to another, some daft girlie looking Princess called Peach, that always seems to get in trouble by being constantly kidnapped! I don't know exactly what is going on between these two but I am jealous :oP I spent ages with Mario, much more than she does! Finding coins, squirting baddies with water, cleaning up the places we go to and even rescuing her but do I get a thank you off this strange little bloke? You bet I don't! Not so much as a ... more

When I chose my Nintendo Game Cube, one of the key drivers for me was the fact that certain games and characters are exclusive to the Nintendo franchise. Two of my favourite games ever were Donkey Kong Country on the SNES and Super Mario on the N64. It therefore seemed logical to get me a Game Cube, as this was the only way I would get to play any new DK or Mario games when released. Super Mario Sunshine was released in the autumn of 2002, and was heralded as the greatest Mario game yet. Following the phenomenally successful Luigi's Mansion, Super Mario Sunshine was the first platform ... more

It has been six years since a fully new Mario game. Since the revolutionary Mario 64 the plumber has appeared in Super Smash Brothers, Mario Party and Paper Mario to name a few titles but he hasn’t had a proper outing since the N64 was launched. So it is fair to assume that Super Mario Sunshine is under a lot of pressure to deliver a good game. It is, after all, a Mario game and it’s the game that Nintendo hope will boost sales of the GameCube. A lot has happened since Mario 64 as 3D platformers are now all over the place but Mario 64 remains the benchmark and this leaves Sunshine with a lot ... more

When Super Mario was released on the N64 six long years ago it was instantly proclaimed a classic by everyone. The transition from 2D to 3D platformer had been flawlessly implemented: now you could guide the illustrious Italian plumber through dozens of stunning 3-dimensional worlds, doing wall-jump after wall-jump and completing countless puzzles. As time passed numerous developers tried to replicate the winning formula and, while most failed miserably, some succeeded, such as Rare with Banjo-Kazooie and its follow-up. But after the demise of the N64 many began to wonder if we would ever see ... more

When I first saw mario with a waterpak on his back I was thinking the same thing every one else was probably thinking "Luigis Mansion 2". But truth be told the game plays nothing like LM, it is infact much MUCH better. I, like many others, was turned off by the screenshots which displayed questionable character models with low poly counts. But when this game is in motion, there is no denying that it looks astounding! The effects are dazzling and the scope and size of the draw distance, the bright colors, and above average textures combine quite well to make this game a feast for the eyes. In ... more