A Mario game graces itself to the Gamecube (Import review)

When the Nintendo 64 debuted around the world people were amazed by Mario 64. The revolutionary 3D gameplay, the amazing graphics, the riveting story (joke!). Mario 64 changed the face of 3D platfomers ever since. However, no sequels or any other Mario games came to the N64. When the Gamecube came out people were surprised to see Luigi instead of Mario starring in his own launch game. Almost one year after the Gamecube's debut a Mario game arrives. Has it been worth the wait? Yes. Is it time to get a Gamecube? Yes. Is it worth the import? Unless you can get one really cheap no.

A Home Away from Home
Unlike all the other Mario games (in case you didn't know Super Mario 2 for the NES was actually ripped off from another game) Super Mario Sunshine takes place outside of the Mushroom Kingdom. This brought mixed feelings at first gone are the goomba and koopa stomping adventures (for some reason piranha plants remain) of the traditional Mario games. Mario's adventure takes place on Dolphin Island where people believe Mario has polluted the island. After Mario is arrested (GASP!) Righteous Mario out to clean up his name decides to clean up the island with his water filled spraying backpack. Also unlike Mario 64, Mario is in a real living city even down to the inhabitants there. The gameplay is similar to Mario 64 instead of finding stars there are sun like objects called shines to collect. There are 120 total shines and each one lights up the world, therefore expanding it. Mario must venture out to all areas of the world clean up the mess and find out who's causing all this trouble.

Mario has mad skills
Mario's skills remain pretty much intact from Mario 64. If you've played Mario 64 you'll jump right into this game doing a back flip or two. Mario retains his slide, butt stomp, back flip and gymnastic feats, but some how he forgot how to kick and punch. Instead you primarily attack with the water cannon, which is given to you by Professor Elvin Gadd from Luigi's Mansion. A couple blasts of the high-powered jet stream and the enemies are toast. A spray or two on a wall will eliminate the graffiti or sludge. The water cannon also doubles as a jet pack allowing Mario to soar to new heights. However, the water is limited after you use it up you just have to jump into a nearby stream or river to refill it. This eventually becomes a gameplay mechanic where water supply becomes scarce. A player is forced to seek some H2O to continue the adventure. Swimming has become more important than ever, each level has an area to swim in. Sometimes to collect a shine or to move to the next part of the level. Remember the water levels of Mario 64? It's very similar to that style of swimming where you press B to dive deeper in the blue yonder.

It’s a me Yoshi!
Fans of the dinosaur rejoice finally Mario is going to ride Yoshi again! After collecting a few eggs Yoshi is yours to ride and the control of him is a cross between Epona (Zelda 64: Ocarina of Time) and Yoshi (Super Mario World). Yoshi can help you travel to further places faster and higher since you can do jumps off his back. Yoshi also comes complete with a spitting attack.

Puzzle me challenged!
Mario games normally come under the criticism of being way too easy and for the kiddies. Mario sure grew up after Mario 64 since some of the puzzles are quite challenging. For example Mario (just like in Mario 64) needs to collect 8 red coins to get a shine. To do this in one level you need to you have to jet pack all the way to the top of the hut to get the last coin. The problem is the timing of the jump is difficult to get, if you don't jump far enough you run out of water and have to start all over again. Here's another example. Remember the Wigglers from Super Mario World? There is a sleeping wiggler that you need to wake up and you have to maneuver a series of mirrors so light hits them on each other to hit the giant wiggler in the eyes. Another problem is a mass of tiny wigglers and you have limited water in the water gun to blast them with. Hmmm... there is challenge here so the big kids may want to give Mario a go.

Dolphin Island looks jaw dropping
Well it does! The visual style is awesome. Mario's world comes alive with amazing water reflection and rippling effects to the vast large city that Mario runs around in. Even details like islanders running about on their daily lives gives the game the feeling of a city. Yoshi looks better than ever (hey he’s moved out of the 2nd dimension!) he has a cartoony feel to him like I imagined him to be. When Mario is tightrope walking over a chasm you can see the depth below. There is detail done right down to the moss on the rocks. One of my favorite graphics is a wanted poster of Mario that looks like it was drawn with crayon. It spills creativity in the designers part to make the world feel like a world. Overall the graphics are outstanding.

Hear Mario scream in Dolby Pro Logic!
Super Mario Sunshine even comes equipped with Dolby Pro Logic II sound built into it. I don't have a receiver, just standard TV speakers so I can't tell you how it sounds with it, but I am impressed that it included it. On the standard TV Mario comes alive. There is some voice acting with Peach, Toad and Mario (all speaking Japanese of course.. in the Japanese version) in the opening scene. I think the voice acting is well done, but we'll see how that changes in the US release. The music is Mario fare, remember the song from the original Super Mario Brothers? It's not the simple beeps and bops, but it pulls you in just like the original song. The music doesn't have as much of a Caribbean feel as I imagined it would so don't expect that. The sound effects are top notch. There are crystal clear sounds of water streaming, waterfalls and water coming out of the backpack (feel like going to the bathroom yet?). You really do feel like you're on an island.

Overall
Super Mario Sunshine is an awesome game! The game even has increased replay value if you're the type of person who wants to collect all the shines and red coins. If you liked Mario 64 (and who didn't?) you'll love this. Everyone that owns a Gamecube should buy this and those that don't own one may consider purchasing one after seeing this game. Is it worth the import? No (unless you can get import games really cheap!). Here's why the game is all in Japanese so unless you can read Japanese you're going to be stuck really quickly. It's a pain to modify your Gamecube, so if it isn't modified then you'll have to wait for the import boot disc that’s supposed to come out in the next few months. Also the game is going to be out stateside on August 26th. So go to the store and pre order this masterpiece now!