23 years ago, I sat down to play Super Mario Sunshine for the first time. I was utterly entranced by its tropical vibes, dancing Piantas, and Flash Liquidizer Ultra Dousing Device (FLUDD), otherwise known to me as water blaster. That game ruined me, left me broken and humbled to the point that I still have self esteem issues to this day. Was I really just that bad at playing video games? Maybe, but having finally beaten the game just recently, coincidentally right around the time of its 23rd anniversary, I can confidently say: Mario Sunshine is representative of a golden era of Nintendo platforming, and it's the game I most want to see remastered for the Switch 2.
There's a reliability, a consistency to first-party Nintendo games that I've come to depend on, particularly when it comes to its most beloved IP like Mario, Zelda, and Donkey Kong. This year's Donkey Kong Bananza is just the latest example of Nintendo's very distinct ingenuity, lagging behind competing software makers by generations in terms of visual fidelity but completely redefining 3D platforming conventions with a core mechanic that makes you think, 'why hasn't anyone done this before?'
But Nintendo games have generally gotten easier over the years. Using the Super Mario Bros. series as an example, Nintendo followed up Mario Sunshine with Mario Galaxy, a game that's both groundbreaking and demonstrably easier. From then on, with the exception of the 2D New Super Mario Bros. series to a degree, Mario games, although still largely great, have lacked the tactile satisfaction that comes from mastering a well-designed platformer's mechanics.
It's a me (Mario) thing
That's an important point I want to make: I don't agree with the argument that Nintendo games are easier these days simply due to technological advancements making gameplay systems more intuitive or comfortable; I believe it's by design. I think someone high up at Nintendo, seemingly at some point between Mario Sunshine and Mario Galaxy, said, 'maybe we need to chill a little bit.'
Don't get me wrong, there were times playing Super Mario Sunshine, both as a child and much later as an adult, when I wanted so badly just to quit. I distinctly remember having a friend over one night who had the misfortune of arriving while I was desperate to complete one of Sunshine's downright cruel spinning block platform levels (IYKYK), and in my rage at falling to my death yet again, bulging forehead veins framing exhausted, despondent eyes, I think I slightly frightened him. Super Mario Sunshine is an incredibly hard game, sometimes astoundingly so.
Mario Sunshine's difficulty is most pronounced when you're detached from your water blaster, which lends some level of forgiveness to the platforming by allowing you to hover in the air for a few moments. But even with the FLUDD attached, levels are stacked with slippery verticality, covered in health-draining slime, and scattered with powerful enemies and physics-based challenges like, and I shudder to think about it, pushing a giant watermelon around a map that explodes any time it touches an enemy. Beating it truly requires a mastery of Mario's abilities, including wall kicks, side jumps, water slides, rope jumps, and ground pounds.
It's not all sunshine and rainbows
Still, quitting would've meant surrendering to a challenge, and a fair one! Mario Sunshine is never unfair or mechanically unsound to a point where I could've attributed my failure to its own shortcomings. If I hadn't beaten Mario Sunshine, it would've been for my own lack of trying, and that's why I was so determined to finish what I started more than two decades ago.
And boy, was I glad I did. I'm not sure I've ever felt a purer, more powerful sense of catharsis than I did the moment credits rolled in Mario Sunshine. I thought of 12-year-old me, silver WaveBird controller tumbling from my limp left hand, disheartened by chronic defeat and unknowingly putting down the game for what would become more than two decades. Beating this game closed a chapter of my life I didn't know was still open. Beating it meant not giving up. Not then, not now, not ever.
OK, maybe it's not that deep. But reflecting on this generational win, I'm eager to revisit many more GameCube-era Nintendo games that I may or may not have finished. Remember Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door? Metroid Prime 2? Wario World? Sonic Heroes? Modern remakes and remasters make some of those more accessible and approachable than others, and indeed, Mario Sunshine's inclusion on the Super Mario 3D All-Stars collection - which is ironically incredibly tough to come by these days - facilitated my redemption arc 23 years in the making. But a full-blown Switch 2 remaster or remake could teach a whole new generation a lesson in humility and perseverance.
Sure, Mario Odyssey and Mario Wonder are great, but I yearn for the days of first-party Nintendo games that didn't hold back, that drove you mad with intention, and that challenged you to finish what you started - even if it's 23 years later.
