Pandora's Box: The Ultimate GameCube Tier List

#4: Super Mario Sunshine

Rating: E

Players: 1

Price Range: ~$40 USD

A 3D collect-a-thon platformer.

Yes, Super Mario Sunshine is the first game of the illustrious S Tier.

However, to some, this will seem like a controversial placement, as Sunshine is without a doubt the most divisive entry in the whole series. Sure, people may debate on whether Mario Party 2, 3, 6, or Jamboree are the best game in that subseries, or the small minority who like the N64 Paper Mario or even Super Paper Mario over Thousand-Year Door, but even today, people don't know where to stand on Sunshine. It's one of those games where you either love it or you hate it, and there's no in-between. However, given that it is this high, you would be right in assuming that I'm of the former.

Why? Well...this...was my Odyssey, a Mario game so experimental and plays like no other game or even Mario game to the point that it is quite special and unique amongst the series.

While, yes, I grew up with this game, I can't deny just how much of an example it is of some shining old school Nintendo magic, and one truly iconic experience from this system. This is easily one of the best 3D Mario games I've ever played.

Now, this may be a bit difficult to believe, especially with the other 3D Mario games. Super Mario 64 is iconic and set the groundwork for the 3D collect-a-thon and the establishing of the sandbox formula in the series, the Galaxy games are praised for their scope, music, and gameplay, 3D Land was a...good first attempt at more directly translating the linear course clear structure in 3D, 3D World is the most refined version of that, and Odyssey was praised for its creativity and open-ended gameplay. While the most direct comparison of Sunshine is to 64, I don't think these other games have some of the highs of Sunshine. We'll discuss 64 when talking about improvements and inevitable problems, but for the other games, there's a lot to say as to why they fall a bit short in my opinion.

I...actually don't like the Galaxy games as much as I used to, especially the first game. The first Super Mario Galaxy...is bad, straight up. I could go on and on as to my gripes, but I'll try to get right to the point. Perhaps my biggest issue with the game is that it fails at being both a 3D collect-a-thon, and a linear course clear game like the 2D titles. It fails at being a 3D collect-a-thon because you are always railroaded in the stages and you either have no substantial choices or no choice at all, and it fails at being a linear course clear Mario game because of the nature in which you traverse the stages along with their design.

Let's look at the first point. Unlike 64 or Odyssey, where you choose which collectables to get in a given stage, you are always set onto a singular path, with no deviations whatsoever. Your only freedom of choice comes from the fact that to beat the game, you can choose which Power Stars to avoid and if you want to collect any hidden ones, but that's it. Overall, it's just too linear in order to have any agency whatsoever. Even when you are given choices, like hidden rooms and such, they have nothing of worth in any way. In Bubble Breeze Galaxy is one such sad example of this. It's simple, you get into a bubble and have to use the Wii Remote pointer to push Mario through an obstacle course where bursting causes you to die in the swamp below. Now, the issue here is that at the end, there is an area beyond the Power Star that is filled with coins. Unlike Galaxy 2, where your coins collected is a currency in addition to star bits, here, they are not and are instead relegated to this terrible high score system. Why the hell would you waste your time to these types of secrets, especially this one, if you could die or gain nothing? There is no point.