Why Super Mario Sunshine Still Shines on Its 20th Anniversary
The GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox are now generally considered retro systems. That means each console’s star games are becoming older, leading to many important anniversaries in the near future. Although the GameCube was lambasted two decades ago for being unwilling to engage in the “mature” tone adopted by the PlayStation 2 and Xbox, it was also beloved then and now for its library. One big name in the industry took a strange direction that might have alienated some older fans at the time, but created an army of new ones: Super Mario Sunshine.
Plenty of Nintendo franchises experimented on the GameCube. Metroid went first person, Star Fox decided to emulate Zelda-style adventure mechanics, and Zelda itself embraced cartoonish visuals. Pokemon had antihero protagonists in Colosseum, whereas Mario Kart promoted teamwork with Double Dash. This is what makes the GameCube stand out, and Super Mario Sunshine was the console’s mainline Mario installment, which put it under a lot of pressure. The public got a taste of what Sunshine has to offer 20 years ago today, and throughout the years it has attracted some controversy, but has ultimately proven to be an example of the GameCube's willingness to stir the pot.
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Super Mario Sunshine was not the franchise’s debut on the GameCube, as a year beforehand Nintendo's cult-classic Luigi’s Mansion was the unimposing game that would hint at Sunshine’s new approach to the Mario universe. Super Mario Sunshine’s premise and aesthetics are unique to this day; few attempts to revisit its new characters and set pieces have been attempted outside direct references to the game. Instead of letting Mario’s acrobatics do most of the platforming, the game integrates
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