Random: Pixel Artist Reimagines Super Mario Sunshine As A GBA Release

That text would be really hard to see on the GBA but they did a great Job

Looks cool, but you misspelled “arguably one of the worst 3D Mario games”

@gaga64 : Considering that there are only eight 3D Mario games (that I can recall; ports and remakes not included), and that they are all almost universally acclaimed, I guess one could make a case as to which one is the worst (or if you're a glass half-full kinda guy, the least best), but "worst 3D Mario games"? As in plural?

We're talking about Mario here, not Sonic the bloody Hedgehog. Even the "worst" 3D Mario game would wipe the floor with the majority of the 3D platforming genre.

@gaga64
Personally is third place for me. Behind the galaxy games.
I know this probably belongs in the unpopular opinions thread but most Mario games are kinda overrated.

The GBA did have a lot of these pseudo-3D platformers huh. There was a Rayman one, a Banjo one, a Spyro one... They always felt a little "off" somehow.

@gaga64 For me Sunshine was the best Mario until Odyssey came out. I don't care that much about glitches and stuff of that nature. For me they're funny sometimes, especially when I fell through a level once (Pinata Village) and ended up underneath it in some black place I could run around in

@gaga64 How dare you speak ill of the 8th best 3D Mario game!

How many are there? Eight?

@EarthboundBenjy I think it was the disconnect between the d-pad oriented cardinally, and the games on a 45* axis for 3d effect. Just my guess though. Still GBA games are pretty damn impressive.

@blindsquarel same here on your top 3. I actually hated sunshine the first two times I tried to play it - finally got into it last year with the all-stars re-release and (i think mainly because they fixed the camera controls) absolutely loved it. My list would be:

1). Galaxy 2
2). Galaxy
3). Sunshine
4). 3D Land
5). Bowser's Fury
6). 3D World
7). Odyssey
8). 64

That being said, to me even the worst game (64) is still an 8/10

@gaga64 I enjoy this game more than galaxy but hey, to each their own.

Reminds me of the Spyro: Season of Ice/Flame which were kind of like Spyro games on Playstation, but isometric.

Sunshine's gameplay with an isometric view and the GBA's controls sounds rather awkward, but that screenshot is well-made. The funny thing is that Nintendo had already made something of a 2D Sunshine almost two decades before Sunshine itself: Donkey Kong 3. They both blend shooting and platforming action, and in Sunshine some boss fights are fought against one principal enemy while also using water against smaller enemies, not unlike how in DK3 the player has to fight against DK while also shooting or avoiding smaller enemies. Seriously, obvious technological difference aside, DK3 is something of a very primitive take on the concept.

@gaga64 Sunshine is a good game. Maybe it could be considered inferior compared to other 3D Mario games, but by itself, I think it is objectively a good game.

Beautiful artwork. Love that style.

@gaga64 You should respect people's opinions when they lie to themselves about Sunshine being good.

@Stubborn_Monkey @Joriss @BobLong-RickTangle @Clyde_Radcliffe @blindsquarel @Rhaoulos I never said it was a bad game! Just that it’s ARGUABLY the weakest of the 3D Marios. Personally I’d argue it’s the weakest (and it’s not a completely unpopular opinion, this site ranks it 6th out of 7 on user votes) but as @Silly_G said: “Even the "worst" 3D Mario game would wipe the floor with the majority of the 3D platforming genre.”

Pros: great theme, awesome music, and FLUDD seriously changes up the gameplay.

Cons: too few levels, leading to much padding (LOTS of repeated missions), everything to do with blue coins, some overly frustrating missions.

Still a good game overall. But I think more people would rank it as “weakest 3D Mario” than “best 3D Mario”.

@gaga64 Unless they were between 8-14 when it came out.

For me, it's the worst 3D Mario, but I think this site has a lot of people who grew up on GameCube. It needed another year in the oven IMO.

Super Mario: Bustin' out

@Clyde_Radcliffe I had a glitch were Mario had no head.

@TotalHenshin That would explain the amount of people defending Sunshine here. It's like people who didn't have a Nintendo console when they were kids tend to love Sonic or Crash Bandicoot because they didn't know anything else.

I love the game myself, but let's be real here: of the mainline 3D Mario games, it is easily the worst of the bunch. Between glitches, awkward controls in some areas, having to fill up FLUDD every so often, and a punishing difficulty for some levels (that pachinko level, anyone?), it doesn't hold a candle to Super Mario 64, Galaxy, Galaxy 2, 3D Land, 3D World, and Odyssey.

It is rightly considered the black sheep of 3D Mario games for it's unpolished nature. Again, I love the game myself, and have a lot of fond memories of it, but even I know it is by no means one of the best Mario games. It's the same thing with the 1993 Mario movie: I know it's one of the worst movies of all time, but I still love it. It's called a guilty pleasure for a reason.

@TotalHenshin @Rhaoulos I first played Sunshine back in 2003; by that time I had already played Rayman 2, Banjo-Kazooie, and Donkey Kong 64, so I had some knowledge of 3D platformers. What I mean is that even then I knew to distinguish a good game from a bad one. Sunshine's not my favourite 3D Mario (that's Galaxy 1), but it has some good moments: the Blooper fight in the harbour, trying to bathe the enraged Chain Chomp, cleaning the teeth of a giant eel (that one is hilarious), King Boo's boss fight... it's a flawed game, but I can say that I actually had fun playing it.

@willgord : I freaking love The Sims : Bustin’ Out (GBA). It’s almost shocking to think that it’s already 18 years old!

'arguably...', and people start to argue that every opinion different from 'theirs' or the 'democratic' average is inarguable. Got to love that idea that everything needs to be political, and politically correct, or its speaker shamed and silenced. Oh well, I'll just assume that when talking about a videogame this innocent, at least nobody will get killed over it.

So here's my take: I love sunshine. I'm considering to go walk in it, away from all the noise, and just read a bit sitting in it while one of 'my' dogs is playing. Or I'll stay home, in the forest, and move to stay in direct sunshine.
As for the Mario game with that name: I love it as well. Great memories, but I won't deny the camera is awful at times and has always been frustrating, especially in that one level, where you have to climb fences behind one of the attractions in the park. If you played it, you too might still have to fight the urge of throwing a Gamecube controller around just thinking about it. I thought I might have exaggerated it in my memory, but replaying it on Switch reminded me that I didn't. Still love the game overall though.

Sunshine is 1st place in the series in terms of vibes, that's for sure.

@Clyde_Radcliffe hey that happened to me too! I got video of it on my switch.

@EarthboundBenjy Diagonal movement never felt reliable with D-pad

@BobLong-RickTangle
Yeah I mostly agree with your list. But to be fair, by overrated I don’t mean bad, I just mean they are good but not some of the greatest games ever like they are hyped up to be. Only the galaxy games reach that for me. The only one I think is bad is 64.

@gaga64
That’s fair and I can see why people don’t like the game. I mean by my third favorite 3D Mario, I only mean an 8/10 or somewhere around that.

This has real Spyro GBA vibes, big fan.

@gaga64

@Silly_G
I would agree with you if we didnt live in a world with Mario 3D World. That game was mediocre at best, but in the Mario curve it was abysmal trash.

I genuinely couldn't bring myself to finish that garbage.

It’s funny how quickly this turned into which 3D Mario game is best comment section. The answer is SM64 of course, but I’m old so that’s why I believe that.

@blindsquarel yeah that is totally fair. The only reason I still rate 64 fairly highly is due to its history of setting the foundations of what was to come etc. and because I am old enough to have played it when it first released. If that game released in 2022, I'm sure most would agree that it's basically unplayable.

Oh dear what happened to this comment section?
Getting back on topic though I absolutely LOVED sunshine when I was little though I never beat it. Thankfully with the 3D all stars release I might be able to finish it.
I also remember getting the gameboy version of games because of portable reasons even though some of them where seemingly inferior to the home console version like BFBB.

Little me loved Sunshine on the Gamecube.
Was it really full of glitches?
Oh well. Call me when it gets a HD remake.

@Rhaoulos But see that's where you have to be wary of forgetting you also have preferences. Genesis was my main console after the NES days and I played the Sonics as a kid, but I don't like them now. I played the Crash games SOME as well and loved the HD remakes they recently did, probably more than I enjoyed it as a kid. There's probably some games you liked as a kid that quite a few wouldn't enjoy now.

@Stubborn_Monkey To be clear, I don't think it's a bad game, I just think it could have reached the levels of most of the rest with another year to polish kinks, create a couple more varied levels, and be less dependent on blue coins to elongate play length.

"Super Mario Sunshine is arguably one of the best 3D Mario games ever released"

Who argues this?

@Stubborn_Monkey like others said in the comments, any Mario is vastly superior to other platforms. But if you played Mario 64 as a kid, you can't possibly see sunshine as a good Mario game. Is not a bad game, just one of the worse 3D Mario. And you can only see it as "one of the best" of you are blinded by nostalgia if it was you first Mario game.

i would prefer to see a real demo of new super mario bros. DS resolution hurts my eyes. I'm sure it would be an upgrade on IPSv2

@Bluerangervegeta : Different strokes, I guess. I really enjoyed it (and 3D Land before it) even though they're quite safe by 3D Mario standards. I thought the New Super Mario Bros. games were more problematic as they were so unambitious and increasingly derivative with each successive instalment (though I've finished and enjoyed them, warts and all).