Super Mario Sunshine (GC)

Oh what a joy. I've just pushed this little disk in my Wii and shoved in a gamecube controller. I'm old enough to know better! Awesome. My PS3 sits at the side of the room in utter dispair. It wants me, but my attention is elsewhere. It howls.. I'm in total awe of the ability of such a simple game to catch the attention of a dedicated gamer. If you have children, you must buy this. If you don't have children...oh do I have to go ...

It has been six years since a fully new Mario game. Since the revolutionary Mario 64 the plumber has appeared in Super Smash Brothers, Mario Party and Paper Mario to name a few titles but he hasn’t had a proper outing since the N64 was launched. So it is fair to assume that Super Mario Sunshine is under a lot of pressure to deliver a good game. It is, after all, a Mario game and it’s the game that Nintendo hope will boost sales of the GameCube. A lot has happened since Mario 64 as 3D platformers are now all over the place but Mario 64 remains the benchmark and this leaves Sunshine with a lot to eclipse. Super Mario Sunshine begins with Mario taking a ...

When Nintendo debuted their Gamecube console the biggest surprise was not the unusual button layout on the controller, not the unusual decision to use mini-DVDs as opposed to full size ones and not even why on Earth the damn thing has a handle on the back. No, the biggest surprise about Nintend’s 4th console was that for the first time in the company’s history, they launched the machine without a title featuring their reliable mascot Mario. Sure his brother Luigi got a stab at the limelight with Luigi’s Mansion, but it was still unusual for there to be a Nintendo machine without everyone’s favourite Italian plumber. Of course, to explain this, Nintendo’s fans ...