A fediverse user who shall remain anonymous (let's call him "CJ") said I should play Super Mario Galaxy. So, to follow that advice, I started Super Mario Sunshine.

Miyamoto hasn't paid for his crimes. This game manages to simultaneously be better and worse than Super Mario 64.

Took me 20 minutes to cross the gap in the first picture.

Meanwhile, a big deal was made about the levels without FLUDD; but those so far have been the least aggravating. At least they are straightforward. No puzzle; just platforming.

I like the sinister cutscene where shadow Mario steals FLUDD.

Did you know that FLUDD has been inspired by English physician and occultist Robert Fludd? It's true!

I like the music when you grab a Shine Sprite. Mostly because it signifies an end to the suffering of playing Super Mario Sunshine. Unfortunately, the game just goes on.

I had completed all 8 episodes in the first stage and wanted to do the same here; but the last shine is impossible to get. I spent two hours trying to get it but I can't find a way to get there. Also, there's a piece of shit invincible wind enemy that shows up when Mario gets too high. It's bullshit.

Then I saw Mario die in a jet ski accident. Then it happened again. And again. :doge_tiresome: Then I got all red coins and died on the way back to collect the Shine Sprite because Mario can't get out of the stupid blooper.

This is just malice.

No depth perception in video games is why I can't play 3D games.

For some reason, I have decided to try anyway expecting different results.

The results were the same.

Oh, right, the plot. There's this shadow Mario framing normal Mario for stealing the Shine Sprites in this Italy-like country. Then it turns out that's Bowser Jr. Is this this little shit's debut? Is this when the koopalings got demoted to henchturtles?

I didn't expect voice acting in the game. Why isn't there voice acting in Odyssey?! Were they trying something new here?

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The melon is BULLSHIT. Anything breaks it and then you have to go get another one from the most inconvenient side of the map! And the fat bastard doing the contest doesn't want any of the easy melons. And those fucking shit enemies are indestructible and can break the melon just from grazing it! THIS MELON IS FUCKING BULLSHIT!!

I returned to the game after rage quitting during the melon fiasco. Took two days to do that one shine.

Then there was this amusement park with a bullshit boss fight. Somehow, I made it. Then there were red coins. The platforming was atrocious. I rage quit again yesterday. And today.

But in the middle, I found this other stage where you enter by looking into the light like that one stage in Mario 64.

WTH are those iframes in the poison water? Mario has no time to get out of the water before dying! And then there was this stupid boat you need to move with the FLUDD... I think, because it doesn't actually work. You get to the Shine Sprite and an invisible wall prevents Mario from going through even though the gap is enormous! It's like playing New Vegas.

At least in the no-FLUDD levels the objective is straightforward. The most annoying part of the game are the faux-puzzles, where you might have to talk to someone, or take a roundabout way to meet the arbitrary conditions for a shine sprite to appear or become accessible. The a capella Mario theme world might turn into precision platforming hell later, but at least I understand what's required.

They got rid of lakitu. The camera is better; but also some times it goes behind a wall and the game is like "no problem here".

@Rasterman Hard as they are, the FLUDD-less challenges are generally considered the high point of Mario Sunshine - not necessarily that great of a thing, when the one of section of the game that REMOVES your signature mechanic is what people like the most.

I watched an anti-Sunshine video recently that argued, persuasively in my view, that since FLUDD completely breaks the challenge of regular platforming, Nintendo ended up compensating for the drop in difficulty with all the frustrating and unfair bullshit you end up dealing with.

@ChristiJunior @Rasterman what an atrocious mistake that would be. even if fludd makes stuff easier, it doesn't make it fun. the jetpack makes you move agonizingly slowly and kills all your momentum which completely destroys any sense of movement or freedom. it's also way easier than learning the momentum and physics, so it seems like they ran afoul of grod's law: they tried to balance out the jetpack breaking every platforming challenge by making it unfun to use, which results in a game that's easy, unfun, and subsequently feels like it constantly disrespects your playtime

sunshine would have played better if they either made the original beach janitor game about fludd where you used fun jetpack mechanics to clean stuff, OR if they threw out fludd and made a fun platforming mario game like they did with the fluddless levels everyone loved.