Finally!
The storyline of Mario Sunshine!
It seems
that Mario and Peach were on vacation in a sunny beachside town, and soaking
up the rays and waves. However, trouble erupted in the form of someone
vandalizing the town and putting graffiti all over the place. And that
someone is, MARIO?! Say it ain't so!
It turns
out that someone has disguised themselves as Mario, and is causing all kinds
of havoc to the plumber's good name. Mario suits up with a special water
pump backpack, and set outs to find the culprit, and clean up the land as
well.
From
what I can tell, Mario Sunshine looks to be shaping up to be a truly great
game. The visual style is similar to Mario 64, with the notable difference
that the environments Mario finds himself in, are not Castles and immense
green pastures, but rather city streets and tropical isles.
This
will be Mario's first game on the new GameCube, but not his first
appearance, as he made a cameo in Luigi's Mansion (the Gamecube launch
title). These are the known features of the game, at this time:
-
City
and Suburban environments.
-
60
frames per second.
-
Mario
has an Emotion system, allowing you to tell when he's upset, happy,
confused, etc.
-
Water
Tank is used to clean up the landscape.
-
Levels
three times as large as Mario 64.
-
Sunshine
Coins (?)
-
Sunshine
Meter (?)
-
Possibility
of Multiple Players (Princess?? Luigi??)
-
New
moves, like the Matrix-like wall jump.
While
alot of the mainstream gaming press, has been very fast to say that the
quality of the graphics looks "disappointing", or
"lacking", I would like to say I am impressed with this game. And
if every system was based strictly on graphics, XBox might win a few awards.
The Mario games have always been about taking the player to new heights of
gaming magic, and I believe Mario Sunshine will continue in this respect,
even if the graphics are slightly diminished. It's also important to note,
that this is merely a preview game, and the final product will be not be
less than genius, if Mayamoto's previous track record is any indication. I
remember people were similarly unimpressed with Mario 64, when the first
pictures came out, but when it was released, it sold systems. These
naysayers should take things like that into account, before openly bashing a
game not even finished.
-NulShock
ADDED 5/23/2002
MARIO, PEACH, TOAD AND YOSHI!!
Original Images
UPDATE:
It's been revealed that the City level that appears in all of the released
screenshots from Mario Sunshine, is simply the first level, and not, as
some people have said, the entire game world.
UPDATE:
Mayamoto has said that in Mario Sunshine, the Water Tank device can
also latch onto wires and ropes, like a Mechanical Arm!! He also said,
that the Water Tank device is NOT the only thing/item Mario will be able
to strap onto his back!!
Images from www.gamers.com
Game:
Mario Sunshine
