I'm not sure whether to mark this as completed or abandoned, but I literally 100% the game prior so I'll say the former. Here's the thing: A couple years ago I 100% 64, Sunshine, and Galaxy when I borrowed Super Mario 3D All Stars from my friend. I liked 64, loved Galaxy (even though it was my 7th playthrough), and just... really didn't click with Sunshine. I ranted about it to a new friend of mine and he said my experience was a "skill issue." I thought about it and considered that maybe it was, so I thought of bumping it up higher in my list. Today, I decided to come back to it after a while and go in with an open mind. The verdict? I can't enjoy it. I tried so hard but every level just failed to be fun somehow. I really dislike the controls, especially because they feel so slippery at times. During both playthroughs, I felt like Mario DESPERATELY needed the Hover Nozzle in order to actually control well. Maybe I do just suck, but that's how it felt playing the game. So for me, Mario needs FLUDD right? Well, for some reason they decided to keep adding a bunch of levels WITHOUT it. These are possibly some of the least fun levels I've played in a platformer. Mario lacks moves such as the long jump that has in LITERALLY every other Mario game. Without these great movement options, the game becomes MUCH more tedious to play. Even with FLUDD though, the game isn't all that great. Levels are so difficult to enjoy because a lot of them have tedious objectives, and each of these gets worse and worse the further you go on. I did enjoy a bit of Bianco Hills and the boss fights aren't terrible, but other objectives are so annoying to complete. See, Sunshine differs from something like 64 because you need to beat Episode 7 of every single area, which sucks because you can't just play the levels you want to play and instead have to do everything. It's not as open as the game wants you to think and because of this, you need to do all of the FLUDDless levels for instance (which for me is the lowest point as I've mentioned before). Where the level design, controls, and gameplay fail, the presentation is what saves this game, most of the time. The cutscenes are really... awkward... especially due to the voice acting. Other than that, the aesthetics and music really take the cake here. The thing that's the biggest shame is that the game has everything I could've wanted for level themes, each area is a unique in that it's all a part of Delfino Plaza and not a bunch of areas that don't feel connected. I don't hate the random areas thing that the 3D and some of the 2D games do, but I love seeing just one area be the focal point of the game. I want to love Delfino Isle, but the levels are just so unfun to play that I can't fully enjoy all it has to offer, especially with Sirena Beach and Noki Bay. I'm happy they at least went hard with the worldbuilding and aesthetic of Delfino Isle because that's definitely the high point of the game for me, but the gameplay itself I just can't get behind. Overall, Super Mario Sunshine is a massive disappointment for me because while I love the ideas they want to present, the gameplay itself is such a tedious slog that I just can't enjoy it.