One of the things I always think about when I play this game is how inherently being actually kind of a funny-ass game is sort of its thing. Like I love the way Guybrush moves around, the exact speed he walks and his blank little dot eyes. I love how much it says about his character. This dude looks truly lost sometimes, he stands completely still while he scans the room. It's basically an automatic set-up to any punchline. There is almost zero ludonarrative dissonance here. Just an absolute rager. Awesome game.

I do not subscribe to the idea that this game is lesser because of some sort of nitpicking analysis about its padding or its several design gimmicks, or various reports of the results of a rushed development. I have no interest in comparing this game to the others.

What I know about this game if anything is that there are few games in Super Mario Sunshine's entire genre that are as joyful, bright, and clever. I love the cute little story and bits of characterization. I love the diegetic little platforming structures that give the game a sort of free-wheeling parkour feeling that is only enhanced by the sense of space. I think I prefer Mario games that sort of lean into levels where you bounce around real spaces like a little harbor complex rather than an abstract floating platform affair.

Isle Delfino is a real all-timer in the annals of comfy video game towns to me. Tiled roofs and towers made of tan bricks and little canals. Games got baja blast water and shit, too. It feels like a real place in the way it's expanded in the game's levels, with little bits of the town suggested and explorable outside of just the overworld.

I think F.L.U.D.D is pretty fun too. I think they're a real cutie pie on top of adding a lot of fun momentum to traversal and opens up a lot of silly explorative moments even if not directly contributing to platforming depth.

Overall I just think it's a pretty cool and unique game! It's definitely my favorite 3D Mario. Awesome music too. Shoutouts Shinobu Tanaka.

One of the greatest, over twenty years later and there's almost nothing like it. A frigid and murky labor of love that oozes character from every asset in its levels. The way the old-school, hardware-limited video game cheese interacts with the pitch black atmosphere is top notch. Equal parts unnerving and charismatic. Has an incredible and bizarre (somewhat cozy?) visual style that lends itself perfectly to the tone. All this fantastic hyper-generation-specific art on top of a gameplay loop that is characterized by insanely fast and fun weapons, high-damage input/outputs, and scrappy on-the-fly tactics.