Shmuplations has been hard at work uncovering lots of retro video game developer content that had originally been lost to time, especially interviews. They also translate Japanese content into English so English readers can understand what is being said. Nintendo, in particular, has a lot of interviews from many decades ago.
For example, Shmuplations has recently uncovered a Nintendo Dream interview with Shigeru Miyamoto that dates back to 2002. The interview is about Super Mario Sunshine, where Miyamoto revealed that he regrets making the game so hard. He said that “I want Mario to be a game that all audiences can enjoy. Something that Grandma and Grandpa, Mom and Dad, even little children can easily pick up and play, and right away understand what’s fun about it. However, I think Mario Sunshine turned out to be difficult for the average user. It’s something I very much regret. I want someone who hasn’t played a game in 10+ years to play our game, but I think such a person wouldn’t know what’s going on in Mario Sunshine”.
It’s great to think about the hardcore gamers from time to time, even though the Super Mario franchise probably isn’t the ideal fit for something very complex. Super Mario Sunshine is a bit complicated, and sometimes very difficult, but every Mario game has its challenges.
Most of the people playing Mario games are hardcore gamers. I’ve never actually seen a casual hobbyist playing Mario, they’re always on GTA, CoD, or some other anti-consumer garbage GAAS title like Fortnite or Destiny. Basically he’s just upset because the non-gamers couldn’t get into Sunshine, which is such a small amount of people it’s not even relevant. The causal hobbyists aren’t worth catering to however, as they’ll never play a Mario game so Miyamoto shouldn’t worry about it.
I agree with a lot of what you’re saying. Where I’m from it’s either Battlefield or CoD for the “hardcore”, FIFA and GTA for the people that “don’t play games”, and then you have Animal Crossing and the Minecraft crew that never touches anything else.
Mario is in my experience, what people give children as gifts, or as you said @Robyn, for the Nintendo enthusiasts “hardcore gamers”.
But Mario is huuuge. I think all “gamers” have played it passionately at some point in their life.
That interview was 22 years ago. He probably has a different opinion now that the recency bias is gone.
I thought it was the current interview from now.
Well, that’s what you might infer from the headline but read the article. It’s an interview from 2002 that was translated recently.
I thought this was important to note because it seems reasonable that he might have this opinion if that’s what the reception was when the game was released. Now, after time has passed, it might not seem like it a big deal anymore. Kinda like when people were upset over Wind Waker’s artstyle or Metroid becoming a first-person game.
Recency bias is when you FAVOR something recent, not regret things about it.
Yeah. In this case, Miyamoto favored the opinions of people who were complaining about difficulty back then. The bias is about the feedback, not the game itself.
There was nothing hard about it, in fact it was more of a vacation then a game, with some Mario 3d platform elements thrown in for good measure.
I disagree with shiggie again, The harder difficulty is one of the cool things that makes sunshine unique and my favorite 3D Mario. There is no game like it, not even Nintendo couldn’t replicate such weird and cool mechanics, art direction and level design. I adore Sunshine to death and like literally everything about that game…except the Pachinko level, that was pure bullcrap.
I guess we don’t be getting a Super Mario Sunshine-Galaxy sequel that plays with both gravity physics and water-blast physics at the same time. xD
Yeah it seems like we won’t sadly. I was hoping they will make number 3.
Listen if they want to remake for Switch 2 with everything fixed I def wouldn’t complain just saying
Well based on this interview it sounds like the remake would likely change all the wrong things.
is this game fun for most people or is it just most peoples first mario game? i dont know if its very difficult but i only got about half way into it.
It’s fun for making kids, but it’s not fun for most mature gamers.
Dp you have fun making kids? you irresponsible pr1ck.
Dude? Are you a idiot? This is related to the topic on this article.
I think hardcore gamers should understand what fun is all about for all gaming consoles. Super Mario Sunshine is a great game but it is really difficult and it doesn’t appeal to mature audiences for those who have been a gamer for a longtime.
I don’t really understand your opinion here. Are you saying hardcore gamers don’t enjoy fun? That seems to go against the very idea of being a hardcore gamer. Also, doesn’t your second comment contradict itself? It feels like you’re saying the game is great but also dismissing it for long-time gamers.”
I don’t understand your comment at all.
It’s really not hard sonic. I’ve asked you to better articulate your points.
No. I understand what your saying now. I said Super Mario Sunshine is a great game but it doesn’t help revamped the Mario franchise and help boost the gamecube sales is what I mean. I just don’t know why the admin who made this article about a interview that was dated back in 2002 which is old news now.
Coolbeans.
Merry Christmas
I don’t think the game was that difficult- most of the difficulty comes from Mario’s movement feeling less refined than it is/was in other games.
And that damn pachinko red coin level… Sand Bird wasn’t too good either…
I’m an avid sand bird defender, I like that level a lot. I think the pachinko is the real issue and the watermelon delivery missions. Those two sunshine sprite are boring, tedious, unfunny and most of all Unfair, they are not hard in a way that a skilled player can get trough by trying a few times, they are just bad levels
Me too. I love the level so much that its like your actually riding on a actual bird. But the only two levels I don’t like is the pachinko missions and the wigglier boss fight.
What? Mario’s movement in Sunshine is perfect. I’d argue it’s the best movement wise in the entire 3D series.
I wouldn’t call Sunshine Hard. It’s more so tedious than anything. The blue coins can burn for all I care. So can the 100 coin mission
This is the first time I have ever heard someone call Sunshine as a whole too hard. Sand Bird this, Pachinko level that- those are always the only 2 levels people think are hard. The hover nozzle alone makes the game rather easy, and most of the difficulty comes later in the game where you’d expect there to be a challenge.
I think a big reason is age. For example, I remember dying a lot in the lava boat level as a kid but I don’t think I did at all when I replayed the game in 3D All-stars. I bet a lot of people haven’t replayed the game since they were younger.
The pachinko level is still a crapshoot though. Definitely feels like you just gotta pray to the RNG gods and jump but…. hmm.. I’ve never played Pachinko IRL so maybe that’s a good replication? Still not very fun for a Mario game level.
A real life pachinko let’s you look at the entire board to know the ball trajectory, in sunshine the camera is a mess and you have to look at the back of the board too to see Mario slide on those slopes to get back to the jump, so no it’s not a good pachinko, they nailed it after though with Nintendoland, that was pretty fun.
Oh yeah, true. There are quite a lot of people who don’t replay games like others do. People tend to hold on to thoughts and ideas they had as children too, so they probably remember it being hard and never replay it to see again for themselves.
And yeah, the Pachinko level apparently has a bug in its coding that pulls Mario to specific point in the machine when it’s not supposed to after a certain point. The flag for stopping that interaction was placed in the wrong spot of the level or something, so that’s why the glitch happens. The stage is a good, optional challenge all around, but it’s unfortunate that a small bug made it exponentially harder.
I loved sunshine as a teenager.
I recently played it again with that mod that came out what was it? Eclipse? Forget which is the one that added a few levels and interconnected levels. I had fun with the large majority of the game. Of the original stuff it was just the watermelon, pachinko and coin sprites that were a PIA
Blah harasses devs over his character wars, the successor to the console wars because he’s jealous of Rosalina
Real question… why isn’t this account banned?
Cause they are multiple accounts, this is the sucks guy who called everyone a boomer
I like Sunshine because there are hard levels there if you want them, not needed to beat the game. Nintendo has been decent about giving some challenges for those who want it, even though the base game might skew easy. I just hope that they continue to put actual platforming mechanical challenges, or even tough puzzles, instead of having the optional challenge be an easter egg hunt. I don’t want the optional challenge of a Nintendo game to be just you have to find all the ‘blanks’. Unless a tough platforming challenge is tied to finding all the “moons” or “stars” or whatever.