History YMMV / SuperMarioSunshine

* SpecialEffectFailure: During the pre-intro cutscene, when the Isle Delfino advertisement is listing all of the sights to see on the island, there's a cut to Bianco Hills... with Mario standing in the bottom-right corner. Yes, Shadow Mario has already invaded the island, but the Mario in the video is clearly red and blue.

** Some time after the game's release, it became an accepted fact among fans that Creator/CharlesMartinet voiced Toadsworth and the male Piantas in addition to Mario, [[NowWhichOneWasThatVoice with the game's own credits not being helpful in determining who actually voiced who]]. Those characters (among others) were actually voiced by Scott Burns, better known for voicing ''Bowser'' in the game, and the truth didn't even ''begin'' to spread until 2021, nearly two decades after the game's initial release, thanks to a fan who just so happened to ask Burns if he voiced any characters in the game besides Bowser out of curiosity.

** This game predates ''VideoGame/AmongUs'' by nearly two decades, but one can't help but find it a little amusing to think about how Shadow Mario is essentially impersonating Mario (being an impostor, if you will), especially given this line from the courtroom scene:
---> '''Pianta Prosecutor''': The guilty party sits among us! It is none other than Mario!

* FanficFuel: Anyone ever wondered how different things would have been if Peach had a better chance to defend Mario in court?

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The flood radically alters the layout of the hub town by putting 3/4ths of it underwater. Swimming around town seems pretty neat, until you realize that you can't really do anything new with this change, and there are no significant secrets to be found. Plus, the flood inexplicably goes away on its own while you're in the final level, or if you manage to collect one of Delfino Plaza's Shine Sprites. The flooded Delfino Plaza can't be revisited either (at least not without hacking), which makes its presence in the game superfluous.

* SelfImposedChallenge: The "hoverless" playthrough, i.e. playing through the game without using the hover nozzle (the main mechanic of the game) a single time. It should be noted that certain levels (ESPECIALLY Noki Bay 3 & 4 and Corona Mountain) are very hard without hovering, but it's doable. It's gotten so popular that "hoverless" has become a category in speedruns. Some players have also tried to see how many shine sprites are collectable under the hoverless stipulation. In total, 119 shines and 236 blue coins are able to be collected, with the only impossible collectibles being the 4 blue coins on the pillars in Noki Bay 8.

* SelfImposedChallenge: The "hoverless" playthrough, i.e. playing through the game without using the hover nozzle (the main mechanic of the game) a single time. It should be noted that certain levels (ESPECIALLY Noki Bay 3 & 4 and Corona Mountain) are nigh-impossible without hovering, but it's doable. It's gotten more popular in recent years that "hoverless%" has become a category in speedruns.
** Going even further, some players have tried to see how many shine sprites are collectable under the hoverless stipulation. Believe it or not, 119 shines and 236 blue coins are able to be collected, with the only impossible collectibles being the 4 blue coins on the pillars in Noki Bay 8.
* SequelDifficultySpike: Many fans consider this to be not only a harder game than ''64'', but arguably even the hardest main-series ''Mario'' game after the NES era. Reasons for this include an even greater emphasis on precision platforming than in its prequel, the game being a lot more stingy with extra lives than most other ''Mario'' games, the controls for the FLUDD sometimes being a little finicky, and the boss battles generally tending to be very fast-paced and requiring good reflexes to avoid picking up damage. Note however that this is only when discussing the core gameplay; if you're going for OneHundredPercentCompletion then other games in the series are more difficult in that regard, particularly ''[[VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2 Galaxy 2]]'' (the hidden levels in which can be absolutely brutal at times) and ''[[VideoGame/SuperMarioOdyssey Odyssey]]'' (which has such a huge amount of content that clearing it all is very time-consuming).

* SignatureScene: The scene where Bowser Jr. calls Peach his "Mama" opened the can of worms regarding her relationship with Bowser and Jr.'s parentage. Though the game's ending establishes that Peach is ''not'' Jr.'s mother, the fact Peach responds to Jr.'s statement by saying "Mama? I'm your mama?" is frequently shared online as [[FoeYayShipping evidence]] that Peach and Bowser [[TheyDo used to have a thing for each other]].

* SophomoreSlump: In regards to the 3D ''Mario'' games. While seen as a good game in its own right, ''Super Mario 64'' is one of the most revolutionary games of all time while ''Super Mario Galaxy'' has received similar acclaim.

** One of the criticisms ''Sunshine'' received at launch -- [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks that it lacked much of the traditional Mario iconography such as classic enemies and items]] -- has since been turned around to praise the game after subsequent titles, particularly the ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBros'' series, did go back to that iconography [[ItsTheSameNowItSucks and refused to leave it]].

** Also, if you fail a race or a timed mission, Mario ''dies''. The Blooper Surfing minigame in Episode 2 of Ricco Harbor simply kicks Mario out of the level if he fails to beat the current record, which begs the question of why this isn't the case for any of the other timed/race missions.

** FLUDD itself is hated by ''Super Mario 64'' purists, though most of the hate stems not from being hard to control, but for putting the focus away from jumping, replacing the long jump (and making the backflip a minor GuideDangIt), and replacing Mario's punches. This kind of reaction isn't seen as much from people who played ''Sunshine'' first, for obvious reasons.

** Red Coins also qualify for their sheer overuse in the game. In ''64'', they were collectables that the player knew to expect in every level from the start and that rewarded level exploration. In ''Sunshine'', they only appear in specific missions, many worlds have 2 Red Coin missions, and every Secret Stage has optional Shines involving collecting them with the Jetpack. With rare exceptions, they are more tedious and unimaginative than challenging, and combined with the other two Coin-related Shines, are symbolic of the game's FakeLongevity. And said exceptions are [[ThatOneLevel/SuperMarioSunshine the two most hated missions in the game]]: the Lily Pad Ride and the Pachinko Machine.

* AccidentalInnuendo: This [[DoubleEntendre exchange]] in the intro cutscene. "What's this icky, paint-like goop? It's moving!" "Now now, boys! Don't touch that stuff!"

* [[Awesome/VideoGameLevels Awesome: Video Game Levels]]::
** [[GreenHillZone Bianco Hills]], the game's first level, is a beautifully-rendered hillside that allows the player to get used to F.L.U.D.D.'s controls and Mario's movement, while also offering fun platform challenges and boss battles.
** [[PortTown Ricco Harbor]] uses its setting to create natural platforming challenges that fit perfectly in a bustling ship port, with an insanely catchy music track to back it all up.
** [[DeathMountain Noki Bay]], thanks to its [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic Awesome Music]], boss battles, and gorgeous cliffsides that act as great playgrounds for platforming.
** "Mysterious Hotel Delfino", the third episode of [[BigBoosHaunt Sirena Beach]]. Rather than PlatformHell like most of the other episodes, the episode instead has Mario navigate the various rooms of Hotel Delfino to reach the Shine Sprite in the swimming pool, harkening to puzzle/adventure games.

* BestLevelEver:

** "Mysterious Hotel Delfino", the third episode of Sirena Beach. Rather than PlatformHell like most of the other episodes, the episode instead has Mario navigate the various rooms of Hotel Delfino to reach the Shine Sprite in the swimming pool, harkening to puzzle/adventure games.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation:

* SignatureScene: The Mama Peach scene, for the can of worms it opened regarding her relationship with Bowser and Jr.'s parentage.

* ToughActToFollow: The game's divisive reception no doubt stems from it being the direct successor to [[VideoGame/SuperMario64 one of the most influential video games ever made, and a definitive classic in the 3D platforming genre]]; and there was a ''six-year gap'' between the two games, with many still arguing whether it lived up to expectations or not. Mercifully, [[VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy the next game]] managed to finally break away from this.

* {{Narm}}:
** Bowser's voice acting and dialogue make him seem less like a giant scary Koopa and more like either [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Homer Simpson]], [[TalkLikeAPirate a pirate]] or [[Series/SesameStreet the Cookie Monster]]. In fact, this isn't just limited to Bowser; ''most'' of the voice acting in the game is really lousy. Bowser would also remain that way until ''Galaxy''.
** FLUDD's DisneyDeath at the end is just goofy and pointless, considering the Toads fix it at the end.
** The commercial for the game featured an incredibly cheesy [[GreenAesop environmental]] song.
** The Switch port of ''Sunshine'' in ''Super Mario 3D All Stars'' made an incredibly awkward change to the cutscene where FLUDD explains how his controls work: instead of getting FLUDD's voice actor back to re-record lines describing the Switch's buttons, they lazily spliced out the specific button names. The sloppy splicing leads to FLUDD awkwardly telling the player to press the button with it being painfully obvious that dialogue was cut out, and makes an otherwise by-the-book tutorial unintentionally hilarious. Granted, [[https://www.mariowiki.com/Kit_Harris Kit Harris is currently retired, so Nintendo couldn't bring her back]].

** Red Coins also qualify for their sheer overuse in the game. In ''64'', they were collectables that the player knew to expect in every level from the start and that rewarded level exploration. In ''Sunshine'', they only appear in specific missions, many worlds have 2 Red Coin missions, and every Secret Stage has optional Shines involving collecting them with the Jetpack. With rare exceptions such as Noki Bay's Red Coin Fish, they are more tedious and unimaginative than challenging, and combined with the other two Coin-related Shines, are symbolic of the game's FakeLongevity. It doesn't help they are central to [[ThatOneLevel/SuperMarioSunshine the two most hated missions in the game]]: the Lily Pad Ride and the Pachinko Machine.

** Red Coins also qualify for their sheer overuse in the game. In ''64'', they were collectables that the player knew to expect in every level from the start and that rewarded level exploration. In ''Sunshine'', they only appear in specific missions, many worlds have 2 Red Coin missions, and every Secret Stage has optional Shines involving collecting them with the Jetpack. With rare exceptions such as Noki Bay's Red Coin Fish, they are more tedious and unimaginative than challenging, and combined with the other two Coin-related Shines, are symbolic of the game's FakeLongevity.

* Red Coins also qualify for their sheer overuse in the game. In ''64'', they were collectables that the player knew to expect in every level from the start and that rewarded level exploration. In ''Sunshine'', they only appear in specific missions, many worlds have 2 Red Coin missions, and every Secret Stage has optional Shines involving collecting them with the Jetpack. With rare exceptions such as Noki Bay's Red Coin Fish, they are more tedious and unimaginative than challenging, and combined with the other two Coin-related Shines, are symbolic of the game's FakeLongevity.