History YMMV / SuperMarioSunshine

** 100-Coin missions, already a scrappy mechanic in ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'', are made worse here by the fact that many Episodes in each level don't actually ''have'' 100 coins in them, and there's nothing in the game telling you which ones do. Not only is collecting 100 coins a tedious task to begin with, it's entirely possible to do most of the work only to realize it was all for nothing because you happened to select an Episode where those [[LastLousyPoint last lousy coins]] aren't actually there.

** 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.

* 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!"

* AuthorsSavingThrow: A few months after ''3D All-Stars'' was released, Nintendo patched the game to address some complaints about the controls. They also went the extra mile and added full [=GameCube=] controller support, which allows the same exact controls of the original 2002 release, though the button prompts remain the same as the Switch ones. [[note]] The game technically did support using the [=GameCube=] controller before the patch, but it wasn't optimized for it, so it didn't play exactly like the original.[[/note]] Many emulation bugs that were present (such as the debug cubes, some sound-related errors and the framerate dropping when using the map) were also fixed with the 1.1.0 patch.

** [[DeathMountain Noki Bay]], thanks to its AwesomeMusic, boss battles, and gorgeous cliffsides that act as great playgrounds for platforming.

* 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.

** When Princess Peach says "Mama? Mama Peach? I'm your... Mama?" to Bowser Jr, she was most likely intended to be expressing confusion and disbelief at a ridiculous, bizarre delusion (more like "You think I'm your ''mama''?"). However, between her ditzy, vacant delivery and the fact that she never outright denies the claim, quite a few fans have interpreted this infamous scene as "Peach [[{{Squick}} did it with Bowser]] and is genuinely considering the possibility of Bowser Jr. being her son."
** Another one involving Peach casts her as a ManipulativeBitch who [[ObfuscatingStupidity pretends to be a bit of a ditz]] [[https://volumearchives.wordpress.com/2016/03/03/isle-delfino-annexed-police-state while secretly masterminding the peaceful annexation of Isle Delfino, a banana republic on the verge of collapse]]. Feeding into this theory is that in ''VideoGame/MarioKartDoubleDash'', the track based on Isle Delfino is named "Peach Beach".
** It could very well be possible that the only reason why the Piantas act like [[{{Jerkass}} dicks]] to Mario is because you only ever find the ones acting like jerks in the big, bustling city of Delfino Plaza and the conservative, rural plains of Bianco Hills. Based on common stereotypes associated with those types of landscapes, it's very well possible that the Piantas living in those areas are victims of said mindsets. This is also furthered by two Piantas in Delfino Plaza who observe the Great Pianta Statue. They aren't jerks to Mario, they say that the city is too much for them to handle, and they hail from the small, humble Pianta Village, where the residents are mostly kind to Mario, save for the Chucksters and the woman who [[BadPeopleAbuseAnimals mistreats her pet Chompies]].

** Bowser goes from being an imposing antagonist in ''64'' to a goofy dad with an easy final boss fight.

* OlderThanTheyThink: The "Bowser disrupts Mario and Peach's vacation" story angle was also done in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld''.

* IdiotPlot:
** The only reason Bowser's plan to frame Mario actually worked is because of how stupid the Piantas are. It completely ignores points like the fact that Shadow Mario looks almost nothing like the real Mario, and given the fact that Shadow Mario is visible in the Isle Delfino promotional tape, it's implied that most of these crimes took place in ''broad daylight''. Mario himself wasn't even ''on'' the island when any of these crimes took place, and two witnesses were there to attest to the plot, including a ''princess''. And yet, despite her station, the Pianta judge doesn't even try to hear her out, as she is immediately overruled when she attempts to raise an objection. And then you have the levels where Mario chases Shadow Mario ''right in front of the Piantas''. And yet none of them suspect a thing...
** On a slightly lesser note, another problematic factor for the inhabitants of Isle Delfino is the missing Shine Sprites... with some of them being in the possession of said inhabitants. Especially notorious in this regard is the case of the shopkeeper in the boathouse, who is ''selling'' Shine Sprites for ten Blue Coins each. Whether they're too stupid to turn them in or they're willfully hoarding them and the government is too stupid to arrest them is for you to decide.
** There's also the fact that that they didn't even need the KangarooCourt to get Mario to save the day, as he would have surely volunteered to fix the problem without being asked. It would just be [[IdealHero Mario]] being [[NiceGuy Mario]] after all, as he has a long history of volunteering to save the day without being asked (and given Mario had already begun cleaning up the island before the Pianta cops showed up), rendering the sentence redundant.

* EightPointEight: Many of those who read Russ Frushtick of ''Polygon''[='=]s review of ''Super Mario 3D All-Stars'' found him to be needlessly harsh on ''Sunshine''. Even those who agree with him that the game was the weakest of the three in the compilation found his review to be juvenile in writing (the very last line of his review being "Though seriously, y'all, ''Mario Sunshine'' sucks.") and rather vitriolic towards the game. Many of the comments counter-criticizing him saw a number of upvotes.

--> '''Nogami''': We only remembered it later on. Like, "Oh yeah, there was a water gun in ''Super Mario Sunshine''." As Nintendo employees, that’s pretty embarrassing.

** While the Blue Coins are in line with similar side collectables in other collect-a-thons, they're functional worthless due to the game's progression system. The only purpose of the coins is to act as currency to buy 24 of the Shine Sprites, but unlike ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'' your Shine total isn't tied to your ability to access the final level and ending. They only seem to exist to pad out HundredPercentCompletion and feel tacked on as a result.

* UnderusedGameMechanic
** [[PowerUpMount Yoshi]]'s use here is fairly limited. He has a host of abilities, but the only one that gets any real use is spraying juice on blockades (though some players also take advantage of the juice meter being based off time rather than ammo to spam the [[ShotgunsAreJustBetter shotgun blast technique]]). His flutter jump is outclassed by the FLUDD nozzles, and turning enemies into platforms is only utilized in a single mission, which also makes changing Yoshi's color (which creates different platform behaviors) unnecessary outside of another single mission. He doesn't even show up much, only being needed for about one episode per level (sometimes only to open up a secret stage) and some Delfino Plaza secrets.
** Some players think of the Blue Coins as this. Notorious difficulty aside, their only practical use is to purchase Shine Sprites. It doesn't help that there are no hints as to how many coins you can find in each mission, which would massively reduce backtracking. By comparison, ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild Breath of the Wild]]'' has 900 Korok seeds, over three times as many Blue Coins, but they're much more useful in that they expand Link's inventory and health. Even the Purple Coins in ''[[VideoGame/SuperMarioOdyssey Super Mario Odyssey]]'' were more useful, which you can spend on souvenirs and outfits in the various kingdoms.

* TheScrappy:
** Il Piantissimo's races can be difficult for some players, plus his arrogant behavior tends to get on people's nerves, especially since he's eager to sling insults at a losing player. It isn't helped by the fact that Mario loses a life if he loses the race. If it's any consolation, the actual Piantas [[TakeThatScrappy find him and his getup offensive]].
** The Blue Coin Merchant. Out-of-story, he's the face of one of the game's most notorious Scrappy Mechanics. In-story, it's worth noting that he's basically holding dozens of Shine Sprites, the [[CosmicKeystone Cosmic Keystones]] of Isle Delfino, for ransom, forcing Mario, [[ClearMyName who's taken the rap for the Shine Sprites going missing]], to hunt down blue coins in order to purchase them.
** While the Piantas are already [[BaseBreakingCharacter base-breaking]] enough as is, there's one Pianta who crosses the line into Scrappy territory, that being the Pianta from Bianco Hills who's a mother of two children. While the other residents of Bianco Hills are more concerned over the Piranha Plant infestations and lake pollution, the Pianta mother spends all her time in the first mission chewing Mario out for his supposed mess. Even later down the line, she says that her day isn't ready [[{{Jerkass}} until she throws Mario]], referring to these throwing sessions as "appointments", and she yells at her kids [[DisproportionateRetribution just for playing hide-and-seek without her permission]]. Her kids also provide some subtext that there might be an [[AbusiveParents ulterior motive for playing hide-and-seek, out of her view]]. It says something when her husband, located on the other side of the area, is not only much nicer to Mario (if rather annoyed whenever Mario speaks to him), but also [[HenpeckedHusband seems to have ulterior motives of his own]].

%%** The original plan for the game involved spraying goo in addition to cleaning it up, but this proved to be impossible to implement with the technology of the time. A decade later, members of the ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing'' team at Nintendo just happened to come up with [[Franchise/{{Splatoon}} a similar idea a decade later]]. It was a pure coincidence though, [[https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Iwata-Asks/Iwata-Asks-Splatoon/Splatoon/2-Then-Rabbits/2-Then-Rabbits-1021367.html as they forgot this game even existed]].
%%--> '''Nogami''': We only remembered it later on. Like, "Oh yeah, there was a water gun in ''Super Mario Sunshine''." As Nintendo employees, that’s pretty embarrassing.

** The graffiti found all over Isle Delfino, as well Mario having to clean it up, makes the game seem like the antithesis to ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}''. This isn't a coincidence, as the original plan for the game did in fact involve spraying goo instead of cleaning it up, but this proved to be impossible to implement with the technology of the time. Nintendo stuck this idea in their back pocket and eventually built a game around it once it became feasible to do so.

* BetterThanCanon: In 2020, a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35Wzwve-1pA fan animation]] was uploaded to Youtube of [[Franchise/AceAttorney Phoenix Wright]] acting as Mario's attorney in the trial. In the video, Phoenix busts in with his usual shout of "OBJECTION!" and calls for a proper trial for Mario, pointing out all the flaws made in the evidence against Mario used by the Judge, the police, and the Prosecutor, ultimately turning the tide in Mario's favor.

** When Princess Peach says "Mama? Mama Peach? I'm your... Mama?" to Bowser Jr, she was most likely intended to be expressing confusion and disbelief at a ridiculous, bizarre delusion (more like "You think I'm your ''mama''?"). However, between her ditzy, vacant delivery and the fact that she never outright denies the claim, quite a few fans (including WebVideo/SomecallmeJohnny and WebVideo/{{Caddicarus}}) have interpreted this infamous scene as "Peach [[{{Squick}} did it with Bowser]] and is genuinely considering the possibility of Bowser Jr. being her son."

* CriticalDissonance: ''Sunshine'' got excellent reviews, though not quite as good as the other 3D ''Mario'' platformers. To this day, reception among fans remains far more mixed due to the corny cutscenes, Bowser's VillainDecay, and the removal/replacement of many of Mario's moves from ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'', as well as its numerous glitches and some legendarily frustrating and poorly-designed missions.

* UncannyValley: Despite generally having SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome, there's some OffModel that can fall into this.
** After Toadsworth asks Mario to find some assistance, Mario says "Mmm-hmm" and turns to face the camera. During this scene, if the player looks closely at Mario's eyes, they are way too far apart, mostly due to a position error.
** Throughout the game, Peach’s speaking animation is quite off-looking. The corners of her mouth (outside the lipstick area) do not move ''at all'', only the center of her mouth (inside the lipstick area) moves when talking.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JF522Q4k9t8 Platforms-a-Plenty!]][[labelnote:Explanation]] The catchy acapella song that plays during said NintendoHard secret levels.[[/labelnote]]

** The Switch port of ''Sunshine'' in ''Super Mario 3D All Stars'' made [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uma_nclD6Eo 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.

** The Pachinko Game's lock on Mario's controls is extremely vexing, and the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7l-cX5AoSbU rather oddly-implemented physics]] can get ''very'' annoying.

** For a game with so many beautiful water features to swim in, swimming beneath the surface with finesse is a lot more difficult than it was in ''Super Mario 64'' mainly due to the OxygenMeter running out a lot faster and the much less user-friendly swimming controls -- slowly and awkwardly bobbing up/down with taps of the A and B buttons instead of using the control stick and holding/tapping A to swim faster and more gracefully -- compared to the same game. Episodes 3, 4, and 8 of Noki Bay take this to the extreme.

** [[TheWoobie Princess Peach]]. She was the first to notice Shadow Mario running amok in Isle Delfino in a plane advertisement, and again at Delfino Airstrip, and knows for a fact that Mario is innocent. But the Piantas don't see it that way, and immediately overrule her when she tries to object on her hero's behalf, '''despite''' her being royalty. To make matters worse, just when it feels like we're going to have a grand Mario adventure ''without'' her getting kidnapped, the first thing Shadow Mario does when he finally reveals himself kidnaps her, [[WhatAnIdiot while she makes no effort to get away]]. What's worse is that, once you get enough Shine Sprites, she is held captive for the rest of the game, even when you start the game again after defeating Bowser for the final time. And that's not even getting into the fiasco surrounding the infamous cutscene with Bowser Jr...

* WhatAnIdiot: Another contributing factor to the game's BrokenBase status.
** Mario is arrested and put on trial on the sole premise that his face is the same as the one on a wanted poster. Peach shouts "Objection!"\\
'''You'd Expect''': The judge to let Peach, who is of royalty, make her objection, which could put this misunderstanding to rest with ease.\\
'''Instead''': The judge says "Overruled!" and sentences Mario to clean up the island.
** The Shine Sprites of Isle Delfino have gone missing, posing a threat to the inhabitants' way of life. Some of them have been found by the residents.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' They would all hand them to Mario or the proper authorities without any fuss.\\
'''Instead:''' They keep them and give them away only after Mario helps them or use them as prizes in contests.\\
'''Even Worse:''' Most of the people who have Shine Sprites have the excuse that we do not know how long they have had the Shine Sprite and they only have one. The Tanooki that runs the boathouse has 24 Shine Sprites (that's a fifth of them), has them for most of the game, and will only give them away for ten coins each.
** Everyone thinks Mario is the person responsible for all of Isle Delfino's problems because the real culprit, Shadow Mario, looks like him. Shadow Mario and Mario are often seen together in the same place.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' That seeing the real Mario and Shadow Mario in the same place would be proof that Mario is not the culprit.\\
'''Instead:''' They apparently don't take the hint.\\
'''Even Worse:''' It seems that only a few residents of Isle Delfino (the Noki Bay elder, his grandson, the Hotel Delfino manager, and the Pinna Park director) are actually able to tell the difference between Mario and Shadow Mario, even though Shadow Mario has a watery blue appearance.
** Shadow Mario finally makes his appearance known to the cast and dashes right over to attempt to capture Peach.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' Peach would either run or try to defend herself in some fashion.\\
'''Instead:''' [[TooDumbToLive She just stands there and gets picked up by the doppelganger]], with Mario having to save her.
** Shortly after that, Peach is kidnapped ''again'' and taken to Pinna Island, where Shadow Mario unleashes a [[GiantMecha giant Bowser mech]] and soon after, reveals himself to be Bowser Jr., who is under the assumption that Peach is his mama and he's saving her from the "evil" Mario.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' Peach would immediately try and tell Jr. the truth, or at the very least deny ever being romantically involved with Bowser. In other ''Mario'' materials before or since, it's shown very clearly that Peach never once liked Bowser in that way, and [[VideoGame/SuperPaperMario the one time they actually got married]] was [[{{Brainwashed}} forced upon her]]. Even then, it's unlikely for Bowser, a giant draconic turtle, to have any offspring with Peach.\\
'''Instead:''' She never once thinks of this and outright ponders whether Bowser Jr. could be her child, [[NeverLiveItDown thus kick-starting the fandom punchline that is Peach's nonexistent relationship with Bowser]].
** Bowser Jr. has successfully framed Mario for polluting the island, resulting in his arrest. With Mario stuck doing community service, Jr. is able to kidnap Princess Peach and bring her back to his father with little difficulty.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' The Bowser family to go ''anywhere''. Mario isn't legally allowed to leave Isle Delfino, so Bowser and son could safely get away with Peach by going just about anywhere else. There are plenty of other tropical resorts they can have their "family vacation" at, after all. At the very least, they could get a huge head start before Mario finishes cleaning the island.\\
'''Instead:''' They stay on Isle Delfino, the one place Mario is able to follow them. As expected, Mario finds their volcano hideout before long.

** When Princess Peach says "Mama? Mama Peach? I'm your... Mama?" to Bowser Jr, she was most likely intended to be expressing confusion and disbelief at a ridiculous, bizarre delusion (more like "You think I'm your ''mama''?"). However, between her ditzy, vacant delivery and the fact that she never outright denies the claim, quite a few fans (including WebVideo/SomecallmeJohnny and WebVideo/{{Caddicarus}}) have interpreted this infamous scene as "Peach [[{{Squick}} did it with Bowser]] and is genuinely considering the possibility of Bowser Jr. being her child."

** 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, ''most'' of the voice acting is really lousy. And Bowser would remain that way until ''Galaxy''.

** While the Piantas are already [[BaseBreakingCharacter base-breaking]] enough as is, there's one Pianta who crosses the line into Scrappy territory, that being the Pianta from Bianco Hills who's a mother to two children. While the other residents of Bianco Hills are more concerned over the Piranha Plant infestations and lake pollution, the Pianta mother spends all her time in the first mission chewing Mario out for his supposed mess. Even later down the line, she says that her day isn't ready [[{{Jerkass}} until she throws Mario]], referring to these throwing sessions as "appointments", and she yells at her kids [[DisproportionateRetribution just for playing hide-and-seek without her permission]]. Her kids also provide some subtext that there may be an [[AbusiveParents ulterior motive for playing hide-and-seek, out of her view]]. It says something when her husband, located on the other side of the level, is not only much nicer to Mario (if rather annoyed whenever Mario speaks to him), but also [[HenpeckedHusband seems to have ulterior motives of his own]].

* SoBadItsGood: Many elements of the story get this reaction. Some standouts include the voice acting (''especially'' Bowser), the KangarooCourt, and Peach's NeverLiveItDown moment. The gameplay, while controversial in its own right, fares much better.

** The plot revolves around Mario being framed by a look-alike and arrested and thrown in jail, who turns out to be working for/with the BigBad. He's even called ''[[VideoGame/SonicAdventure2 Shadow]]'' Mario.

** Considering the high difficulty of Corona Mountain, the final boss waiting for you is pretty much a pushover by comparison. What do you need to do to beat Bowser, you ask? Just GroundPound the platforms in the final boss's stage, which is very easy because his attacks aren't that hard to avoid. The hardest part is [[GameBreakingBug keeping yourself from clipping through the floor into a bottomless pit]].