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Prerelease:Super Mario Sunshine

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This page details prerelease information and/or media for Super Mario Sunshine.

Hmmm...
To do:
  • Verify the dates of the images and arrange them into their respective timeframes, and note the origins of the images.
  • Upload Gamerweb, E3, Best Buy, Japanese commercials, and other screens.
  • Write about the E3 2002 demo and how different it is from the store demo, if at all. Find a better video if possible.
  • Some stage previews in the guide show earlier map designs.
  • These videos need investigation:
  • French commercial showing that the burning Pianta was originally present on the first plaza (discovery: Noki Doki)
  • The SM35thA site uses a prerelease screenshot not seen anywhere else of Mario on a green Yoshi for its scrolling backdrop, together with other images that have been documented. Can someone confirm this screenshot is new?
  • Differences/oddities in promotional artwork

Super Mario Sunshine went through a rather unusual development process, starting out as a search-and-rescue game before deciding to follow closer to the roots of its predecessor Super Mario 64. It notably had a number of changes under the hood, even to the point of where it hardly resembles the final product!

Despite the game having rather uneven difficulty and objectives, it is still enjoyable in many ways and kicked off the new generation of Super Mario games in 128-bit glory.

Development Timeline

2001

  • May 18 - Shigeru Miyamoto promises new Mario and Zelda games at Space World 2001. He also wants to take Mario into a slightly older direction that would appeal to "all age ranges". [1]
  • August 20 - Japanese magazine Nintendo Dream lists a release date of 2002 for the new Mario game.[2]
  • August 22 - Super Mario Sunshine is first shown at Space World 2001, with release slated for Summer 2002.

2002

  • March 25 - The game is confirmed for a North American release date of August 26, 2002.[3]
  • March 30 - New footage of the game is shown exclusively to IGN.[1]
  • May 2 - New screenshots are released.
  • May 20 - The game is shown off at E3 2002.
  • July 19 - Super Mario Sunshine is released in Japan.
  • August 26 - Super Mario Sunshine is released in the United States.

Early Development

Creating a New Gameplay Element

When a follow-up to Super Mario 64 started development, the team tried to look for a new element that Mario could use while still retaining the gameplay. F.L.U.D.D. came to be when Koizumi first played with the GameCube controller, wondering what it would be like if it was used like a water pump, which was decided on without any thought put into it. Despite the unusual decision, he didn't worry about how it would turn out.

When conceptualizing F.L.U.D.D., Usui thought of him being held like a water gun at first, but he thought that it would have been mistaken for a real gun if the game ended up being released in the United States. Usui wasn't impressed with the final result and wanted to consider putting Yoshi on Mario's head that spits out water.

Ten different types of Nozzles for F.L.U.D.D. were considered, such as scrapped ones that would have resembled fireworks and sprinklers, but they were reduced to four because it would have been impossible to put them all in, and to avoid confusing players. The yield and usage of water from the nozzles were balanced until the very end of development in order to make it refreshing without being too direct or evasive.

The Hover Nozzle was originally the last unlockable Nozzle before eventually becoming the first, in order to make the game easier for Mario to navigate through high areas. The latter ended up being a rather difficult decision.

A More Realistic Setting

Koizumi wanted to create a setting that would evoke more detail than Super Mario 64, so he first thought of a "detailed townscape". As Usui had decided on a theme he drew rough sketches of a "villa on a plateau" and a "port town". Usui also wanted to make a specification sheet on a computer, but Koizumi ended up crafting the game's setting out of clay in order to verbally express it better, which would eventually be Isle Delfino.

ClayIsleDelfino.jpg

A lot of discussions were held with the developers about the game's resort setting, so they studied photo books of them. Some of the staff had even visited resorts in South-eastern Asia. When designing the areas, they ended up being four times the size of those seen in Super Mario 64 due to the GameCube's expanded hardware. In order to further express the resort setting, Koizumi wanted to visualize Mario jump off the height of a three-story building while still emphasizing the expression unique to the game, so they could both match.

Yoshiaki Koizumi mentioned that the game was originally going to be based around disaster recovery[4], where Shine Sprite collection was not originally a main objective; this ties into unused dialogue trees involving a Mayor asking Mario for help dealing with crises in Delfino Plaza.

(Source: https://www.nintendo.co.jp/nom/0208/sms_inte/index.html Developer Interview)

2001

May

Pre-Reveal

Reports of a "new Super Mario game" dates back to a press event in May 2001, when Shigeru Miyamato announced there would be a new 3D entry in the Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda series at the then-forthcoming Nintendo Spaceworld 2001. He also wanted to get the Super Mario franchise appeal to a "very wide range of ages", and slowly change his design over time, because he thought he it was "little too much to a strictly younger age".

July

Spaceworld 2001

Hmmm...
To do:
Analyse the maps
IGN's recording
GamerWeb's recording

Super Mario Sunshine was officially revealed at the Nintendo SpaceWorld event in July 2001, with a release for the summer of next year. There are numerous changes between this reveal trailer and the final release despite it being a year apart. Interestingly, the music that accompanies the trailer remains in the game's data, though lacking the iconic Super Mario Bros. intro.

Differences include:

  • Presence of a Hinokuri enemy in a city that is presumably an early Delfino Plaza and a town that is presumably an early Bianco Hills. The enemy's model still exists in the final game's data albeit unused.
  • In close proximity to Hinokuri in various scenes are small, brown creatures that appear to resemble it. Although in most scenes they are too blurry to make out any finer details, in one shot they are shown to have mushroom-shaped bodies and are covered in green spots. What appears to be Strollin' Stus can also be seen in the background of the scene where Mario stands in the shade of a tree; one to the left of Mario's head and another walking down the path in the background. It closely resembles its final design but may have differed in ways that cannot be inferred from the blurriness of the trailer. It may be possible that the Strollin' Stus have striped pants and a brighter body.
  • A rather early rainbow goop texture is present. Likely an early version of the normal goop.
  • The texture for the water isn't as realistic.
  • The trailer uses the unused sky from the Test Level's files.
  • The Piantas have extremely crude models with higher-quality textures.
  • Water Barrels are shown here to have a more realistic texture.
  • There is an unused brunette human girl. Roaming human characters wouldn't be properly implemented until Super Mario Odyssey. In an interview with Yoshiaki Koizumi for Super Mario Odyssey, he said "Indeed, there is a similar discussion before. It was planned to include a human in "Super Mario Sunshine". [...] Even though we nearly attempted during Super Mario Sunshine's development, when we discussed it, we made characters deformed from people, as we came to the conclusion that we'll stop making realistic-body humans".
  • This build lacks dynamic shadows.
  • The unused ice cream cart and soccer ball can be seen.
  • Early HUD, with a counter for Sol Coins on the bottom-left and water counter on the top-right. Sol Coins are referenced in a line of unused dialogue in some copies of the final game. The water counter is in the shape of a sun instead of FLUDD.
  • Strangely, at 0:30 FLUDD seems to have no nozzle. This coincides with the fact that Mario lacks water in this scene.
  • FLUDD has a slimmer design in this build.


(Koizumi Interview: Famitsu)

Unknown/Inbetween Builds

Pre-Spaceworld 2001?

SMSearlyriccoscreen.png

Although this screenshot is used in-game as part of a texture map for Eely-Mouth's eyes, it is of an early version of Super Mario Sunshine. The patina roofed "Twin Towers" in the background are those of the early Delfino Plaza from the Spaceworld 2001 trailer. This and the lack of a HUD suggest the image is a screenshot from around the time of the Spaceworld 2001 build.

2002

February

The following images are from another build. Since the skinny FLUDD model in addition to the unused sky from the Spaceworld 2001 trailer build and the Life Meter from the E3 2002 trailer build are both present, this suggests that this version is in between those two versions.

Bianco Hills

Bianco Hills had a vastly different level layout, graffiti texture, and graffiti map. Unlike Bianco Hills from the Spaceworld 2001 trailer above, this iteration is somewhat similar to the E3 2002 and final version designs.

  • The palm trees had a thinner design.
  • The Piranhabons are not covered in goop, have black lips, and have mostly black variants of Petey Piranha's head petals.
  • The "bridge" or path to the Big Windmill is a 90 degree cliff.
  • The small Piranha Plants are not covered in goop and there seems to be washable goop on the water.
  • The Pokeys have white flowers and there are unused reddish-brown Pokeys. Interestingly, Super Mario Galaxy has a red Pokey that is mobile.
  • The small windmills are birdhouses with yellow and red turbines, and with pyramid bases.
  • The buildings have different designs and textures.
  • The square platforms have green leaves at the sides with four yellow beehive-like cones at the bottom.

Ricco Harbor

Ricco Harbor is very similar to the final build, save for a few key differences.

  • Gooper Blooper is bluish-grey and has yellow eyes. He is also on the girders rather on the helipad or in the marketplace.
  • There is some vertical grating near downtown's vertical lift crane. The crane's cargo lift is solid metal with no grating.
  • The red metallic grating structure next to the vertical lift crane except with a flipping panel and there is an early horizontal lift crane with a solid cargo lift.
  • The drydocks and warehouse seem to be not present, in addition to the crane cargo ship being positioned more forward than in the final.
  • The early graffiti texture and map is seen once again.
  • The main boat is oriented in another direction

April

NGC Magazine Issue 066 Coverage

A clip of Super Mario Sunshine was exclusively presented to Mark of NGC Magazine in February 2002 from Shigeru Miyamato. Mark drew some sketches based on what he saw in the trailer;

(NGC Issue 066 - April 2002: https://archive.org/details/NGC-066-2002-04/page/n15/mode/2up)

Spring?

Japanese Commercial

SMS Early pinna park.png

An early version of Pinna Park can be seen in Japanese commercials. The carousel is purple and pink, and the axis of the ferris wheel is orange with a big smiley face in the middle in addition to having a completely different design. The rail for the roller coaster is also differing in design and is yellow instead of pink. The Pianta tree has an alcove or cave, suggesting it would have been an entry/exit to another part of the level. Mecha Bowser is in the middle of the map rather than further back slightly. The prototype of the carousel can be seen on the reflection of Shadow Mario during the Mecha Bowser cutscenes. The unused cloud layer is also present in this build.

May

Manual

The game's manual contains screenshots for what appears to be the E3 2002 Demo build; however, there are differences:

E3 2002

Trailer

The trailer at E3 resembles the final game more closely; however, there are still numerous differences between the final product.

  • Sound effects seem to be partially implemented and are obviously absent at various points.
  • The title's logo is colored differently and lacks a Shine Sprite.
  • The life counter HUD at the top-right is different, notably being numeric rather than using wedges. The HP number pulsates like the final, and changes speed based on Mario's HP. It also always stays on the screen, even when Mario's HP is full.
  • The pipe that leads to Sirena Beach is green instead of red and lacks a pineapple.
  • A Stackin' Stu is just struttin' about in Delfino Plaza. Additionally, it chases Mario instead of ignoring him.
  • Sirena Beach's electric goop is present at Gelato Beach which resembles the test enemy, Kug. The unused goop map was leftover and can be located in Sirena Beach's pollution folder. This goop also does not shock Mario upon contact.
  • Early platforms from the February 2002 images can be seen below Bianco Hills' secret stage entrance.
  • Bianco Hills' small windmills are birdhouses with yellow and red turbines and no pyramid bases.
  • Moving orange blocks in the water at Ricco Harbor. These blocks are an unused variant of 'Normal Blocks' that were leftover and can still be located in the game's files.
  • Glooper Blooper is a dark bluish-grey.
  • The Boos in Hotel Delfino show a different design than Boos in the final release.
  • Bianco Hills' second secret stage was going to feature metal bars which are the path of the red and blue platforms.
  • Piranhabons are not covered in graffiti and have black lips. They also bounce as an addition to the final version only rolling.
  • When sliding in goop, a different sound effect plays.
  • The Polluted Piranha in Delfino Plaza uses a different idling animation where he twists his head with his mouth open.
Demo

The demo is shown at 8:39 to end. It appears the demo is very similar to demo that was playable at stores, with a few differences.

The demo featured the secret stage from "The Secret of Casino Delfino", and Mario had access to FLUDD during it in addition to the background being different. The store demo has the secret stage from Bianco Hills instead.

Screenshots

Delfino Plaza

Notable differences between E3 2002 Delfino Plaza and final:

  • Yoshi is green.
  • The market is completely different.
  • Strollin' Stus wandered around Delfino Plaza.

Bianco Hills

Notable differences between E3 2002 Bianco Hills and final:

  • The lake section of the map is vastly different.
  • Windmills and elevated platforms were of different designs.
  • Piranhabons were darker with black lips and petals.
  • The Polluted Piranha's goop pattern is of a different design.

Ricco Harbor

Gelato Beach

Notable differences between E3 2002 Gelato Beach and final:

  • There are pillars around the Sand Bird tower.
  • The underside of the mirrors have slightly bugged textures.

Delfino Airstrip

Delfino Airstrip

(Source: IGN)

Best Buy Preview CD

A Best Buy promotional preview CD features screenshots and a commercial that is very similar to the E3 2002 trailer. The CD also features a very similar but altered version of the Spaceworld 2001 trailer theme titled "Sunshine Theme"- albeit with the Super Mario Bros. intro as heard in the original trailer, and an early version of the Delfino Plaza theme titled "Isle Dephino (sic)".

(Source: SuperSonicTailsEas (Discovery), redfuzzydice (video))
Screenshots

These screenshots are bundled on the CD.

  • The "LIFE" meter is of the early red sun design.
  • There's no Blue Coin counter whilst idling, nor are any Blue Coins present in any of the screenshots.
  • Yoshi is green and doesn't have a "JUICE" meter, but Mario always appears to have no water when riding Yoshi. This means Mario wasn't able to use F.L.U.D.D whilst riding Yoshi.
Musical Themes

Early Delfino Plaza Theme

Alternate Spaceworld Theme

Post-E3 2002

Pictures of Mario Sunshine, during or shortly after E3 2002 were shown. Rather interesting things that were rarely seen.

Bianco Hills

Ricco Harbor

Delfino Plaza

June

2002 Demo Disc

  • There are less sound effects than in the final game.
  • A fruit is not needed to hatch Yoshi, thus Yoshi can be ridden green. Additionally, Yoshi can be ridden during the day in Pianta Village.
  • There are 94 Shine Sprites collected while the Grand Pianta Statue is still covered in graffiti and the Sirena Beach Warp Pipe has no pineapple blocking it.
  • When Shadow Mario jumps off the Grand Pianta Statue, there are a few barrels near the fountain and the corridor in the right side of the screen. Additionally, Shadow Mario isn't holding the paintbrush in this scene.
  • The "M" Portal shows Ricco Harbor instead of Bianco Hills.
  • The Police Station door has a blue coin in the entrance that is supposed to be for a secret "non-FLUDDless" level.
  • The "M" graffiti on the wall in Bianco Hills gives a Gold Coin instead of a Blue Coin and there is a different sound effect played when the coin appears.
  • The reflection the water produces when it sprayed on the ground is a different shape and blue.
  • A different boat is in Delfino Plaza and it moves in reverse.
  • The Hover Nozzle box appears during the Gooper Blooper battle.
  • When the Goopy Piranha Plant is sprayed and takes damage, it flashes blue instead of red.
  • In Delfino Plaza, there's triangle graffiti on the right bell tower and on of the left large house.
  • The small dam in Bianco Hills' village is slightly orange while it is natural wooden color in the final version.
  • In Gelato Beach, a pair of three boats can be seen at the water.
  • Isle Delfino in intro seems to be less detailed than in the final version.
  • The angry Pianta in front of the "Wanted" poster is located on the window of the nearby Shine Sprite room.

References