If you had any doubts regarding Super Mario Sunshine’s quality, graphically or otherwise, don’t. Thanks to the extremely tight controls, excellent interactivity bubbling within the living environment, and the inspired visuals, the entire experience of controlling most everyone’s favorite plumber is looking to not only match the previous installation, but beat it. Whether you’re hovering through the air through your water canyon, sliding head first down a river of mud, or springing off multiple elastic ropes, Mario Sunshine is plain out fun.

Though the levels shown off at E3 contain many different facets of gameplay, puzzle solving, and hurdles, the one thing that binds Sunshine together is definitely the controls, I cannot stress this enough. The button assignment is intuitive, as you’ll find yourself pulling off advanced moves within minutes. The left control stick controls Mario’s movement, the C-stick allows you to swing the camera around the plumber. The camera views of old are back, as you can view the action slightly over his shoulder, from a more isometric view from above, or from a (stationary) first person view. As far as face buttons go, A allows you to jump, B is slide (attack), X changes the functions for your nozzle (more on that later), and Y enters the first person view mode. The L trigger allows for a quick side step (and a ground pound when in mid air), the R trigger allows you to spray water from the pump (the distance the water sprays varies depending on the amount of pressure you put on the trigger), and the Z button is not used.

Everything is perfectly intuitive, and thanks to the lack of restrictions, Mario is a joy to play. You can jump off multiple walls, hover in the air with the help of your water tank, easily walk over rubbery tightropes, slide down oily streets, slide down walls to break your fall, and since it’s all so easy to do, this allowed Nintendo to over a plethora of options to fool around within the environments. The main function when it comes to Super Mario Sunshine is definitely the water pump. While sliding into some enemies will damage them, the water that explodes from your nozzle will most often finish off any enemy, through the means of blowing it away, filling an opponent’s mouth so full with water that it explodes, or otherwise. As you probably know by now, you can switch functions when it comes to your water cannon, and (at least) turn it into a jet pack of sorts. This allows you to hover for long periods of time, as your pack can hold a lot of water at a time (which is refilled by either jumping into bodies of water, or by grabbing water bottles that defeated enemies often leave behind). The gameplay is airtight, and it easily increases the amount of fun the title offers you right from the start.

By now you’ve also seen updated screenshots, and perhaps video of Super Mario Sunshine. While the game looks simplistic in many senses, there’s an underlying understanding as to why that is. There is definitely nothing wrong with a technically impressive game, but after you dash around the many settings offered, you get a sense that you don’t need bump mapped, pixel shaded, whatever. I’m unsure if the fun within the gameplay is emphasized because of the lack of hyper-next generation graphical prowess, or if the beautiful playability of the platformer completely overshadows (or blends in with) the visuals, but for whatever reason, it just doesn’t seem to matter when you have the controller in your hands.

But I don’t want to sound like the game is graphically unimpressive, because that’s definitely not the case. The most noticeable visual definitions are definitely the unlimited draw distance (which merges greatly with the depth of field effect used), and the outstanding reflections of the surrounding environment glazed over lakes and oceans. There are multiple distortions that I’ve witnessed, be it while underwater, or simply just from the clear liquids splashing around you. One ingenious effect used, that I’m sure many have missed, is the use of the shadow. If a wall or any other object is blocking your view of Mario, a dark silhouette appears. This means that you’re able to see where you’re going and what direction you’re facing, and even any enemies close by are visually aided with a question mark.

So what is the purpose of the game? As we know, Mario has been framed for a (light) crime he didn’t commit while on vacation, and he has to get to the bottom of it. All six levels that were playable on the show floor seemed to be huge, different sections of the island. Don’t get the impression that we’re in for another Luigi’s Mansion when it comes to the size and scale of the game, because Super Mario Sunshine’s levels are huge. I’d hazard a guess that the average environment of each level is at least three times as large as the first area in Mario 64. Whether or not the game will be broken into levels is yet to be known, but judging from the Zelda-esque fly by’s of the levels before you begin to play, they probably will be divided into different sections. As there were no clear objectives listed within the menu screen or otherwise, I found myself just wandering around the environments exploring. Should you defeat a key enemy, new sections often open up. In one instance, a pit of mud was constantly spitting out large, mud covered piranha plant heads. If you were to spray the pit with your water, a giant (mud covered) piranha plant emerges, continually spitting out hazardous piranha heads, which act as damaging boulders. Once you defeat the towering enemy, the ground you’re standing on is manipulated, and rises up, allowing you to reach a previously unattainable platform.

There’s so much to talk about regarding Super Mario Sunshine, the swimming, the new and classic enemies, there are so many details, and you will hear about them from us as we update further. But the one thing you need to know is that Sunshine is fun as hell. It’s easy to control, fun to play, nice to watch, it’s Mario. And that’s really all you need to know.