You Should Be Modding: Super Mario Sunshine Eclipse

Super Mario Sunshine, originally released in 2004 for Nintendo GameCube, is a Summertime staple for Mario fans everywhere. Late last year, a mod called Super Mario Eclipse released that serves as an expanded re-imagining of Sunshine, offering additional stages on & off Isle Delfino and the ability to walk and swim between locales.

Combined with streamlined progression features including most Blue Coins in most missions and most Shine Sprites being collectable without needing to restart the level or be booted to the hub, and Eclipse becomes perhaps the definitive Sunshine experience. The added content on top of it, as well as enhanced Fludd nozzle moves and the option to restore the Long Jump originally cut from Sunshine, make it one of the most exhaustive Mario mods of all time.

Earlier this week, Super Mario Eclipse finally received the last hotfix for its v1.1 update. Numerous balancing issues from the original release of Eclipse have been fixed, including 60 FPS-induced bugs and tweaks to added content to make it more fair. Other improvements also iron out new features added to Eclipse, like the two new playable characters (Luigi and El Piantissimo.) 

Perhaps the most important improvement of all, though, is that Super Mario Eclipse is now fully playable on original hardware, although you'll need a Nintendo Wii rather than a Nintendo GameCube to pull it off. The latest Super Mario Eclipse update, combined with the latest version of the Nintendont GameCube game loader, will allow Eclipse to be fully enjoyed on Wii consoles with a connected GameCube controller.

While this was technically feasible prior, the custom music essential to the enjoyment of additional content would not load, leaving players pursuing an authentic experience out in the cold. That being fixed now means it's possible to enjoy Mario Eclipse on both Nintendo Wii and any device supporting Dolphin Emulator, with emulation further extending the possibilities to include HD textures, Co-Op, and 21:9 Ultrawide support.

As a major fan of even the original release of Super Mario Sunshine and the Mario series as a whole, I can't recommend Mario Eclipse enough. As a player who already revisited Sunshine once a year for Summertime nostalgia, I can't imagine going back to vanilla Sunshine anymore.