Mario is Melting: Reader Responses
Got a question for Friday's mailbag? Send it here
October 31, 2001
Hey James,
It was a quite interesting read. Somehow I feel when playing a Miyamoto game, that if I look back and see what people thought it would be like, they're always surprised in some extent.
While your theories are very interesting, and probably roughly true in some of the cases, I'm sure there is more to the game that we'll never figure out before we actually getting our hands on it - the wonder of Miyamoto/Nintendo.
But as I said, quite interesting. Another theory could be that Mario isn't really using the water only for himself. Miyamoto said that he had only shown so much that not too much was given away, and the fact that there seems to be a lot of vegetation (despite heat), could lead you to think that maybe Mario needs to water some things before the sun gets too hot and they dry up?
Time is playing a large role in Nintendo's games these days.
It'll be cool to play, it always is.
- Mick
James: Youre right, even though I think that my guesses were fairly logical ones, I would be surprised if any of them came close to what Shigeru Miyamoto is actually thinking up.
The idea of the plants needing water is an interesting idea, one which many people seem to have been talking about. However, I personally feel that this concept is a little too close to Luigis Mansion. Catching ghosts/watering plants seems a little similar to me. I guess I would like to think that Mario Sunshine is more action-oriented.
I liked your speculation and stuff about Mario Sunshine.
The only thing that I want to give you feedback on is the past Mario 64 stuff.
For one thing no Miyamoto game has EVER had completely the same ideas. The whole "tree warping" idea I don't think makes a lot of sense. I also don't think that you are right on the "water/life meter."
The life system on most Mario games has always been a hit when your small and you die.
Overall good speculation.
Have a nice day (thanks for reading too)
- MJB
James: I agree that Super Mario 64 was quite different to its predecessors, but there is a slight contradiction in your letter here. You say that no Miyamoto game has ever had the same ideas, yet you also mention that the life system on most Mario games has always been a hit when youre small and you die.
Mario 64s life system was not like past Mario games - it utilized a more gradual system for loss of life. So I guess my idea on Mario Sunshines possible life system stems from what was shown in Mario 64.
Hi James Burns,
After reading the mario is melting article, I can tell you are a very profound and great writer. This article expands the reader's curiosity and makes you think "wow! I wonder what Nintendo will think up next." Nintendo truly is trying to be more innovative and creative than the other stick to the violence-stuff developers. Silicon Knights also is innovative with their sanity system, and physcological haunts in Eternal Darkness. With the features of this game, it could be a "Resident Evil first time" all over again. Rare is on the right track, and Retro Studios is doing what Metroid games tell them to.
One more thing, I think you should make State of the Union Vol. 2! Gamecube has gotten more third party support in the last 2 months than it has in all the months before them combined! It will give me more reasons to think of to win console wars with my X-Box zombie and Sony hyped friends. They say PS2 and X-Box will have so- and so games, but I always say "they have that on Gamecube too, so Gamecube is still better(it's got those games and Nintendo and 2nd party Magic to go with it! The Nintendo difference you know.)
Anyways, thanks for listening and don't forget to write back about State of the Union Vol. 2
Four year old fan of N-Sider and Nintendo GameCube,
- Christian Hudspeth
I think you have some very, very good points with Mario Sunshine here. It makes perfect sense. You will also care to notice that every so often there are what appear to be pools of "rainbow". See screenshots around the web. These could indeed be "deceased" creatures, that have melted in the sun, or merely, parts of the world that are melting.
I have written a less in depth depiction of mario sunshine at GameTavern. http://www.gametavern.com/cgi-bin/newspro/fullnews.cgi? newsid1000761651,51212, this shows my account on more of the story side of this. It may not be the mushroom kindom at all, but a kingdom ruled completely by plants. Give it a read and see what you think. Both have intelligent thoughts that make sense. Great Article By the way.
- Adam Grumbo
Thanks for the feature, it was pretty interesting but I thought I would I could tell you one of the things you may have missed.....maybe because it was ign or something...but you didnt mention or the trails of rainbow colours that are all throughout the island
- Chris G
If you look closely at most pics from the video you will notice rainbow spots all over the ground. I was wondering why this factor was not including in your hypothesis of the game. Was it that you didn't notice them, or was it that you had no way to fit them into your ideas? (In the pics you used, four of them contain these rainbow spots.)
- Danchastu
James: I have received many letters about the rainbow spots in Mario Sunshine. I havent included them all here (as there were so many).
There were two reasons why I didnt mention the rainbow areas in the video. Firstly, I felt that other gaming sites had covered the most obvious aspects of the video over and over again. I didnt want to simply tell people what they are viewing, I wanted to try and look at aspects of the video that had not yet been discussed by other gaming media.
In addition, I honestly didnt have any logical explanations for the rainbow areas in the video. I have received some fantastic and unique ideas about the rainbow areas, but I will not post them here as some are simply too long. However, any ideas on Mario Sunshine could perhaps be posted in N-Siders Game Ideas & Theories forum. Ill be sure to read them all.
Hello there!
I'm writing about the Mario Sunshine article. I really enjoyed reading it, and the details you thought of just by analyzing the short clip are interesting. It shows that a lot of thought and work went into that article. The layout, pics, comments... everything is well done.
Anyway, that's all I wanted to say. On the boards, I'm jadjur, and I hope to see you there.
See ya later,
- J.
Hi,
I found the article very interesting, some good interpretations. I was wondering however if you knew that the device on Mario's back is actually a Water Cannon? The European Official Nintendo Magazine mentioned this a few issues ago.
Thanks for your time,
- Matt Bertocchi
Founder/Director
The N-Gaming Network
James: I think its fairly obvious that the device on Marios back is used to spray water. However, I would not be so sure that it is Nintendos official position that the device is a Water Cannon. At least, not yet.
Nintendos various European subsidiaries/distributors have often published information in the past which has been false (or been true - much to the annoyance of everyone at NCL).
What if the water thing went the route of the "P-bar" from Super Mario Bro.'s 3? (The bar that let you fly when it was full.) Since filling up your water tank will most likely not be as easy as just holding down a button and running, perhaps the fuller it is, the higher you can go or something along those lines? Just thought I'd throw in a different possibility.
- Angelos
Hey man, I read your article on Mario Sunshine and the water thingy on his back is not his strength meter. It is used to squirt on flowers so that they grow (sun + water = life) so that Mario can reach higher grounds. Miyamoto said this himself in an interview. I don't know where (cos I read lots of pages), but he did.
- S. Huidekoper
James: That is quite possible, although I didnt see much evidence of flowers in the Space World video. I also think its possible that the water has various uses (to squirt on flowers, to hit buttons/switches from a distance or to attack enemies).
However, I do not think that Shigeru Miyamoto has actually confirmed any details regarding Mario Sunshine at this time.
(I could be wrong there, but I havent heard anything official)
Ed. note: and if Mario is using his backpack to water flowers, we'll all have to start wondering what Miyamoto is growing in his garden. Really.
That's it! Don't forget to send in your questions for friday's mailbag to this address. Send responses to this article to: