With the not so recent Yoshi's Crafted World Thread that focused if that game was downgraded from the initial reveal trailer, it occurred to me that Nintendo has a pretty good track record of not doing this sort of stuff. Most of the games came out looking more or less exactly the same as they did when they were originally shown. If not a little bit better. Nintendo like to show off games when they are much closer to completion than most other companies, so first party Nintendo games don't ever really have any significant downgrades. Well except in this case.
Mario Sunshine is probobaly the weirdest Mario game and the most underrated. (but that's another topic) However one thing that's really just bizarre is that in nearly all of the games pre release coverage, the game was reported to run at 60FPS but the final game ran at a capped 30FPS and that is really baffling, because the game was running at a rock solid 60 even as far as E3 2002 and playable at the show floor. So this massive downgrade kind of happened last minute with the game releasing only two months later in Japan. I can't think of any other game that had a downgrade like this cutting the games framerate by half, just before it came out. That this happened to a Nintendo game especially a brand new main line Mario game is even more puzzling. Sunshine looked great but there wasn't anything about it that exactly pushed the Gamecube to it's breaking point for it not to be able to reach 60. Heck it was already at 60 at E3. So what gives?
Here is a quote from a Gamespot hands on preview article of Sunshine at E3.
Nintendo as far as i know never acknowledged the downgrade or explained the reason for it. It just came out from nowhere and i'm wondering if anyone here knows what's up.
I believe Giant Bomb has some E3 60FPS footage of the game from their Game Tapes series but i don't have access to it, so i can't post it.
But here is some compilation footage from IGN and even tho this YT video is rendered at 30. The game itself definitely seems to run smoother even here than it does in the final.
Luckily not all is lost as it's possible to force Sunshine to run at 60 on Dolphin through hacks but it's a shame that the final game isn't running at 60.
Unfortunately even with this configuration on Dolphin the game brings with it some unintended bugs when running at 60. Some animation play at twice the speed than intended for example. So it's not perfect.
Mario Sunshine is probobaly the weirdest Mario game and the most underrated. (but that's another topic) However one thing that's really just bizarre is that in nearly all of the games pre release coverage, the game was reported to run at 60FPS but the final game ran at a capped 30FPS and that is really baffling, because the game was running at a rock solid 60 even as far as E3 2002 and playable at the show floor. So this massive downgrade kind of happened last minute with the game releasing only two months later in Japan. I can't think of any other game that had a downgrade like this cutting the games framerate by half, just before it came out. That this happened to a Nintendo game especially a brand new main line Mario game is even more puzzling. Sunshine looked great but there wasn't anything about it that exactly pushed the Gamecube to it's breaking point for it not to be able to reach 60. Heck it was already at 60 at E3. So what gives?
Here is a quote from a Gamespot hands on preview article of Sunshine at E3.
The attention to detail in the gameplay is matched by the graphics. Mario's footsteps can be seen in the goop, and creatures will morph out of the ooze and attack. Mario will become covered in the pollution after sliding around in it on his belly, and when you then jump into one of the water sources it can be seen dissolving into the water. The draw distance for the levels is amazing, and a slight distance blurring effect is instituted to haze objects on the horizon. There's also a nice blurring effect used for the water, and it can be seen in even the smallest drop that shoots from Mario's cannon. The Y button will make the camera center behind Mario, and holding it will allow you to view the levels from a first-person perspective. The camera can be manually adjusted using the C stick. The camera gets stuck behind objects occasionally, but Nintendo has found a unique way to work around it. Even if an object obscures your view of Mario, you'll still be able to see his silhouette. Texturing is the game's biggest issue thus far. While flatly shaded to give the game its Mario aesthetics, the textures that cover each level's border are of a low resolution and stand out against the rest of the game's visual presentation. But in all, Super Mario Sunshine is a visual treat, and it's what you would expect from a Mario game in this generation of consoles. The display is incredibly clean and crisp, and the frame rates are at a rock-solid 60 frames per second no matter how much action is taking place onscreen.
Nintendo as far as i know never acknowledged the downgrade or explained the reason for it. It just came out from nowhere and i'm wondering if anyone here knows what's up.
I believe Giant Bomb has some E3 60FPS footage of the game from their Game Tapes series but i don't have access to it, so i can't post it.
But here is some compilation footage from IGN and even tho this YT video is rendered at 30. The game itself definitely seems to run smoother even here than it does in the final.
Luckily not all is lost as it's possible to force Sunshine to run at 60 on Dolphin through hacks but it's a shame that the final game isn't running at 60.
Unfortunately even with this configuration on Dolphin the game brings with it some unintended bugs when running at 60. Some animation play at twice the speed than intended for example. So it's not perfect.
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