Super Mario Eclipse Is The Sunshine Sequel We Always Wanted

Super Mario Sunshine has never received quite the universal adoration that Super Mario 64 and Galaxy have, but its unique gameplay has earned it a truly dedicated following. Over two decades later, no other Mario game has delivered the same level of challenge and complexity as Sunshine‘s F.L.U.D.D. mechanics. Nonetheless, there’s now a perfect follow-up for fans.

While the world waits for a follow-up to Super Mario Odyssey, the Mario community has been picking up Nintendo’s slack. One of the most notable projects is Super Mario Eclipse, an ambitious successor to Super Mario Sunshine that recently received a major update.

Mario in the Super Mario 64 castle in Super Mario Eclipse

The team behind Super Mario Eclipse revealed the 1.1 version update release in a trailer on YouTube, showcasing Mario, Luigi, and Ill Piantissimo running and jumping around a series of custom levels and modified areas. The update focuses on refining the content in the original release, promising “many quality of life improvements, visual upgrades, and overall polish.”

Super Mario Eclipse is essentially a fan-made expansion for Super Mario Sunshine, adding 120 new shines, more playable characters, an expanded move set, hand-animated cutscenes and more. To play it, you’ll need to have a ripped copy of Super Mario Sunshine, but that shouldn’t be too inconvenient for most fans of the original (sorry, Super Mario 3D All-Stars players).

I’ve always favored the more open 3D Mario games, and I was a huge fan of Nintendo returning to the concept with the scope of Super Mario Odyssey. At the same time, Odyssey rarely requires mastery of its fascinating movement tech, preferring to let players make challenges for themselves while keeping the primary gameplay objectives simple. Getting to play more Sunshine is the perfect alternative, as Eclipse features plenty of legitimate trials.

Nintendo isn’t a stranger to the Eclipse approach itself, revisiting both Super Mario 64 and Super Mario 3D World to add content years later with Super Mario 64 DS and Bowser’s Fury. Still, it seems unlikely that Sunshine will be the official recipient of anything comparable, especially when a more direct follow-up to Super Mario Odyssey is likely next in line.

With a mod as interesting as Super Mario Eclipse, however, there isn’t much need for an official Nintendo release. Hopefully, the team behind the Super Mario Sunshine project will continue to either update it or work on new Mario releases in the future, as they’ve certainly proven their aptitude in the field.