Super Mario Sunshine, GameCube’s 3D platforming classic and controversial follow-up to the N64’s genre-defining Super Mario 64, has officially crashed its way into Nintendo’s online classics library. I swear, between this and Splatoon Raiders, I’ve been cleaning up—and painting the proverbial town—with a downright wild amount of colored goo. It’s become a full-time job.
That said, you’ll need an active NSO subscription to play Sunshine, as well as the Expansion Pack add-on, and of course, a Switch 2. The game is every bit as fun as you might remember, but it isn’t exactly all sunshine (ha!) and rainbows.
Nintendo’s 2002 tropical adventure joins the company of other emulated GameCube titles like The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Chibi-Robo! Plug Into Adventure!, Super Mario Strikers, the original Luigi’s Mansion, Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness and Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, among several others. And yes, these retro titles are in fact emulated and not running natively on Switch 2 hardware, and this introduces an endlessly irksome artifact: Input lag.
I noticed it the second I booted up Sunshine on my Switch 2, and this was even while playing via the official revamped GameCube controller that was wired directly into the Switch 2’s dock. I know this issue isn’t new when it comes to NSO GameCube software or emulation in general; users have been complaining about input lag since the subscription service launched back in June of 2025. Apparently, Nintendo has slowly been addressing the latency via patches, including one for Wind Waker in December of 2025—lag wasn’t completely eliminated but greatly reduced.
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I’ve slowly been able to adjust to the input lag in Super Mario Sunshine on NSO, but admittedly, it’s made returning to this vivid classic more challenging than I’d prefer. And lag isn’t NSO Sunshine’s only drawback, especially when compared to its arguably superior widescreen and slightly remastered Super Mario 3D All-Stars port. The NSO version is stuck in the original 4:3 aspect ratio with borders and it additionally sports lower resolution UI and textures. Plus, you can only play it on Switch 2, and not on a legacy Switch console. To be fair, the All-Stars port of Sunshine seems to have minor input lag as well, for what it’s worth.
I’m sure it’s no coincidence that Nintendo pulled Super Mario 3D All-Stars from both physical and digital shelves in March of 2021. It’s odd that possibly the best version of Super Mario Sunshine, at least in terms of presentation, is now functionally lost, unless you already own it.
I suppose the NSO version is more in line with one-to-one game perseveration, notably lacking the modern enhancements of what’s in All-Stars, but it’s far from the ideal way to play Sunshine. The cutscene quality is rough, man. Truthfully, you’d be better off tracking down an old GameCube (and a CRT) and running it that way for lightning-quick input. Or, if you want widescreen support and better quality cutscenes, you could buy All-Stars on the second-hand market.
As disappointing as the latency situation remains, if you can get past it, Super Mario Sunshine is still very much worth tackling, and you’ve even got save states to help you along the way. I can only hope that over time, Nintendo manages to reduce the lag via updates.
I’d also recommend picking up the new GameCube controller if you’re willing and able, as it provides a pretty authentic retro experience. It’s almost worth it to remember just how tiny that micro d-pad was and always will be, and to feel those chunky analog triggers in action.
