10 Best Video Game Cities You Must Explore

There is a lot of talk this game is getting a remaster and it is long, long overdue. Super Mario Sunshine was a Nintendo GameCube masterstroke that honestly does not get talked about enough. Mario returned with his usual acrobatic skills but this time he had the addition of F.L.U.D.D, a water powered jet pack (and rocket when the need arose) to help him reach heights he never had before. But what else made this game truly special was the setting of Delfino Plaza.

Mario, Princess Peach and a host of Toads (sorry Luigi your invite must have got lost) arrive on the island of Delfino for a holiday. However, Mario is mistaken for an evil figure who is destroying the islands natural beauty with a gooey paint that spawns terrifying monsters. Mario is tasked with cleaning the Island and in doing so seeks to clear his name. He starts with Delfino Plaza, the apparent capital of the Island.

Not unlike Princess Peaches Castle which we get to explore in Mario 64, Delfino Plaza provides a hub from which Mario can travel to the other game worlds via unlockable portals. Deflino Plaza itself is a treasure trove of exploration with hidden shine sprites to discover, challenging hidden levels to play (that damned pinball level) and not to mention fruit to feed your Yoshi to make him different colours. All this while also providing you a lived in city complete with moving canal boats, a bustling market and a tremendous soundtrack with which to perfect your jumps and the use of the F.L.U.D.D mechanic as you bounce from building to building (and off peoples head, damn that was a satisfying noise).

While this city provides many heartwarming memories for me and I am hyped for the remaster, one painful memory always comes up. In the city you can collect 100 gold coins to get an extra shine sprite, a common Mario trait when it comes to the levels. On my third or fourth playthrough I attempted to do this task much earlier on only to forget that the shine sprite once unlocked goes to the highest point in the city which was unreachable without F.L.U.D.D's third attachment that I had no unlocked yet. Heartbreaking.