Super Mario Eclipse is a massive fan ROM hack of Super Mario Sunshine created with one goal in mind: to add in the cut content that Nintendo couldn't with the original.
Features include more original levels, new story elements, three playable characters, twice the Shine Sprites (and blue coins) to collect, open world gameplay, remixed bosses, and quality-of-life improvements.
This ROM hack contains the following tropes:
- Adaptational Badass:
- Yoshi is much more reliable in this hack compared to the vanilla game. He no longer needs a specific fruit to hatch.note Instead, he will instantly hatch upon approaching the egg and will be in his normal green color. Green Yoshi cannot spit juice but he has the added perk of being waterproof. Eating a fruit will give Yoshi a color like in the vanilla game; running out of juice will revert him back to green.
- Mario is more agile compared to the vanilla game, as he can now backflip and long jump like in other 3D Mario games.
- In his Promoted to Playable form, Il Piantissimo is much more mobile than he was in Sunshine, with faster run speed and a Double Jump.
- Adaptational Explanation: This hack expands on the vanilla game's stinger that you see if you beat it without collecting all 120 Shines: Il Piantissimo is meditating on Gelato Beach when he hears the Magic Paintbrush land nearby. He goes to investigate it as he does in Sunshine proper, then picks it up and throws it, leading it to shatter against the ground.
- Anti-Frustration Features:
- Cutscenes can now be skipped, unlike the vanilla game.
- An option for infinite lives is available for the player in the options menu.
- The game autosaves when collecting blue coins and Shine Sprites.
- Since the Shine Sprite map button is not available anymore, you can check a level's Shine Sprite and blue coin progress on the pause menu.
- Most Shine Sprites will no longer kick you out of the stage upon collection, including red coin and 100 coin Shines. Shine Sprites that use a unique Episode layout or are in a Secret Course will instead take the player back to the Episode Select screen.
- A "Reset Area" option is added to the pause screen that allows you to return to the Episode Select screen without having to leave and reenter the stage.
- Ascended Extra: The missile power ups only used for Episodes 1 & 8 of Pinna Park get much more use here.
- Ascended Fridge Horror: The implications of Pianta Village being built over a giant chasm are shown to us in the Pianta Pit. While Mario has no problem leaving thanks to his jumping, Piantas that have fallen down here can't escape, and are presumably stuck there forever.
- Casino Park: Spettro Casino is a Macro Zone set atop a casino table in Hotel Delfino's casino.
- Co-Op Multiplayer: A two-player version of Eclipse is available; the game plays the same but with the addition of Shadow Mario to the roster, so that there can be a second character to use before the others are unlocked.
- Cool Shades: Not only do all of the mafia Piantas wear sunglasses, they even give the player characters a pair when inducting them into the organization.
- Cyberspace: Vaporwave takes place in a cyber world inside an old arcade machine.
- Damn You, Muscle Memory!: The Z Button now allows Mario to long jump and backflip instead of bringing up the map.
- Defeat Means Friendship: After completing all of Il Piantissimo's races, a cutscene plays where he muses on his losses to Mario, then imagines the fun he could have if he was allied with the plumber instead. Noticing Mario sleeping nearby, he goes over and shakes his hand, joining him as an ally from then on.
- Defeat Means Playable: In order to unlock Il Piantissimo as a playable character, you have to win his four races (the three from the vanilla game in Gelato Beach, Noki Bay, and Pianta Village, plus the new fourth one on Lighthouse Island). After the fourth, a cutscene plays where he decides to befriend Mario.
- Developer's Foresight: Because the Fire Shrine is permanently replaced with Corona Mountain after Delfino Plaza floods, the blue coins collected in the Fire Shrine count for the same ones in Corona Mountain, ensuring that no blue coin is permanently missed.
- Disc-One Final Boss: Bowser's "hot tub" fight, which served as the Final Boss of the original version of Sunshine, is demoted due to the expanded content. Once you have gathered the rest of the 239 Shine Sprites, a new boss fight of Bowser will unlock.
- Distaff Counterpart: La Nokissia is a female version of Il Piantissimo. She dresses in a Noki costume and challenges the player to a race in Red Lily City.
- Double Jump:
- The Hover Nozzle has a new function called the Hover Burst. If you press the jump button shortly after beginning to hover with the nozzle, it instead shoots out a burst of water that launches you upward.
- Il Piantissimo has a more traditional double jump that redirects his momentum in the direction you're pointing the Control Stick, done by pressing jump in midair. It usually comes out as a somersault, but doing a spin before pressing jump also lets it be executed as a Spin Jump.
- Dream Land: Mario's Dream takes place in one, with the level being accessed by napping on a deck chair.
- Foreshadowing: When visiting the Fire Shrine, a local Pianta explains how Shine Sprites are born here and they are expecting the birth of the 240th soon. When Mario is about to face the true final boss, the Pianta warns Mario that Bowser is trying to ensure the 240th Shine Sprite and all Shine Sprites that succeed it won't be born.
- Hub Level: A second hub level is unlocked for the new levels after the fight with Bowser in the form of Daisy Cruiser.
- Hub Under Attack: The new final boss takes place in a destroyed Delfino Plaza.
- Justified Tutorial: The game starts out with a tutorial to fill in players on some of the new mechanics added into the game.
- Kill It with Water: Averted with Yoshi when he's in his normal green color, where he can actually swim in water. Played straight if he eats a fruit though, as he'll dissolve in deep water just like the original game.
- The Lost Woods: Pianta Pit is full of Piantas who fell from Pianta Village.
- Macro Zone: Spettro Casino has the player characters at tiny size on a floating table full of tabletop games, with the heroes platforming along houses of cards, stacks of casino chips, a Jenga tower, and Chess pieces.
- The Mafia: Mario encounters mafia Piantas in Hotel Lacrima, as a nod to Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. In the first mission he sneaks into their arena and defeats all of the Stus they throw at him, earning their respect; from then on, he's accepted into the mafia and given free rein of Hotel Lacrima.
- Metropolis Level: Red Lily City is set in a sprawling city that encompasses a tall island.
- Mythology Gag:
- The new Isle Deflino levels are based on the ones that were cut for time, along with the planned train station.
- The new hub level is based on Daisy Cruiser, followed by a regular one based on Peach Beach.
- Many of the Peach Castle levels are based on stages from the beta versions of Sunshine.
- Nostalgia Level:
- Many of the new secret levels have inspirations from past Mario games. In particular, Yoshi Village's secret level takes place in a 2D camera fixed level that pays homage to the first four 2D Mario games.
- Peach's Castle is fully explorable in the post game and the layout is the same as in Super Mario 64.
- Among the post game levels are the Secret Aquarium, Sunshine Isles, The Secret of Battle Fort, Starshine Beach Galaxy, and Super Galaxy.
- Not His Sled: Mario has to beat Shadow Mario in all of the Isle Delfino levels, including the new ones, to unlock Corona Mountain.
- Palette Swap: In the co-op version of the game, Shadow Mario is present as a playable character. Functionally, he's identical to normal Mario, just with different textures and voicelines.
- Promoted to Playable: Il Piantissimo can now be unlocked as a playable character after all of his races are completed. He has much greater mobility in exchange for not having FLUDD, so he can be very useful. Luigi is also unlocked after beating Bowser for the first time.
- Redemption Promotion: Downplayed as he was merely a bit boisterous as opposed to being evil, but Il Piantissimo becomes much more capable once he joins Mario. As an NPC, his mobility is identical to Mario's without FLUDD; as a playable character, he runs much faster and has a Double Jump.
- Replay Mode: The True Final Boss can be refought by going to the top of the third floor of Peach's Castle, where Bowser in the Sky is in Super Mario 64.
- Sanity Slippage: Many of the Piantas in the Pianta Pit have gone insane from being stuck there. Some of them run back and forth, instantly chucking Mario whenever he is near for no reason.
- Shout-Out:
- On the shores of Lighthouse Beach, you can find a certain yellow sponge and pink starfish. Spraying them will reveal a blue coin.
- Hotel Lacrima Episode 8 is one big Shout-Out to the pizza delivery missions in Spider-Man 2 (Activision), complete with the same music.
- One of the levels unlocked after 100% completion is based on Super Monkey Ball 2.
- Slippy-Slidey Ice World: Lancia Fredda Peaks takes place in an icy tundra.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: In Red Lily City, you encounter La Nokissia, an arrogant sportswoman who loves footracing and wears a costume based on a prominent species of Isle Delfino (the Noki), very similarly to Il Piantissimo, an arrogant sportsman who loves footracing and wears a costume based on a prominent species of Isle Delfino (the Piantas). Justified in that by the time you meet La Nokissia, Il Piantissimo is on your side.
- True Final Boss: Once Mario has collected 239 Shine Sprites, a new final boss fight with Bowser in his clown car will unlock once the player leaves Delfino Plaza and returns.