Super Mario Sunshine is now available on Switch 2 through Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack, Nintendo announced today. The GameCube classic joins the Nintendo Classics library as the newest addition to the service’s GameCube lineup, and it is included at no extra cost beyond the subscription. The announcement was posted on Nintendo’s official news page.
The 2002 platformer sends Mario, Princess Peach, and an entourage of Toads to the sun-drenched resort island of Isle Delfino for a holiday that quickly goes wrong. The island is covered in graffiti, the locals blame Mario, and the group has to recover the island’s vanished energy source, the Shine Sprites, to clear his name. Mario sprays his way through the island with FLUDD, the water pack on his back, which can blast enemies, wash away the mess, and launch him into the air with powerful streams of water.
GameCube games in the Nintendo Classics line are available only to Expansion Pack subscribers who own a Switch 2 system; the standard Nintendo Switch Online tier does not include GameCube titles. The GameCube catalog has been growing steadily since the console’s launch, alongside Game Boy Advance, Nintendo 64, and Virtual Boy titles, and it featured prominently in our Nintendo Switch 2 Summer 2026 Lineup.
Sunshine was Mario’s first original 3D adventure since Super Mario 64, and it remains one of the most distinctive entries in the series thanks to its island setting and water-based movement. The GameCube game was a divisive release in 2002, with the shift from castle exploration to open resort areas and the emphasis on FLUDD’s water mechanics drawing both praise and criticism, but its influence carried into later 3D Mario games.
The GameCube library on Switch 2 has grown one addition at a time since the console’s launch, and Sunshine joins a catalog that Nintendo has been building out across Game Boy Advance, Nintendo 64, and Virtual Boy alongside it. Per Nintendo’s announcement, Expansion Pack members with a Switch 2 system can access classic titles across all of those systems as well as Super NES, Game Boy, NES, and SEGA Genesis.
Its arrival on the service means Switch 2 owners can now replay it without digging out original hardware or hunting down a GameCube disc, and it gives the subscription another flagship-era title alongside the rest of the retro catalog. The game is listed for the service with no additional purchase price beyond the Expansion Pack membership.
The GameCube library is one of the strongest arguments for the Expansion Pack tier on Switch 2, and it is worth weighing against the hardware itself: our Switch 2 vs Steam Deck comparison breaks down which portable fits which kind of player. For everyone else, Isle Delfino is now a few clicks away from the home screen.
