Super Mario Sunshine/Delfino Plaza

"Tourists get off the ferries here, in Isle Delfino's largest city. Attractions include the Shine Gate and the Grand Pianta statue."

Trial and sentencing

You land in jail and are taken to court on Isle Delfino to face charges of polluting the once fair Isle Delfino with graffiti and goop similar to what was on the runway. The damage has made the Shine Sprites, guardians of the isle and its source of power, flee. The normally sunny isle is now covered by a gloomy shadow and the natives are in danger of losing their way of life. You are found guilty based on an eye witness sketch and are told you must clean all the graffiti and pollution before you are allowed to leave. Afterwards, FLUDD summarizes the dire situation the isle is in and it looks like, guilty or not, you're going to have to help them out. The next morning the police release you in Delfino Plaza to begin your work. Exiting the level or Failing the level and he will return to Delfino Plaza You are now free to roam the area and almost immediately you'll see a D.E.B.S. Alert at the bottom of the screen telling you that some people have gone missing in Bianco Square. If you need to know where you are then press Z and select Delfino Plaza to get a detailed map.

Head down the street in the direction the police point you, between the beach on the left and the fruit sellers on the right. You'll notice Toadsworth and Peach when you reach the corner, but it's a good idea to talk to the toads and Piantas on the way. FLUDD may also tell you about special moves near places you can use them.

When you talk to Peach she's glad you're alright but is already complaining and wants to go home! You'll then be shown another huge pile of goop in Bianco Square to the right, so get over there.

Raising the Grand Pianta

This puddle of goop is larger than the one on the airstrip and more dangerous because it spawns Goo Bubbles that attack you when you get close. Start cleaning the goop you'll free a toad and a Pianta that were trapped in it; now we know what happened to the people the D.E.B.S. message said disappeared. Spray the large pile of goop awaken another Piranha Plant and spray water into its mouth three times to defeat it as before. You can refill FLUDD in the fountain nearby, and if you run low on health due to the Goo Bubbles then find the stash of Gold coins just off the beach.

When the Piranha Plant is gone the Grand Pianta statue rises up out of the ground, so it looks like you've saved one of Delfino Isle's most important landmarks. But on top of the statue is Shadow Mario, the shadow that Peach noticed earlier, and it's not just Peach who sees him this time. Shadow Mario grabs Peach and runs off with her.

Finding Bianco Hills

Chase Shadow Mario around town and keep spraying water at him. (Press and hold R lightly to spray and run at the same time.) You'll see sparks every time you hit him with the water.

Start by running over to where Peach and Toadsworth were standing, then back toward where the police released you, up the ledge on the left, and circle back to the square to complete the loop. Don't worry if you lose him for a while as he'll kindly stop and wait for you to catch up, plus he stops every so often to paint more graffiti on the ground. Getting up the ledge may be tricky for beginners, so if you have trouble check the Controls page for the different kinds of jumps you can use. When you've sprayed Shadow Mario enough he'll fall over and drop Peach, so just run over to them. Peach is now safe but you need to chase Shadow Mario a bit more.

He'll head back to Bianco Square, paint a mysterious "M" on the platform of the Grand Pianta statue, and disappear into it. Spray the "M" with water and it will glow and become a portal for you to jump into. This is now the portal to Bianco Hills, your first adventure area. At this point you have a few options:

Take some time to explore Delfino Plaza, talk to some locals and get your bearings. This is recommended if it's your first time playing.
You can jump straight into the portal and start completing episodes in Bianco Hills. This is recommended for most players.
Hunt down some Blue coins or secret Shines located around Delfino Plaza. If you've played before and already know where some of these are then you might as well get them now.

Start following either the Bianco Hills page or the Secret Shines page, at least until you've collected enough Shines to trigger the next event here.

Finding Ricco Harbor

After finding your third Shine, you will be able to unlock a new area; Ricco Harbor. To do this, head west from the Bianco Hills portal until you reach a pier covered in black goop. Defeat another Piranha Plant, the difference here is that when you get water into its mouth three times it merely plays dead for a moment and you have to defeat again. The boathouse reappears with an M similar to the one on the Grand Pianta statue.

Spray the portal to activate it and you can now enter Ricco Harbor. You can also go inside the boathouse to trade Blue coins for Shines, see Boathouse for details.

Finding Gelato Beach

After getting five Shines, you'll be shown a big puddle of goop where the lighthouse used to be. To find it, head to the market and follow the beach until you get to the goop. As before, spray the center to get the Piranha Plant to appear. As with the boathouse, you need to defeat it twice before it's gone, then lighthouse is restored and a portal to a new area is revealed. Be a good man and clean off poor little toad before spraying the new portal to activate it. This can now be used at any time to enter Gelato Beach.

In case you were wondering, this is the last time you have to defeat one of these monsters. The portals to the remaining levels open in different and more interesting ways.

When the lighthouse is restored, or at the least soon afterward, the fruit boats start running again. You can ride these to get to certain areas that were unreachable before, see the Secret Shines page for more details.

Finding Pinna Park

After unlocking Pinna Park you will notice 3 mysterious boxes in Delfino Square. These are toolboxes containing new nozzles for FLUDD, but only the Blue one is real for the moment. The other two are holograms and only turn into real nozzles when you complete the events described below.

After getting ten Shines, D.E.B.S. warns you that Princess Peach has been kidnapped again. The culprit was last seen heading west. Also, a "turtle" was seen in the western docks, so head there to investigate.

A cutscene starts when you get there. Shadow Mario has carried Peach onto his "turtle", actually a sub. He sticks his tongue out at you and takes off in the sub, heading for Pinna Island and taking Peach with him.

When the cutscene is over, you're on top of an "exhaust port" (actually a cannon) and D.E.B.S. tells you that it's just been repaired. The Pinna Park level is now open; just jump into the cannon to be launched over the sea and land on the Pinna Island beach.

The Return Of The Yoshis

After completing Episode 4 of Pinna Park (The Wilted Sunflowers) you will have to chase down Shadow Mario in Delfino Plaza. He starts near the fountain in Bianco Square (where the replacement nozzles are) so go find him and do the usual runny, jumpy chase thing. He goes up to the rooftops now so you need to master various jumps to keep up with him. This time, when you catch him, instead of giving you a Shine he'll drop the Yoshi Egg that he was carrying. You'll notice a thought bubble coming out of the egg, with a picture of a fruit in it. Feed the egg one of these fruit to hatch the Yoshi from within.

When Yoshi hatches, jump onto its back and go for a ride. To see how to control Yoshi, have a look at the Controls page. Riding Yoshi will allow you to discover certain areas of the game that were unreachable before. Anywhere that you see an entrance that is blocked by wobbly yellow jelly, just get Yoshi to spit some juice on to it, to dissolve it.

Finding Sirena Beach

You may have noticed a pineapple sticking out of a pipe on the roof of one of the hotels. There's nothing you can do with it until you get Yoshi, but Yoshi just happens to like fruit. So just get Yoshi up to the roof and have him eat the pineapple to open the pipe. Now you just have to jump in to get to Sirena Beach.

Finding Noki Bay

When you've collected 20 Shines, you will be shown that a strange ray of light has appeared in Delfino Plaza, near the Shine Gate. If you go there, stand in the ray of light and then look up at the sun (use the Y button, Mario Cam), then you will be transported to Noki Bay. (If you've played Mario 64 then you will already know this trick since it was used to enter the Tower of the Wing Cap.)

Unlocking The Turbo Nozzle

At 25 Shines, and after getting Yoshi, Shadow Mario will turn up in Delfino Plaza again, this time holding a FLUDD nozzle. Find him near the boathouse and chase him around like normal, spraying him when you can, and when he falls over he'll hand over the Turbo Nozzle! Unlocking this item does not open any new levels, but it does allow you get to hidden Shine (shown you in the little intro before the chase) and a Blue coin, and enter one of the mini-levels in Delfino Plaza. The grey box near the Pianta statue becomes solid and you can switch to the Turbo Nozzle by breaking it open. Switch beck to the Hover Nozzle by breaking the blue box.

Unlocking The Rocket Nozzle

At 30 Shines, and after unlocking the Turbo nozzle, Shadow Mario will pop up in Delfino Sqaure yet again, and this time he's holding the final FLUDD upgrade: the Rocket Nozzle. Head to the rooftops near the lighthouse (portal to Gelato Beach) to find Shadow Mario and start the chase. When you beat him, he'll hand over the nozzle. Now the red box in Bianco Square becomes solid and can get the Rocket nozzle from it at any time.

Finding Pianta Village

Once you've obtained the Rocket Nozzle you'll be able to find the entrance to Pianta Village. The entrance is a red pipe on the top of the Shine Gate in harbour area of Delfino Plaza (if you don't know by now, the Shine Gate is the huge white and yellow arch with a large sludge-covered Shine in the top of it. Use the Rocket Nozzle to launch yourself on to the hills behind the Shine Gate. Then stand on the grass directly behind the Shine Gate and launch up on to the top of it. The red pipe here takes you to Pianta Village.

Entering Corona Mountain

Once you have beaten all of the Shadow Mario chases (which is always chapter seven) in every level, the plaza will be flooded. The natives are all on rooftops to stay dry and the only level that's open is Sirena Beach. (Pianta Village is open in theory but without a Rocket Nozzle you can't reach it.) The intro scene showed Shadow Mario heading behind the Shine gate. Follow him there and he leads you into a cave, which is the entrance to Corona Mountain. Note, you don't actually have to complete the level to restore the plaza to normal. Just exit the level to come back later when you're ready.

Getting to 120 Shines

You can get into Corona Mountain with only 50 Shines, seven for each of the seven levels and one for the airstrip. With the Shine you get for the final boss that means you can complete the game with only 51 Shines, which is a long way from the 120 possible. Here are some tips on getting all 120.

The game helps you keep track of the Shines you've gotten. But the Delfino Plaza Shines are a different story so keep notes on which ones you've done. There are a total of 40, but 24 of them are for turning in Blue coins and one is for defeating the final boss, so the actual number is 15.
The same goes double for the Blue coins. You can tell how many Blue coins you've gotten in each area by hovering over its dot on the map, but you can get stuck trying to figure out which one of the 30 in a level you missed, especially since some only appear in one episode. Hunting for a missing Blue coin can mean repeating most of the episodes of a level. It may be better to hold off on turning in the coins until the end so know how many you've collected and to help track the number of Delfino Plaza Shines you've gotten.
The most difficult Shines are the secret level replays, especially the ones where you only get one minute to collect the coins. Try to get these sooner rather than later since if you get stuck then it will be on one of these.
One or two of the Secret Shines are in very obscure places, so do try to find them on your own, but there's no shame in looking some of them up in a guide like this one.
When you first get into Corona Mountain, there's no point in fighting the final boss because you won't have the 119 other Shines yet. So just collect the Blue coins there, exit, get to 119, then return and fight the boss.

Here are some tallies to help you keep track of your progress. There are 240 Blue coins total, 30 each in the seven normal levels, 20 in Delfino Plaza, and 10 in Corona Mountain. (One of the Delfino Plaza coins is actually in the Airstrip and you can't get it until after Corona Mountain.)

As mentioned above, there are 40 Shines for Delfino Plaza, but the 100 coin Shine is counted separately so the total is 41. The airstrip has 2 Shines. Each of the normal levels has a Shine for each episode, plus two secret Shines and a 100 coin Shine, making 11 each or 77. So the total is 41+2+77=120.