Super Mario Sunshine/Ricco Harbor

Episode 1: Gooper Blooper Breaks Out

Objective: Defeat the boss, Gooper Blooper

When you start the episode you see some cargo boxes on the other side of the level and they seem to be leaking some black goop. This goop now covers a large part of the otherwise crystal clear water.

The first thing to do is to get to the cargo boxes and investigate, but getting there will mean going through a construction-site obstacle course. Actually there is more than route and some of the alternative routes may be faster if you've mastered the moves needed, but if you're new to the game we recommend just following the arrows.

Start by running up the ramp in front of you to a big ship with a cage on its deck. This is partly a tutorial on how to get around on this type of wire mesh so pay attention to what FLUDD tells you here. You'll especially need to know how to operate the doors through the mesh. Inside the case are Bloopers, the main enemy for this level.

When you reach the smokestack turn right and hop onto the moving platform. Then ride it to an green platform with an arrow on it. There are more wire mesh panels here where you can practice what you learned on the ship. You need to get to the orange platform on the other side.

Ride another moving platform to reach two Piantas. One is a Chuckster (see Bianco Hills Episode 5) and will try to throw you, but he needs practice. The one in the captain's hat will tell you to spin a wheel to raise the submarine. Spraying it with FLUDD will do the trick, though it may take a few squirts, and you get a Blue coin when the job is done.

Hop onto the sub. (It's yellow but there are no Beatles living on it.) At the far end you encounter a type of blooper that just jumps up and down in the water. Squirt them to turn them into stepping stones and use them to reach the nearby ledge. The arrow here points up, so hop onto the platform on the right as it's moving up. Be sure not to jump on it as it's moving down unless you want to be dunked in the toxic sludge.

When the platform reaches the top, jump up to another wire mesh and follow the underside of the ramp to the street above. This is a small oceanside village. There is a fountain here which is useful if FLUDD is running low on water. Defeat the Bloopers and get their coins if you're low on health. There is a crate in the middle of the street and you can break it to uncover a manhole cover; this creates a shortcut back to the start if you need it.

In case it's not obvious, there are more arrows pointing the way to where you need to go, the pile of cargo boxes at the end of the street. One of them has something dangling out of it and FLUDD gives you a clue what to do if you need one; grab hold of it with B and pull to see what happens. A giant Blooper burst out of the crates and you must fight it.

Boss: Gooper Blooper:

Start by washing away some of the ink around the creature since you don't want to be sliding around at a time like this. Gooper Blooper tries to pound you with his four long tentacles; these aren't too hard to dodge if you jump at the right time. Meanwhile you can jump on any tentacles on the ground to flatten them. Once flattened, or even if they just happen to be within reach, use B to grab one and pull it off. If the monster keeps its tentacles out of reach then just squirt it in the face to get it to attack.

When all four tentacles are off the monster is harmless but not beaten yet. Run up and grab his nose with B and pull it, but first make sure to wash the goop off, otherwise it will be too slippery to hold. Actually you only really need to get its front two tentacles before pulling its nose, but it's safer if you get all four.

Keep pulling it until the monster starts to whimper and its eyes turn purple, then let go. Or just keep pulling and eventually it snaps back. Either way it hits the monster in the face and the cycle starts over. For some reason Gooper Blooper only takes two hits instead of the usual three, so just repeat what you did the first time and the monster in thrown into the water leaving its Shine behind. If you start running low on health during the battle, pick up the Gold coins along the walls nearby.

Episode 2: Blooper Surfing Safari

Objective: Win the Blooper-surfing challenge

Follow the arrows right, over some floating logs, to reach a platform with a Pianta (called Big Daddy) and 3 colored Bloopers on it. Talk to Big Daddy to find out what this episode is about if you don't know already. Hop onto one of the Bloopers to start surfing. Just so you know ahead of time, the bloopers move very fast, have no brakes, and if you run into anything it's an instant K.O.

The 3 different colors of Blooper seem to handle slightly differently. You may want to experiment a bit to see which one you like best.

Follow the trail of gold coins to a polluted cave entrance in the far corner of the level and surf into it. Inside you meet Big Daddy again at an underground Blooper race course. Choose your steed to start.

This is a simple and fun surfing race against the clock. The only catch is you have to complete the course in under 45 seconds or Big Daddy will throw you out of Ricco Harbor! If you crash you'll just go back to the start of the race (and lose a life). If you finish the course within 45 seconds a Shine will appear next to Big Daddy.

Try to stay off the edges as much as possible since they just slow you down. Bloopers don't corner very well so you need make the turns as wide as you can. There is a chicane near the end which may take some practice to handle well, but if you have trouble you can shave off some time by just jumping over the walls using A.

Episode 3: The Caged Shine Sprite

Objective: Find the caged Shine

This is an obstacle course like the first part of Episode 1. Again, there are alternate routes but if you're new to the game then we recommend that you follow the arrows.

Go up the ramp on the right to a cargo ship. Hop onto the moving pole to be carried to the other end of the ship. (If you've played Mario 64 then you've seen this type of pole in Dire, Dire Docks.) Rotate around to the other side of the pole as you're being carried so that you jump in the right direction when you want to get off.

Hop over to a moving platform and then to a wire mesh grate. There is a Spider here but you can attack it from the other side. At the top of the grate hop onto another pole, rotate to the other side as before, and hop to a second grate. This is followed by another pole which takes you to a platform. There is a Pianta here who points to another one on a roof.

Follow the arrow to a platform being lifted up and down by a crane. Hop on and ride it to a higher platform. Follow the arrows again, being careful not to fall off the catwalks and defeating any Bloopers that get in your way. There is a beam that goes over the fountain in the village. It's a bit out of your way, but cross it and hop up to the Pianta on the roof. According to the hint he gives you, break the boxes there to open a manhole cover, now you have a shortcut to this spot if you fall down in the upcoming section.

Go back over the beam and follow the arrow right to a crate. Climb onto it and hop onto a pole from there. Jump from the pole to a grate, then from the grate to a second grate, and from this grate to a platform.

Now follow the catwalks, hovering over the gaps where needed. There is a Red toolbox on the next platform; pick this up to get the Rocket nozzle and activate the other Red toolboxes scattered around the level. It's not necessary but it will make it easier to return to the upper scaffolding if you fall off somewhere.

You should see two arrow signs pointing upwards, and a small square platform beyond them. This turns out to be a trampoline and you can use it to bounce up to the next higher level. Now just keep following the catwalks and bouncing on the trampolines until you bounce the top of the huge yellow cage where the Shine is hidden. Dust yourself off and claim your Shiny prize.

Episode 4: The Secret of Ricco Tower

Objective: Complete the obstacle course

This in another episode with a secret minilevel. You enter at the top of the tower to the left of the ship with the wire cage. If you got the Rocket nozzle in the previous episode then getting in is easy once you get another nozzle, and you can get one in several places. The easiest to find is under the helipad.

If you don't want to bother with the Rocket nozzle, then get up to the scaffolding as in the previous episode. In fact it's easier this time because the boxes blocking the manhole covers are gone, so just take the shortcut through the tunnels. Follow the scaffolding toward the moving pole, but instead of jumping on hover over to a beam next to the tower. The entrance to the tower is right next to the beam.

There is really only one type of obstacle inside, a slanted rotating beam. Your shoes have good traction on them so as long as you're more or less on the upper part you shouldn't slip. But you still need to walk against the turning of the beam as you're getting from one end to the other, so you're constantly going at an angle. You need good timing to make the jump from beam to beam. The beams have little colored pegs on them which can be boon or bane depending on your luck.

The first few beams are easy enough, and they take you to a solid green platform where you can rest a bit. Make sure you get the 1-Up mushroom here; a back-flip or wall jump will reach it.

After this are three gear shaped blocks; the big danger here is going too fast when you compensate for the turning and slipping on the steep side of a gear. So keep your cool and get to the next gear when it gets close enough.

After this is a final set of beams. These are at odd angles and are different sizes, so it's tough to get the right perspective on them. Again, jumping from beam to beam is trickiest part. There is a second 1-Up above one of the beams if you're brave enough to jump for it.

This is the last obstacle and the Shine is waiting on the next platform.

Episode 5: Gooper Blooper Returns

Objective: Defeat Gooper Blooper again.

Go to the village; there are plenty of shortcuts now. Look out to sea and you'll see a helipad where Gooper Blooper is back for a rematch. One way to get to the helipad is to first get on top of the stone walkway above the village. There are several ways to reach it, but a sure fire one is to use the tunnels to get to the roofs of the buildings and then drop down. From the walkway you can just hover over to the helipad.

You can also use the rocket and you can find a Rocket nozzle on a platform under the helipad. There is a wire grate under the helipad so if you rocket up to it you'll stick, then you can flip through the trapdoor onto the helipad.

The battle here is nearly the same since Gooper really only has one new move; he puts all his tentacles together are spins them around, so you have to jump over them like a jump rope. Try spraying the monster in the face to make it too angry to try this often. Otherwise do as you did before to get Gooper's Shine. There are coins on the underside of the helipad if you need to restore your health.

Episode 6: Red Coins on the Water

Objective: Collect the 8 red coins within the time limit.

This episode is another Blooper surfing challenge, so immediately find Big Daddy again and he will explain what's going on. Ground pound the red button to start the timer and make the coins appear, then hop onto the blooper of your choice (there are six to pick from this time).

You now have 2 minutes to collect the 8 coins so jump on a Blooper and start surfing. There is a trail of gold coins going in a kind of figure eight shaped loop, and the red coins are in this trail, so the easiest way to tackle this level is to follow the trail of coins. The first thing to remember is to ignore the timer and the music and take your time; you're much more likely to run into something than to run out the clock.

Don't worry too much about missing a coin or two since you can just turn around when you get back to the start and follow the train over again; in fact you may want to leave some of the Gold coins so you'll have something to follow on the next try. You should have time to cover the trail two or three times if needed.

Most of the coins are easy to find and collect but there are three trouble makers. First, there is one high above the water just as you're coming back toward the yellow sub. You'll need to do a well-timed jump to get this one. Some bloopers seem to be better at jumping than others so try a different one if this coin is giving you trouble.

Just after this is a coin under a platform, so you need to come at it from a good angle to avoid hitting one of the supports. Finally, there is a coin between two small boats that doesn't seem to be on the trail. When you get back to the start, look for these boats after you turn around and thread the needle between them.

The shine will appear on the platform where the Bloopers are, but you're still riding one and you can't just get off. Surf over to the platform and jump just before you hit it to land on top. Meanwhile line yourself up with the Shine so you'll run into it on the platform.

Episode 7: Shadow Mario Revisited

Objective: Catch Shadow Mario.

Shadow Mario's back so it's time for another chase. He starts off right in front of you so go and spray him to start the chase. These Shadow Mario episode are pretty similar so there's not too much to say about them except where he's likely to go. The first thing to keep in mind is that Shadow Mario will stop and wait if he gets too far ahead. So there's no need to rush when there's danger of falling.

Another thing to keep in mind though is that Shadow Mario can't make any jumps or go anywhere that you can't. In this case, Shadow Mario jumps to the smokestack on the ship with the cages, so that means you can do the same thing; a backflip will do the trick. Then Shadow Mario makes a jump from the smokestack to the scaffolding above so you can do a backflip or spin jump and hover to get there too. It may take some practice to use the shortcuts that Shadow Mario does, but they can be useful for saving time when you're replaying an episode.

Episode 8: Yoshi's Fruit Adventure

Objective: Unlock the Shine on the sea platform.

This is a very complicated and time consuming Shine, but not really that hard once you figure out what to do. You will need Yoshi for this Shine so if you haven't unlocked him yet you'll need to wait.

Go over to the market in the village to see a Yoshi egg; he wants a durian to wake up. The only source of fruit nearby are the two silos conveniently marked "Fruit" on the side. First you need to get on top of the silos, but this shouldn't be hard if you've made it this far. Each silo as a button on top; one will be up and the other down. Hover over to the one that's up and ground pound it to dispense a fruit. Usually, the first time you do the episode the first fruit to come out will be a durian, but otherwise the fruit will be random and you may have to dispense a few before you get the one you want. Durians are so spiky that you can't pick them up, so spray or kick it toward the egg.

Now that you have Yoshi, go to the edge of the village area where some fish are jumping in and out of the water. Shoot one of the fish with purple juice and in turns into a block. (Other colors will turn the fish into a block too, but the block won't do what's needed.) You will need to jump on the block, so timing is needed for the block to be at the right height. The block starts to drift out to sea and you need to ride it as far as it will go.

Wait until the block starts to flash, then jump to the platform that should be in front of you. Now double jump to the left, hold down the button so Yoshi gets a bit of extra air time, and with luck you'll land on a ledge with a palm tree. Squirt down the coconuts in the tree and have Yoshi eat one, then hop back to the platform. The whole point of that little exercise was to turn Yoshi's juice pink.

There are more fish on the far side of the platform, so have Yoshi squirt some pink juice on one and this time the block will rise. Hop on and use the block as a lift to get to the next platform which is higher in the air. Do this two more times to reach the top platform.

The shine is here inside a little cage, but orange goop is covering the door. Have Yoshi squirt the goop to dissolve it, then dismount, climb on top of the cage, flip through the trap door, and drop onto the Shine.

100 coins Shine

There are other episodes where you can get 100 coins, but we're going with Episode 8 and assuming you have Yoshi by now.

Coins in plain sight, on the scaffolding, above the water, in the village fountain, etc. (63 coins)
Tunnels (38 coins)
Bloopers (6 coins, can easily fall into the water)
Spray the wall next to the cement mixer (6 coins)
There are a few more coins to get by having Yoshi eat the yellow butterflies. (6 coins)
Break boxes near the start (3 coins)

Secret Shine #1

Complete Episode 2 as before, but complete the course in less than 40 seconds to get a second Shine.

Secret Shine #2

Start Episode 4 and enter the secret area for the replay. Be sure to use the Hover nozzle to get in since the Rocket nozzle will be impractical here. Ground pound the red button to start the timer and make the Red coins appear, you have 1:30 to collect them.

Getting the coins is fairly easy and you should have plenty of time. The Hover nozzle makes getting around on the beams much less of a chore, and really the only problem you may run into is that the coins are too high above them. Do a double jump and hover if you need to get come extra height. There are two coins above the platform with the first 1-Up. They are farther up so you'll need to do some consecutive wall kicks to reach them, just make sure you don't wall kick yourself over the walls.

There is one coin above the gear shaped blocks, and you need to wait until there's a block nearby so you can land on it after getting the coin.

There are more coins above the second set of rotating beams, but these are only slightly more difficult to get than the ones on the first set. The Shine appears where you expect it to when you get the last coin.