The classic Super Mario Sunshine is an innovative game, even by today’s standard. It throws away conventional platforming recipes in exchange for a water-based movement and combat system. At times this can be a fun experience that leaves players wanting more; at others, it’s a nightmare full of faulty controls and bad camera angles.
For fans of other Super Mario titles, this game often ends up being frustrating due to its non-F.L.U.D.D mechanics that can be a bit unpredictable. There are over one hundred shine sprites to collect in the game, but out of that, these stick out as being some of the worst levels in a Mario title.
15 Eely-Mouth’s Dentist
In Episode 4 of Noki Bay, Mario heads into the depths of the water to a sunken city where an eel is hiding. The eel is in desperate need of a teeth cleaning, so you must use the hover nozzle to give his teeth a nice shine. As Mario fans know, most underwater levels can be pretty tiresome since the hero can only hold his breath for so long. Stay vigilant about collecting coins or spraying the purple bubbles to get oxygen.
The eel doesn’t hold his mouth open for too long, so you have to be quick with the spray. Additionally, you need to be close, but not too close, because he’ll shut his mouth on you and spit you out.
14 Yoshi’s Fruit Adventure
Yoshi will be waiting in the far end of Ricco Harbor, and he’ll only be hungry for one fruit — a Durian. The first annoying part of this level is the fact that Durians need to be kicked, so you’ll have to carefully push the fruit from the towers to Yoshi. Then, head to the edge of the platform where the Cheep-Cheeps are jumping into the air.
You have to shoot Yoshi’s purple juice at the right moment to turn the fish into platforms in the right spots, which can take a few tries. Be careful not to fall to the water, since you’ll have to start over with the Durian.
13 Gelato Beach 100 Coins
Each stage in Sunshine has a secret Sprite that comes from collecting 100 coins. In most cases, the coins rack up pretty quickly, but they seem a little harder to come by in Gelato Beach. Be sure to collect every one you see and kill as many enemies as possible to collect coins.
Beyond that, if you open the stage in the Watermelon Festival episode, you can continually smash melons against a wall to rack up coins. You can also take some watermelons to the shack to earn a few extra coins.
12 Mysterious Hotel Delfino
There’s a lot of running around Hotel Delfino in this episode, which makes it time-consuming. Yoshi is waiting for a pineapple in the lobby, but of course, that’s the only one missing front the fruit stand. The traditional routes through the hotel, the stairs and doors, are blocked and locked, which means you need to find your own ways around.
Eventually, you will end up in the vents, which are a giant maze filled with Boos. You can use some exploration to find your way to the room with the Shine Sprite.
11 Roller Coaster Balloons
This level is a race against time with a hint of precision. Bowser Jr. has filled the area surrounding a roller coaster in Pinna Park with 20 pink balloons. Your goal is to shoot rockets at all of them within three laps on the ride. You have to be pretty careful with aiming on the rockets since you can’t afford to waste any time.
Plus, as roller coaster riders know, there are a bunch of twists and turns that can seriously throw off the aim. The more balloons you pop, the harder they can be to find, so keep an eye out.
10 The Sandbird Bird is Born
This is the second shine Sprite in Gelato Beach and is the first level to make players’ blood-boil. The Sandbird is one of the area’s red coin levels. To collect them, you have to run up and down a constantly wiggling bird that likes to twist and turn as it flies up the tower.
To make matters even worse, there is no way to speed through the sprite as you have to get the last red coin at the top of the tower.
9 The Watermelon Festival
Housed in the same area as the Sandbird, this is the eighth shine sprite you are able to collect. You will need to roll a watermelon from the back of the level all the way across the bridge to the cabanas owner. The only problem is the watermelon can easily pop, be thrown, or fall in the water.
This will cause the watermelon to disappear and Mario will have to begin the whole process over.
8 The Pachinko Game
This is one of the shine sprites in Delfino Plaza and a level that does actually use F.L.U.D.D. The objective is to use the Pachinko launcher to have Mario collect eight different coins. This level relies on tons of luck mixed with a high amount of patience from the player.
One bad launch can send Mario barreling into a whole and losing a life.
7 The Goopy Inferno
If you like mazes, then this shine sprite may actually be somewhat fun. For most players, though, it is a fire covered mess that they would rather not deal with. You will have to navigate Pinato Village the game’s eighth level while it’s covered in fire goop. The catch is that you don’t have F.L.U.D.D.
This makes for a frustrating experience of hopping the game jump mechanics actually want to work in your favor.
6 Corona Mountain
Corona is the game’s final level and where you will face off with Bowser to save Princess Peach. Unfortunately, it is covered in lava and a hot tub loving final boss that is a bit frustrating. Some of this frustration comes from trying to navigate your way through lava in a boat.
The level can be beaten with patience but is in no way fun at all.
5 The Secret of The Village Underside
As you go through the game, you will find that having Mario thrown to reach certain platforms is an absolute nightmare. This is partly because of the uncooperative camera and the fact that he tends to accidentally be thrown into the void only to fall to his death.
The secret of the village underside forces Mario to be thrown off a variety of platforms while unequipped from F.L.U.D.D.
4 Manta Storm
The very first level of Sirena Beach has you battling a giant Manta that leaves a trail of electric goop. As you spray the manta, it will continually divide into small mantas until there are dozens of little purple mantas tracking Mario down amongst a sea of goop.
Not only does this boss take forever to beat, but the number of enemies is completely uncalled for.
3 The Shell’s Secret
One of the reoccurring themes on this list is how awful the non-F.L.U.D.D levels are. This one will have you navigating the spinning platform while doing every jump available to move through small spaces. There is even a rope that you have to maneuver your way across.
There are even rotating blocks and bad camera angles that will cause a majority of your miss jumps.
2 The Secret of The Dirty Lake
To begin with, Mario has to maneuver across a now poisonous lake in the sixth level of Bianco Hills. He will need to jump across sinking lily pads to reach a cave where F.L.U.D.D is stolen. In the level, players have to navigate flipping tiles and blocks that push Mario off the platforms.
The long jumps and bad timing of the platforms make this level a no-go for many fans.
1 Lily Pad Ride
The Lily Pad Ride is another Delfino Plaza shine sprite that the player must find. This time around, though, you are going to ride a lily pad down a river. If you fall into the river, you have to start over, and the lily pad will slowly degrade the longer you ride it.
How you control this lily pad, though, is simple: you must use water to shakily guide yourself around a constantly moving map.
NEXT: 10 Mario Games You Never Knew Existed (Because They’re Arcade Exclusive)
