Super Mario Sunshine/Ricco Harbor

Episode 1: Gooper Blooper Breaks Out

 * Objective: Defeat the boss, Gooper Blooper

On your first visit to Ricco Harbor there is a huge oil slick covering most of the water and many areas are inaccessible. This is all down to Gooper Blooper, a huge squid. To find him you need to cross part of the construction-site obstacle course that makes up this level. Start by running on the big ship right in front of you, then follow the arrows. When you reach a platform with 2 Piantas on it, one of them will try to throw you (but he's far too weak) and the other will tell you to spin a wheel with your FLUDD to raise a submarine. Do this and jump onto the sub then across the pathway beyond it. From here you should be able to reach the street above. There is a water fountain to refill you tank and a couple of small Bloopers to kill to give some energy if you need it. Also make sure you stomp any crates that you see lying around (especially ones that are sitting on manhole covers - it makes life easier later on). Then it's time to face the boss.

Run over to the pile of coloured crates at the far end of the path and you'll see one of his tentacles sticking out. Grab hold it with B, and pull it until it comes off. Now he's really mad! Squirt him in the face and he'll try to smack you with his tentacles. When his tentacles are on the ground, grab one and pull it off (you can jump on them to flatten them before you pull if you want to). When all 4 tentacles are off, run up and grab his nose with B and pull it. Keep pulling it and eventually it snaps back and hits him in the face and kills him... or does it...

He comes at you a second time now, and slightly better. Spray him in the face and he'll throw his tentacles at you, one or two at a time. Do the same as before, jump on them if you need to, and pull them off. Watch out for the occasional blob of goo that he'll spit at you. When his last 4 tentacles are off pull his nose again to finish him off. The Shine will appear where Gooper Blooper was sitting.

Episode 2: Blooper Surfing Safari

 * Objective: Win the Blooper-surfing challenge

From the start point, turn around 180 degrees and you'll see some wooden canoes. To the left of these are some logs floating in the sea. Cross these logs to reach a platform with a Pianta (called Big Daddy) and 3 coloured Bloopers on it. Walk up to any them to get on it and start surfing. Follow the trail of gold coins to a polluted cave entrance in the far corner of the level, surf into it.

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. If you finish the course within 45 seconds a Shine will appear next to Big Daddy.

Episode 3: The Caged Shine Sprite

 * Objective: Find the caged Shine

If you destroyed the crates in Episode 1, this first part will be simple. If not, you'll need to go the long way round (as described in Episode 1). Anyway, jump through the manhole cover near your start point, follow the tunnel to its end and emerge from the tunnel.

You'll come out next to 2 silos with "Fruits" painted on them. To the right of these there is a moving crane, and just past that, there is an orange-rimmed platform. Jump/hover to it and climb to the top it. Hover over to the roof of the building with the "M" on it (or the one that used to have the "M" on it, if you washed the "M" off already). Go left along the rooftops until you find one with a stack of crates on it. Smash these crates to reveal a manhole cover, but don't go down it.

Next to this roof there is a narrow, silver catwalk. Jump on to it and follow it. Take a right when you get to the blue catwalks and spray the Bloopers as you go. When you get to a crate, climb onto it and wait for the red and white pole with a hook on it to move toward you. When it's close enough, jump on to it and then shuffle round to the other side of it, ready to jump off. When it stops at the other end, jump onto the fence opposite.

Climb up the fence to the blue outline - this is a hatch. Tap B to make the hatch spin around. Now jump on to the fence opposite and again climb up to the hatch. Spin the hatch around with B and then jump on to the nearby platform. Follow the arrow along the blue catwalk, using the FLUDD to hover over the gaps. Take out the 2 Bloopers and continue to the platform with the red box on it - this is the Rocket Nozzle. Collect it if you want, but it's not essential for this level.

You should see 2 big arrow signs pointing upwards, and a small square platform beyond them. This platform is a trampoline - when you jump on it you'll leap really high. So line yourself up straight and jump on the trampoline to get to the next catwalk. Go along the blue catwalk and follow it round to the left. Do the next to trampoline jumps and follow the blue path round till you reach the final jump - a double trampoline jump. Line yourself up straight and jump away flinging yourself into 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

It's time for another of those lovely obstacle course levels! But first you need to get there. You need to climb the large tower surrounded by scaffolding (Ricco Tower) to reach the obstacle course, and there are 2 ways to do this:


 * 1) Jumping and hovering. Start by stomping through the manhole cover near the start point, then follow the tunnel along, past the first exit and then take the first left. Use the exit at the end of this tunnel to get to the rooftops. Look to the left and you'll see the tower. Drop down on the smaller rooftop and from there, hover to the nearest scaffolding platform (there should be 2 gold coins and a blue coin on it). Now watch out for the gusts of wind, they can knock you clean off! Hover over the slightly higher platform nearby and then on to the top of the tower. You can now walk round to the obstacle course entrance.
 * 2) Obtain the Rocket Nozzle. To get the Rocket Nozzle, go right, from the start point, onto the the blue and white tanker. Use the moving pole to cross the gap. Turn left and jump/hover to the narrow moving platform. Jump on to the fence that it takes you to, climb up it and go through the hatch. Use the moving pole to cross to the next fence. Climb up and to the right and go through the hatch before using yet another pole to cross to the platform beyond. Take out the Bloopers before claiming the Rocket Nozzle from the red and white box. From here, jump into the sea and head directly back to shore (via the water) using the small boat to climb out of the water. Now you should be right near Ricco Tower. Run over to it and use the Rocket Nozzle to fire you up to the lowest scaffolding platform. Then from here you can launch to the top of tower and head inside.

Once you get inside the tower, it's time for a very tricky obstacle course level. The first few spinning beams are easy enough, they seems quite sticky to Mario's shoes so just walk around them, jumping makes things much harder. When you reach the solid green platform make sure you pick up the 1-Up mushroom (a back-flip or wall jump will do it). This means the even if you should die on the next bit, you haven't really lost any lives. The 3 spinning wheels aren't too hard either. But the final set of beams are very tricky as they are different shapes and sizes and spin at weird angles. All I can say is make full use of the camera, to judge your jumps, and just keep on trying. Thankfully, once you get past these, the Shine will be waiting for you on a nice steady platform.