Super Mario Sunshine Level Review - Part 2

[Alolan_Apples]

Last time, I did an overview of Bianco Hills and what I thought of the missions in the level. Today, it's going to be about the second level.

Ricco Harbor:​

The next level is about the shipping port of Isle Delfino. It's pretty much seen in every level from Delfino Plaza to Pinna Park. It's also where the largest seafood market in Isle Delfino takes place. One more thing, this level is the most identical to Delfino Plaza.

Although I think Ricco Harbor is better than Bianco Hills, I feel that the missions were even worse. The upside, half of the main ones were unique and not repeated. The downside, the overall missions were worse.

Best to worst missions:

• #1 - The Caged Shine Sprite: One of the more unique missions in the game is a mockup on some of the old missions in Super Mario 64 like in Tick-Tock Clock, Rainbow Ride, and Tall, Tall Mountain. It's where you climb to the top, then fall in. Not only the mission is a basic climbing mission, but there's multiple ways of getting the shine sprite. You can take the long way of climbing the metal beams (which starts with taking the boat on the right), take the shortcut by jumping off the big boat's exhaust pipe with acrobatic skills, or getting the rocket nozzle, but then going down to under the cage.
• #2 - 100-coin Shine Sprite: One of the better levels to grind for yellow coins, and probably one of the most fun things to do in the level. Ricco Harbor has an abundance of coins, and you can explore both the metal beams and the sea to get the coins.
• #3 - Gooper Blooper Breaks Out: Gooper Blooper was a much more fun boss to fight than any other boss in the game. But the problem here is not only he's been repeated multiple times, but I kinda feel bad for him. In the whole game, you have to rip off his arms six times and throw him into the sea three times. We've tortured this squid too much. But he is causing a problem in Ricco Harbor. What hurts you more than land pollution is water pollution, and he is the source. Hopefully he can finally get a break after beating him three times, with this mission being the first.
• #4 - Gooper Blooper Returns: Honestly, I didn't like Ricco Harbor's missions enough to where even repetition wins the war. Since he was a fun boss to fight anyway, it would rank higher. It just didn't do as good as the first, solely because of how to get to him this time.
• #5 - Blooper Surfing Safari: Pretty much one of the most unique missions in the game. In fact, this one gave this level a uniqueness factor. It's also interesting to pay attention to the colors. The cyan one is the easiest to steer, but moves the slowest as the magenta one is the opposite. The yellow one is balanced. And if you can't do well, then here's a tip. Once you get past the cubes that go up or down and make a turn, jump over the wall. You will finish faster and be safer.
• #6 - Blooper Surfing Sequel: When there is only one secret stage in the level, the secondary bonus mission will turn out to be something else, and this one is one of them. Again, I do not like repetition, but Ricco Harbor's missions aren't that good anyway. So a faster time sequel is better than the rest.
• #7 - Yoshi's Fruit Adventure: At this time of the level, peace has been restored in the shipping port, and there's one last shine to get. Some say that this is the most frustrating mission in the level, but I beg to differ. I know it sucks that Yoshi always asks for durians, which can't be delivered other than by kicking them. And the fruit machine spawns random fruit. But the part that annoys people even more is getting to the caged shine sprite with the yellow force field blocking the flipgate. But I had less problem with that.
• #8 - Shadow Mario Revisited: This was the first Shadow Mario mission I ever did where you chase him in the climax mission. Like I said, it's always in the bottom half, and usually in the bottom three. If you don't have a problem getting to the metal beams and chasing him, this mission won't be a problem. Funny thing here is that Gooper Blooper is the boss of the level as you have to face him twice, but Shadow Mario is the real boss lf the level (and the other levels). But it's annoying that you have to face him several times.
• #9 - Red Coins in Ricco Tower: The secret stage in Ricco Harbor is actually so hard that even getting the red coins was better than the original stage. With FLUDD, you can get the red coins and get across easier. It's actually the only case where the red coin counterpart of the secret stage is better than the original.
• #10 - The Secret of Ricco Tower: Getting to the Ricco Tower is easier, but the mission inside has become one of the hardest ones to me in this time and age. The rollers with colored knobs are more than hard to get across. This one actually causes motion sickness. So I recommend that once you collect the shine sprite, you need to take a break.
• #11 - Red Coins on the Water: It may be the most unique red coin mission, but also the most frustrating one. The coins have a time limit, and blooper surfing makes it harder. Oh, and what's harder than that? Getting the shine sprite after collecting the red coins. Worse yet, this is one of the required missions to get to Corona Mountain.

Level Rankings:

• Plot - 6 out of 7: Unlike Bianco Hills, the plot of the level didn't seem too interesting at all. The only conflict in the level is the Gooper Blooper missions, the Shadow Mario mission, and the Ricco Tower. But this place isn't peaceful.
• Theme - 4 out of 7: It may seem generic, but a sea port theme is quite interesting.
• Music - 8 out of 11: I didn't seem to like the overall music as much as most of the game's. But that's because of the repeat in the main theme among most levels with different tunes.
• Missions - 6 out of 7: Bianco Hills' missions may seem repeated, but this one had even worse missions. They are not very memorable, and water levels are typically the worse ones. I didn't enjoy blooper surfing, the secret stage is too hard, and the eight episode mission didn't fly through for me.
• 100 Coins - 3 out of 7: Collecting 100 coins in this level was a lot better than most of the game. It's easy for me to find the 100 coins in this level.
• Blue Coins - 3 out of 7: Collecting blue coins here is a lot better than last level's. If you can collect every blue coin in the first half of the level's missions, you would have 25 blue coins out of 30. Most of them are earned by cleaning graffiti. You can get one for raising the submarine in the first mission. And if you kill the blooper inside the huge cage from the fourth mission and beyond, you get another.
• Secret Stages - 8 out of 10 (Ricco Tower): I hate to say it, but the simplicity and difficulty of the only secret stage in this level was too bad to where it stands in the bottom three.
• Overall - 5 out of 7: It was better than the last level, but it would've been better if the missions were better.