Super Mario Sunshine Level Review - Part 5

[Alolan_Apples]

That's four levels down, but I still have 3 to go as well as Delfino Plaza and the Airstrip

Sirena Beach:​

Once Mario gets Yoshi, he can get rid of the pineapple blocking the pipe on top of the courthouse (I assume it's the courthouse). While Gelato Beach and Pinna Park seems pretty bright, Sirena Beach is rather dark because of the horror elements. An interesting fact about this level is that it's the only level you can access once the town is flooded. The portals to three of the levels are submerged, the cannon is submerged, you can't look at the sun when the shining old eye is not shining, and there's no way you can get on top of the shine gate without help of the rocket nozzle.

In terms of missions and plot, I felt that Sirena Beach is the best level in all of 3D Mario (whether or not DK64 is included). A level entirely set in a hotel is very unique for a 3D platformer.

Best to worst missions:

• #1 - Mysterious Hotel Delfino: This would have to be the trickiest mission in the game, puzzle-wise that is. You can find a shine sprite in the pool area, but the pianta in the way won't let you in. The only other way is through the attic, which is a maze full of sleeping ghosts blocking the paths. Without getting rid of the ghosts, the only place you can go by pounding through the cracked tiles is the lobby. Only Yoshi can get rid of the ghosts, but he always asks for pineapple. The fruit bar has every fruit in the game, except for pineapples. If you couldn't figure out that you can spray the painting in one of the bedrooms, you couldn't get any further. When I first tried this mission, I was stuck. I even needed help from a guide, which can be done by going online. But after reading that, I began to remember the steps on doing this mission, which I haven't forgotten since. I forgotten a lot of things I did in my 10-year old days, but I couldn't forget this. After that, it became my favorite mission in Super Mario Sunshine. I'm hoping for more complicated puzzles like that in future 3D Mario titles.
• #2 - The Secret of Casino Delfino: One of the easier secret stages as you progress further. Unlike Bianco Hills and Pinna Park (the other two levels with secret stages), Sirena Beach's first secret stage was hard, but the second one was easier, showing how inconsistent the difficulty was. In fact, it was a little bit easier than getting there. You have to spray water to flip every tile (which uses physics) and to move the slot machines. And the biggest hazard in the stage isn't even the bottomless pit like usual. It's being crushed by the moving cubes. Another reason why I rank this one higher is because of the sunset background.
• #3 - 100-coin Shine Sprite: Yet another level where collecting 100 coins is more fun in. You can use the maze in the attic to explore the hotel and find coins. And if you can't find anymore, you can spray plants and signs with FLUDD. But before you go inside, make sure you put out the torches and collect the coins in each hut and box.
• #4 - The Manta Storm: Probably the darkest mission in the level. What happens is that the beach is covered in goop, very dangerous goop too. Worse yet, it sank the hotel. And once you speak to the manager, the manta returns. Each time you spray it, it multiplies, but gets smaller and weaker. You can keep spraying the others to make them even smaller until they are all weak. If that happens, they will follow you, trying to attack you. But at least one shot is going to kill them. And if you have noticed, each character has two quotes each, one before the fight and one after the fight. A boss that divides into more units is pretty interesting gameplay.
• #5 - Red Coins in the Casino: Like usual, the red coin counterpart in each secret stage is not as good as the original, even in this one. The part that makes it even harder is how we have less time to collect the red coins.
• #6 - Red Coins in the Hotel: At this point, exploring different hotel rooms like this isn't as fun anymore. It was good for hunting blue coins, yellow coins, and the pineapple, but this is when it's not as fun. At least two of the coins are in the hotel rooms, but still, you get what I mean. I did say that red coin missions get high scores, but not this time.
• #7 - King Boo Down Below: Perhaps one of the most unusual bosses in a 3D platformer. What you have to do is throw fruit when it appears. You have to burn his tongue by throwing chili peppers at him, then you can throw the other fruits at him. But the mission is a lot trickier because of how the wheel keeps spinning, and he can emit some really tough enemies.
• #8 - Scrubbing Sirena Beach: Cleaning up the beach before facing Phantamanta was fun, but cleaning up under time pressure is not. What I hate more is how repetitive this game gets.
• #9 - The Hotel Lobby's Secret: Even in this time and age, I find this mission to be quite hard. The first part isn't that bad. But when it comes to navigating the sand blocks and riding that plus-shaped wheel or whatever, that's when it gets tough. Even the second one is easier than this.
• #10 - Shadow Mario Checks in: It wouldn't be surprising that the Shadow Mario mission is down below since I always ranked it pretty low. In fact, since he hides in some hotel rooms and switches floors, getting to him is going to be harder than normal.
• #11 - Red Coins in the Hotel Lobby: Even if FLUDD made if easier and the fact that you don't start until later, I still think the original mission is better by default. Hunting red coins in a secret stage is not just trickier, but also adds even more repetition.

Level Rankings:

• Plot - 1 out of 7: When you want to make a game with good plots and subplots, good subplots is what we need in every level. This one is the best. It all starts out when Mario had to clean the electric goop that sank the hotel and defeat the creature responsible. After the hotel has arisen, it was still not ready to book guests due to the ghosts haunting the hotel. Next, they were able to get rooms, but there were still some ghosts left. But what makes it more interesting is that there's always drama going on. A sunk hotel, ghosts in the hotel, ghosts haunting the casino, and a stranger breaking into rooms (which turns out to be Bowser's son in disguise).
• Theme - 1 out of 7: Like I said last entry and the one before, the middle three levels are better than the rest because of the resort themes. The hotel theme would have to be the best theme in the game since no desert level or winter level exists (which have been traditions in Mario games).
• Music - 7 out of 11; 5 out of 11; 11 out of 11: The beach music kinda sounds like a nice sunset, but it's pretty dark. The hotel music, is fine. It has a nice acoustic beat style like the hourly music in the GameCube Version of Animal Crossing. The casino music, is rather annoying than interesting.
• Missions - 1 out of 7: Sirena Beach is the best Mario level when it comes to missions. The first boss was interesting, the secret stages and red coin missions were interesting, and we have a tricky puzzle to solve to get to the shine sprite since the pool guy won't let you in as the fruit bar doesn't serve pineapples. Because of how missions were at the peak at this level, they start going downhill after.
• 100 Coins - 2 out of 7: The reason why it's not #1 is because of Pinna Park. But it still ranks high because of how you can look all over the hotel for coins. This can be done in any episode except for 1, 2, 6, or 7.
• Blue Coins - 1 out of 7: Despite being guilty of hiding blue coins in extra hidden places (like ground pounding the slot machines), I think collecting blue coins here is the best out of every level, but that's because of the compact space and how you mostly rely on exploring hotel rooms.
• Secret Stages - 6 out of 10 (Hotel Lobby) and 4 out of 10 (Casino): Like Pinna Park, the ranking of the secret stages was closer to the midpoint. The Casino one was easier than the rest of the secret stages (save the Sand Castle and Hillside Cave ones), whereas the Hotel Lobby one was harder than most.
• Overall - 2 out of 7: If it wasn't for Noki Bay, this one would've been the best level. The uniqueness, the theme, and the puzzles make this level one of the best ones. Oh, and plot too.