Breaking Down Ricco Harbor | A Super Mario Sunshine Deep Dive 

It seems my rant about blue coins at the end there ruffled some feathers, and not in the way I’d hoped. It would appear I have some work to do in tightening up my thoughts, and I missed the landing on making the point I was actually hoping to bring across. I want to clarify, the main point I was arguing *wasn’t* “I think it’s fun so you’re wrong to criticize it,” but rather that you shouldn’t push yourself to complete a game if you’re not having fun with it. There are select shines and coins in this game that are clear stumbling points, and I wouldn’t defend them, but in my experience, I’ve observed people get so bogged down in the fact that none of the blue coins are required for anything but the game’s (rather underwhelming) 100% completion reward, that they don’t consider any of them as individuals. Each blue coin and optional shine offers more opportunities for interesting gameplay, challenge, or character interaction, but when the subject comes up, things like the Lillypad river and the Pianta Village Moon coin get all the spotlight. It was my hope to shed some light on a more positive perspective, and to encourage people to only pursue the parts of the the game they *do* enjoy. I wanna apologize if I completely lost you with what was evidently not my best-constructed diatribe, and I will be attempting to do these points justice in another video to come! Thanks all!

For the Pianta's line at 13:10, it could be a reference to the 1948 film "He Walked By Night", which has a scene where a character flees into the sewers to try and escape the police, and at one point attempts to exit through a manhole cover, but can't because a police car is parked on top of it.

This series feels like a spiritual successor to Particular Mushroom's secrets series. Makes me glad to see this kind of content again after he seemingly vanished.

Hell yeah, after deciphering the delfino alphabet you deserve to ride this algorithm wave

Not since Particular Mushroom have I seen such dedicated sunshine breakdowns, and these ones are genuinely peak. Love the series!

Maybe the reason why Bloopers die in water is because they’re not actually dying, rather they’re swimming off so fast that they seemingly just disappear. That's why Gooper Blooper keeps on coming back after being launched into the sea, he's just swimming around out there and sneaks back onto land whenever Mario isn't looking. That's also why he only actually dies for good when Mario launches him onto solid ground in Noki Bay, because he dies from the collision.

I literally just finished watching the Pinna Park episode… what immaculate timing to upload LOL

I swear, even though I've played and completed this game multiple times, every episode of this series you teach me about an enemy I didn't know existed

16:15 Fun fact, the green pegs aren't missing a part of their collision. Instead, the whole collision box is shifter over much farther to the right than its supposed to be. This means that the right side has extra collision stretching past the end of the peg, too.

On the talk at the end about Blue Coins, I want to address one point. Paraphrased: "It doesn't matter if it's optional, because it's fun." Now, I'm not going to tell you can't enjoy doing it because it's fun (obviously, that would be stupid to say otherwise) but it's still a valid criticism because it goes into one of the fundamental ideas of game design: You should encourage the player to do the things in the game that are fun. This will get them to do fun things. In a game like, say, Punch-Out Wii, the game wants you to find patterns and look for openings in attacks. So, the game rewards you for doing so by giving you a star punch. The thing the player may not realize though is that the act of finding those openings is the fun part of this experience, not throwing the star punch. But by giving you the reward, it encourages you, the player, to experience this fun part of the game. If all that happened was you interrupted their attack and they moved on to the next attack, then players wouldn't try to find those openings, and thus, would have less fun. On the inverse side, you have something like Paper Mario Sticker Star. The game actively discourages you to do battles through its mechanics. Not only are you not rewarded for winning a battle, you also are required to *lose* resources to do so. The battles are supposed to be fun, and doing more battles is fun, but when the game discourages you from doing so, the average player will avoid them whenever possible, and become bored with the game. So that brings us back to Blue Coins. Yes, there should be a better reward system in place to encourage the player to find Blue Coins. Because finding Blue Coins is *fun*! It is satisfying to hear the Blue Coin sound effect after spraying some graffiti and picking it up. Or spraying some random area and a coin coming out. These things are fun! But the systems in the game discourage you from doing so. The fact that Shines have no extrinsic reward is one thing, but there's also the fact that it's unfeasible to find all of them without a guide. Why go for any of them it's impossible to get all of them, especially when you aren't rewarded for doing so? It's basic player psychology there. Now, having shines have extrinsic benefits wouldn't necessarily be the only way to make Blue Coins feel better. I think you could keep them "optional" while still encouraging the player to do so. I think a simple Blue Coin checklist would solve the problem. Like, if on the shine select screen, there's a checklist memo that gives each Blue Coin a name, just like each shine, and a list of which episodes you can find them in. When you find the coin, the coin is checked off. I thinks filling in a checklist is itself enough of a reward that would encourage the player to go for all of the Blue Coins, while also preventing a person from getting frustrated trying to find them all. Anyway, essay aside, I really love your vids! Your stuff rocks so hard.

36:12 Mario was probably trying to run away, but got launched before he could take a step

its so odd to feel so vindicated for all the hours Id spent wandering around these spaces as a 6 year old

Just caught up. This series of yours is INCREDIBLE, I cannot understate that. I played Sunshine all throughout my childhood and you're showing it the love it deserves. Not only are all of your videos super informative and interesting (100 coins in all the secret levels too???), your love for this game and this series is evident. Your tone of voice, the structure of the videos, everything points to a wholehearted love for this game and it's beautiful to see. Can't wait for the next one!

Hey, not for nothing, but your SMS deep dives have been the highlight of my week since I discovered your channel... last week!

Man that sewer glitch explains so much of my confusion as a kid! I knew sometimes I could beat the bloopers more easily, and I would get so annoyed when I kicked a durian into the stratosphere, but I couldn’t tell what I was doing differently! This series is teaching me so much

Easily becoming one of my favorite channels Ecstatic for every new video notif

It's a tradition for me to always win the Blooper fight without yanking off its arms, just squishing them and going straight for the mouth if it's cleaned off. The ethical way to murder a squid lol

1:20 I always found it odd that the numbered doors at the start here didn't have any kind of secret to them. Never used for any shine, and spraying them in order doesn't even give a blue coin. They're just this weird set piece that no one ever talks about. 4:55 This one's easy. Mario turns around because he's trying to get out of the way of the giant blooper that's rapidly falling toward him.

I love these videos because you clearly love this game, and they're basically love letters to each level. We really need more Mario Sunshine love. Also about the blue coins: I think they'd be better if 1) Every episode had all blue coins so you wouldn't have to guess which one you should chose (or at least it make it more obvious which coins belonged to each episode) 2) The pause screen showed how many there are and how many you have them. The game Spongebob Battle for Bikini Bottom has a similar collectable called Patrick's socks, and they were never a pain to collect like blue coins were because they had the previous points. So a level could have 5 socks and the game showed me 4/5 collected. Or 12 socks and and i could have 10/12 and so on. These 2 things made Patrick's Socks so much better to collect than blue coins IMO.

Mario Sunshine was supposed to have way more levels, but a lot of them were cancelled. I think the shines you get for blue coins were supposed to be collected in the scrapped levels. A good way to fix the issue with blue coins would be to add an option on the shine selection screen to show which ones you've collected and which ones remain for every mission, and make them used to buy goodies and stuff in the game. It would be amazing if you could trade blue coins for outfits for Mario (a la Mario Odyssey), new optional nozzles for Fludd, a permanent diving gear allowing for more breath time underwater, etc. Imagine if your reward for finding all the blue coins is to own the trade shop in Delfino plaza and turn it into your house, which you could decorate with secret stuff/easter eggs hidden across the various levels... If only we could get a proper remake of this game, but I have to admit it is rather unlikely. Anyways, thanks for these videos. Your love of the game really shines through (pun totally intended) and it makes your videos that more enjoyable. Can't wait for the next ones.

One really weird bit I'm surprised wasn't mentioned: There's a nozzle box (I think it's a rocket nozzle) located up on the scaffolding that makes a different, shorter sound effect when you acquire it. As far as I know, it's the only one that does this

Gooper Blooper was utterly disturbing to me as a child. I never had this game back then, but I DID see the fight being played at a friend's house, and something about the fact you pulled the tentacles completely off that thing just... freaked me out.

I can't tell you just how much your videos make me appreciate Super Mario Sunshine even more! The Bros story was something I only learnt with this! ❤

Just discovered and binged this channel last night. I'm so happy for another upload!

Another great video! 27:33 I think this is one of the methods to reach the platform in Episode 5, that's why it's bouncy

The thing I think needs to be said about the blue coins is that Sunshine, and most games around that time, were not really meant to be 100% completed. Sure, they probably thought that SOME people would do it, but when they put those blue coins in there, I imagine they thought that people would find a few, get some shines, think "neat," and that would be it. It should feel rewarding to get 1 shine even if you don't get the other 23; maybe it would inspire you to get a few more shines, but the blue coins weren't really designed to drive someone to truly 100% the game. Like spraying the fish stall in Ricco Harbor - that was basically just an easter egg, rewarding someone who happened to do that with a blue coin. Yes, it locks people out of getting 100% unless they happened to find that exact easter egg or look up a guide, but the 100%-ers weren't the focus. I, for one, was happy to find maybe 30 blue coins in a playthrough, and feel good about how I got at least 3 more shines than was necessary for that run. The thought to run around finding all of them never even occurred to me, as it likely barely occurred to the developers themselves when they were hiding them. It's not a "collect them all or collect none" scenario, it's a "find what you find" scenario, which is a good thing that seems to have been forgotten in the age of challenge runners and completionists.

About Mario turning around in the animation, I'm pretty sure it's as simple as him turning to dive out of the way.

I’ve been waiting for the next episode :D

I've played for Mario sunshine like 5 times and not once have I seen the jumping Bloopers I had no idea they even exist. And ricco habor is my Favorite level!

Just felt it interesting to mention, since it wasn't covered... It is possible to get Yoshi into the cage (both with glitches and without). Without glitches, you can park Yoshi above the grate, a bit to the side, ground-pound, then flip back up to have him fall through. Then you carefully drop away from the Shine, mount him, and you can collect the shine. As for the glitch, iirc you can clip into the corner of the cage while riding with a jump, and collect the shine with Yoshi that way. May be wrong, though.

This might end up being mentioned in the glitch episode or the Noki Bay episode, but when you launch Gooper Blooper while he still has tentacles attached, in the animation where he's flying away, you can see there's a gap between the tentacles and the body

Legitimately screamed "WHAT!?!?" at the Doot Doot sisters... the amount of things you're opening our eyes to 🤯🤯

Incredible stuff. I've never even seen gooper blooper's spinning attack

4:57 Because he's going, "mama mia you guys seeing this shit?"

Something I really like about Super Mario Sunshine is that is has a ton of people to talk to throughout the various levels. Makes the world just seem so more vivid.

I love these videos - Thanks for making them! I thought I knew pretty much everything about this game, but your deep dives have proved me wrong.

An additional note about the green Blooper is that it's actually faster on land than the other two Bloopers. The yellow and purple Bloopers have the same on land speed but for some reason (possibly a developer oversight) it moves faster than them out of the water.

Man watching these, has shown me how many things in this game I did “out of the box” for better or worse. Like getting to Gooper Blooper in episode 1 by back flipping off the wall by the yellow lazy Pianta and then hovering, or not changing yoshi’s color in the final mission.

28:28 Incorrect! You can actually glitch Yoshi into the cage by dismounting him on top of the spinning grate and then ground pounding it until he eventually clips through. I've always just kinda brute forced this, so I'm not exactly sure the most consistent way to get it to work, but sure enough, I make sure to grab this Shine Sprite with Yoshi every time I play Sunshine.

I’m happy you put a Super Mario Sunshine tab on your channel page. Very efficient way to access the videos that brought me to your channel in the first place

Another episode of the best current series on RU-vid 🫡

I'm really loving these so far. Periodically going through the levels with these videos so I can 100% Sunshine to avenge my younger self

As someone who absolutely loves super Mario sunshine, watching these deep dives can't help but to bring me joy. I actually just beat the game on gamecube but was surprised to learn so many random facts about the game. Your extensive research, witty comments, very good editing, and overall love for the game is seen abundantly clear & I can't wait to come back for the next videos on with these series

Mario looks behind him when jumping from Gooper Blooper cuz hes tryna jump outta the way

These videos are SO magical to watch and legit are so comfortable to sit back and enjoy after stressing out over schoolwork and stuff. Thank you so much for your passion and consistency making them, they're a real treat!!

A recent supper mario broth tweet actually gives insight into why the goop around gooper Blooper is "different", but can be spread into a "normal" goop: the area around gooper Blooper is actually marked as having a gooble spawn rate of 0, meaning they shouldn't spawn around there, but because of the check being less than or equals rather than strictly less than, it actually has an extremely rare chance to spawn a gooble anyway.

Alternate universe where 2CPhoenix makes Disney Channel videos and uploaded a 36 minute Rico character analysis today

Man I’m shocked this video doesn’t have more views! I love a little comprehensive breakdown of the little details in each level

Thanks for the video! On the topic of blue coins, I'm another blue-coin-detractor. I like them in theory, a bonus reward for exploring and away to extend your time in this wonderful world. But as I recall, there is no tool for tracking the coins you've missed, and no hints for helping you find them. If blue coins were a riddle hunt like many SM64 shines were, that would be a lot more fun.

The issue with blue coins is that many are level specific and there's no indication as to how many coins are in a level. If the game just had a tracker indicating how many I was missing I wouldn't have an issue, but the fact that there isn't makes 100%ing the game without a guide feel impossible.

Really great series. In episode 1, if you're holding the tentacle, you can go straight through the crate. Also worth noting that the Yoshi you first unlock in Delfino Plaza always asks for a banana the first time.

"Big guy flew straight up and straight back down, so why would Mario look behind him?" Probably to shield his eyes from the air rushing at him as the Gooper hits the ground?

I look forward to the next episode of this series more than I do most anime I watch. Keep it up man, love your work.

Normally I'm not one to watch these kinds of videos, but your commentary is both interesting and hilarious!

The character progression of Big Bro and Little Bro was so great! Never noticed that (or any of the other characters) in my playthroughs really!

I'm 100% with you; blue coins and bugs included, this game is a downright masterpiece.

Your videos remind me a lot of Particular Mushroom's Mario Sunshine videos. He hasn't uploaded in a while though, but I like watching your videos too!!

I love this series so much. I 100% Sunshine last year and it was so rewarding holding onto all the blue coins to cash them at once

As someone who loves this game, i will never get tired of listening to people who love this game talk about this game

I'm so glad I found this channel, this is exactly the kind of content I love!

Omg I’m so glad I found your channel! I love longer form Mario content and you’re made videos on other games I like!

This series is great and your commentary is so informative and entertaining! Completely hooked!

1:04 "before we move, we're treated to the best song in this freaking game." I can never hear this theme without hearing it as an upbeat remix of Linda Ronstadt's "When Will I Be Loved."

I have never realized there were so many details in the dialogs and environments between the levels !

These videos are great. I’ve always loved Mario Sunshine, and I appreciate it even more knowing how in-depth and charming it is when you look deeper into it.

I don't know why I'm only now thinking this, but when Gooper Blooper lands with a thud in his intro cutscene, it almost sounds like he's verbally saying "BOOOOM!" 4:45 to hear for yourself.

I just found your channel yesterday and have been binge watching these Mario Sunshine videos. So happy to see you upload another one today 😀

Man I absolutely love how you ended off this video! So well said! Looking forward to more Sunshine videos from you!!

2:12 this made me realize I have never once used the intended path to get to Gooper Blooper.

So glad I found your videos. I loved Sunshine and it's cool seeing the little bits here and there that I missed. You're awesome. Can't wait for you to break down the Plaza and the village!

cant wait for the next episode!! i love the way u talk :D

These make me so happy. Thank you!

these videos are amazing!! thank you for making them :)

I was always sorry for Gooper Blooper because of ripping off the tentacles. That is a vicious plumber.

About the helicopter: there's actually a pre-release screenshot that shows Mario and co.'s plane used to have a mushroom emblem like that on the back

He turns around away from the giant blooper to shield his eyes from the explosion of dust at it hits the ground.

This was really cozy to watch, im replaying sunshine right now so its fun to see all the small details there is to the world like this

you can grab gooper bloopers tentacle and walk stright into the boxes on the sides.

Im unbeliavebly glad i randomly stumbled upon your channel! Its so cool!! I love it! Im learning things from a game that i liked, but never gave it much thought, and its incredible!!

I want to know how many times I accidentally triggered that “jumping in the sewers” glitch back when i played this

Great videos! I appreciate taking a moment to enjoy the game’s sound track.

Just found this channel today and I subscribe instantly, keep up the hard work 😊

oh the effort and just the type of content i wanna watch while eating, thank you *so* much. i kinda just recently discovered your channel and after the first video i watched i knew you'd be a top contender for my "what to watch while eating ™" list 🎉

Absolutely incredible video! I've always loved the amount of details and attention that was in Super Mario Sunshine, but I never realized it was great!

those breaking downs are so cool. keep it up

YES I love these videos! I played a lot of Super Mario Sunshine as a kid and in 2020. It is so satisfying to watch you complete every part of this game, and I can’t imagine how long it takes. Please keep making these!

31:22 I never knew why sometimes Mario's got thunder kicks and now I know why. The vast information from you as is very entertaining and fun as a Sunshine nerd.

Considering there's bloopers you can ride in the water, there's definitely real ones

Dude your videos are incredible and insanely well edited massive props, very glad I found this channel

I have seen four of your videos about Mario, and man I wish a lot more were like you. You doot yourself into a subscription brother!

I don't know how you're cranking out content of this quality so fast but I am here for it.

This has been a great series to binge on. Hope you'll manage to complete it to the end!

"I'm not crazy hehehe!" I love it! XD I only just found your channel today but your videos make me happy. And I don't mean to sound weird but I love your voice.

Loved that Octopath Traveler soundtrack cameo at the end!

I have been looking forward to this episode for the last couple of weeks! I hope you’ll make a mega cut off all episodes once you’ve finished this series :)

I love these videos so much. Thank you for paying too much attention to this game like I do

If you look at the direction Mario is facing when Gooper Blooper lands, it looks to me like he was attempting to flee so as to not be crushed.

Love these keep it up

I absolutely adore this series, Mario Sunshine is such an amazing game and I love all the respect and attention you’re giving it! Every episode is so much fun to watch!

I’m loving these videos. The relaxed, exploratory tone and sense of fun is a great fit for sunshine's tropical island theme. can’t wait for the hotel one. The hotel level in this game is one of my favourite levels ever.