Hardest Levels in Super Mario Sunshine

One-third of the difficulty is just the fact that it takes three years to get to the game in the first place, while trying not to let Yoshi die. The rest of the difficulty is trying to grab the coins while successfully maneuvering the lily pad, AND you have to be fast with it! And if you quit or run out of lives at any point, you've got to do everything. All. Over. Again.
This tortures you in so many ways. Getting there with Yoshi takes about 10 minutes, and then the controls are horrible, and you can't try again if you miss one. Real great level design.
Only people who played the game can understand the pure evil of this level.
This is nothing short of a journey to get to.

This area was the reason I couldn't beat Super Mario Sunshine as a kid.
Anything that involves using fludd in order to steer a boat in my opinion.
Even the sprinklers meant to refill fludd crash your boat, real great design.
The boat full of viruses

I got lucky with this and beat it on my second try. A tip I learned is to work with the physics of the Pachinko to get to your destination, rather than overusing F.L.U.D.D. to try to fight against them. Maintaining that strategy effectively while trying not to crack from the pressure is a bit strange, though.
I hate this level its very difficult to get to area you need to get to and a lot of times fall to your death.
The controls are pretty broken. Other than that I guess it's not too bad when you get the hang of it.
So glitchy oh my buddha

Ugh maybe the hardest shine in the game a long with the lily pad

While this level would have been hardwer without FLUDD, he is basically useless here because if you use him the sand bird platform will fly away and you may as well fall, and on top of that, about halfway through he will start rotating and it's so hard! Combine that with Sunshine's terrible controls and you have the perfect run (pun intended)
Stupid level is damn near impossible, FLUDD is useless until the very end, and you actually have to jump off the sand bird at the right time to get the last coin. Took my family 4 YEARS to beat it

I figured out you can kill some of the Cataquacks with the Dune Buds. Then roll the big watermelon down the right side of the hill and spray over the Cataquacks you encounter so they can't break the watermelon.
I beat this level first try doing this; hope this helps!
You cannot explain how dreadful this level is with words. It's not possible. It's one of the worst things I tried completing in a video game and I groan every time I think of going through a 100% completion run of Super Mario Sunshine because of it, as well as a few others.
Oh my god. This should be put where number 2 is because the Bowser Boss is quite easy. The Watermelon is annoying enough to push around and then it can get popped by those annoying cataquacks on top of that. You need 110% focus or your melon is done for. This hyperventilated me a LOT!
This is the one. Many say the lilly pad level or the pachinko game, but this shine is just unbearable. What sucks is that you think a level in world three would be easier, but it surprises you. A true test of your patience.

Run all the way around the village to the left and enter the first trapdoor you see. Then get up to the platforms, get on the flaming mushroom, and you should have just enough distance to spin-jump to the platforms that lead you to FLUDD.
Hope this helps!
If you don't know how to find a specific short cut, hell awaits you. Good luck.
That maze sucks


The wall jumps at angles are incredibly challenging and you have to hit the perfect angle or you're screwed. not to mention the rotating blocks. first one is already hard enough, second one rotates even faster, and the third one is on a angle. makes me lose my mind
Getting to the shell is hard enough and the secret level isn't any better
The reason I stopped playing for a few weeks before coming back and grinding it out

Run into a solid object, you die. You had to ride the water and you couldn't stop.
If you hit anything, you die, and the shine sprite being on the dock ticks me off

Just circle spray in the place when the hotel is supposed to be. You can keep the Phantamanta at bay, especially when they try to kill you once you divide them all.
If you didn't know you can kill it by being in the ocean in order maintain your water, it's utter complete hell. End of story.
I had to scroll the camera up to a birds eye view for this boss battle.
The Shining reference is cool but the level is a pain in the arse

Yoshi jumping mechanics are really wack.
This Star sucks until you realise you can just spin jump through the whole level

Any secret level is hard

Very asinine boss fight.
If you run out of water, you can easily mess this level up.


It took me ages to understand how to beat this level as a kid.

You wouldn't think a level in the first world would be that hard, but that's not the case here, you first have to get to an area that is hard rto get to in the first place becuase the water surrounding it is poisonous for no reason, and then the level inside the secret is just cruel! You've got flipping platforms and cubes that will rotate in multiplie directions! This wouldn't be so bad if only the controls weren't horrible!

It's not that hard, while the coins can be placed in some obnoxious areas, at least you don't die by falling (unlike a certain bird stage)
Wow. Don't even get me started with how many times it took me to complete this level. Is there some sort of trick that I've missed? It's been 20 times and I still haven't managed to complete it