Top 10 Hardest Levels in Super Mario Sunshine

The Top Ten
1 Delfino Plaza - Lily Pad Ride

One-third of the difficulty is just the fact that it takes forever to get to this game in the first place, all while trying not to let Yoshi die. The rest of the challenge is trying to grab the coins while successfully maneuvering the lily pad - and you have to be quick! 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. You can't try again if you miss one. Real great level design.

2 Corona Mountain

This area was the reason I couldn't beat Super Mario Sunshine as a kid.

Anything that involves using FLUDD to steer a boat, in my opinion.

Even the sprinklers meant to refill FLUDD crash your boat. Real great design.

3 Delfino Plaza - Pachinko Game

This is easy if you know what you're doing, but it is very annoying when you try to get to specific places and the game forces you to go elsewhere. Your input barely does anything to help.

I hate this level. It's very difficult to get to the area you need to reach, and a lot of times, you 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.

4 Pianta Village - Secret of the Village Underside

Ugh, maybe the hardest Shine in the game, along with the Lily Pad Ride.

5 Gelato Beach - The Sand Bird is Born

It is moderately hard to get into the world with the bird. Once you're on the bird, it is practically impossible to get all of the coins because it moves way too much, and you just fall off.

While this level would have been harder without FLUDD, he's basically useless here because if you use him, the sand bird platform will fly away, and you may as well fall. On top of that, about halfway through, the bird will start rotating, and it's so hard! Combine that with Sunshine's terrible controls, and you have the perfect run (pun intended).

6 Gelato Beach - The Watermelon Festival

You cannot explain how dreadful this level is with words. It's not possible. It's one of the worst things I've ever tried completing in a video game. 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 other levels.

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. You need 110% focus, or your melon is done for. This made me hyperventilate a LOT!

7 Pianta Village - The Goopy Inferno

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 shortcut, hell awaits you. Good luck.

8 Pinna Park - Roller Coaster Balloons
9 Noki Bay - The Shell's Secret

It's hard enough getting up there because there is no direct path. But once you're in the world, everything is spinning and tilting. Then you die after the first jump and have to repeat it a few times until it's game over. It is one of the hardest courses I've ever done.

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. The first one is already hard enough, the second one rotates even faster, and the third one is at an angle. This makes me lose my mind.

10 Sirena Beach - The Manta Storm

Just spray in circles where 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 could kill it by being in the ocean to maintain your water supply, it's complete hell. End of story.

I had to scroll the camera up to a bird's-eye view for this boss battle.

The Contenders
11 Ricco Harbor - Red Coins on the Water

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.

12 Ricco Harbor - Yoshi's Fruit Adventure

Yoshi's jumping mechanics are really wack.

This Star sucks until you realize you can just spin jump through the whole level.

13 Sirena Beach - The Hotel Lobby's Secret

They never tell us what to do. They just say, "Do it now." This is one of those situations where you either figure it out or ask YouTube.

14 Delfino Plaza - Super Slide
15 Sirena Beach - King Boo Down Below
16 Delfino Plaza - Red Coin Field

If you run out of water, you can easily mess this level up.

17 Sirena Beach - Mysterious Hotel Delfino
18 Gelato Beach - Mirror Madness! Tilt, Slam, Bam!

Getting onto the mirrors was easy, but trying to tilt them while not getting hurt by cataquacks - and having to redo the process three times - is just plain stupid. It is not too hard to beat, but it is still moderately challenging.

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

19 Bianco Hills - The Secret of the Dirty Lake

You wouldn't think a level in the first world would be that hard, but that's not the case here. First, you have to get to an area that is difficult to reach because the water surrounding it is poisonous for no reason. Then, the level inside the secret is just cruel! You've got flipping platforms and cubes that rotate in multiple directions. This wouldn't be so bad if the controls weren't so horrible!

How the heck am I supposed to get to the waterfall without dying? And there were no Piantas who told you what to do to stop it.

20 Pinna Park - Red Coins on the Pirate Ships

This level is all about timing. You either make it, or you fall in the water again and have to swim back and try all over. It was annoying.

21 Bianco Hills - Petey Piranha Strikes Back

It was OK getting to Petey, but aiming was hard. When Petey came to me, he was just undoing all of the cleaning I did. It was so annoying.

22 Pinna Park - The Runaway Ferris Crisis
23 Pianta Village - Fluff Festival Coin Hunt
24 Noki Bay - Il Piantissimo's Surf Swim
25 Sirena Beach - Red Coins in the Hotel
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