Super Mario Sunshine

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NOTE: This is just a rough outline. Feel free to change it (and by all means flesh it out).

General Techniques

Movement

On Land

Water sliding is faster than any other form of movement on land, including the Turbo Nozzle. To do a water slide, either spray water in front of you, dive onto it or jump out of water and dive, or hover just before diving. Holding forward makes you go faster. Because this move takes a little time to set up and isn't conducive to sharp turns, it is often preferable to use dive-flips for shorter distances. A dive-roll out is just what it sounds like: dive and, as soon as you hit the ground, roll out by pressing A. There are a few important things to keep in mind while using this technique. First, Mario rapidly decelerates after landing from the dive, so it's important to roll out as soon as possible to avoid losing speed. Second, there are a few variations on the dive-roll out: you can jump before diving (pressing A and B almost at the same time) and you can hold A while rolling out to do a bigger flip. Testing of these variations reveals that the differences between them are minimal, so which one you should use depends on the situation. For instance, if you need to go a relatively short distance, you might do a basic dive-flip.

A useful property of the roll out is that if you roll out onto an incline, Mario often runs much faster than usual up the incline. A good place to try this out is the tree with Il Piantissimo's flag in Pianta Village.

Land Movement Option Speeds are as follows:
- Water Slide
- Turbo Nozzle
- Diving and Rolling Out
- Jump Diving and Rolling Out
- Belly Hopping
- Walking/Running

In Water

The fastest way to move in water depends on what nozzle you have. The Turbo Nozzle is, unsurprisingly, much faster than any other method of movement in the water. It can be used underwater. The best known way to cover distance if you have the Hover Nozzle is to jump out of the water and dive repeatedly. Note that you must release the control stick in order to jump. With the Rocket Nozzle, you should use a similar technique, but use a rocket boost before you dive. Another technique with the Hover Nozzle is to repeatedly tap R and A to "glide" along the water, which is faster than swimming normally.

Jumping

Holding A for the duration of a any jump increases the height of the jump, except for a back flip.
The triple jump gives more height than the spin jump and a back flip, which gives more height than the side flip, which gives more height than a regular jump. You can augment the height and distance attained by wall kicks slightly by spinning the control stick just before kicking, giving you a spin jump from your wall kick. Yoshi's spin jump can reach great heights, especially if you flutter, and the additional height from dismounting at its peak lets you reach a few "high" Shines without the Rocket Nozzle.

You can gain extra distance if you dive immediately after jumping (you'll want to press A and B at almost the same time). This technique is helpful whenever you don't have the Hover Nozzle or when you don't have much distance to cover and thus don't want to use the Hover Nozzle. It can be used with regular jumps, double and triple jumps, side flips, and spin jumps.

Cleaning Goop

If you hold down R and press A, Mario backflips and sprays a large amount of water. The water blast is useful, but the backflip is very inconvenient. However, you can also perform the same "spam spray" technique in the air. Just press R and A (in that order). This is the most efficient cleaning technique and is the key to doing well on goop-cleaning shines. You can perform several spam sprays in a single jump to virtually guarantee that everything in front of you and within a certain distance is clean. You can also spam spray as you jump, but you have to be very good at the timing; This is most useful on Pianta 6.

Bloopers

Green bloopers have the best speed when travelling on a surface out of the water. They also have the best handling, enabling you to perform sharp turns. All bloopers have the same top speed, so there are no disadvantages to using the green blooper. Thus, it is used by most speed runners and is recommended.

Delfino Plaza Events

• After entering Delfino Plaza for the first time, defeat the Piranha Plant at the Grand Pianta Statue and then spray down Shadow Mario to open Bianco Hills.
• After completing at least one episode of Bianco Hills and collecting three Shines, defeat the Piranha Plant at the boathouse to open Ricco Harbor.
• After defeating the boathouse Piranha Plant and collecting five Shines, defeat the Piranha Plant at the lighthouse to open Gelato Beach.
• After defeating the lighthouse Piranha Plant and collecting 10 Shines, go to the boat near the cannon to open Pinna Park.
• After completing Episode 4 of Pinna Park, spray Shadow Mario down and get Yoshi some bananas to unlock Yoshi in all areas. This allows you to eat the big pineapple blocking the Sirena Beach entrance.
• Collect 20 Shines to activate the beam of light, opening Noki Bay.
• After unlocking Yoshi and collecting 25 Shines, spray Shadow Mario down and get the Turbo Nozzle to unlock it in Delfino Plaza.
• After unlocking the Turbo Nozzle and collecting 30 Shines, spray Shadow Mario down and get the Rocket Nozzle to unlock it in Delfino Plaza.
• After completing the Shadow Mario shines in each of the seven regular levels, Delfino Plaza will flood and Corona Mountain will open. Enter it to change the plaza back to normal.
• Collect 60 Shines to restore full sunlight to Delfino Plaza.