Our Delfino Plaza shines guide is part of our Super Mario Sunshine walkthrough and features all eleven Shine Sprites and their locations.
Unlike every other world in our Super Mario Sunshine walkthrough, Delfino Plaza is the main hub of the game and features a total of 42 Shine Sprites. Delfino Plaza itself is home to 16 of these shines with an additional 24 earned by trading in Blue Coins and two more which can be found at the Delfino Airstrip.
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Looking for dastardly hidden Blue Coins? See our Delfino Plaza blue coins guide for a complete list! There are 30 Blue Coins in this level.
Jump to each of the Delfino Plaza shines with the links below!
- Shine 1 – Outline in the Sand
- Shine 2 – Crate Minigame #1
- Shine 3 – Crate Minigame #2
- Shine 4 – Chuckster
- Shine 5 – Golden Bird
- Shine 6 – Turbo Dash Smash
- Shine 7 – Lighthouse Smash
- Shine 8 – West Bell Tower
- Shine 9 – East Bell Tower
- Shine 10 – Shine Gate
- Shine 11 – Super Slide
- Shine 12 – Pachinko Game
- Shine 13 – Lily Pad Ride
- Shine 14 – Turbo Track
- Shine 15 – Red Coin Field
- Shine 16 – 100 Coins
- Shines 17-40 – Blue Coin Extravaganza
- Shine 41 – Delfino Airstrip Dilemma
- Shine 42 – Red Coins of the Airstrip
Shine 1 – Outline in the Sand
Make your way to the lighthouse on the right side of the town. Spray the sand to reveal a Shine outline. Reveal the full thing to get a Shine Sprite. Neat!
Shine 2 – Crate Minigame #1
To the left of the massive Shine Gate is a small plaza with umbrellas. Enter the door and speak to the Pianta inside to start a minigame. 30 seconds to smash ten different wooden crates. Fairly simple, jump and ground pound over the crates, hovering if needed. Try to ground in between two crates to destroy them in one smash!
Shine 3 – Crate Minigame #2
Back to the crate minigame room! Speak to the Pianta again to start another 30 second timer. Ten crates again and this time they’re stacked into towers. Do a quick Side Somersault to reach the top, then repeatedly ground proud until you hit the floor. Simple!
Shine 4 – Chuckster
On the roof of the building housing the crate minigame, look for a Pianta. Stand directly between the Pianta and the tower with the broken window behind him and speak to him. Pay up a single coin the Pianta will toss you right through the window and into the Shine Sprite.
Shine 5 – Golden Bird
Head over to the right side of the island and look out into the ocean. See that little island over there with the castaway? Make your way to the island and look for the golden bird. Spray the blasted bird as it circles around the island to release a Shine Sprite.
Shine 6 – Turbo Dash Smash
See the bell tower to the west, the one near the racoon boathouse? Look for two double doors with a Shine Sprite behind them. Stand near the Pianta statue and ready your Turbo Nozzle, then blast through the doors and in the Shine Sprite. Obtainable after unlocking the Turbo Nozzle in Delfino Plaza!
Shine 7 – Lighthouse Smash
Head over to the lighthouse with the Rocket Nozzle attached and blast up to the top. See the flame symbol? Stand on top of it and rocket blast upward. As you hit the highest point, ground pound to come slamming down and smash the symbol to pieces. And look at that, a Shine Sprite! Obtainable after unlocking the Rocket Nozzle in Delfino Plaza!
Shine 8 – West Bell Tower
Okay, that bell tower near the raccoon boathouse from a few shines back? Get ahold of the Rocket Nozzle and boost up to the top of the tower. Hose down the bell to reveal a Shine Sprite below. Jump from the tower to the building across from it to find a manhole. Drop inside, go south, then jump and exit to shoot up into both the tower and the Shine Sprite! Obtainable after unlocking the Rocket Nozzle in Delfino Plaza!
Shine 9 – East Bell Tower
Now off to the eastern bell tower, the one by the fruit vendors. Just like the other one, blast yourself up with the Rocket Nozzle and clean all the gunk off the bell. This will unleash a Shine Sprite way up above the tower. Blast yourself up to the roof, then blast up again to reach it! Obtainable after unlocking the Rocket Nozzle in Delfino Plaza!
Shine 10 – Shine Gate
The Shine Gate, it’s still dirty! Rocket up to the massive gate standing proud in front of Corona Mountain and land in front of the massive spinning Shine Sprite. Clean it off with some good ol’ water to reveal a Shine Sprite above the gate. Obtainable after unlocking the Rocket Nozzle in Delfino Plaza!
Shine 11 – Super Slide
Head over to the lighthouse area and start hopping across the mini islands in the water. The farthest one has a green warp pipe that will take you to a secret level.
Sit on your butt and slide all the way to the bottom of the course where the Shine Sprite awaits. You could try to maneuver your way through all the different holes and crevices… or you jump to skip entire sections of the slide. You’ll take some damage when you land but it shouldn’t matter by the time you get the Shine Sprite!
Shine 12 – Pachinko Game
See the boat that travels along the canal in the center of the plaza? Hop on top of it, and when it passes under the arch, jump where you see a coin to enter a secret level. Alternatively, use the Rocket Nozzle underneath the hole and launch yourself up.
Oof. Just one big oof. This level can be super janky and finnicky so when you get frustrated, know that it’s mostly the level, not you. The entire level is one big pachinko machine where the goal is to blast yourself multiple times through the course as you collect all eight red coins. Get thrown in the wrong way and you’re off tumbling to your death where you’ll have to restart the mission over. Everything is super touchy and it’s very easy to mess not by your own fault but by the game’s wonky physics.
So! There’s a great tutorial by Andrew Orders that highlights how to get each red coin. We recommend you watch his video tutorial for a great visual guide. Getting into each cubby will be based on where you push the control stick after you get launched. If, for example, you get launched and you do not move the control stick at all, you’ll land in the center cubby where the Shine Sprite will eventually spawn. Getting launched and pushing all the way to the right will drop you into the top center cubby. Now onto the red coins!
- First three red coins are inside the launcher, easy!
- Get launched and push all the way to the right to drop into the top center blue cubby.
- Get launched and push to the left to fall into the top left green cubby.
- Get launched and do not touch the control stick until you reach the highest point. From there, hover over to the top right green cubby.
- Get launched without touching the control stick to land on one of the nails in the center. From there, hover to the left and drop into the bottom left purple cubby.
- Go behind! Hover up the sloped area of the slide to reach the long section, then keep pushing forward. Once you reach the exit of the bottom right purple cubby, hover over to it!
And there’s the Shine Sprite. Launch yourself one more time and this time do not touch the control stick. This should get you to the center where the Shine Sprite is at. Again, please check out the very helpful video tutorial that details this strategy in length! Show the pachinko level who is really the boss!
Shine 13 – Lily Pad Ride
Okay. Breath, relax. This is often considered one of the most frustrating Shine Sprites to get and a lot of that is due to the obnoxious platforming required just to get to the secret level.
First things first. Grab the required fruit and bring it over to the Yoshi egg on the roof of the western bell tower building. With Yoshi in tow, look for a manhole near the Pinna Park entrance and take the underground tunnel over to the nearby island. Now the waiting begins. Look for a boat to pass by the island and hop on while continuing to ride Yoshi. Travel along the water until you see a small wooden tower floating out in the middle of the water. Flutter jump up with Yoshi and land on top. Eat the banana! Now wait for a second boat to pass by. Jump down and land on the roof, then have it take you to the second island. Spray the yellow gunk off the warp pipe to open up access to the secret level. Part one done!
Collect all eight red coins while floating down the river on a lily pad. YIKES. Remember, hop on the lily pad and spray in the opposite direction of where you want to go to use yourself as a propeller. The river will slightly push you forward as well. If you’re going to fast, bumping into a wall should slow you down. The first six coins can be collected while floating down the river, the seventh coin you’ll have to jump and hover to get while still on the lily pad. Last coin is above solid ground at the end! Obtainable after unlocking the Yoshi in Delfino Plaza!
Shine 14 – Turbo Track
Grab the Turbo Nozzle and head over to the right side of the island where all the fruit vendors are at. Blast forward towards the mountain side of the town and run right through the double doors at the base of the tower.
This secret course requires you to consistently dash forward with the Turbo Nozzle without stopping. The main challenge here is jumping from platform to platform without falling. Stay in a straight line and don’t try to go left or right! And always jump just before hitting the orange line at the end of each platform. The Shine Sprite is at the end of the long jump in the back! Obtainable after unlocking the Turbo Nozzle in Delfino Plaza!
Shine 15 – Red Coin Field
Strap on the Rocket Nozzle and head over to the western cliffside past the Pinna Park entrance. There are a couple of ledges and palm trees handing off the side of the cliff. Rocket up to the top of one of the palm trees, then hop over to the warp pipe that leads a secret level. Obtainable after unlocking the Rocket Nozzle in Delfino Plaza!
A red coin challenge in the tall grass. Can you find all eight? Of course you can! Our handy guide lists them all here:
- Look on top of the brown block for the first coin. Easy!
- There are two blue Seedy Pods that can be defeated to get two red coins. Listen for their singing! Spray them from a distance then pounce.
- Two Pokey Heads also hide two red coins. One is in the corner of the map and the other is underneath a palm tree. Look for the flower sticking out of the ground! Don’t blast them off the map or you’ll have to restart.
- In one of the corners is a watermelon block within the ground. Smash it to pieces to reveal a hole with the coin inside.
- Pianta on fire! Chase and hose it down, your reward is a red coin.
- Stand on top of the tallest brown block and look for a red bird circling the area. Spray it down several times to reveal your final coin.
Shine 16 – 100 Coins
The Delfino Plaza 100 coins challenge. Yes, you can get one here! Collect 100 coins without dying or entering a level to earn an additional star. Collect all the coins you see laying around but do keep in mind the following tips as you play. Remember, blue coins do not count to your total!
- Underground tunnels! These sections are loaded with coins. You can get most of your coins here, nearly all 100. Explore all three tunnels fully to get them all. All the tunnels are connected except for the tunnel near the Pinna Park entrance and the tunnel at the island to the west.
- Look for a ring of six coins underwater near the beach to the east.
- Use Yoshi to eat any of the green birds.
- Spray posters of Shadow Mario for an extra coins.
- Spray open windows for extra coins. Makes sense!
You can also collect 100 coins at the Delfino Airstrip!
Shines 17-40 – Blue Coins Extravaganza
Time to cash in those Blue Coins you’ve collected. Head over to the racoon boathouse on the western side of the island (the house with the Ricco Harbor entrance) and walk inside. There you can exchange 10 Blue Coins for one Shine Sprite. There are 24 Shine Sprites to collect this way!
Shine 41 – Delfino Airstrip Dilemma
The very first shine collected in the game. Once you gain control of Mario, run past the goop and grab FLUDD off the floor. After the tutorial, run over to the goop and start spraying the center. You’ll know you’re doing damage as the goop will flash a darker red. Once the Proto Piranha emerges, spray water into its mouth whenever you see its jaw start to drop. Do this three times to get the shine!
Shine 42 – Red Coins of the Airstrip
Look for a Pianta on the dock near the racoon house and pay him 10 coins to take you over to Delfino Airstrip. Once there, grab the Rocket Nozzle and stand over the red switch. Hit it to start a two minute timer. The goal here is to rocket blast your way through the entire level by following the trail of coins and collecting all eight red coins along the way. The order of red coins and where to find them:
- Inside the tower. You can blast through both doors with the Rocket Nozzle.
- Above the boat.
- Above the second boat.
- Between two Cheep Cheeps.
- To the right of the green floating tubes.
- Under the airstrip bridge.
- Both along the airstrip and among the Strollin’ Stu enemies.
Don’t worry about staying within the exact paths of the coins. As long as you get the red coins, the rest don’t matter! If you’re having trouble using the Rocket Nozzle, try to only move left and right when needed. Avoid pushing up or down! Obtainable after unlocking Corona Mountain in Delfino Plaza!
Need a different world? Jump to any of the seven worlds in our Super Mario Sunshine blue coins guide and walkthrough below:
