Breaking Down Noki Bay | A Super Mario Sunshine Deep Dive

This entire level channels the energy of Invisible Coin Blocks... Mysterious, sometimes charming... sometimes infuriating.

Extramedial Music used in this Video:

Intro: Pikmin - The Forest of Hope
The Brochure: Pikmin 4 - Serene Shores
Noki Bay's Entrance: The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword - Sailing the Sand Sea
The Tanuki: Animal Crossing New Horizons - Nook's Cranny
Out of Bounds: Sea of Stars - Sky Base
Mario Zoomies: Super Mario Bros. Wonder - Coins Galore!
A Book in the Bottle: Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door - Intro Story
Environmentalism Themes: Ratchet & Clank - Pokitaru
Sure is Dark: Hollow Knight - Radiance
New NPC Alarm: Super Smash Bros. Melee - Challenger Approaching
Blue Coin Rush: Mario Kart 8 - Dolphin Shoals
Outro: Xenoblade 2 - Leftherian Archipelago

0:00 Why Sunshine was Rushed
2:37 Uncork The Waterfall
8:57 The Entrance
11:05 The Boss of Tricky Ruins
21:55 Red Coins in a Bottle
28:33 Eely-Mouths Dentist
33:01 Il Piantissimo's Surf Swim
35:13 The Shell's Secret
40:44 Hold it, Shadow Mario!
41:44 The Red Coin Fish
44:24 Golden Bird on the Cliffs
45:03 100 Gold Coins and 30 Blue Coins
48:34 Outro

[SMWssaamm]

The part where the default dialogue for errors is "I want to eat freshly cooked white rice" and "I didn't notice it was so bright outside" kind of hits home for me as a programmer lol. Eating just enough simple food to get by, letting the sun come and go like nothing...very relatable for when you're deep in a project. I can't help but think these are messages from Nintendo developers during a serious crunch.

[lucianosgonzalez]

I just wanna say that this is my favorite video series on YouTube and I'm so happy it's still going EVEN if we're drawing closer and closer to its conclusion. You're dope dude.

[asteroidrules]

Something that stands out to me about Noki Bay is actually the Noki themselves. While the Piantas went on to appear in several other Mario games, the Noki pretty much stayed on Isle Delfino. It's especially odd since their design is very Mario, this franchise loves creatures that have shells.

[moeeyeguy]

The most surprising part of this was that you were credited for finding the in-game language on The Cutting Room Floor. Congrats, that is so cool!

[TheAmazingFocus]

Something else about the eel: they're half male and half female. One pair of eyes has eyebrows and the other has eyelashes, and the sound it makes when you clean a tooth is different depending on which side the tooth is on!

[StartouchArts]

Fun fact: Eely Mouth has a fully modeled stomach, leading some people to believe that maybe the boss fight was originally going to involve Mario intentionally being eaten and fight it from the inside.

[omicron]

Seriously, how can 50 minutes go by so fast? This series has been a joy to watch so far.

I don't know if it's my copy of Sunshine showing its age, but that particular blue coin ALWAYS crashes the game when I collect it...

[rubenstroy]

Man Noki Bay is my favourite Sumshine zone by far. The feeling of exploring ancient ruins in a gorgeous place, the deep sea area, the sense of progression by seeing the water get clean, just discovering how to enter felt so good as a kid. All accompanied by that amazing theme. It all felt so magic. Thank you again for your videos, i really love them.

[kingofflames]

These videos remind me of a particular mushroom. Damn do I miss his videos. You're essentially picking up his mantle, which is beautiful, even if it's unintentional.

[joshslater]

I know Sunshine was rushed, but I still love it. There’s still so much detail and charm, in spite of how glitchy and somewhat unfinished it is. Noki Bay is interesting: it’s got a lot of infamous and difficult levels, but I like the causal but mysterious vibe.

[Magikarpador]

It's so nice to hear someone just talk and talk and talk about a game i love so much

[muggs]

It’s funny to find that Noki Bay was one of the most rushed worlds since it was actually always my favorite. It’s so atmospheric & beautiful, and I love that soundtrack. All the underwater stuff and history really captured my young imagination.

[JakoBpyroTech]

Fun Fact: those Bluster wind ghost enemies can actually be dispelled by spraying them with water before they attack you.

[vegetavsluigi]

I can’t believe we’re only two or three episodes away from this series ending already! I’m gonna miss these break downs of Super Mario Sunshine when it’s over, but I’ll always enjoy rewatching them! Like Sunshine, these videos are very calming and help put my mind at ease in otherwise difficult times, so I just want to say thanks as a relatively new subscriber!

[DarkFoxKit]

33:00 Pianta: Gosh it sure is dark around here!

Mario: Maybe take off your sunglasses?

[adsr]

15:46 This shot is pure gold. If there were a way to crop out the hud this would be the background for nostalgic music compilations for sure

[Roggenschrotdosenbrot]

An hour long video of a 20 year old game I haven't played in 20 years? I'm in

[dersuchmann]

I'd argue the brochure reads "snail tower" rather than "shell tower". But clearly both are fitting names for it.

[HackCausality]

I don't understand how these get less than 100k views. The audio quality is perfect, and I've seen channels with a million subscribers have inferior writing and editing.

[ActiveAdvocate]

my favourite level! It's so freaking PRETTY! You know the spot right at the top where you find the yellow bird/ I will climb up there and just chill with the vibes. Not to mention the underwater area when the music is chill, not when the eel is there. Ugh, SO much love for this level. Except for those fist bastards that punch you off the cliffs. HATE.