Course 2: Ricco Harbor
Unlock Ricco Harbor by collecting three Shines. When you return to Delfino Plaza, you'll find that another Polluted Piranha has set up shop in town. Defeat it and the building it buried will emerge, along with graffiti on its side. Spray the graffiti and open the portal to Ricco Harbor.
Episode 1: Gooper Blooper Breaks Out
From where you started, board the large ship and jump up against the chain-link fence. From there, jump onto the platform being moved by the crate, and ride that onto the large structure of fences and revolving gates. Work your way to the far right corner of the cage, and drop onto the platform below.
Jump across the next platform and you will land on a platform with two Piantas. If you squirt the propeller above the submarine, you can raise it out of the water and to use it as a platform to get across to the other side. You can also squirt the bloopers in the water, turning them into platforms.
Alternatively, you can also use the angry Pianta near the wall as a bounce pad. You'll see him complaining near a pile of bricks to the left of the ship. Either way, once you're on the upper level of the village, walk up to the Blooper and pull his tentacle.
To defeat Gooper Blooper, spray his face and bait him into an attack. When he swings his tentacles, hop on the ends to disable them and then pull them off of its body. Once you have an opening, pull the cork out of his mouth to do damage. Do this one more time and you'll send it flying, and a Shine Sprite will take its place.
Episode 2: Blooper Surfing Safari
Near the start of the level, you'll notice a new dock to the right of Mario. Waiting there are three different Bloopers — the Green Blooper has the best handling, the Pink Blooper has the worst handling, and the yellow is in the middle. They all seem to have the same top speed though. Just be careful surfing; if you run into something, it's game over. Pick your favorite and follow the path of coins to a sewer entrance.
Inside, you'll have to choose a Blooper to use for the time trial. Any choice should work, but the green one is the easiest to control. So, use that one if you're having trouble. Keep your turns tight and the Shine will be yours.
Episode 3: Caged Shine Sprite
There are several paths to take here, but the most straight forward way to follow the arrows. Using FLUDD's Hover Nozzle to keep your balance, ride the candy-cane crane to the moving pathway and then climb the grating. pass through the revolving gate and jump onto the second fence. Pass through the gate, jump off of it, and resume following the arrows.
You'll come across a Red Rocket Nozzle box. Hopping onto the box will replace FLUDD's Hover Nozzle with the Rocket Nozzle. You can continue following the arrows, but you can also take that Rocket Nozzle directly under the cage and shoot straight up to get the Shine Sprite.
Episode 4: The Secret of Ricco Tower
Head to the newly opened light house and find a way to the opening. You can try wall jumping up the white scaffolding, or spin jump from the ship and use FLUDD's Hover Nozzle to make it. When you're inside, Shadow Mario will swipe FLUDD off of your back, and you'll enter an Old-School stage.
This level consists entirely of rotating wooden blocks. It's actually pretty easy to make it through. Make sure you move against the direction the block is rotating and don't get stuck on one of those colored pegs, and the Shine will be yours.
Episode 5: Gooper Blooper Returns
Gooper Blooper is back! Getting to Gooper Blooper is easy. You can swim right up to the Helipad that he's situated on. Use FLUDD's Hover Nozzle, and hover over to the red platform with the Red Nozzle Box. Swap out the nozzles and blast upward, grabbing the grate underneath the helipad. Shimmy to one of the panels and jump to the top to face off against Gooper Blooper.
He's basically the same as when you fought him before, though slightly more aggressive. Knock out his tentacles, clear an opening, and pull his snout two times to defeat Gooper Blooper.
Episode 6: Red Coins in the Water
The Red Coins won't appear until you ground pound the red switch on the docks. Pick a Blooper and get started. As before, the green one has the best handling. Two minutes should be more than enough time to hunt these coins down.
The best route is the one that follows the coin path, which has every single red coin. The path starts at the first floating platform and loops all the way around the bay. After you get the last coin, you will need to return to the dock to collect your shine. To do this, steer toward the dock and jump, otherwise you'll smack into the dock and fail. If the Shine is not directly in your path, you will skid right by it and have to loop around again.
Episode 7: Shadow Mario Revisited
You have to chase Shadow Mario and blast him with water. If you're adept at jumping, you should not have any problems chasing him up to the scaffolding to spray him down. If you're having trouble, go find the Rocket Nozzle under the helipad. You can also shoot him from below if you've got a shot. After enough, Shadow Mario will call it quits and hand over the Shine.
Episode 8: Yoshi's Fruit Adventure
This level requires Yoshi, so you need to unlock him first. You will find Yoshi's Egg waiting near the market in the upper part of the harbor. This Yoshi will always want a Durian. Jump on top of the giant fruit tanks and ground pound the lever that is raised, which will send a random fruit out the pipe. If you didnt't get a Durian the first time, hop back and forth between the fruit tanks until you get the right fruit and bring it to Yoshi.
With Yoshi hatched, go to the ledge, where the flying fish are jumping, and shoot the fish with purple juice. This will turn the fish into a platform. From there, flutter jump over to the ledge with the palm tree, and flutter again to another metal platform. Stop and create two more platforms using the fish and hop over to them. From the next platform, Yoshi can shoot the orange goo that blocks the way to the Shine. You can access the Shine.
100 Coin Shine Sprite (Ricco Harbor)
You need to collect 100 coins to earn a Shine Sprite. Here are some tips:
- Episode 3 is the best level to earn this shine.
- Go up and down every manhole entrance.
- Squashing the Bloopers instead of shooting them off the railings will give you two coins per Blooper.
- There's a long string of coins at the top of the tower.
- Check above and under the water.
