Ask anyone who grew up with a GameCube about the Bianco Hills secret shines, and you’ll probably see a physical flinch. It's visceral. That bright, upbeat music kicks in, the bells toll, and suddenly you’re staring at a floating obstacle course made of spinning wooden blocks and disappearing platforms.
Honestly, it’s a love-hate relationship.
Super Mario Sunshine is often the "black sheep" of the 3D Mario family because of its janky physics and sometimes brutal difficulty spikes. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the Secret Stages. These levels strip away your F.L.U.D.D. water pack—the very mechanic the entire game is built around—and force you to rely on raw platforming skills. If you’ve spent any time in Bianco Hills lately, whether on original hardware or the Switch’s 3D All-Stars collection, you know that these specific shines are where the game stops holding your hand and starts throwing punches.
The Reality of Secret Shines in Bianco Hills
Most players stumble into their first secret level in Episode 3, "The Hillside Cave Secret." You’re just minding your own business, chasing Shadow Mario across the bridge, and then—bam—he jumps into a cave, paints a weird portal, and dives in. You follow him, expecting a fun little challenge. Instead, the Shadow Mario theme starts playing, your water pack is gone, and you’re looking at a void of blue sky and spinning orange blocks.
It’s a shock to the system.
The physics in Sunshine are slippery. Mario doesn't move with the heavy precision of Galaxy or the gymnastic grace of Odyssey. He’s fast, he has a weirdly high-velocity dive, and his spin-jump is arguably the most brokenly powerful move in his repertoire. In these secret stages, the margin for error is basically zero. If you miss a jump by a pixel, you aren't just taking damage; you’re losing a life and starting the entire gauntlet over.
There are actually two primary "Secret" shine missions in Bianco Hills, but thanks to the way the game is structured, you’re looking at four total shines hidden within these sub-areas if you count the Red Coin challenges.
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Why the Hillside Cave Secret is a Nightmare for Beginners
The Hillside Cave (Episode 3) is a masterclass in psychological warfare. It looks simple. You have some rotating wooden blocks, a few moving platforms, and a narrow bridge. But the rotation speed of those cubes is just slightly faster than you think it is.
Experienced speedrunners like Average_Trey or PangaeaPanga make this look like a walk in the park by using the "Spin Jump" to bypass half the platforms. For the rest of us? We’re stuck timing our jumps on those spinning rectangles. One tip that people often miss: you don’t have to jump as much as you think. Sometimes, simply walking against the rotation keeps you centered.
Once you beat the stage once, you have to come back later for the Red Coin challenge. This is where the real frustration begins. You get your F.L.U.D.D. back for the Red Coin version, which makes the platforming easier, but you’re on a strict timer. You have to trigger a red switch and hunt down eight coins scattered across the same death-trap layout.
The Dirty Little Secret of the "Secret of the Dirty Lake"
Then there’s Episode 6. The Secret of the Dirty Lake.
To even get here, you have to navigate the polluted water behind the windmill, which is a chore in itself. Once inside, you’re greeted by a massive structure of sliding blocks and flipping panels. This stage is arguably harder than the Cave because it demands better spatial awareness.
The middle section features these blue and red panels that flip 180 degrees every few seconds. If you’re mid-air when they flip, you’re done. There’s a specific rhythm to it. Flip, two-three, flip, two-three. If you can’t internalize that beat, you’ll never see that Shine Sprite.
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The Red Coin Loophole
A lot of people get stuck on the Red Coin versions of these levels because they try to play them "properly."
Don't do that.
Use the Hover Nozzle to its absolute limit. In the Dirty Lake Red Coin challenge, you can skip massive chunks of the intended path by hovering around the sides of the structures. The developers at Nintendo EAD clearly designed these with a "find your own way" mentality, even if the initial Secret run feels like a linear prison.
Common Misconceptions About Bianco Hills
I see people online all the time saying that these levels are "glitchy."
They aren't, really.
The "glitchiness" people feel is actually just the interaction between Mario’s high movement speed and the friction-less surfaces of the blocks. Sunshine uses a different engine than Mario 64, and the way momentum carries through a jump is much more aggressive. If you're running full tilt and press jump, you're going to fly. If you want to survive Bianco Hills, you have to learn the "short hop." Barely tap the button.
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Another big myth is that you need 100% of the Blue Coins in Bianco Hills to unlock the "true" secret shines. Not true. Blue Coins only give you more Shines toward your total count (every 10 coins equals one Shine at the Boathouse in Delfino Plaza). You can ignore every single Blue Coin in the hills and still clear all the Secret stages.
Tactical Advice for the Frustrated Plumber
If you’re currently staring at a "Game Over" screen because of a spinning wooden cube, try these three things:
- The Spin Jump is King: Rotate the stick 360 degrees and hit jump. You’ll get way more height and a slower descent. It’s the safest way to clear gaps in the Cave.
- C-Stick Management: The camera in Sunshine is your worst enemy in tight spaces. In the secret levels, try to keep the camera directly behind Mario or strictly top-down. Do not let the camera stay at an angle, or your depth perception will betray you.
- The Belly Slide: On the flat bridges in the Secret of the Dirty Lake, sliding on your stomach (Press B while running) is actually faster and sometimes more stable than running.
The Bianco Hills secret shines represent a specific era of Nintendo design where "difficult" meant "punishing." They are a test of patience as much as skill. But honestly, there is no better feeling in that game than finally hearing that "Success" jingle after falling into the abyss twenty times in a row.
How to Finish Your Bianco Hills Run
To truly wrap up your time in Bianco Hills, ensure you have completed the following:
- The Hillside Cave Secret (Episode 3): Standard run.
- The Secret of the Dirty Lake (Episode 6): Standard run.
- Red Coin Revisit (Cave): Re-enter Episode 3 and hit the red switch.
- Red Coin Revisit (Lake): Re-enter Episode 6 and hit the red switch.
- 100 Coin Shine: Collect 100 gold coins in any episode (Episode 8 is easiest due to the abundance of coin-bearing enemies and butterflies).
Once these are knocked out, you've mastered the hardest platforming the first world has to offer. Move on to Ricco Harbor—though, be warned, the "Blooper Surfing Safari" is its own special kind of nightmare.