Noki Bay is beautiful. The turquoise water, the towering cliffs, and that ethereal music make it one of the most atmospheric levels in Super Mario Sunshine. But honestly? If you’re hunting for Noki Bay blue coins, it’s a total headache.
There are 30 of them. That sounds standard for a Sunshine world, but Noki Bay is built like a vertical labyrinth. You aren't just looking behind walls; you're spraying random tiles, wall-jumping into invisible alcoves, and timing rocket jumps that feel like they require frame-perfect precision. Most players end up stuck at 29/30, wandering the cliffs for hours. I’ve been there. It’s not fun.
The biggest issue is how the level changes between episodes. If you’re in Episode 1, the water is literal poison. If you’re in Episode 8, half the stuff you need might be gone. To keep your sanity, you basically have to know exactly when and where to look.
The Episode 6 "Sweet Spot"
If you want to be efficient, do yourself a favor: pick Episode 6 (The Shell's Secret).
Most of the Noki Bay blue coins—26 of them, to be exact—are obtainable in this single mission. The water is clean, which is a massive relief because you don’t have to worry about your health draining while you swim to those floating coins near the start.
Wait. Don't think you're getting all 30 here. You physically can't.
Four specific coins are locked behind the underwater mechanics of Episode 4 or Episode 8. You’ll find them inside Eely-Mouth’s domain, tucked away on those stone pillars. If you try to find them in Episode 6, you’re just going to be staring at a waterfall with nothing behind it.
Those "Tricky Ruins" Aren't Joking
The cliffside on the right is a vertical maze of "Tricky Ruins." You know the ones—the stone walls that recede when you spray them.
This is where the hunt gets mean. You have to spray a panel, wall-jump up, spray another, and keep climbing before the stone slides back out and knocks you into the sea. There’s one blue coin hidden in a tiny cubbyhole near the top-right that almost everyone misses. You have to hover from a very specific ledge after using a springboard (which, by the way, disappears in later episodes).
And then there's the Rocket Nozzle.
You need it for the "coin stack" blue coin. It’s hovering way up in the sky, and even with the Rocket Nozzle, you usually have to jump at the peak of the blast to reach it. It’s fiddly.
Graffiti and Hidden Tiles
Noki Bay loves its "M" graffiti. There’s one on the back of the building with two towers, and another on the wall by the water wheel. But the real "gotcha" moments are the linked graffiti.
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- The X Marks: You spray an X on one side of the bay, and a coin appears at the X on the other side. You have to haul it across the water before it vanishes.
- The Red Circles: Same deal. Spray a circle, then race to the other one.
Pro tip: Use the Turbo Nozzle for these. In Episode 6, you can find the Turbo Nozzle in a small cave underwater, right beneath the top of the waterfall. It makes the "race" coins trivial. Without it? You’re stuck wrestling with that clunky boat.
The Weird Stuff You'd Never Guess
Some of these coins feel like they were placed by a developer who wanted to see players suffer.
For instance, did you know you can get a blue coin by spraying the moon? Seriously. In Episodes 1, 3, 5, or 7, you can go to the golden mushroom, look up at the moon in first-person, and just... spray it. It defies logic, but it works.
Then there’s the Pianta statue that spews water. If you ground pound its nose, out pops a coin. It’s these tiny, non-obvious interactions that make Noki Bay blue coins such a legendary pain in the neck.
The Yoshi Requirement
You don't need the dinosaur for everything, but for 100%, he’s mandatory. In Episode 5, you have to bring Yoshi up to the village area.
- The Beehives: Spray them down and have Yoshi eat every single bee. Two coins.
- The Butterflies: There’s a group of butterflies on a mushroom. Eat them all. If you miss one, you have to wait for them to respawn. It’s tedious.
How to Not Lose Your Mind
If you're staring at your map and it says 29/30, check these three spots first. They are the most common "missing" coins:
- The Underwater Pillars: Did you actually go into the deep water in Episode 8 and check all four pillars?
- The Hidden Wall Sconce: In the vertical shaft you wall-jump up, there's a side path that leads to a silhouette section. Many people grab the gold coins but miss the blue one tucked in a corner.
- The Blue Bird: There is a blue bird flying around the village area in Episode 8. You have to spray it until it explodes into a coin. It’s fast and annoying.
Noki Bay is a test of patience. It’s the peak of Super Mario Sunshine's "hidden in plain sight" philosophy. You’ll spend most of your time spraying every single square inch of rock until a blue spark finally appears.
To wrap this up, your best path forward is to clear out Episode 6 first. Grab the 26 coins available there—including the ones in the ruins and the "M" graffiti. Once you're sure you've stripped that episode clean, jump into Episode 8 for the remaining four coins in the deep sea. Check the "M" graffiti on the cliff walls one last time, and don't forget to spray the moon.