If you grew up in the late nineties, you probably have a specific, core memory involving a murky underwater cavern and a massive, gaping maw. I’m talking about Unagi. Most people just call him the Mario 64 giant eel, but his official name carries a certain weight for those of us who spent hours underwater in Jolly Roger Bay. He is, quite frankly, a masterpiece of early 3D horror that Nintendo probably didn’t even mean to be that scary. Or maybe they did. Shigeru Miyamoto has a history of slipping unsettling things into colorful worlds.
He’s terrifying.
It isn’t just the size. It is the way he lingers. You swim down into the depths of the first "water level," expecting a tropical paradise, and instead, you find a sunken ship and a giant, toothy face staring out from a hole. It's the Mario 64 giant eel that taught an entire generation about thalassophobia before we even knew what that word meant.
The Mechanics of a 64-Bit Panic Attack
Let’s talk about how this thing actually works. Technically, Unagi isn't a complex piece of AI. He’s essentially a scripted sequence tied to a specific collision trigger. When you first enter Jolly Roger Bay, he's tucked away inside the sunken ship. He doesn't move. He just watches. His eyes follow Mario with a flat, lifeless stare that feels deeply personal.
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To get the first Star—"Can the Eel Come Out to Play?"—you have to provoke him. You swim close to his face, and he lunges. The sheer speed of the animation was jarring for 1996. One second he’s a static texture in a hole; the next, he’s a serpentine wall of red and tan scales filling your entire screen. The sound design plays a huge role here too. That muffled, underwater "whoosh" as he exits the ship adds a layer of sensory dread that's hard to shake.
Once he’s out, he circles the area. This is where the real stress begins. You have to touch the Star attached to his tail. It sounds simple, right? It's not. The Nintendo 64 controller’s analog stick was revolutionary, but trying to navigate a 3D underwater space while a massive predator loops around you is a recipe for sweaty palms. If you miss the tail and hit his body, you lose a significant chunk of health. In a game where drowning is a constant threat, that health loss is often a death sentence.
Why Unagi Is Harder Than You Remember
People often misremember the Mario 64 giant eel as being a boss. He’s not. He’s more like a living obstacle. But he’s an obstacle that can’t be killed. You can’t punch him. You can’t ground-pound him. You just have to exist in his space and hope your swimming cycles align with his movement path.
The camera is your worst enemy. The Lakitu Cam in Super Mario 64 was groundbreaking, but it famously struggled in tight spaces or near large objects. When the eel moves past you, the camera often clips into his geometry or gets stuck against the cavern walls. Suddenly, you aren't looking at Mario; you're looking at the inside of a red polygon, and you have no idea which way is up.
Interestingly, there’s a second encounter. Later in the level, Unagi moves to a different hole in the wall. This time, he doesn't have a Star on his tail. He’s just there to be a nuisance while you try to collect red coins. This second appearance is arguably scarier because there’s no reward for interacting with him. He’s just a hazard that exists to remind you that the water isn’t safe.
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The DS Remake and the Loss of "The Vibe"
In 2004, Nintendo released Super Mario 64 DS. They updated the graphics, added characters like Yoshi and Wario, and, of course, they gave the Mario 64 giant eel a facelift.
Honestly? He lost something in translation.
The original N64 Unagi had these vacant, slightly pixelated eyes that looked like they belonged on a deep-sea creature that had never seen the sun. The DS version gave him more detail, more "personality," and smoother animations. But in horror, detail is often the enemy of the uncanny. The original eel benefited from the limitations of the hardware. The jagged edges and the murky, low-resolution fog of the N64 made your imagination fill in the gaps. Your brain turned those pixels into a monster. When the DS version showed you exactly what he looked like, the mystery—and a lot of the fear—evaporated.
The Legacy of the Eel in Speedrunning and Lore
If you watch high-level speedruns of Super Mario 64, the eel is a minor blip. Runners have optimized the "eel skip" or found ways to grab the Star the millisecond it becomes available. But for the average player, Unagi remains a gatekeeper.
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There’s also the weird "urban legend" side of the internet. Back in the early 2000s, message boards were filled with fake rumors about a "King Eel" or ways to actually defeat Unagi. Some players swore that if you swam into his mouth, you’d find a secret level. (You won’t; you’ll just take damage and probably die). This is a testament to how much this character occupied the collective psyche of the fanbase. We wanted there to be more to him because he felt so much more significant than a standard enemy like a Goomba or a Koopa Troopa.
How to Handle Jolly Roger Bay Without Tipping Over
If you’re revisiting the game on the Switch through the 3D All-Stars collection or the N64 Online expansion, the Mario 64 giant eel hasn't changed. He's still there. He's still waiting.
- Don't rush the lunge. When you’re trying to get him out of the ship, swim toward his nose and immediately pull back. Don't try to turn around—just hold the stick back.
- Watch the tail, not the head. Once he’s swimming in the open water, your eyes will naturally want to track his face because that’s where the teeth are. Ignore it. Position yourself "above" his swimming loop and wait for the tail to come to you.
- Manage your bubbles. There are air bubbles rising from the floor in the eel's cavern. If you’re getting low on health/air while chasing the tail, abandon the mission. Hit a bubble, reset your breath, and try again. The eel isn't going anywhere.
- The "C-Up" Trick. If you lose track of him, tap the C-Up button (or the equivalent on your controller) to get a first-person view. It stops Mario in his tracks but lets you scan the horizon to see where that massive red body is winding.
The Mario 64 giant eel represents a specific era of game design where "scary" was often accidental. He’s a reminder that even in a game about a plumber jumping on mushrooms, there can be something truly unsettling lurking just beneath the surface. He’s not a glitch, and he’s not a ghost, but he feels like a remnant of a darker version of the Mushroom Kingdom.
Next time you're in Jolly Roger Bay, take a second to just look at him from a distance. He’s a marvel of 64-bit scale. Just don't get too close unless you're ready for the jump scare of your life.
To really master the water levels, you should practice your "A-button" swimming rhythm. Instead of mashing the button, time your presses to Mario's kick. It gives you way more control and speed, which is exactly what you need when you're trying to outrun a prehistoric fish with a grudge. Once you've grabbed the Star from Unagi's tail, you don't ever have to talk to him again—unless you're a completionist going for all 120. In that case, good luck. You’ll need it.