Boathouse
The Blue Coin Shop is a location in Super Mario Sunshine. The shop can be found on the west side of Delfino Plaza at the end of a short dock, and is run by two Tanookis, a father and a son. After Mario collects his third Shine Sprite, the shop will mysteriously vanish, and a Polluted Piranha Plant will take its place. After Mario defeats the Polluted Piranha Plant, the shop rises out of the Goop, at which point it becomes apparent that Shadow Mario has painted another rainbow "M" on the side of the shop, similar to the one he had previously painted on the base of the Grand Pianta Statue. This "M" will lead the player to Ricco Harbor when entered.
After the shop rises out of the Goop, it will not immediately be open for business. However, if the player collects a total of 10 Blue Coins at a later point in the game, they can return to this shop and exchange the collected Blue Coins for one Shine Sprite, which will immediately be collected by Mario. If the player has less than 10 Blue Coins when they visit this shop, the Tanooki father will exclaim that he cannot drop his prices that low, and insist that the player collect more Blue Coins before he can sell them a Shine Sprite.
The player can have more than just 10 Blue Coins when they come to this shop, but the Blue Coins can only be traded in increments of ten. For instance, if the player has a total of 20 Blue Coins, they can trade the Blue Coins for two Shine Sprites. If the player has just 19 Blue Coins, however, they will need to recover one more Blue Coin before they can be sold two Shine Sprites, even though they are only one Blue Coin away from having 20 Blue Coins. If they do not find another Blue Coin, the Tanooki can only sell them one Shine Sprite. As long as they have enough Blue Coins to pay the Tanooki father though, the player can acquire as many Shine Sprites as they want when visiting the shop, as there is no limit on how many Blue Coins they can spend at once.
Shine Sprites acquired this way do not help the player actually finish the game, as the player can defeat Bowser and Bowser Jr. in Corona Mountain without the additional Shine Sprites. Therefore, the Shine Sprites that the player acquires from this shop are useful only for accessing new levels during gameplay, or for unlocking the second ending sequence at the end of the game when all 120 Shine Sprites have been collected. Although, it should be noted that without the Shine Sprites acquired from this shop, the player cannot complete the game 100%.
Trivia
- The owners of this shop seem to bear a slight resembelance to Tom Nook and his one of his nephews, Timmy.
