Super Mario Sunshine/Unused Pollution Maps
This is a sub-page of Super Mario Sunshine.
 | Please elaborate. Having more detail is always a good thing. Specifically: Which stages contain each pollution map? |
The game uses bitmaps to keep track of pollution (goop) with a corresponding model to hold the bitmap. However, many stages have unused pollution map(s), often copied from other stages. Some pollution maps/textures are simply placeholders where the developers would leave notes and doodles.
Contents
Test Map
The test map uses pollution00.bmp, however the entire stage goes unused.
| pollution00.bmp | A_kuri512_2.dds |
|---|---|
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| This is the used pollution map which isn't properly seen in-game. It is one of the most common unused pollution map duplicates found in many stage's pollution folders. It appears to be intended for an early version of Delfino Plaza, as the overall shape of the goopy area lines up with the unused goop map also found among the test map data.
It shows a couple of cutesy enemies causing the mess, which bear a resemblance to HinoKuri2. |
This pollution texture is overwritten by pollution00.bmp. It depicts a much simpler shape of what appears to be a silhouette of Kug. |
Early Bianco Hills
The second common pollution map brings us this creepy image.
The texture of the goop itself is just as creepy.
Viewing the model without the texture reveals it is actually from an early design of Bianco Hills. This level layout, the goop texture, and map can all be seen in some early screenshots.
This bitmap appears in all files where the early Bianco pollution map is located, suggesting they're connected. It appears to be four splotches.
Early Ricco Harbor
There are several interesting things to note about these pollution maps, which can be found in Episode 2's files. Not only are there two pollution maps, but they use two different early versions of the level. The earlier version lacks a fountain, has different buildings, and has a rounded ledge with no wooden platform. The second version is much like the final version, but with a smaller ledge on the right side. There is also a tiny square platform in both, which moves around between versions before being removed altogether. The bitmap used for the goop is rather simple, and even seems to have a portion of the map that wouldn't fit on the mesh. Furthermore, the goop texture used by it is the same one seen in the early Bianco Hills, but with an additional specular (or bump?) map accompanying it.
| Description | Image |
|---|---|
| Early Version 1 |  |
| Early Version 2 |  |
| Final Version |  |
Delfino Plaza
The various scenarios in Delfino Plaza with pollution maps have placeholders that resemble the texture on the early Ricco Harbor pollution map.
Pianta Square event
First Shadow Mario chase
Lighthouse event
Delfino Plaza Turbo Nozzle Level
The Delfino Plaza Turbo Nozzle level, bia_ex1.szs, has three unused goop maps which shows a goop splatter and two cones, another goop splatter, and an even bigger goop splatter. The first map suggests that a cone-shaped object was going to be covered in graffiti. In the final game, there are only three types of cone-shaped objects: the traffic cone-like objects in Ricco Harbor's Blooper Surfing Safari, the roofs of the Sirena Beach's huts, and Corona Mountain's stalagmites. Of these, only the roofs of Sirena Beach's huts can get covered in graffiti and even then, they are much wider than the cones in this goop map. All three maps also come with their very own bitmaps, even though they're all kind of similar.
| Map 1 | Map 2 | Map 3 |
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Bianco Hills
 | To do: Episodes 7 and 8 lake goop map. |
These maps are used as the placeholder maps for five pollution maps used in Bianco Hills. The first one is reused by the last one.
Ricco Harbor
Ricco Harbor's third episode "The Caged Shine Sprite" is the only episode where the beams can become polluted. Any other mission the beams are un-goopable. This most likely means the developers forgot to remove any pollution coding in this specific level. The pollution map you see on the right is of the first set of beams you climb onto, even though no designated goop maps show up on the beams in-game. However, they can get covered by instigating a Blooper to spit graffiti onto the beams which Mario can slide on to spread it further. The bitmap it uses is pretty... basic.
Gooper Blooper Returns
In Episode 5 of Ricco Harbor, there is an unused pollution map that is a horizontally compressed version of the grafitti on the ground next to Gooper Blooper in Episode 1. It would have fit on the helipad Gooper Blooper is on.
Noki Bay
In Episode 1, eight goop stains appear on the cliff wall: an octopus, a boat, a squid, a swirl, a dolphin, a whale, and a bird. Four out of the seven mentioned goop stains appear differently in the files.
| Early | Final |
|---|---|
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Originally, the swirl was supposed to be a mushroom.
| Early | Final |
|---|---|
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Same design, different size.
| Early | Final |
|---|---|
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The dolphin has the same outline, just the fin is different and an empty dot is present to represent an eye.
| Early | Final |
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The design is very different, down from the wings to the tail. The dots are different sizes and an empty spot is present to represent an eye.
Noki City
The pollution map for the entirely underwater portion of Noki Bay. Scribbled in the upper left-hand corner is Japanese that reads, appropriately, "stupid", as washable pollution residing underwater doesn't quite make sense.
Also located in both scene files for Noki City are two pollute.bti textures. Most pollute.bti textures that are still found within the game's files are wiped clean, but these two in Noki City are the only ones that are still intact with their images. The first is of a basic circle. Not much else to say. The second is of everyone's favorite test goomba, Kug!
Pinna Park (Beach)
Believe it or not, there's actually pollution files in all five of Pinna Beach's map files, each of which are exactly the same. This suggests that Pinna Beach and possibly Pinna Park were originally going to house goop.
Pollution Map 1
The first pollution map covers the sand surrounding the brick road to Pinna Park's entrance. This pollution map uses a temporary "256.256" texture that is also unused in an early Bianco Hills pollution map.
| Map | Texture |
|---|---|
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Pollution Map 2
The second pollution map covers the rest of Pinna Beach's sand and uses a unique "512.256" temporary texture.
| Map | Texture |
|---|---|
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Sirena Beach
This is the texture used for Sirena Beach's pollution map. Look familiar? That's right, it's Kug! Again! The actual maps used in the levels are in the shape of a manta and a Boo, respectively. This Kug pollution map texture is also used for Bianco Hills episodes 4 and 5.
This is an early test bitmap. It shows up in most episodes where there is no goop to clean up. It reads "alpha, mostly black" along with the dimensions of the image.
Delfino Casino
The pollution map found with the Casino is actually for an early version of some level. It's unclear which level it is meant to be, but the central structure resembles the platform that Hotel Delfino is on in Sirena Beach. The relatively empty map and off-center position of the geometry indicates that the goop only covered a small portion of the level.
Pianta Village
Episode 1 has no set goop maps. However, found in the files is a pollution map with an unused goop map. The goop map covers most of the level, so it could either be an early goop layout of Episode 3 or a completely different episode. A noticeable difference is that there are a few spots for mushrooms that aren't present on the final stage model.
Found in the files of Episode 6 and 7 is this early design of Episode 6's goop. It's still a mystery as to why the files also appear in Episode 7 too.
Corona Mountain Boss
This is another common pollution map, appearing in a number of secret room maps, as well as the final boss battle map. The model for the goop area is a pair of flat planes named "A_airport128.dds" which likely means these flats were created for Delfino Airstrip. The pollution mask is very primitive compared to the rest, meaning this is likely a copy from one of the test maps. Strangely, the goop texture that comes with it has "holes" in the alpha channel, and is named "a_pmetaru.dds", with "pmetaru" being the Japanese translation of "metal".
