Hotel Delfino

Hotel Delfino
First appearance	Super Mario Sunshine (2002)
Latest appearance	Super Mario 3D All-Stars (2020)
Greater location	Sirena Beach
Owner	Hotel manager
Inhabitants	Piantas, Nokis, Boos

“This hotel is outfitted with the finest auto-lock system available. Security here is top-notch! No worries at all! We do have trouble getting around, however...”

—Pianta, Super Mario Sunshine

Hotel Delfino is a luxurious four-star hotel resort on Isle Delfino. It is located on the island's southwest coast, and it serves as the pivotal location in Sirena Beach, the sixth world of Super Mario Sunshine. The hotel is owned and managed by a Pianta, the hotel manager. The hotel's Japanese name, along with that of Casino Delfino, is the only instance of the word "Delfino" in the Japanese version of Super Mario Sunshine, outside the opening cutscene, where the English voices are used even in Japan. Mario visits this place in search of Shine Sprites. At noon, prior to Mario's arrival, the hotel got attacked by a ghostly Manta, which covered the premises in electric goop and made the hotel vanish. Mario arrives at sunset during another attack of the Manta, allowing him to battle the creature and free the hotel from the goop.

After Mario defeats the Manta, the hotel itself becomes accessible. Mario has to deal with a massive Boo infestation inside the building. In search of Sirena Beach's Shine Sprites, he has to circumvent the hotel's security system, battle Boos in the foyers and the attic, and use hidden pathways and portals to get from room to room. The source of the ghost invasion is eventually located inside the hotel casino. Here, Mario battles King Boo beneath the giant roulette wheel. Mario's quest in Hotel Delfino then comes to completion with a Shadow Mario duel and a final Red Coin hunt through the various hotel rooms.

By design of the developers, the player cannot leave Hotel Delfino through normal means once entered. The building can be exited either through collecting a Shine Sprite or using the "Exit Area" command from the menu. A similar case occurs in the hotel casino.

Hotel Delfino appears to be inspired by the Overlook Hotel, a fictional establishment that serves as the setting for the 1977 American horror novel The Shining. Both hotels are located in secluded areas of their parent countries and are inhabited by ghosts, and the encounter with the Manta outside the hotel parodies the novel's ending, in which Danny Torrance looks back at the Overlook's destroyed remains and describes a large apparition rising from it that "assumed the shape of a huge, obscene manta, and then the wind seemed to catch it, to tear it and shred it like old dark paper. It fragmented, was caught in a whirling eddy of smoke, and a moment later it was gone as if it had never been." Additionally, the maze-like layout of Hotel Delfino seems to nod to the 1980 film adaptation of The Shining, in which the hotel's interior architecture is subtly and intentionally implausible and inconsistent.

Layout

The hotel lobby

Mario inside the hotel

The hotel building is composed of three regular floors, two basements, and one attic floor. The first floor serves as the lobby, with a reception desk, a small kiosk serving fruit, and two guest restrooms. The second and third floors are reserved for guest rooms, as well as storage rooms. The doors leading to those rooms can be locked. Some of the rooms are also interconnected through passages behind furniture. There is also a spa located on the third floor that under normal circumstances requires appropriate swimwear to be entered. The entire building is equipped with a security system, referred to as the auto-lock system. It activates in cases of emergency and makes the stairs connecting the different floors inaccessible with massive shutters.

Mario sleeping in Hotel Delfino

The premises of Hotel Delfino include two cabanas serving fruit cocktails, as well as some fountains, and a sun deck from which guests can enjoy scenic sunsets, as advertised in the Isle Delfino guide. When viewed from above, the fountains, torches, and huts are reminiscent of a Nintendo GameCube controller.

Casino Delfino

Main article: Casino Delfino

The Casino in Hotel Delfino

Casino Delfino is a sub-section of Hotel Delfino. Once the casino is entered, a player cannot return to any other part of Sirena Beach. Casino Delfino features two huge slot machines and a tile set that can be operated through spraying them with water. There are also other, smaller slot machines from which coins can be obtained through a Ground Pound. A giant roulette wheel makes up the center of the casino hall.

Music

The music of Hotel Delfino features rhythm ukulele, electric bass, and various percussion instruments, including bongos, congas, güiro, marimba, vibraphone, and wooden wind chimes throughout. A theremin-like synthesizer comes in and out with the melody.

Hotel Delfino

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Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning	Notes
Japanese	ホテル・デルフィーノ[?] Hoteru Derufīno	Hotel Delfino

Trivia

• In all episodes except for one, every door in the hotel (with the exception of the door at the northwest corner of the third floor, to the left of the pool room) is locked. In Episode 7 (Shadow Mario Checks In), every single door in the hotel is open, and the player can then collect all of the rooms' individual Blue Coins and explore the hotel without having to use the attic ducts or ground-pounding through the ceilings/floors.
• In the Super Mario 3D All-Stars version of Super Mario Sunshine, the mirrors in the bathrooms of certain room doors in the level have glitchy reflections. Also, mirrors such as one in Hotel Delfino, when viewed at certain angles, were not adjusted correctly to fit the new widescreen display, causing it to stretch.