Wiggler (Super Mario Sunshine)

"That caterpillar sure woke up on the wrong side of the bed!"

- Pianta

Wiggler is a giant, green Wiggler who appears in Super Mario Sunshine as the boss of Gelato Beach. It sleeps on top of the glass case housing the Sand Bird egg, blocking sunlight and delaying its hatching.

In Super Mario Sunshine, Wiggler appears in two missions in Gelato Beach: Mirror Madness! Tilt, Slam, Bam! and Wiggler Ahoy! Full Steam Ahead!. In the first mission where Wiggler appears, Mario has to correctly angle three mirrors, to hasten the hatching of the Sand Bird, by removing the Plungelos found on the mirrors. Once all three mirrors are correctly angled, Wiggler falls off of the case, revealing a Shine Sprite. In the second mission, Mario has to fight an enraged Wiggler. It moves very quickly and can damage Mario by running into him. Mario can stun it by spraying Dune Buds with water when Wiggler approaches them, flipping it onto its back, revealing a weak point on any one of its segments which needs to be Ground Pounded to deal damage to Wiggler. After Wiggler has been hit three times, it turns into sand, revealing another Shine Sprite.

As Mario fights Wiggler, it blows steam from its nose and makes sounds like a steam locomotive.

The Wiggler Wagons in Mario Kart: Double Dash!! found in Mushroom Bridge and Mushroom City bear resemblance to this Wiggler.

Trivia

 * Although other games, including Super Mario 64, its remake, Super Princess Peach, and Mario Kart DS possess bosses based on Wigglers, Super Mario Sunshine ' s Wiggler boss is the only one whose appearance greatly differs from that of a regular Wiggler.
 * When the player Ground Pounds Wiggler's body in Super Mario Sunshine, the boss music speeds up once per hit. This does not happen with any other boss in the game.
 * Due to a glitch, if the player presses the button as soon as Wiggler is defeated and is beginning to turn into sand, the music will slow down even more than in normal gameplay.
 * In Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions, and Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey, Petey Piranha, Mom Piranha, and the Big Piranha Plants, respectively, use some of Wiggler's sound clips.