Shadow Mario

"Yaaaaargh! You're so annoying!"

- Shadow Mario

Shadow Mario (also known as ? in the Super Mario Sunshine instruction manual) is an evil doppelganger of Mario and serves as the main antagonist of Super Mario Sunshine. He has the exact same appearance as Mario, except for the fact that his body is blue and water-like, and he has glowing red eyes when angry. He also has an unusually long, red tongue, which he occasionally sticks out at Mario to taunt him. Shadow Mario wields the Magic Paintbrush, an invention designed by Professor Elvin Gadd. With the brush, Shadow Mario can magically create large quantities of toxic Goop, which will occasionally spawn some lesser enemies. He used this power to vandalize all of Isle Delfino with varying amounts of Graffiti, thereby making Mario the main suspect in the trial held thereafter. Midway through the game, it was revealed that Shadow Mario was actually Bowser Jr. (Bowser's eighth child) masquerading as a Mario look-alike. He does so most likely by means of a blue bandana which he wears around his neck that has Mario's nose and mustache drawn on it, probably by his Magic Paintbrush. When he wears this over his mouth like a mask, it allows him to assume Mario's form. It is unknown how Shadow Mario acquired the Magic Paintbrush, though it is suggested that Professor E. Gadd gave it to him.

Super Mario Sunshine
At the beginning of Super Mario Sunshine, Mario, Princess Peach and Toadsworth are seen traveling to the island resort of Isle Delfino via Peach's private airplane to get some much needed rest and relaxation. The first time Shadow Mario is seen is in the background of the welcome video that plays on a television in Peach's airplane when they near the island. He is seen as nothing more than a black silhouette holding the Magic Paintbrush and jumping back and forth around the landscape behind some Piantas, who appear to be unaware of his presence. Peach is the only one on the plane who seems to notice him though, as Mario and Toadsworth appear to be more preoccupied with the seafood and relaxing atmosphere. Though she does try to make them aware of what she has seen, she eventually gives up, and the plane flies on. Eventually, they come to a screeching halt on the runway of the Delfino Airstrip.

When they exit the plane, they discover that the plane narrowly missed running directly into a large quantity of toxic Goop, inside which resides a Polluted Piranha Plant. It is at this point that Peach looks up and sees Shadow Mario for the second time, though this time he is simply standing on top of a small water tank watching the new arrivals. When she tries again to make Mario and Toadsworth aware of his presence, they look up, only to find that he has suddenly disappeared. Toadsworth attributes this to the heat, saying that it is beginning to affect Peach's reasoning, and immediately requests that Mario travel to the mainland and find some assistance. After the player has retrieved F.L.U.D.D., defeated the Polluted Piranha Plant, and collected the first Shine Sprite, two Isle Delfino policemen will arrive and escort Mario to a courthouse, where he is put on trial for the crimes that Shadow Mario has committed: covering the entire island in toxic Graffiti. During the trial, Mario is found guilty of vandalizing the island, despite the fact that the real criminal was Shadow Mario. Worse yet, Mario is then thrown in jail by the Isle Delfino police, and subsequently ordered to clean the entire island of his "vile handiwork." Until he does so, he is forbidden to leave the island.

Shortly after the trial, Shadow Mario appears yet again, this time standing atop the Grand Pianta Statue in Bianco Square. In his first major act of the game (that is seen by the player), he jumps down from on top of the statue and grabs Princess Peach, throwing her over his shoulder and running away with her. Mario immediately chases after him, spraying him with water from F.L.U.D.D. Eventually, he will drop the princess and escape, appearing back at the foot of the Grand Pianta Statue. When Mario tracks him down, he will paint a multicolored graffiti "M" on the bottom of the statue, and disappear inside. Following him by jumping inside the Color Portal, Mario will find himself at the beginning of the first level in Bianco Hills, The Road to the Big Windmill. Shadow Mario is seen standing next to another Polluted Piranha Plant spitting out Piranhabons (and is for some reason not holding his Magic Paintbrush) in the level overview, but he will be gone by the time Mario finally makes it to that point in the level.

Shadow Mario's next appearance comes much later in the game, where he is seen on the west side of Delfino Plaza in a Bowser-shaped boat, having kidnapped Peach once again. When Mario attempts to confront him, he merely sticks out his long tongue at him, climbs inside the boat with Peach, and escapes to Pinna Island. Mario follows him by junping into a nearby cannon which leads to the amusement park. Once there, Mario enters the park and then chases Shadow Mario to a small circular pool near the Roller Coaster. Shadow Mario jumps and hovers over the middle of the pool, at which point the entire ground begins to shake. The pool splits in two to reveal a large Mecha-Bowser robot emerging from beneath. Shadow Mario's eyes glow red as the gigantic robot breathes fire into the screen. The director of Pinna Park, believing that this is all just some elaborate promotional stunt, allows Mario to use the Roller Coaster to fight back against Shadow Mario's enormous robot. Shadow Mario (now in the cockpit of Mecha-Bowser) will attack Mario by launching multiple Bullet Bills at his small Roller Coaster car as it rides along the track. Mario must avoid these while simultaneously attempting to launch water rockets at the gigantic robot to disable it. Eventually, the robot becomes too damaged to continue its attack, and becomes immobile as Mario exits the Roller Coaster.

Shadow Mario then opens the cockpit of the robot and reveals his true identity, Bowser Jr. He then goes on to explain that he had been told by his father, Bowser, that Princess Peach was his mother and that she had been kidnapped by the "evil" Mario, who, according to him, never fights fair. Thus, Bowser Jr. disguised himself as a Mario look-alike and polluted the entire island with toxic Graffiti, a crime for which he framed Mario in the hopes that he would be sent to prison. To his dismay, they did not lock him up. He also reveals that he had been using a Magic Paintbrush to commit the crimes, which "makes all his wishes come true" when he draws with it. He claims that a strange old man in a white coat gave it to him (though this could be a lie). That being said, Bowser Jr. tells Mario to stop following him, and then activates a large hot air balloon built into his robot cockpit. Mario watches helplessly as he pilots the balloon to Corona Mountain, taking Princess Peach with him.

When Mario has successfully defeated Shadow Mario in every Episode 7 in each of the seven worlds (see below for more information), the final major event of the game will be triggered: the flood. When Mario returns from the previous world, Delfino Plaza is completely flooded with scalding water which was previously held inside Corona Mountain. A short cutscene shows Shadow Mario leaping off the top of the Shine Gate and making his way to the small opening leading into Corona Mountain, where he waits for Mario. When Mario approaches him, he will quickly run into the opening and disappear. When Mario enters the opening, Shadow Mario is gone, and he must now make his way to the top of Corona Mountain, where the final boss battle awaits. When Mario finally reaches the top, he finds Bowser, Bowser Jr., and Peach in a large slime-filled hot tub. Bowser, enraged that Mario has ruined his family vacation, begins to attack Mario by breathing fire at him, while Bowser Jr. fires multiple Bullet Bills at him. After Mario has Ground Pounded five separate areas of the hot tub, the whole thing will be turned upside down, releasing the final Shine Sprite and initiating the ending sequence.

At the end of the game, Bowser Jr. and his father are seen floating on a small raft on the outskirts of Isle Delfino, at which point Bowser finally attempts to tell him that Princess Peach is not his mother, though it is revealed that Bowser Jr. already knew. After telling his father that he wanted to fight Mario again when he is bigger, Bowser agrees, but says that they should rest awhile. In the alternate ending of the game (after Mario has collected all 120 Shine Sprites) it is revealed that Bowser Jr. lost his Magic Paintbrush, as Il Piantissimo is seen discovering the brush on the sands of Gelato Beach, where it had somehow landed after the battle. It is unknown what Il Piantissimo does with the paintbrush, or whether or not he even picks it up.

Other Appearances
Aside from his periodic appearances throughout the game's main storyline, Shadow Mario also appears once in every world in the game to cause additional trouble for Mario. He will only appear in Episode 7 of each world (with a few minor exceptions), where Mario must chase him through a certain part of the world, spraying him with F.L.U.D.D. until he drops to the ground and surrenders. Each time Mario successfully catches Shadow Mario, he will be forced to relinquish one Shine Sprite, after which he will quickly disappear. In addition to this, he will also appear at least once in each world (aside from the situations listed above) when Mario enters a secret level or area. In these situations, Shadow Mario will arrive before Mario enters the secret area and take F.L.U.D.D. from him, leaving him to complete the level without F.L.U.D.D.'s assistance. He also appears in a few other levels in the game, which are usually directly related to the storyline of the game in some way.

The levels in which he appears are as follows:

Levels in bold are levels specific to Shadow Mario for that particular world.

Shadow Mario also makes a few other minor appearances in Delfino Plaza, where he will usually be holding a specific item which Mario needs to progress in the game. He will first appear holding a Yoshi Egg, then a Turbo Nozzle, and finally a Rocket Nozzle. Mario must chase him down and spray him as he normally would to defeat Shadow Mario and claim his prize. When Shadow Mario falls to the ground, he will always complain that he was just about to use whatever it is that he was holding before Mario interfered, and then disappear. The next time Mario returns to Delfino Plaza, the item he recovered will now be placed in its permanent position as opposed to the location where Shadow Mario dropped it.

Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour
Shadow Mario makes an appearance as an unlockable character in Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour. However, Bowser Jr. is also a playable character in the same game. Therefore, it is unknown if this Shadow Mario is an alternate version of Bowser Jr. or if it is someone else in disguise, though many speculate that it's Il Piantissimo who found the brush after the events of Super Mario Sunshine.

Trivia

 * When Mario is chasing Shadow Mario, a remixed version of the Underground Theme from Super Mario Bros. plays in the background. This music has come to be known as Shadow Mario's theme.
 * Both Doopliss and Shadoo, from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and Super Paper Mario respectively, have the ability to assume Shadow Mario-esque forms, though purple and black in color.
 * A character called Cosmic Mario (and Luigi's counterpart, Cosmic Luigi) appears in Super Mario Galaxy, and looks very similar to Shadow Mario. In addition, the music that plays when Mario races Cosmic Mario is very similar to Shadow Mario's theme music.
 * Shadow Mario appears as a sticker and on a poster in the Delfino Plaza stage in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
 * There is a total of twelve times Shadow Mario must be chased in Super Mario Sunshine: one for every seventh episode of each of the seven worlds, and five times in the main Delfino Plaza area.
 * In the Prima Game Guide for Super Mario Sunshine, it was said that E. Gadd gave the Magic Paintbrush to Shadow Mario thinking that it was Mario.