Unagi is the name of a monstrously large eel from the video game Super Mario 64. The name is from the Japanese word unagi, meaning "eel". The eel is several dozen times longer than the game's playable character, Mario, and also approximately three times as wide. Being an eel, it lacks prominent physical features other than the fact that it ranges from bright pink to violet in color depending on the angle the player observes it from and the fact that it has 20 long, razor-sharp teeth. It lives in Jolly Roger Bay, which in Super Mario 64 is Course 3.

Involvement in Game

Each course in Super Mario 64 includes seven challenges or objectives, and in Jolly Roger Bay, Unagi is directly involved in two of them. In the first challenge, Mario must enter a sunken ship in order retrieve a treasure hidden inside. This is made difficult by the fact that there is only one entrance to the ship, and the gigantic eel occupies the entire entryway. Mario must entice the eel to leave the entrance to the ship by swimming near the eel's mouth. This causes the eel to swim out and try to eat Mario, and during this time can he enter the ship.

The second task involving Unagi the eel is much more difficult to accomplish. As a result of retrieving the treasure, the ship which Unagi used to inhabit has risen to the top of the sea, and the eel must now live in a cave. The tactics are still the same, however. Mario must entice the eel to exit the cave, and then Mario must retrieve the treasure, which instead of being located in the cave, is instead stuck to the tail of the eel.

An eel also appears in a challenge in Super Mario Sunshine, but it does not appear that this is Unagi.