Top 10 Mario Power-Ups
Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008 at 6:01am by Jack
I know what you’re saying. “All of Mario’s power-ups are necessary and awesome, and there’s no way you could possibly whittle away such goodness to come up with a top 10 Mario power-ups list.”
To which I would reply nay, you are incorrect — there are certainly many, many useless and easily forgettable power-ups, and truly there are ten amazing ones that deserve a list.
That list, my friends, is as follows — from least amazing to most amazing:
10. Metal Cap (the Green block)
This one’s on here more for the look, sound and feel it gave to Mario and Super Mario 64 than anything else. It made Mario heavier and therefore more maneuverable underwater, which was cool, but out of water things slowed down and became kind of annoying. The t1000 shine was awesome for the system it was on, and the metal footfalls sounded like a massive armored knight coming to tear off your head. Plus, it makes fights in SSBB all the more frustrating. That’s good enough for the bottom spot in my book.
9. Mega Mushroom
Go big or go home Mario. This mushroom gave our hero big ups, and allowed him to basically run through entire levels (pipes, blocks, enemies, you name it), and accumulate points that turned into 1-ups. Pretty nifty. It showed up occasionally in New Super Mario Bros., and was a welcome escape from the hard to control blue shell and the next to worthless mini mushroom. Plus New Super Mario Bros. as a whole was one of the games to demonstrate that the DS had the audience and innovation to become the incredible system it is today.
8. Mario Plane/Submarine
Staples from another era in gaming. An era of newfound portability and monochrome graphics. An era when the Game Boy was king (wait, it still is) and Super Mario Land was a completely new, completely foreign land for millions of gamers around the world. These power ups were given to you, not earned, making them more akin to the FLUDD pack than a mushroom, but they were far cooler. Since they are basically the same play mechanic, but with different levels as backdrops, I included them both. They allow you to move freely around the entire screen for forced scrolling levels, a la Life Force or some other shmup, firing missiles, bullets, torpedoes or whatever it was you pretended they were since the Game Boy’s graphics were, well, what they were.
7. Fire Flower
In Mario’s world, flowers equal heat. Makes perfect sense, right? Actually, if you criticize a Mario game for making sense please check yourself out of video game town immediately. These games were never about real world physics, crossing the Uncanny Valley or mapping 100 commands to 100 buttons. Instead, they were all about grabbing hot tamale floral arrangements and tossing some serious fire balls at talking turtles and walking, angry looking mushroom men. Again, we could revisit the psychedelic drug reference here and wonder what Miyamoto was thinking, but what’s the point? Fire flower = fun, fiery death for your enemies.
6. The Super Mushroom
I don’t know what kinds of psychosomatic drugs Shigeru Miyamoto was on when he invented Super Mario Bros. back in the 1980s, and frankly I don’t care. In addition to creating one of the most beloved video game franchises — and characters — of all time, he also invented a power up, in the form of a yellow and red mushroom, that made an Italian plumber grow to double his size. Does Mario really grow when he eats a Super Mushroom, or is it really an acid trip? We’ll never know for sure, but what we do know is getting hit by an enemy whilst big knocks you down a peg and kills whatever buzz you were riding. The Super Mushroom is definitively worthy of this list and this position because it is the base from which all other power-ups have sprung. To keep this list varied and diverse, this is one of only two mushrooms that made it! Yep, that means the Poison Mushroom, Mini Mushroom, 1-up shroom, SMB2 alternate universe mushroom, etc., have all been cut! Maybe next year!
5. The Red Shell
The red shell from the Mario Kart series is like winning the lottery. When people win the lottery who aren’t you, you hate them. You talk about them and how much they suck, how stupid they look, and how foolish you “just know” they are going to be with their money. You despise them. You tell everyone you know that wealth isn’t important and you don’t need the lottery. Then you win the lotto and you become a hypocritical douche bag. Sorry, that’s science, and it’s also what happens with the red shell (or the rotating shield of three red shells). In Mario Kart, a red shell can give a win to anyone. Unskilled noobs can save one and fire it at the last second, spoiling a record breaking win for a seasoned, snaking expert. There’s almost no escaping a well timed red shell attack, and only a sharp right angle heavy stage like Bowser’s Castle can save you. You hate the red shell when you don’t have it, and you conveniently forget all those nasty things you said about the person who DID have it once you secure one for yourself. It’s ok, that’s the nature of the red shell. Embrace it.
4. Kuribo’s Shoe
Mario has received very few mechanical or extra-body power-ups in his travels throughout the Mushroom Kingdom and beyond, but the ones he has managed to slip into have been memorable, to say the least. Like a big, wind-up shoe that he steals from hapless Goombas in Super Mario Bros. 3. The shoe grants Mario a weird kind of invincibility: you can walk on piranha plants and enemies to your heart’s content, but don’t walk into them — you’ll lose your shoes and my respect. The Shoe also makes this list because it’s only available in one stage in one Mario game. Very rare. It’s the Shivan Dragon of Mario games! (if you got that reference, I feel for you…) The other power-up in this category is the FLUDD pack, but that blows and we shall never speak of it again.
3. The Tanooki Suit, Frog Suit, Hammer Bros. Suit
Ugh. Three great suits from the greatest platform game ever conceived by man (that is, if you consider Shiggy to be a mortal man). I was leaning towards the Tanooki Suit for its out of the blue “turns you into a frickin’ invincible statue” goodness, but then my eyes wandered to the uncanny frog suit, which can turn a water stage into a cakewalk. And then, SMACK, a hammer hits my head and the klepto in me starts yearning for a Hammer Bros. special powers. In the end, no suit stood out to me, so they all get it. Sure, the frog suit sucks on dry land and the Tanooki suit’s statue power is largely worthless given the slow speeds of your enemies, but they’re still both pretty rare, ingenious and wildly out of place in a game where you control a mustachioed high jumping plumber. Wait, did I say out of place? I meant perfectly in tune.
2. The Donkey Kong Hammer
KICK. ASS. With the advent of Smash Bros., this power-up started to transcend time. First featured in Donkey Kong as a way to bust rolling barrels, this sucker now populates game of the year contender Super Smash Bros. Brawl (and previous games in the series) as a way to launch some serious butt across the screen and into oblivion. Not only that, but the iconic DK music from yesteryear begins anew when you pick this puppy up and doesn’t stop until you’ve sent every opponent off the screen to their doom. Or get your attack countered by a tricky dicky Smash Bros. pro opponent. In that case watch out.
1. Cape Feather
I think this may be where I branch off from the mainstream. I believe the Cape Feather is the greatest of all the “flying power ups” provided to Mario throughout the years. That’s right; it’s better than the Raccoon Leaf (SMB3), the Flying Cap (Mario 64) and event the quirky Bee or Boo Suits (Galaxy). Sure, the Leaf came first, and granted Mario short spurts of flight thanks to the raccoon tail that sprouted from his overall covered ass, but the cape is a frickin’ cape. Bright yellow and unforgiving, the Feather Cape could attack enemies, allow Mario to float to safety, spin attack and, of course, fly. However, once airborne, the cape could become inflated with air currents, and Mario was able to skip entire stages if the player controlling him was skillful enough. As a bonus, really skilled players could change direction mid air and keep their capes inflated. It was good for collecting missed mid-air coinage and revisiting missed pipes or secret keys.
So, why is the feather the numero uno on my list? It’s a variety of factors. One is timing. Super Mario World launched at a time in my life when I was entering my early, early teens and my young malleable mind was ready to soak up video games like a sponge. Two, I don’t read instruction books, so stomping on that flying Koopa with the flashing cape was a complete and awesome surprise. Taking to flight with Mario was done in SM3, sure, but with the feather is was smoother, faster and better to look at. That, combined with all the new ground that SMW broke gives the feather the top spot in my book. It is the perfect power up for a perfect platformer. Plus, there’s Yoshi.
What’s your favorite Mario power-up? Do share in the comments.
April 1st, 2008 at 4:55 pm
What–no Bee Suit Mario? Surely that should have made your list on looks alone!
April 2nd, 2008 at 6:27 am
The greatest powerup was the invinicibility star. Just the mad dash through the level with added bonuses of a somersault leap in SMB3 (great skill was needed to float down using the raccoon tail so you still curled up in a ball sonic style when you returned to normal)
April 2nd, 2008 at 6:38 am
Cape? Cape?! I can’t agree with you there, I was really disappointed when I found out that they dropped both the raccoon tail and the tanooki suit for a freakin’ cape. Sure the raccoon thing made no sense whatsoever, but to me with the cape it was like they just gave up with creativity and said, yeah whatever a cape works.
Good call on Super Mario Land though, that game doesn’t get nearly enough credit.
April 2nd, 2008 at 8:06 am
Spring Mario should be included with Metal Mario for pretty much the same reason, looked cool controlled awful.
Thinking back when people were complaining about the infrequency of the new suits for Galaxy it never crossed peoples minds how other suits appeared very limited.
Also on the other end of the scale I agree that the Blue Turtle suit pretty much sucked. I hated running in that thing.
April 2nd, 2008 at 8:24 am
Miyamoto was never on any psychedelic drugs when he “came up” with the idea for eating a mushroom to make you get larger. Hasn’t anyone ever read Alice in Wonderland????? Thats where he got the idea.
April 2nd, 2008 at 8:32 am
You can bet that Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson was when he wrote Through the Looking Glass, Folax. So, I guess, it’s trippy design by association. Miyamoto was clean, this we know, but the story he based the mushrooms on was psychedelic at its finest!
April 2nd, 2008 at 9:02 am
Minus your exclusion of the Bee Suit and Raccoon Suit, good list!
April 2nd, 2008 at 9:15 am
I’m playing through SMB3 right now with my wife. Of the three “suit” power ups in the game the Hammer Bros. Suit is my favorite. You really savor those moments because you lose the power so easily.
I guess to be fair you skipped Mario Galaxy. I’m fine with that, but I must say, I love the ice flower. For some reason skating around is a very enjoyable experience for me. (Hint: hold Z to skate backwards) I think if they ever made Mario-capades I’d buy that right up.
April 2nd, 2008 at 9:17 am
Derek, what you refer to as the racoon suit IS the Tanooki Suit from #3. My wife calls it a teddy bear.
From wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanuki
April 2nd, 2008 at 10:01 am
My number one favorite mario pop up, well that is a difficult one because I like a lot of them, but I actually liked the invisible cap from Mario 64. Simply becuase you could slip by any and all enemies, like a ninja, and everyone knows ninja’s rule
April 2nd, 2008 at 11:28 am
RACCOON NEEDS TO BE ON HERE
April 2nd, 2008 at 11:44 am
Raccoon Mario was bested by Feather Cape Mario. To promote diversity in this list, certain power-ups were left off on purpose because they were so similar to one another.
Besides, Cape Mario had a better look, better control, better features and was better basically all around. Hence, it’s on the list while Raccoon Mario (Raccoon Leaf power-up) is not.
The Tanooki Suit is an adequate runner up, IMO, and it IS on the list.
April 2nd, 2008 at 12:43 pm
I would switch Mega Mushroom’s and Kuribo’s Shoe’s positions (the shoe is cute, but VASTLY overrated), but otherwise GREAT list.
April 2nd, 2008 at 1:08 pm
[...] Infendo’s top ten list: [...]
April 2nd, 2008 at 1:16 pm
I really loved Ice Mario from Galaxy… Between wall-jumping up the waterfalls and skating on lava, that made for some pretty cool stuff.
April 2nd, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Invincibility Star and Hammer Bros Suit are two of my favorites …
April 2nd, 2008 at 1:25 pm
Congratulations! You were the 1,000,000,000,000 person to make an allusion to drugs when referring to the Super Mushroom! But who can blame you for being cliché when it’s so gosh-darn hilarious? That joke didn’t die out with 90’s….no, indeed!
April 2nd, 2008 at 1:32 pm
Poochy, who said it was a joke?
April 2nd, 2008 at 1:54 pm
I Agree completely.
Screw the tiny shroom >:[
April 2nd, 2008 at 1:59 pm
the shivan dragon is totally not especially rare imho
April 2nd, 2008 at 2:29 pm
No Flying Cap made the list?? THAT is the número uno choice for me!!
The way it was used in Super Mario 64, with the three jumps and then glide, reminded me of the way you fly in dreams…
(Yes, I used to fly in my dreams like that BEFORE the game came out, and I didn’t even consume any mushrooms!)
April 2nd, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Not sure the red turtle shell is a power up as much as an item..
a look at raccoon tail and p-wing are great ones as well..
April 2nd, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Yeah, I think maybe the flying cap should have made the list, or the bee suit. But I 100% agree that the Feather/Cape is the best Mario power-up of all time, seeing as Super Mario World was my favorite game of all time.
April 2nd, 2008 at 3:01 pm
Um…here’s a better list:
1. Starman
2. Super Mushroom
3. Fire Flower
4. Feather/Carrot/Flying Cap
5. Metal Cap
6. Bee Mushroom
7. 8-bit Mega Mushroom (Super Paper Mario)
8. Kuribo’s Shoe
9. Tanooki Suit (this is separate from the Racoon Suit – why? Because you can turn into a statue with this one)
10. Hammer Bros. Suit.
Note:
The Red and Green Koopa Shells, Hammer, and Mario Plane/Submarine are not power-ups, they are assist items.
April 2nd, 2008 at 5:48 pm
OMG YOU PEOPLE ARE MAD!!! MAD I TELL YOU!!!!!!
The blue turtle suit kicked ass! Specially when playing 2 player!!!! Just run on that thing till you find your oponent and BOOM! HAHA MY SSTAR, BIIIEEEATCH!!!!!!!!!1
lol… sorry, got a little carried away there =p
good times, good times…!
April 2nd, 2008 at 11:27 pm
Jack: An acid trip? Are you really serious about taking something as innocent as Super Mario Brothers and suggesting that it contains drug references? That’s as ridiculous as claiming that Alice in Wonderland is full of drug references, which is where the idea of the Super Mushroom came from.
April 2nd, 2008 at 11:41 pm
look people listen the reason there’s no ice mario is because he decided to leave out galaxy, also the list is right on the money.
April 3rd, 2008 at 12:35 am
Seriously, the entire SMB3 suite deserves the #1 spot. I’ll agree the cape is cool and most of these are good, but easily anything from Mario 3 ftw.
April 3rd, 2008 at 11:23 am
“next to worthless mini mushroom”
Are you kidding me? I love the mini mushroom. Wouldn’t be in my top 10, but it was hardly useless.
Oh, and personally I think that if the shoe is in there then Yoshi should’ve had a fair shake. They were used in similar ways. Well, at least in SMW.
Anyway, interesting list. I completely agree with the #1 choice and I like that you left out Galaxy. Too new.
April 3rd, 2008 at 10:43 pm
My favorite power up is Yoshi, if he can be counted. If not…I don’t know what to say.
P.S. Shivan Dragon was in the first pack of cards I ever opened. (About six months before I grew out of the TCG stage.)
May 18th, 2008 at 6:16 pm
There should be a picture of the Cape Feather on here. I really need one! OH DAMN!
July 28th, 2008 at 12:51 am
The list seems a bit biased but i agree, accept for blue shell ant mini mushroom, they do need work though.us
August 6th, 2008 at 9:03 pm
you left out the green 1-UP mushroom… I mean, sure it doesn’t have any super cool shape-shifting or fashionable effects, but no matter how you slice it the 1-UP mushroom is a real life-saver.
August 27th, 2008 at 10:44 pm
Absolute favorite? Shoe-Mario. Because It was and is freaking hilarious.
About the power star, sure it makes you invincible but it’s too short to really factor in.
And Metal Mario? You didn’t move any slower at all on land in Mario64, in fact it was underwater where you slowed down.
In Smash Bros the metal slowed you down and made jumping more difficult. I can understand a dislike there. But true it doesn’t compare to most of the other ones on the list.
December 11th, 2009 at 11:43 pm
Haha loved reading this list!! I dunno how you could’ve decided the ranking order i’m still debating and arguing with myself. I loved thwomping the enemies with the cape as you descend and it shook the ground too if you hit the floor like as if Mario was a thwomp himself (albeit the raisin faced expression of a thwomp… i like raisins)!! I liked the sufficient availabilty of the powerups in SMW. But they seem so limited and I feel deprived of them in recent games (excl NSMB wii). Long Live Marioooo!!!