Favorite Super Mario Abilities?

[Dagger Dias]

Everyone's favorite plumber has seen a large number of different power up's and forms over the years that his video game series has been around. What I'd like to know is what some of your favorites are. I will provide a poll featuring many of his abilities from the main series, and allow you to vote for more than one of them. I'll also allow the option of "other: please specify" for those who wish to include something not on the list, such as abilities from a game not in the main series.

Super Mario Bros on the NES of course gave us the legendary original power up items. The Mushroom to become Super Mario, the Fire Flower to become Fire Mario, and the Star to become invincible. A few items were added in Super Mario Bros 3. The Leaf which turned you into Raccoon Mario who could fly, Frog Mario who could swim a lot easier and jump higher, Hammer Mario who could throw hammers and use a shield on his back if he faced downward, and Tanooki Mario which was an updated Raccoon Mario with the addition of being able to turn into a statue. Tanooki has to be the weirdest ability Mario has had over the years. A racoon costume that lets you fly AND turn into a statue!? Then again, a flower that lets you throw fire doesn't make much sense either. Hammer Mario was always one of my personal favorites.

Super Mario World gave us the Cape Feather to turn into Caped Mario who could fly like Raccoon or Tanooki Mario but it was possible to stay in flight much longer. The Wing Cap in Mario 64 shared similar results. That title also gave us a couple of interesting new abilities in the Vanish Cap that let you pass through some areas you couldn't before and the Metal Cap which let you walk underwater. Wii titles such as Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Bros Wii have given us quite a few interesting new items to add to the list. They include but are not limited to the Bee Mushroom to turn Mario into a bee that can hover and climb up hive walls, the Ghost Mushroom to turn Mario into a ghost that allowed you to pass through some walls, the Spring Mushroom to help you jump much higher as Spring Mario, the Ice Flower that turned you into Ice Mario which was more or less an ice version of Fire Mario but you could also freeze enemies, the Cloud Flower which let you make Cloud platforms as Cloud Mario, Rock Mario could be used to break rocks and other obstacles in your way, The Propeller Suit which was yet another flying ability, and finally the Penguin Suit that was similar to the old Frog Suit ability in that it helped you swim but you could also walk on icy areas easier.


So I ask you this.... What are some of your favorite Mario abilities and why?


You can list as many as you like as long as you include why you like them.... Discuss!

 

[Pay Per Ghost]

I have played all but one Mario and I hated how many maids the princess had! I mean I kill a dragon, another maid; I jump through lava, another flippin' maid!

Anyway, my fav ability has to be the star power up. It was like Mario was on steroids and he ran amuck with an air of mindless shenanigans. I have had no opportunity to play the different animal kingdom versions as listed in the OP but if I have to choose among the ones I have encountered, it would be the Star White Overall Lunatic Mario.

 

[Poop Master Flex]

For myself I have to go with Caped Mario from Super Mario World with the star being a close second.

That cape had a lot of uses to it outside of flying and it was definitely the best way to fly in a Mario game. On top of flying you could use it to float and glide across levels (unlike the Raccoon suit where once you were done flying you were done), you could land normally, take it slow and land gently, or you could do what I always did and hit the ground with full force knocking over everything in your path. Also you could spin the cape around and hit enemies with it.

I just felt the cape had more versatility than the other power ups that Mario had, the raccoon suit was fun but outside of flying, spinning your tail and falling to the ground slower there wasn't much else to it, with the cape you had a lot more you could do with it and you had a lot more control of your flying and where you land. The cape is the best way to fly in Mario and its a shame that its rarely ever used.

With the star I loved for the simple fact you could plow through stuff for a short amount of time like a madman and kill everything in your path. Who didn't love going ape shit on all the baddies that gave you nothing but trouble throughout the game?

 

[Shotaro]

The Wing cap from Mario 64. First time flying in a 3D game. something special to remember!

 

[The 1-2-3 Killam]

Look everyone knows Super Mario Bros. 3 is the best Mario game of all time, but my favorite ability has to be the cape. I love the Tanooki suit, but if we're going to compare Mario's ability to fly, the simply fun of navigating him through the air in drastic up and down arcs while using the cape is second-to-none. Yoshi was a cool addition, the Fire Flower was always a fun item...but when I played Super Mario Land I always kept a Cape Feather in my drop-down inventory (which was an AWESOME aspect unique to that game!). The fact that it allowed you to fly (and made more sense than a bloody raccoon tail) was brilliant in itself, but you could also use it as a weapon, hit a ground-pound attack while in the air, AND it enabled flight for Yoshi as well. Plus, and this is totally aesthetics, but it made your Y-Twirl move look WAY more bad-ass than being in normal mushroom mode... Has there ever been a more useful ability in the Mario universe, that didn't also break the game completely? (Technically, the Flute was more USEFUL, in that I can beat Mario 3 in 12 minutes, but it also only exists to show off your knowledge of easter eggs to all your friends...)

And what, no love for the F.L.U.D.D. or P-Wing!?

(Also, can I just give a quick shout-out to whatever ability made Super Mario Strikers one of the most addicting and fun games I have ever played!? Btw, gratz on that bold lettering bro. It looks good on you!)

 

[Lee]

Look everyone knows Super Mario Bros. 3 is the best Mario game of all time,

Super Mario Galaxy 2 is.

...but when I played Super Mario Land I always kept a Cape Feather in my drop-down inventory (which was an AWESOME aspect unique to that game!)

Funny that because the cape is not in Super Mario Land. If you're going to go off on a rant, get your facts right.

For me, like Dagger, it's the hammer suit which is one of those ones that are barely in SMB3 (Tanooki, Karubi's shoe) but just looks cool. I like that you can become an enemy pretty much and I like that the icon looks like a man in a wedding suit, plus the rareity of it made it something special.

For modern Mario games it has to be the Mega Mushroom in NSMB when you go gigantic and smash through everything, true chaos.

 

[Dagger Dias]

I like that you can become an enemy pretty much and I like that the icon looks like a man in a wedding suit, plus the rareity of it made it something special.

I always thought it resembled a tux when I was little too. I remember the first time I found one in a toad house chest I was mad at first that I got a tux that I thought would do something stupid, but then I used it when I was out of items and almost out of lives. I thought it was one of the coolest things ever to be able to use hammers like the hammer brothers. It got easier to find in world 6 or 7 by searching pipes for hidden rooms where it was inside large "?" boxes.

Then we have the more modern items. Out of all those.... For me it's the Ice Flower. Seeing a frozen counterpart of Fire Mario after all these years is extremely cool to me, no pun intended. Being able to freeze enemies is fun and using the fire/ice abilities to manipulate certain levels in Galaxy was pretty awesome.

 

[Davi323]

I am going to go with the most practical Mario "ability" of all...Mario's ability to find infinite 1-UP loops. Fraking IMMORTALITY! LOL

Kidding aside, I think the hammer suit from SMB 3 was the most fun, those hammers were deadly to enemies. The rarity of getting it also made it seem more valuable to me.