Best Super Mario Power-Ups

Introduced alongside the Super Mushroom in Super Mario Bros. (1985), it arms Mario with bouncing fireballs that clear most enemies in one hit. Bowser can be beaten with fire alone rather than the axe, and Fire Mario has carried into nearly every mainline entry since.

Invincibility on a short timer, a speed boost in the modern entries, and a music cue Nintendo has been remixing for four decades. Chaining enemy defeats before it runs out escalates the point values until the streak pays out an extra life, so one more Goomba is always tempting.

The block in World 1-1 of Super Mario Bros. (1985) teaches risk before it teaches power, since the mushroom sets off on its own and bounces back off a pipe toward Mario. Doubling his size grants a free hit and the ability to smash brick blocks, the baseline every other item here builds on.

Everything the Super Leaf does, plus a statue transformation that leaves Mario invulnerable while enemies walk straight past. Super Mario Bros. 3 handed it out sparingly, and Super Mario 3D Land later split the halves apart, pairing a Super Leaf tail with a separate Statue Leaf.

Super Mario World built its whole movement system around the cape, which needs a running start like the Super Leaf but sustains flight by diving and pulling up in rhythm. Skilled players cross entire stages without landing, and the cape spin doubles as a melee swipe that knocks enemies back.

Raccoon Mario arrived in Super Mario Bros. 3 with a tail whip for enemies and blocks, plus flight that unlocks only once the P-Meter fills from a sustained run. That run-up requirement makes it a more disciplined flier than the Cape Feather, which holds altitude on feel alone.

Claws changed the geometry of Super Mario 3D World in 2013, letting Mario scale nearly any vertical surface, dive-pounce enemies, and swipe in midair. Bowser's Fury later built an open world around the same moveset, with a Giga Bell scaling Cat Mario up to skyscraper height.

In New Super Mario Bros. Wii the iceballs freeze enemies into blocks Mario can lift, throw, and stand on, turning offense into level geometry. Super Mario Galaxy had used a different version two years earlier, coating him in ice so he could skate across water and lava.

Borrowed from the Boomerang Bros. of Super Mario Bros. 3, the flower became a playable item in Super Mario 3D Land in 2011 and returned in New Super Mario Bros. U. Its throws curve out and come back, sweeping up coins and items at range, so it works as a collector's tool as much as a weapon.

New Super Mario Bros. on DS in 2006 introduced a mushroom that inflates Mario past the height of the screen, letting him plow through pipes, blocks, and enemies without slowing down. The wreckage fills a meter that pays out extra lives, so destruction is literally scored.

Waddling looks like a downgrade until the belly slide starts mowing through rows of enemies on ice. New Super Mario Bros. Wii built it as a corrected Frog Suit, keeping the free underwater movement without the clumsiness on land, and it throws iceballs on top of that.

Modeled on the Hammer Bros. that torment Super Mario Bros. 3, the suit lobs hammers in a high arc and beats fire-resistant enemies like Buzzy Beetles. Crouching in it also blocks flame attacks outright, a defensive quirk nothing else in SMB3 offers.

Underwater stages in Super Mario Bros. 3 shift from drift to precision with the Frog Suit, which grants full directional swimming and resistance to currents. The trade is helplessness on land, where Mario can only hop, making it the most situational SMB3 outfit here.

Shrinking Mario in New Super Mario Bros. lets him sprint across water, slip into pipes normal Mario cannot enter, and float on absurdly high jumps. The cost is total fragility, since one touch ends it, and some routes open only to a Mini.

A shake of the Wii Remote launches Mario straight up in New Super Mario Bros. Wii, then slows his descent to a drift, with a drill spin available on the way down. Vertical rather than horizontal, it solves a different problem than the Cape Feather or Super Acorn.

Flying Squirrel Mario glides, flutters for extra height, and clings to vertical walls, the most forgiving aerial kit New Super Mario Bros. U offered in 2012. Wall cling sets it apart from the other fliers here, since the Cape Feather and Super Leaf both demand open space.

Nothing else in the series duplicates the player. Grabbing one in Super Mario 3D World spawns a clone that mirrors every input, and stacking more cherries builds a chorus line that can hit several switches at once or cover a whole platform.