Spinning Heart
Artwork of a Spinning Heart from Super Mario 64.
First appearance Super Mario 64 (1996)
Latest appearance Super Mario 3D All-Stars (2020)
Effect Replenishes lost health when the player runs through it
You can also recover power by touching the Spinning Heart. The faster you run through the heart, the more power you'll recover.”
Sign, Super Mario 64

A Spinning Heart (also referred to simply as a heart)[1] is a supportive object seen in Super Mario 64 and its remake, Super Mario 64 DS. Spinning Hearts are translucent red hearts that slowly revolve on the ground. When Mario runs through one, the Spinning Heart quickly replenishes his Power Meter in proportion to the speed with which he runs through it. Thus, the faster he runs through it, the more health he recovers. In Super Mario 64 DS, Yoshi, Luigi, and Wario can also use a Spinning Heart to recover health.

LocationsEdit

There are 15 total Spinning Hearts across both games, with one in Tick Tock Clock and the one in Goomboss Battle being exclusive to Super Mario 64 and Super Mario 64 DS, respectively. Spinning Hearts are often found in areas with greater risk of damage or before boss battles.

Image Course Location
   Bob-omb Battlefield Near the top of the mountain, next to a sign
  Cool, Cool Mountain Underneath the Star for Wall Kicks Will Work
  Hazy Maze Cave Super Mario 64: On a ledge beside the bottomless pit in the boulder area

Super Mario 64 DS: Within the gap in the wall next to the boulder path
  Lethal Lava Land On a floating platform among multiple within the volcano, just after the hidden smasher
  Shifting Sand Land Inside the pyramid, between the Spindel and the vertically oscillating stairs
  Tick Tock Clock Under the group of rotating platforms used in Stop Time for Red Coins

Super Mario 64 only: Beside the pole with the orbiting Amp, before the elevating platforms
 

 
Rainbow Ride On one of the four large spinning platforms

At the Red Coin maze, below the area that requires wall-kicking
 

 
Bowser in the Fire Sea At the bottom level on a platform with three Goombas

At the top level, before the rising and sinking poles
 

 
Bowser in the Sky Halfway up, along the path of the moving arrow platform

Just before the pipe, in the windy area
 

 
Goomboss Battle
(DS only)
Next to the entrance to Goomboss

At the base of the long vertical cage where Mario must wall-kick to reach a Star Sphere

Names in other languagesEdit

Language Name Meaning
Japanese クルクルハート
Kurukuru Hāto
Spinning Heart

French Cœur-toupie
Spinning-heart
Italian Cuore Rotante[2]
Cuore[3]
Spinning Heart
Heart
Spanish Corazón
Heart

TriviaEdit

  • In Super Mario 64, the Spinning Heart is just a translucent sprite rendered in the 3D scene with collision data. In Super Mario 64 DS, it is an opaque 3D model.
  • In Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, when an item hits the player's Heart barrier, a sound similar to that of the Spinning Heart can be heard.

ReferencesEdit

  1. ^ Nintendo Magazine System (UK) Issue 47, page 19.
  2. ^ Super Mario 64 DS European manual, pag. 106
  3. ^ Super Mario Bros. Enciclopedia, pag. 92