List of power-ups
- "Power-up" redirects here. For other uses, see Power-up (disambiguation).
Power-ups are unique items that give special abilities to characters that use them. Most of their effects make defeating enemies or exploring levels easier. Below is a list of power-ups, including a selection of their sprites and artwork, and a list of their respective appearances in the Super Mario franchise, as well as the year of their first appearance as a power-up. Power-ups are also categorized by the duration of their effects. While other characters, such as Luigi, may be able to use many of these power-ups identically, the descriptions for these power-ups only describe their effect on Mario unless stated to only work on another character. The article for each power-up provides more information, including a full list of which characters can use it.
List of power-ups[edit]
By name[edit]
| Item | Image | Debut year | Games | Effect | Usage | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unlimited | Exhaustible | Timed | |||||
| Bee Mushroom | 2007 | Transforms Mario into Bee Mario, allowing him to fly for a short time, walk on clouds and flowers, and stick to honeycombs. | ✔ | ||||
| Big Mushroom |
|
2015 |
|
Transforms Mario into Big Mario, allowing him to destroy Brick Blocks, Ice Blocks, ? Blocks, and Hard Blocks by jumping on or under them. In Super Mario Maker, it also lets Mario destroy blocks by running into them, gives the screen a CRT effect, and changes enemies' appearances to be Super Mario-themed. | ✔ | ||
| Blimp Fruit | 2010 | Temporarily transforms Yoshi into Blimp Yoshi, causing him to puff up and float, similarly to the Power Balloon. | ✔ | ||||
| Blue Shell | 2006 | Transforms Mario into Shell Mario, allowing him to shell dash, crouch in the shell to block most attacks, and swim faster with more control. | ✔ | ||||
| Boo Mushroom | 2007 | Transforms Mario into Boo Mario, allowing him to pass through fences and read Booish. | ✔ | ||||
| Boomerang Flower | 2011 |
|
Transforms Mario into Boomerang Mario, allowing him to throw boomerangs to damage enemies, collect coins or activate Checkpoint Flags. | ✔ | |||
| Boost Star | 2012 | Can only be collected by the player with the GamePad using Boost Mode, by tapping the star. Temporarily puts them into Super Boost Mode, in which that player to defeat enemies and break blocks by tapping them. | ✔ | ||||
| Bubble Flower | 2023 | Transforms Mario into Bubble Mario, allowing him to blow bubbles that follow a straight path unless they get drawn to an enemy. Bubbles that hit enemies trap and transform them into a coin. Bubbles can go through walls and defeat enemies that normally cannot be defeated such as Dry Bones. The player can also jump off of them. | ✔ | ||||
| Bulb Berry | 2010 | Temporarily transforms Yoshi into Bulb Yoshi, allowing him to reveal and stand on platforms that would otherwise be invisible and intangible. | ✔ | ||||
| Bullet Bill Mask | 2019 |
|
Allows Mario to fly horizontally for a short period of time. | ✔ | |||
| Buzzy Shell | 2015 | A Buzzy Beetle's empty shell, which can be worn by Mario to protect him from attacks from above, and to destroy Brick Blocks in the same way as Super Mario. | ✔ | ||||
| Cannon Box | 2013 |
|
Continually fires cannonballs when worn which can collect items and break cracked walls and Rock Blocks. Cannonballs can be charged indefinitely, and will fly faster when released if charged. | ✔ | |||
| Cape Feather | 1990 |
|
Transforms Mario into Cape Mario, allowing him to fly after building up speed, glide to slow his descent, and cape spin to attack enemies, similarly to the Super Leaf. | ✔ | |||
| Carrot | 1992 | Transforms Mario into Bunny Mario, allowing him to slow his descent or hover in midair. | ✔ | ||||
| Cloud Flower | 2010 | Transforms Mario into Cloud Mario, allowing him to create up to 3 cloud platforms (which are replenished upon collecting another Cloud Flower) make floaty jumps, and walk on clouds. |
✔[a] | ✔[a] | |||
| Coin Box | 2011 | Slowly gives Mario one coin at a time when worn, up to a limit of 100 (with no limit in Super Mario 3D Land). Moving around increases the rate at which coins are gained. Reaching the coin limit, taking damage, or clearing the level removes the box, rewarding an extra life in the latter case. | ✔ | ||||
| Coin Rush Star | 2016 | Exclusive to Toad Rally mode. Appears after filling a gauge using stylish moves, then automatically starts a Coin Rush. In Coin Rush, the player moves faster, defeating enemies grants more coins, ? Blocks contain more coins, and many areas of courses generate coins. The gauge drains over time, and Coin Rush ends once it is empty. An event that occurred in late 2023 and early 2024 replaced this item with a Wonder Flower, which had the additional effects of cosmetically transforming coins into Gold Goombas and Pink Coins into Flower coins. | ✔ | ||||
| Dash Pepper | 2010 | Temporarily transforms Yoshi into Dash Yoshi, causing him to dash at a very high speed. | ✔ | ||||
| Double Cherry | 2013 |
|
Transforms Mario into Double Mario, creating a clone of him that duplicates the movements of the original Mario. There can be up to 5 clones of Mario on screen. Taking damage as Double Mario removes the clone that was hit instead of applying damage normally. The damage system returns to normal when there are no clones present. | ✔ | |||
| Dragon Crystal | 1995 | Transforms Wario into Sea Dragon Wario, which allows him to shoot fire in a sort of cloud right in front of him. Wario is lighter and can get out of quicksand fairly easily. Wario also forfeits his usual Barge attack in favor of using the fire. If Wario finds an Eagle Statue, he can transform into King Dragon Wario. | ✔ | ||||
| Dragon Pot | 1994 | Transforms Wario into Dragon Wario, which allows him to shoot fire out of his hat for a few seconds. | ✔ | ||||
| Drill Mushroom | 2023 | Transforms Mario into Drill Mario, allowing him to defend from attacks coming from above, drill down and break certain objects with it, and burrow both underground and into the ceiling similar to the Spin Drill from Super Mario Galaxy 2. | ✔ | ||||
| Dry Bones Shell | 2019 | Acts like the Goomba's Shoe when worn, but can Ground Pound by default, lacking a big or winged version. It can also float on lava and poison, and allows Mario to play dead and be invincible for a moment. | ✔ | ||||
| Eagle Statue | 1995 | Transforms Wario into Eagle Wario which allowing him to fly a short distance, as well as move faster when barging. Wario is lighter in this form, and can get out of quicksand fairly easily. If Wario finds a Dragon Crystal, he can transform into King Dragon Wario. | ✔ | ||||
| Elephant Fruit | 2023 | Transforms Mario into Elephant Mario, allowing him to attack and defeat enemies by swinging his trunk at them, break through blocks from below or the side, store water in his trunk and spray it on flowers, and dash across wide gaps. | ✔ | ||||
| Fire Flower | 1985 |
|
Transforms Mario into Fire Mario, allowing him to throw fireballs. | ✔ | |||
| 2007 | Transforms Mario into Fire Mario for 20 seconds, allowing him to throw fireballs. | ✔ | |||||
| Frog Suit | 1988 |
|
Transforms Mario into Frog Mario, allowing him to swim faster in any direction and jump higher. In the multiplayer mode of Super Mario Maker 2, Frog Mario is red instead of green to distinguish him from Frog Luigi. | ✔ | |||
| Garlic bottle | 1994 | Transforms Small Wario into normal Wario, and normal Wario to Bull Wario. | ✔ | ||||
| Giga Bell | 2021 |
|
Transforms Mario into Giga Cat Mario, a gigantic version of Cat Mario with immunity to black goop and the ability to directly battle and damage Fury Bowser. | ✔ | |||
| Gold Block | 2012 | Acts similarly to the Coin Box, slowly granting Mario coins up to a limit of 100. Reaching the limit, taking damage or clearing the level removes the box, rewarding coins in the latter case. Hitting a Gold Block from either side, above, or while wearing another one causes 50 coins to spout out instead. | ✔ | ||||
| Gold Flower | 2012 | Transforms Mario into Gold Mario, allowing him to launch golden fireballs, which explode with a small blast radius. Any enemies hit will award an amount of coins based on the number of enemies hit. These fireballs can also hit ? Blocks and turn Brick Blocks into coins. If Gold Mario touches a Gold Mushroom, he is rewarded 100 coins instead of 50. Taking damage, collecting an Invincibility Leaf or Mega Mushroom, or clearing the level ends the Gold Flower's effect, reverting Mario to Fire Mario in the latter case. | ✔ | ||||
| Goomba Mask | 2013 |
|
Disguises Mario as a Goomba, allowing him to sneak by certain enemies without being detected. | ✔ | |||
| Goomba's Shoe | 1988 |
|
Lets Mario hop across spikes and sharp-toothed or spiky enemies, such as Munchers and Spinies, when worn. Taking damage or clearing the level removes the Goomba's Shoe. In Super Mario Maker, there are big versions that can Ground Pound and winged versions that can Flutter Jump, as well as a Stiletto variant whose big version breaks blocks when Ground Pounding. | ✔ | |||
| Green Shell | 1996 | Allows Mario to navigate over lava or water, travel at fast speed and ram into enemies to defeat them instantly or swim faster in water if he grabs it while underwater, for a short period of time or until it breaks. Since Super Mario Galaxy, the timer and the shell-surfing ability are gone. | ✔ | ||||
| 2013 | Like the Blue Shell, allows Mario to shell dash by crouching while moving. This has him temporarily enter the shell then slide across the ground and the surface of water, defeating enemies. Mario can instead crouch while stationary to enter the shell without moving, then jump in place while spinning. The second mode is not temporary. | ✔ | |||||
| Hammer | 1981 | Causes Mario to uncontrollably swing the Hammer for a short time, destroying enemies and objects it contacts. | ✔ | ||||
| Hammer Suit | 1988 | Transforms Mario into Hammer Mario, allowing him to throw powerful hammers and block enemies' fireballs by crouching. | ✔ | ||||
| Hiranya | 1986 | Transforms Mario into Invincible Mario, just like a Super Star. | ✔ | ||||
| Ice Flower | 2005 | Transforms Mario into Ice Mario, allowing him to throw Ice Balls. | ✔ | ||||
| 2007 | Transforms Mario into Ice Mario for 20 seconds, granting him immunity to fire and allowing him to skate across water or lava. | ✔ | |||||
| Ice Skate | 2013 | When worn, allows Mario to skate on ice, move faster, and be immune to certain enemies and grounded spikes. However, he is unable to stop moving while in the Ice Skate, and will lose it if he hits a wall or Walleye. | ✔ | ||||
| Invincibility Bell | 2021 |
|
Transforms Mario into White Cat Mario, granting him the abilities of Cat Mario as well as invincibility to most obstacles. Clearing the level reverts him to his normal Cat form. | ✔ | |||
| Invincibility Leaf | 2011 |
|
Transforms Mario into White Tanooki Mario, granting him the abilities of Tanooki Mario, as well as invincibility to most obstacles. Clearing the level reverts him to his normal Tanooki form. | ✔ | |||
| 2012 | Transforms Mario into White Raccoon Mario, granting him the abilities of Raccoon Mario, as well as invincibility to most obstacles. Clearing the level reverts him to his normal Raccoon form. | ✔ | |||||
| Invincibility Mushroom | 2014 | Grants Captain Toad invincibility for the entirety of a level and surrounds him with a white glow, similarly to the Invincibility Leaf. | ✔ | ||||
| Jet Pot | 1994 | Transforms Wario into Jet Wario, which allows him to temporarily fly horizontally and walk faster. | ✔ | ||||
| Lakitu's Cloud | 1988 | Usually inhabited and maneuvered through the air by Lakitus. After defeating one, Mario can temporarily ride in them and fly around freely. | ✔ | ||||
| Light Box | 2013 |
|
Shines a light in front of Mario when worn, which can defeat ghostly enemies, such as Boos. | ✔ | |||
| Lucky Bell | 2013 | Transforms Mario into a special variation of Cat Mario with a red collar and a bell, and additionally allows him to turn into Lucky Cat Mario by Ground Pounding. Lucky Cat Mario earns coins while falling, and is invincible. | ✔ | ||||
| Luigi's Cap | 2004 | Gives Mario, Wario, or Yoshi the abilities and physical appearance of Luigi. | ✔ | ||||
| Mario's Cap | 2004 | Gives Luigi, Wario, or Yoshi the abilities and physical appearance of Mario. | ✔ | ||||
| Master Sword | 2019 |
|
Turns Mario into Link, enabling him to use his shield to block enemies and projectiles, bombs to hit switches and blow up blocks, and a bow and arrow to collect items or attack enemies. He can also use a sword to hit enemies, perform a dash attack, or thrust downward while airborne in similar fashion to a Ground Pound. In multiplayer mode, the Master Sword gives the characters different colors to distinguish them. | ✔ | |||
| Mega Mushroom | 2006 | Temporarily transforms Mario into Mega Mario, making him giant and able to destroy everything in his path. In Super Paper Mario, Mario also becomes his Super Mario Bros. sprite in Mega form. | ✔ | ||||
| Mega Star | 2007 | ✔ | |||||
| Metal Cap |
|
1996 | Temporarily transforms Mario into Metal Mario, making him heavier, which makes his jumps shorter but enables him to activate switches on the ground and walk underwater. He is also invincible, does not need to breathe underwater, and can resist toxic fumes. | ✔ | |||
| Mini Mushroom | 2006 | Transforms Mario into Mini Mario, allowing him to walk on water, make floaty jumps, and enter tiny passages. In New Super Mario Bros. U and subsequent titles, Mini Mario can also run on walls. | ✔ | ||||
| Mystery Mushroom | 2015 |
|
Transforms Mario into Costume Mario, granting him the abilities of Super Mario as well as the appearance of a random character. It is exclusive to the Super Mario Bros. style. | ✔ | |||
| P-Acorn | 2012 | Transforms Mario into Power Squirrel Mario, granting him the abilities of Flying Squirrel Mario as well as allowing him to make infinite midair jumps for one level. Taking damage, grabbing a non-flight-based power-up, or clearing the level ends the P-Acorn's effect, reverting Mario to Flying Squirrel Mario in the latter case. | ✔ | ||||
| P-Wing | 1988 | Transforms Mario into Raccoon Mario, but also gives him infinite flight for one level. Taking damage, grabbing a non-flight-based power-up, or clearing the level ends the P-Wing's effect, reverting Mario's flight to normal in the latter case. | ✔ | ||||
| 2011 | Warps Mario to the end of a level. | ||||||
| Pal Pill | 2007 | Creates eight small 8-bit versions of Mario, which move alongside him and hurt any enemies they touch, disappearing afterwards. | ✔ | ||||
| Penguin Suit | 2009 | Transforms Mario into Penguin Mario, allowing him to slide on his belly and move faster, throw Ice Balls, and swim more freely (similarly to the Blue Shell, Ice Flower, and Frog Suit, respectively). He also does not slide while on ice. | ✔ | ||||
| Power Balloon | 1990 | Temporarily transforms Mario into Balloon Mario, allowing him to float. | ✔ | ||||
| 2019 |
|
Transforms Mario into Balloon Mario, allowing him to fly through the air. | ✔ | ||||
| Power Flower | 2004 | Works as a Power Balloon for Mario, a Vanish Cap for Luigi, a Metal Cap for Wario, and gives Yoshi fire breath. | ✔ | ||||
| Propeller Box | 2011 |
|
Allows Mario to whirl up and slowly descend, similarly to the Propeller Mushroom. Taking damage or clearing the level removes the box, rewarding an extra life in the latter case. In Super Mario Maker 2, Mario can use the box up to three times while in the air. | ✔ | |||
| Propeller Mushroom | 2009 |
|
Transforms Mario into Propeller Mario, allowing him to whirl upwards quickly and fall slowly after whirling. He can also drill downwards in midair to fall quickly. | ✔ | |||
| Rainbow Star | 2007 | Temporarily transforms Mario into Rainbow Mario, granting him invincibility like a Super Star. In the Super Mario Galaxy games, the Rainbow Star is used in order to avoid confusion between a Super Star and a Power Star. | ✔ | ||||
| Red POW Box | 2019 |
|
Gives Mario the ability to cause a shockwave when hitting a block or ceiling up to 3 times, similarly to a red POW Block. | ✔ | |||
| Red Star | 2007 | Temporarily transforms Mario into Flying Mario, allowing him to fly freely by | |||||


