Spark pylon

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Spark pylon
The Spark pylon capture icon.
First appearance Super Mario Odyssey (2017)
Latest appearance Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (2018)

Spark pylons are capturable objects in Super Mario Odyssey. They represent the terminals of a power line, which Mario can travel rapidly along after turning into a ball of electricity. The base of a spark pylon has a small sphere on the top with a lightning bolt symbol on the sides.

History[edit]

Super Mario Odyssey[edit]

Spark pylon in Super Mario Odyssey
Mario capturing a spark pylon

When Mario captures a spark pylon, he will turn into a ball of electricity and gain the ability to move across a power line, although variants without power lines appear in the Moon Kingdom, Ruined Kingdom and Bowser's Kingdom. This can help Mario quickly travel to different areas of some kingdoms, much like Launch Stars in Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Galaxy 2, and the Warp Boxes and Clear Pipes in Super Mario 3D Land and Super Mario 3D World (only the former appears in both of these games). The player can also shake their Joy-Con controller when coins are surrounding a spark pylon, which will cause the player to follow the trail of coins. The player can de-capture the spark pylons at any time to collect items below them.

Mario first encounters a spark pylon when traveling from the Cap Kingdom to the Cascade Kingdom for the first time. It is the only spark pylon that transports Mario to a different kingdom entirely, due to Mario not yet discovering the Odyssey; after that, the Odyssey becomes his main mode of transportation between kingdoms.

Captured Bowser and Princess Peach using a spark pylon
A spark pylon being used by Peach and the Captured Bowser

Spark pylons are the only objects that can be captured by the player while they are controlling another captured creature or object. This is done by simply touching the pylon while in this form. However, when doing this, the captured enemy gets defeated as the player captures the spark pylon to use it. The only captured enemy that can control the spark pylon is Bowser at the end of the game, who uses it alongside Princess Peach, and that specific spark pylon is technically not considered a capture.[1]

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate[edit]

Spark pylons can be seen in the New Donk City Hall stage of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as background elements. They appear in the same spots on the building as in Super Mario Odyssey.

Names in other languages[edit]

Language Name Meaning
Japanese 電気ボックス
Denki bokkusu
Electric box

Chinese 电箱 (Simplified)
電箱 (Traditional)
Diàn xiāng
Electric box

Dutch Generator
Generator
French Borne gzzzt
Gzzzt terminal
German Stromgenerator
Electricity generator
Italian Generatore elettrizap
Electrizap generator
Russian Трансформатор
Transformator
Transformer

Spanish Poste de chispazo
Spark post

Trivia[edit]

  • The electricity sound that is produced as Mario travels with a spark pylon adjusts its pitch and tempo according to the background music. This sound is replaced by koto samples in Bowser's Kingdom.

References[edit]