Super Mario (form)

Super Mario is a form of Mario which he assumes by eating a Super Mushroom. Depending on the game, Super Mario is at least twice as tall as his non-powered up form, Small Mario. He is able to withstand being hit by an enemy without immediately losing a life, instead he shrinks back to Small Mario.

Interestingly, the term Super Mario is often used to refer to "normal" Mario without taking account of his actual form, when Small Mario would be more appropriate here. In fact, Mario always appears as Super Mario in the endings of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World, the opening movies created for Super Mario World: Super Mario Advance 2 and Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 depict Mario and Luigi's Super forms as their standard forms, and the opening of New Super Mario Bros. depict Mario or Luigi starting out in their Super forms, only to revert to the Small form in time for the actual gameplay.

In the instruction booklet of the original Super Mario Bros. game, it is implied that the smaller form of mario and luigi are the results of a Koopa curse. As such, Super mushrooms would in fact be a "cure" for the "small mario" state more than an actual power-up.

Television Series
The term Super Mario was used to define what is otherwise known as Fire Mario on The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!. However, this was dropped for The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3, which used the correct term.

Comics
Unlike the games, the Club Nintendo comic "Super Mario: Verloren in der Zeit" depicts Super Mario as much taller than other humans, just like Mega Mario.

Trivia

 * In the Super Smash Bros. series, Mario's up taunt is to grow to Super Mario using the same music as changing from Small Mario to Super Mario in Super Mario Bros.
 * In Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, Mario is sometimes called "Super Mario."