Cat Mario

Cat Mario is a form of Mario introduced in Super Mario 3D World that he can transform into by using the Super Bell item. In this form, the player can climb up walls for a brief period of time as well as the Goal Pole and pounce enemies from midair to scratch them with their claws. Cat Mario can also scratch enemies from close up on the ground as well as slide into them. When running across ground, Cat Mario clings to the ground and runs at a crouching height. He also has the ability to spin gears to increase the height of certain platforms, similar to Tanooki Mario in Super Mario 3D Land. Cat Mario can also break into a sprint significantly sooner than with any other power-up.

Mario's suit is yellow, while Luigi's is green, Peach's is pink, and Toad's is blue, which match their colors (Luigi's suit, however, has rounded ears, a spotted body, and dark green ears and tail tip). Rosalina's is black, and resembles a tuxedo cat. The form is similar to Tanooki Mario and Flying Squirrel Mario. Bowser also uses a Super Bell to become Meowser, the final boss of the game. He has white and orange fur with brown stripes, similarly to a tiger, a ringed tail, cat ears instead of horns, whiskers, and his nose is black. Also, his hair is colored red, white and brown, and his shell appears to become more blueish. Like Cat Goombas and Cat Bullet Bills, his form is similar to a transformation than an actual suit.

Another form of Cat Mario is a variant known as Golden Statue Mario, which is similar to Statue Mario from Super Mario 3D Land. Its appearance is similar to that of a maneki-neko.

Trivia

 * Unlike the other characters' cat suits, Mario and Rosalina's suits don't match their color clothing.
 * When in Cat form, a jingling sound can sometimes be heard when the player jumps.
 * In the beta version of Super Mario 3D World, whenever Mario transformed into Cat Mario, he would say "Nya Nya", which is Japanese for "meow". In the final version, this was changed to "Meow meow" instead.
 * According to Iwata Asks: Super Mario 3D World, the reason for Rosalina's cat suit being black was by request from Super Mario Galaxy director Yoshiaki Koizumi.