Heart (item)

Hearts are recurring items in gaming, including the Mario games. They can usually be amassed to gain more hit points or chances.

Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic
In Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic, up to two hearts are located in each stage, and they are found only in specific Subspace locations within the stage. They add an additional mark or heart to the life meter, up to four. The meter then resets to two marks at the start of the following stage. Hearts were replaced by Mushrooms in the altered Mario version of the game, Super Mario Bros. 2.

A small version also appears in this game, which is retained in subsequent versions.

Paper Mario series
In Paper Mario, after defeating enemies in battle, Mario and his partners may find Hearts left behind in the overworld. Each Heart found will restore 1 HP to Mario. It returns with the same purpose in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, with the addition of healing the partner that is currently out as well.

In Paper Mario: Sticker Star, they are made of cardboard and replenish 5 HP of Mario's health, and are found in other places such as behind bushes. In Paper Mario: Color Splash, each regular heart restores 40 HP. One heart is also found at the Prisma Fountain for every Big Paint Star retrieved; when they are all returned, the fountain they fill heals Mario instead. Hearts reappear in Paper Mario: The Origami King, where their size and appearance dictate the amount of HP they will refill. The small red ones heal 30 HP, while the medium ones heal 50 HP, and the large ones with white accents heal 100 HP.

Mario Bros.
Hearts appear in the GBA version of Mario Bros. included with the Super Mario Advance series and Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga. They are one of three items that can appear from an Egg in a garbage can, which is exclusive to 2-Player Vs. Mode; if found, they work as they do in Super Mario Bros. 2, turning Small Mario into Super Mario.

Luigi's Mansion
In Luigi's Mansion, hearts come in two sizes. The smaller restores 10 HP and the bigger restores 50 HP. In the PAL version of the hidden mansion, hearts are quite rarer.

Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon
Hearts appear again in Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon where they function similarly to in the original game, however they now only restore 25 HP at a time.

Luigi's Mansion 3
Hearts reappear in Luigi's Mansion 3, functioning as they did in Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, except they heal 20 HP.

Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
In Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, hearts are the special items of Princess Peach and Princess Daisy, but Petey Piranha and King Boo can also use the item due to them being able to use any special item in the game. When used, two small pink hearts will appear and circle around the kart. These hearts will protect the kart from up to two obstacles or weapons on the course. The racer can then use the new item as he or she pleases. However, Spiny Shells, Chain Chomps, and Bob-omb explosions will penetrate the protective barrier. Lightning attacks and falling off the course destroy both circling hearts. Also, any fireballs received do not multiply by five when thrown. If a green fireball hits a heart, the icon for the green fireball received is a red fireball.

Mario Kart Tour
The Heart reappears in Mario Kart Tour as the special item of Peach, Daisy, Wendy, Pink Shy Guy, Baby Peach (Cherub), and Daisy (Fairy). They look similar to the hearts from Super Mario Odyssey, except they are colored pink-lavender. They merely block opponents' items in this game, including Lightning, rather than giving them to the user, though up to five hearts can be used at once. Unlike in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, the Heart has a set time limit for use, and when the timer exceeds, the Heart disappears. When Heart+ is active, a second Heart will appear alongside, much like in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, except the extra Heart disappears more quickly.

Yoshi franchise
Small hearts are present in Yoshi Topsy-Turvy where they restore one point of Yoshi's health meter when swallowed. There is a rare variation of these hearts called Big Heart, which restores all of the health back.

Small hearts with eyes and feet appear in Yoshi's Woolly World, Poochy & Yoshi's Woolly World and Yoshi's Crafted World, in a role similar to Stars in the Yoshi's Island games. They help restore lost energy and can be collected by touching or eating them. They often come out of Winged Clouds in groups of three or five. In addition, any enemy that is caught on-screen when Yoshi reaches a checkpoint turns into a heart. Once they land on the ground, hearts begin hopping in a certain direction, falling off ledges and turning the other way if they meet a wall. They start flickering and eventually disappear if Yoshi does not collect them in time. Unlike Stars, hearts do not appear as coins when Yoshi's energy bar is full.

Wario Land series
While hearts appear in the Wario Land series, they do not serve their traditional purpose in the first three games. In Wario Land 4, Wario's health is represented by hearts. He can have a maximum of eight hearts at any moment, and there are three different types of hearts that can be collected: "regular" hearts, which replenish one unit of health and can be found in set positions within levels, "big" hearts, which fully heal Wario and can only be obtained from Full Health Item pickups, and little hearts, which appear as red dots that most enemies drop when defeated. Collecting eight little hearts replenishes one unit of Wario's Heart Meter. Hearts are also used to represent Wario's health in Wario Land: Shake It!, with garlic being the item used to replenish them.

Wario: Master of Disguise
In Wario: Master of Disguise, hearts return as Wario's health as well as items used to restore it. As items, hearts are occasionally dropped by enemies when they are defeated. They can also be created by Arty Wario after he receives the Arty Mastery Gem upgrade, if the player draws the shape of a heart on the screen. Hearts dropped by enemies start blinking and eventually disappear if they are left uncollected, while hearts made by Arty Wario remain indefinitely (until Wario leaves the current room).

Super Princess Peach
In Super Princess Peach, hearts can be found by breaking blocks or occasionally by defeating enemies; they restore one HP. A rare bigger version may also appear, which restores two HP rather than one.

Donkey Kong franchise
The health of the player is measured in heart points in several Donkey Kong games, namely New Play Control! Donkey Kong Jungle Beat and every Donkey Kong Country game from Donkey Kong Country Returns onward. Enemies and obstacles can take away one heart from the Kongs' health meter. In Returns and Tropical Freeze, each Kong has two heart points, and if a Kong is currently assisting Donkey Kong, it is injured first. When the Kong loses both hearts, it falls off-screen, and Donkey Kong loses that Kong's assistance.

Heart points can be restored by collecting heart items, found throughout the course of most levels, where they can be encountered either floating in mid-air or inside Item Containers and Item Handles. In the latter case, if the Kongs are already fully healthy, they might obtain a banana instead.

In the Donkey Kong Country games, an alternative way to regain health is by breaking a DK Barrel. Also, during boss battles, should the Kongs lack hearts, they can replenish them by simply dealing damage to the boss enemy and collecting the heart that appears. Hearts are completely removed during Mirror Mode in Returns and Hard Mode in Tropical Freeze, and the Kongs only have a single health point each.

During Funky Mode in the Nintendo Switch version of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, all Kongs receive an extra heart (bringing the total to three), whereas Funky Kong has five hearts.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games
Hearts appear as an item in the Blazing Bobsleigh Dream Event in the Nintendo DS version of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games. In this event, hearts appear scattered throughout the course, and partially refill the player's HP meter when collected. They also appear in Snow Machine Fight, where they restore half of the total health when collected.

Mario Party 10
Hearts appear in Mario Party 10 exclusively to the Bowser Party and Bowser Challenge modes. In this game, the characters start off with six hearts, which are lost when taking damage in a Bowser Minigame. The characters can gain extra hearts from various events and locations around the board, however they can also lose hearts from Bowser spin wheels and other events. If a character loses all of their hearts, they will leave the vehicle and will no longer be able to roll Dice Blocks. While players are eliminated, they can get Special Dice Blocks for the remaining teammates in the vehicle. In Bowser challenge mode, the player will play through all of the Bowser Minigames as Bowser, and will aim to obtain as many hearts as possible from the other characters. The final score is given as the number of hearts that the player managed to collect in total at the end of all twelve minigames.

Super Mario Odyssey
Hearts make their first appearance in the Super Mario series in Super Mario Odyssey, where they are red with black eyes. Each heart restores a wedge of Mario's health. Hearts give 5 coins when collected while being at full health. Another item known as the Life-Up Heart, which works like the Life Mushroom does in the Super Mario Galaxy games, also appears.

Dr. Mario World
Hearts in Dr. Mario World are used as a stamina counter. As long as the player has at least one heart, they can play a level, and players earn a heart if they clear a level for the first time. Hearts are gained automatically as time passes, but can also be purchased with diamonds. Friends can send each other up to 10 hearts per day, and players can earn hearts in battle boxes.

Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon

 * Instruction manual bio: "Hearts recover a bit of Luigi's health."

Luigi's Mansion (Nintendo 3DS)

 * Instruction manual bio: "Restore Luigi's health. The larger they are, the more health they restore."

Yoshi's Woolly World / Poochy & Yoshi's Woolly World

 * Instruction manual bio: "Restore your health."

Yoshi's Crafted World

 * North American website bio: "Running low on energy? Hearts help restore health! You can collect Hearts by touching or eating them."

Mario Kart Tour

 * Tips & Tricks: "This protective Heart revolves around your kart for a set amount of time, shielding you from attacks. It will vanish upon taking damage. You can stack up to five at once."
 * Mario Kart Tour Twitter: "Got a Red Shell on your tail? About to cross paths with a Bob-omb? Is a Lightning storm brewing? Then you need the Heart item - A special item usable by princesses! Each heart protects you from one dangerous attack."

Trivia

 * When an item hits the player's heart barrier in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, a sound similar to that of the Spinning Heart from Super Mario 64 and its DS remake can be heard.
 * If a character activates a heart in Mario Kart: Double Dash!! after shrunken by Lightning, the hearts circling the kart remain small when the kart reverts to normal size.