Bomb

A bomb is an object used in the Mario franchise.

Generally speaking, bombs as depicted in the Mario series are not entirely unique, and are based on a widely-used cartoon gag that stylizes bombs as sometimes being less dangerous than a real-world one and often depicts them simply as stereotypical cherry bombs. Bob-ombs are living enemies based on this stylization as well.

Mario's Bombs Away
In Mario's Bombs Away, Mario has to deliver bombs to his comrade at a military outpost. On his way, Mario has to be careful not to ignite the bomb by having it touch the torches carried by enemies in the trees or the flames running along the rope on the ground. Otherwise, the bomb will detonate in Mario's face and cause the player to lose a try. Successfully delivered bombs will be passed to each of the five enemies in the trees; once five bombs have been placed, they will simultaneously explode and defeat the enemy troops.

VS. Wrecking Crew/Wrecking Crew
Beginning with phase 3, bombs appear in the arcade game VS. Wrecking Crew. Hitting them with a hammer can cause a chain reaction, damaging or destroying nearby walls, opening doors, and knocking enemies and rival players to the bottom of the stage.

In Wrecking Crew, the NES version, the first appearance of a bomb is in phase 2. Hitting bombs in a specific order can reveal the Golden Hammer.

Super Mario Bros. 2


In Super Mario Bros. 2, bombs (also referred to as timebombs ) can be plucked from grass patches in the ground and thrown. They start flashing a while after being pulled out of the ground and detonate shortly after. The bomb creates a small explosion (containing the word "BOMB") which makes the screen flash white and destroys any enemies or cracked blocks immediately around it. However, the explosion can also harm the playable characters.

Bombs are used by Mouser to attack Mario and his friends during his battles. The only way to defeat Mouser is by throwing his bombs back at him and having them explode on him several times.

In the NES version, in-game bombs are colored red, but the Super Mario All-Stars and Super Mario Advance versions change their color to purple. In Super Mario Advance, bombs are also bouncier when thrown.

Notably, Super Mario Bros. 2 (and Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic before it) marked the debut of Bob-ombs, bomb-like enemies which would become a recurring species in future Mario games. Bob-ombs can be found in later levels of the game and have the same effect as regular bombs, though they start flashing immediately after being pulled out of the ground.

Super Mario Galaxy 2
Squizzard wields bombs in his boss fight.

New Super Mario Bros. U
After a 24 year absence in the main Super Mario series, bombs return in New Super Mario Bros. U. Bombs are Lemmy Koopa's main weapon of choice. Similar to Mouser in Super Mario Bros. 2, Lemmy throws the magically spawned bombs in an arch-like pattern. However, unlike the previous battles, these bombs bounce upon coming into contact with the ground, and if Mario, Luigi, Blue Toad, or Yellow Toad touch a bomb, it explodes immediately.

The bombs in this game appear to be purple (much like the redesigned bombs in Super Mario Advance), though they are decorated with yellow stars around them.

Super Mario 3D World
In Super Mario 3D World, Bob-ombs turn into generic bombs when attacked, losing their feet, face, and wind-up key. However, some bombs are not Bob-ombs from the start, and can be found lying on the ground. They can be carried and thrown by Mario, and explode as they touch something after being chucked. There is also a bomb variant reminiscent of soccer balls called a Kick Bomb. Rather than picking these up, Mario kicks them on contact, deflecting them. These soccer balls play an integral role in defeating Bowser in his Bowser Mobile in World 1 and World Castle of the game.

Super Mario Odyssey
In Super Mario Odyssey, large bombs similar to Kick Bombs appear. They are first seen in the Wooded Kingdom, but can be found in a few different areas post-game. In Bowser's Kingdom, they are fired out of turrets and have a Bowser emblem imprinted on them. They can be shot using a Sherm's cannon, or knocked away using a Pokio's beak.

Club Nintendo series
In the Club Nintendo comic "Sag niemals Holerö!", Bomberman uses bombs to defeat some evil aliens.

Wario's Woods
In Wario's Woods, the use of bombs is Toad's main form of attack when fighting the various monsters that were sent by Wario. Toad receives these multicolored bombs from his sprite helper. In order to defeat Wario's minions (as well as the bosses in the game), Toad has to stack the bombs according to their colors; if the color matches a monster's color, it gets destroyed. In the SNES version of the game, Toad can be seen throwing a bomb at Wario's castle in the ending of the game, causing his castle to get destroyed and allowing peace to return to Wario's Woods, as well as the entire Mushroom Kingdom.

Wario World
Bombs known as Smiley Bombs later appear in Wario World.

"Regular" bombs also appear as projectiles used by certain enemies. They are purple and have semi-realistic faces painted on them. They are mainly seen being shot out by Ankirons. Starting in Greenhorn Ruins, Cractyls also drop bombs to attack Wario. In the boss battle against Captain Skull, the boss can shoot out flaming bombs that damage Wario until they cool off, similarly to some of the later variations of Ankirons. As a whole, bombs can be picked up and used as projectiles by Wario himself, although they will explode and damage him after a short time.

Wario Land: Shake It!
Bombs appear in Wario Land: Shake It! in Boogie Mansion, and are thrown by Peek-a-booms. There is also a bomb block that can be a platform before it explodes. Both can be triggered when touched or when Wario does an Earthshake Punch.

Mario Hoops 3-on-3
Bombs also make an appearance in Mario Hoops 3-on-3. The defending team can sometimes receive one out of the ? Panels on the court. When thrown, they explode, knocking everyone within the blast radius down and spilling some of their collected Coins.

Luigi's Mansion
In Luigi's Mansion, bombs appear as large, normal-looking bombs with a skull emblem on them. Purple Bombers will drop a bomb once they are discovered, and bombs are also one of the things Boos will place in rooms (the other being a Boo Ball), which the Boo Radar will pick up as a Boo reading. Luigi can easily get rid of bombs by spraying the Water element at them, or he can simply avoid them.

Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon
In Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, bombs first appear in the Old Clockworks. Ghosts will try to throw them towards Luigi, and in some rooms, if Luigi checks furniture, a bomb will pop out. In the ScareScraper, Bomb Brothers shield themselves with large bombs that must be removed so that they can be flashed with the Strobulb. Bomb Brothers also repeatedly drop smaller bombs while being vacuumed with the Poltergust 5000.

WarioWare series
Bombs also appear in all of the WarioWare games. They determine the time remaining in the current microgame. These bombs are often marked with Wario's nose, mouth, and signature.

Super Smash Bros. series
Certain characters that appear in the Super Smash Bros. series, including Link, Young Link, and Toon Link, can throw bombs to attack. Bombs are also referenced in Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Brawl. When Peach tries to pull a vegetable from the ground, she may occasionally grab a Bob-omb. The way she plucks a Bob-omb makes reference to the way that she and the other heroes pulled bombs from the ground in Super Mario Bros. 2.

DK: Jungle Climber
Bombs also appear in DK: Jungle Climber, where they can be used and thrown in order to destroy obstacles such as Steel Kegs. In later levels, bombs serve as a semi-common weapon used by Kritters to attack.

Paper Mario
Although bombs do not make an appearance in Paper Mario, the Egg Missile is an item that acts similarly to a bomb. Upon giving Tayce T. an Egg and Fire Flower after giving her the Cookbook, she makes an Egg Missile. Using the Egg Missile results in tossing it at an enemy, exploding and damaging it.

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
Bombs do not directly appear in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. However, three bomb-like items appear: the Egg Bomb, created by giving Zess T. a Mystic Egg and a Fire Flower; the Coconut Bomb, created by giving her a Coconut and a Fire Flower; and the Zess Dynamite, created by giving Zess T. an Egg Bomb and a Coconut Bomb. The Egg Bomb is similar to the Egg Missile, being thrown at an enemy and exploding to deal damage. The Coconut Bomb is the same as an Egg Bomb, but deals one more point of damage. The Zess Dynamite deals the same damage as the Coconut Bomb, but hits all enemies.

Super Paper Mario
In Super Paper Mario, there is a bomb-shaped Pixl named Boomer that Mario can use to blow up switches, blow up cracks in walls, and defeat enemies. Bombs also appear occasionally when a player stomps on a Ninjoe, a Ninjohn, or a Ninjerry. These bombs look exactly like Boomer, though unlike Boomer, they can hurt the player. A bomb later appears in Chapter 6-2, when Mimi disguises herself as King Sammer and tells the player to open a chest in front of them. There's a bomb inside the chest, but it turns out to be a dud.

Paper Mario: Sticker Star
In Paper Mario: Sticker Star, bombs appear as stickers that are sometimes dropped by Bob-ombs. They can be used to attack enemies, however, the attack animation shows that Mario calls forth a Bob-omb to throw at them even though the stickers themselves are called bomb stickers.

Mario & Sonic series
The bombs seen in the Sonic series appear in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games and Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games. They are items in Dream Events that can be used by anyone. In Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, the player places them on the ground in Dream Race. Anyone who touches them is slowed down. They also appear in sets of three in the Dream Canoe event in the Nintendo DS version, which will cause a character to lose three coins if caught in an explosion, though their effect an be avoided by using a Starman item. They also appear in Dream Shooting, where they are obtained by shooting an Item Box and are used automatically, causing an explosion which damages all of the targets in the area. In Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, bombs go near the other players when used, and if they don't have a star, the bombs blow up and slow down the player. There is also a type of bomb called a bomb puck that is used only in Ice Hockey.

Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story
A huge bomb created by Fawful appears in Peach's Castle in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story. Also, in the Tower of Yikk battle with Super Bowser, the tower launches a bomb that must be knocked back and forth until it explodes.

Mario & Luigi: Dream Team
The bombs return in the tandem attack Bomb Derby in Mario & Luigi: Dream Team. Using the, Luigi passes several bombs to Mario who must hit them towards the enemy before the bombs explode; the last bomb is bigger. These bombs are similar to Lemmy Koopa's.

Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam
The bombs, along with the Bomb Derby attack from Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, reappear in Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam. The last bomb now deals more damage, and all the bombs deal fire-type damage.

Mario Party 10
In Mario Party 10, bombs appear in the minigame Petey's Bomb Battle, where they are used to attack Petey Piranha. They are colored depending on the player that uses them. When a bomb is successfully tossed at Petey Piranha, the tosser is awarded one point. However, bombs can also be absorbed by Petey Piranha and spat back at the characters that threw them, damaging them and deducting one point.

Yoshi's Woolly World / Poochy & Yoshi's Woolly World
In Yoshi's Woolly World and Poochy & Yoshi's Woolly World, Bomb Guys utilize bombs to attack Yoshi. They are thrown on an arc and remain in place after they land on the ground, exploding a while afterwards. They can also explode prematurely if Yoshi touches them directly, damaging him. However, Yoshi can grab the bombs with his tongue and hold them into his mouth for an unlimited time. He can then spit them at Shy Guy towers or wooden log structures to collapse them.