Cap

A cap is the trademark type of wearing garment seen in the Mario franchise. Many characters wear a cap such as Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi, Goombario and many others.

Some caps in Super Mario 64 give the characters certain special abilities such as:


 * Wing Cap, which is basically Mario's cap but with wings, which gives Mario the ability to fly.
 * Vanish Cap, turning the character intangible.
 * Metal Cap, when wearing this cap, the character becomes metallic and invincible.

Mario's Cap can be stolen by Klepto and Ukiki, or blown away by a Fwoosh or the giant Snowman in Snowman's Land. When Mario loses possession of his cap, various unfortunate things may happen such as Bob-ombs popping out of ? Blocks or Mario taking twice as much damage when hit by an enemy. When lost, Mario's Cap can be found by defeating enemies that wear it.

In Super Mario 64 DS, various new kinds of Caps appear and serve a new function. Grabbing a cap allows whomever possesses it to change his appearance and abilities (however, his voice will remain unchanged). In the early portion of the game, those kinds of Caps also act as 1-Up. For example, if Yoshi wears a Mario Cap and takes another Mario Cap, he will be awarded with a 1-Up. However, as Yoshi frees Bowser's various prisoners, more caps will appear and it will be impossible to find two caps of the same color. Yoshi can choose to wear the caps of whatever character was rescued before entering the course.

In Super Mario Sunshine, the Swipin' Stu enemy can steal Mario's cap. If Mario does not get back his cap, his energy will slowly drain until he dies, due to it being so hot (standing in the shade has no effect). Along with wearing his cap, it gains a Mario-esque mustache.

Trivia

 * Jumpman (Mario's name before Donkey Kong Jr.) was not supposed to have a hat; instead he was supposed to have just hair. But the quality and graphics back then made it impossible to put hair on a moving sprite, so he was given his now-famous red cap.
 * In Super Mario 64 in the levels Wet-Dry World (downtown) and Dire, Dire Docks Mario can put on both the Vanish Cap and the Metal Cap combining their powers. Mario will be given the metal cap costume but will have the transparency of the vanish cap. The length of the power up and music played will depend on the second cap Mario obtains. Overall, Mario will be heavy and can walk through walls (note: no level allows for the Wing Cap to be combined with any other one).
 * The concept of Mario using a power-up to transform into other characters from Super Mario 64 DS would be revisited with Costume Mario in Super Mario Maker. However, rather than keeping Mario's voice and gaining new abilities, Costume Mario typically gains new voice clips/sound effects while keeping Super Mario's abilities.