Costume Mario

Costume Mario is the form Mario takes after touching a Mystery Mushroom in Super Mario Maker, allowing him to transform into numerous Nintendo and third-party characters, objects and groups or combinations thereof. Upon scanning certain amiibo onto the Wii U GamePad's, an 8-bit version of the amiibo character (16-bit if a Sonic the Hedgehog amiibo is used) will be unlocked in the course maker, allowing the player to use it any time from then on without having to scan the amiibo again. In addition to amiibo characters, Mario can also transform into certain objects, such as a ? Block. Costumes can also be unlocked through the 100 Mario Challenge mode, including the characters which have amiibo unlock conditions, or by completing certain Event Courses.

There are a total of 153 costumes in the game, consisting of 100 base costumes (95 of which can be unlocked by completing the 100 Mario Challenge), and 51 additional ones that are gained either from Event Courses, free updates, or as of update version 1.40, playing 100 Mario Challenge on the Normal, Expert, and Super Expert difficulty levels. Each costume that can be unlocked via the 100 Mario challenge can be unlocked randomly at a fixed difficulty tier. Completing the 100 Mario challenge in a given difficulty gives a chance to unlock a costume from that difficulty or lower.

This power-up was conceived after the development team was struggling to find an interesting and effective use of amiibo for the game. According to Takashi Tezuka, the art designers pitched the idea of changing Mario's sprites after drawing some of the amiibo characters in a pixel art style.

Costume Mario functions the same as Super Mario, but with Small Mario's physical stature; some of the costumes, however, are slightly larger. While Mario wears a costume, he cannot wear any Buzzy Beetle Shells or Spiny Shells or collect a Fire Flower. In addition to appearance, various sound effects may also be changed to reflect the character, such as the jumping sound effects and "Course Clear" fanfare. The power-up sound effect may also be replaced by a different sound effect from the character's home series. The initial Pokémon series costumes are notable for lacking special sound effects, instead using the standard Super Mario Bros. sounds. Each character has a unique pose if the player presses and holds. The messages seen after finishing the 10 Mario Challenge and the 100 Mario Challenge also varies depending on the appearance of the player.

Mario can only transform into Costume Mario in the Super Mario Bros. style of the game. If the player changes game styles while Mario is in his Costume Mario form, he'll either change into Raccoon Mario (Super Mario Bros. 3), Cape Mario (Super Mario World), or Propeller Mario (New Super Mario Bros. U).

The costumes do not follow the graphical limitations of the NES. Most of them are designed to follow the characters' official designs, usually using more than 3 colors.

In Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS, the Mystery Mushroom cannot be placed, but can still spawn by a glitch. The item does not give Mario a costume, however, instead just giving him the same abilities as a Super Mushroom.

Originally, the costumes were known as Mystery Suits.

Trivia

 * On several occasions, costumes have been released out of order. Despite being costume number 112, the Sky Pop costume and the sponsored Event Course in which it was introduced were released after costumes 113 to 118. Similarly, the Event Course costumes 129 to 131 were released after Wolf Link (unlocked by amiibo) and the 100 Mario Challenge costumes 133 to 144, which were released with the 1.40 game update. Finally, costumes 150 and 151 were released after costumes 152 and 153 (Callie and Marie).
 * Before the version 1.41 patch was released on March 17, 2016, in the English versions of Super Mario Maker, the Wolf Link costume text was in Japanese.
 * Along with the Wolf Link event course, an event course for a Mary O. costume was released, with "test" as its title and description, implying an error concerning a premature release of the course. It was soon removed from the server, but was still playable in the time it was up, granting the players the costume early.
 * Daisy, Popo & Nana, and Squirtle are the only characters to have a Costume Mario sprite which are incompatible with their respective amiibo. Birdo and Baby Mario also have their Costume Mario sprites, however all the Mario Sports Superstars amiibo cards (which have cards for Birdo and Baby Mario, alongside other playable characters with existing Costume Mario sprites) are not compatible.
 * Due to an oversight in Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS, Big Magikoopas have a chance of spawning a Mystery Mushroom when their magic hits a breakable Block. Collecting the mushroom turns Mario into Small Mario, but with the ability to crouch and break Brick Blocks.