Power Star

Power Stars are mystical artifacts with great power. Unlike the regular Stars, which only give limited invincibility, Power Stars grant the user with great strength. In Super Mario 64 and Super Mario 64 DS games, Power Stars are spread throughout the worlds, and Mario (or in the Nintendo DS remake, Mario, Yoshi, Luigi, and Wario) is sent to go find them all. There are 7 power stars (8 in the DS remake) to collect in each world, and after finding 70 of them (80 in the DS remake), the final boss, Bowser, can be defeated. There are 150 Power Stars in all, as of Super Mario 64 DS, but only 120 were in the original. After a long quest, Mario manages to find all the Power Stars and restore them to Peach's Castle, freeing Peach and the Toads.

Stars have since been a recurring theme in Mario, but in particular Power Stars are used often in the Mario Party series of games. As of late, however, they have been phased out in favor of Shine Sprites. However, Power Stars make a return in the Nintendo Wii game, Super Mario Galaxy. There are four kinds of Power Stars. The first kind is regular Power Stars, the bread and butter of the 3-D Mario Games. The second kind is Green Power Stars. They are like normal Power Stars, but there are only three known Green Stars, which unlock the Green Star Shooter. The next are Red Power Stars. There is only one which appears in the Super Mario Galaxy mission "Gateway's Purple Coins". Last are the Grand Stars, gotten from beating Bowser, Bowser Jr., or another boss, these powers up the Comet Observatory.

There are also Silver Stars, which aren't as powerful as Power Stars. Five Silver Stars are equal to one Power Star. Also, in Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Galaxy, when the level has been defeated they will turn in Super Mario 64, into Blue Stars, and Super Mario Galaxy into Silver Stars.