Cape Feather

The Cape Feather is a power-up that transforms Mario and Luigi into Cape Mario and Cape Luigi, respectively. It first appeared in Super Mario World.

Super Mario World
The Cape Feather first appeared in Super Mario World. When Mario or Luigi grabs one, it turns them into Cape Mario/Luigi. As Cape Mario or Cape Luigi, the player can glide through the air, similar to the Super Leaf's effect in Super Mario Bros. 3. If the player runs at full speed before jumping to take off, they can control the flight with. Pressing backward will slow Mario's speed and make him ascend, and tapping it repeatedly will allow Mario to continue flying, possibly to the end of the level; pressing forwards speeds up Mario and has him descend. The player can also attack enemies by spinning the cape by pressing.

Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3
Additionally, the Cape Feather is available as a secret item in Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3. By scanning in the appropriate card on the e-Reader, the player can upload a Cape Feather into their inventory to use in the game. Cape Mario plays just like he does in Super Mario World, including being able to defeat enemies like Dry Bones.

Super Mario 64 DS
The Cape Feather, along with other power-ups from Super Mario World, makes a cameo appearance in the Mario Slot and Super Mario Slot minigames of Super Mario 64 DS. If the player lined up three Cape Feathers in a row, they would receive five times the number of coins they bet. The feather that transforms Mario into Wing Mario resembles the Cape Feather.

Super Mario Maker
The Cape Feather and Cape Mario return in Super Mario Maker, available exclusively to the Super Mario World style, acting the same way they did in that game.

Super Mario World TV Show
The Cape Feather also appears in the Super Mario World TV show, where it is used in episodes such as "King Scoopa Koopa" and "The Night Before Cave Christmas." Mario is the only character to don the cape in the series.

Super Mario Kart
The "Feather" (as it is referred to in this game) is also found used in Super Mario Kart for the SNES as an item a driver can obtain from Item Boxes throughout the race courses. The Feather grants the user the ability to roughly perform a Spin Jump twice as high as a regular driver can. This can be useful for jumping over barriers, as a quick and easy shortcut, and for jumping over enemy projectiles.

Additionally, while it did not appear in the final game, in a pre-release version of Mario Kart 64, a Cape Feather appeared to be one of the items.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
After a long absence from the Mario Kart series as an item, the Feather returns in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. It can be used to jump over obstacles, or, if the player is close to another opponent, steal a balloon from them.

Trivia

 * In Mario Kart 8, the course Sunshine Airport contains feather pens on desks that have the exact design as the Cape Feather. These same feather pens can be found at the ticket booth desks in Super Bell Subway.
 * In Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, Wingo has a Cape Feather on his turban.
 * The Cape Feather has had a longer absence than any other item in the Mario Kart franchise, spanning over 24 years.

Names in other languages
Feder Piuma Cappa