Heart Point



"HP" is a term used in numerous role-playing games, including those related to the Mario franchise, as well as the Luigi's Mansion series. It stands for "Heart Points," "Health Points," or "Hit Points," depending on the game using it. It means just as its name suggests; they are points used for health in the RPGs. It can be filled using health items such as Mushrooms, as well as Recovery Blocks (from the Paper Mario series, the Japanese version of Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga and all versions of its 3DS remake, Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, and Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam). Mario can also restore his HP from small hearts that can be found hidden, or by defeating enemies in the Paper Mario series.

If Mario's or any other playable character's HP reaches zero, they will be downed. If the last party member (or just Mario, in the first two Paper Mario games) is downed, the player will receive a Game Over unless they have a Life Shroom (or any other type of life-restorative) in stock. To decrease the chance of this happening, Mario and the other playable characters can choose to increase their maximum HP when leveling up in most games.

In Paper Mario: Sticker Star, Mario's maximum HP can be increased by obtaining HP-Up Hearts, which increase his maximum HP by five. In Paper Mario: Color Splash, his maximum HP can be increased by 25 if he collects a Big Paint Star. In Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga and Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions, the Woohoo Blend, which is made at the Starbeans Cafe, can increase the max number of HP a character has by four/two points. In the Mario & Luigi series following Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, the player can use Heart Beans to increase a character's max HP by one point or three points in the case of Heart Bean DXs.

In Super Paper Mario, some enemies' HP, such as Mr. I's, is listed as "??" which means that the enemy is always defeated with either a set number of attacks or a special maneuver regardless. It is usually impossible to damage these enemies in the conventional way. In a somewhat similar manner, certain Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars enemies (such as Dry Bones) are stated by Mallow's Psychopath ability to have zero HP, although this really means that they are immune to all attacks but Magic ones, which destroy them in one hit.

In Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition, each teammate's HP on the player's team is totaled for their health bar when playing a course. For this reason, individual teammates cannot be KO'd, but the entire team can if their total HP goes to zero. Clearing Heart Orbs or using HP-recovering Skills replenishes the player's team's health bar. Several teammates have the Awoken Skill Health Boost to raise the player's team's maximum HP upon entering a course, as do several Leader and Helper Skills. The player can also raise a teammate's maximum HP by de-powering teammates that provide HP plus bonuses, each plus bonus increasing HP by ten.

In the Super Smash Bros. series, Master Hand and Crazy Hand appear with HP instead of percent digits. Additionally, Super Smash Bros. Melee and subsequent games allow the players to choose to substitute HP instead of percent digits in Stamina Mode.

In Paper Mario: The Origami King, Hole Punch is the only boss in the game that can lower Mario's maximum HP. If Mario's HP is lowered, he will have a hole in his body. In order to bring the maximum HP back to normal, the player must find the piece missing from Mario's body. Additionally, the Oarsman's boat and Bowser's Airship can sustain five hits before being wrecked, rather than using Mario's HP.