Extra life

An extra life (also known as a "1-Up", "1-UP", or "1UP") is a term used in video games, especially platforming games, like those associated with Mario. A 1-UP awards the player with an extra chance to beat the game. If a player dies, he or she will be able to start unscathed from the beginning of the level (or sometimes, at the level's mid-point, if it has been reached). When a player loses all of his or her extra lives, the result is a Game Over, and the game must either be played again from the beginning, or be restarted from the last save point. Players typically start with three to five extra lives, and can usually earn more during the course of the game.

Early arcade games, such as Donkey Kong, typically awarded an extra life after a large number of points was acquired by the player. However, the 1-UP independent of score did not emerge until the original Super Mario Bros. In this game, the 1-Up Mushroom was introduced. This special item merely needed to be collected to reward the player an extra life. However, 1-UP Mushrooms were typically hidden and were very hard to acquire. This trend continued in other platforming and adventure games, and as such, extra lives were often seen as the ultimate bonus of early gaming.

Super Mario Bros. also introduced another concept associated with 1-Ups – collection of a hundred objects. In the game, if one hundred coins were collected, the player would be rewarded with an extra life. In many platforming and adventure games, collecting a hundred of a specific item would grant a 1-Up (such as in the Donkey Kong Country series, where collecting a hundred Bananas yields an extra life). The game Super Mario 64 alters this formula - only fifty coins were needed for a 1-Up, but a hundred were required for a much more valuable item, the Power Star, which were needed to complete the game. In other games, a low number of items could be collected for an extra life. These include the Dragon Coins of Super Mario World, where five coins would earn an extra life, and the KONG Letters of Donkey Kong Country, where all four letters would grant a 1-UP. However, these collectibles would only grant a 1-Up if a complete set was acquired in a single level, unlike coins and bananas, which had a running total throughout the game. Some games also feature items that award more than one extra life. These include the 3-Up Moon from Super Mario World, and the various colored Balloons of Donkey Kong Country, which yield a different amount of extra lives based on color. In some games, 1-Ups award full health, such as in Super Mario Sunshine.

Extra lives are only surpassed by the "Continue", which grants an entire new set of extra lives, instead of just one.

Trivia

 * The term "1UP" originally meant something radically different. 1UP was used to indicate the score of a player in arcade games. 1UP referred to Player One's score, while 2UP referred to Player Two's Score. Typically, player one's score would be placed in the upper-left corner of the screen, while player two's score would be located in the upper-right corner of the screen. The all-time high score was typically located in the middle of these two scores.

Related Articles

 * 1-Up Mushroom
 * 3-Up Moon
 * Coin
 * Dragon Coin
 * Banana
 * Balloon
 * KONG Letters