Ice Mario

Ice Mario is a form that Mario takes upon touching an Ice Flower in Super Mario Galaxy and New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Between the two games, both the appearance and abilities of Ice Mario vary greatly.

Super Mario Galaxy
When Mario grabs an Ice Flower in Super Mario Galaxy, his body turns into solid ice. While granted this form, any water or lava he touches freezes solid in the form of a hexagonal platform (which melts after a period of time if left unoccupied). This allows Mario to walk or skate across vast distances of water or lava with ease and safety. Ice Mario can also freeze water spouts and waterfalls, which usually grant him passage to higher areas. Like Fire Mario, this power-up has a time limit.

This power-up is introduced in the Freezeflame Galaxy, but can also be found in the Beach Bowl Galaxy and the Deep Dark Galaxy.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii
Ice Mario returns in New Super Mario Bros. Wii, but Ice Mario's appearance and powers have been changed. The Ice Flower here gives Mario, Luigi, and the Blue and Yellow Toads the power to shoot Ice Balls, just like in Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time. Rather than turning into a living being of ice, Ice Mario's overalls turn red, and cap and shirt turns light blue, similar to Fire Mario (likewise, Luigi and the Toads have their own take on this appearance). Unlike in Galaxy, Ice Mario's power does not have a time-limit.

It isn't to be confused with Penguin Mario, another form which allows Mario to shoot ice-like snowballs, making the Power-up similar. The difference between the two power-ups is that the Ice Mario can hurl two ice balls at once while Penguin Mario can only shoot one. Penguin Mario can also slide on his belly and has better swimming abilities, but the Penguin Suit itself is rarer than the Ice Flower.

The ice balls can be used to neutralize the magical projectiles from Larry, Iggy, Morton, Roy, Ludwig, and Kamek. They can also douse the fireballs spit by Bowser and Bowser Jr. However, they are not able to inflict damage to the bosses. Normal enemies will be trapped in ice blocks when hit by an ice ball. They will eventually try to free themselves, but the effect of this varies from enemy to enemy. Some will die after breaking free, releasing coins, but others can free themselves without taking damage. The frozen enemies can be ground-pounded to kill them. They can also be killed by throwing them into a surface, which will shatter them or thrown, which will make them slide in the direction they were thrown, killing any other enemies in their path until they shatter on a wall or fall of a cliff. Even "un-killable" enemies like Dry Bones can be killed after being frozen and will not revive. However, some enemies and obstacles like Thwomps are so solid that ice balls shatter on them, making them useless. Flying enemies can be frozen in mid-air, allowing the player to jump off them, but after a while they will try to get free, and their block will fall and break on the ground, killing them.

Trivia

 * The music played during the duration of this power up closely resembles the music played for Fire Mario, but is played in a higher key.
 * If the player presses Z while skating as Ice Mario, or any other form in Super Mario Galaxy, the player will start skating backwards.
 * It is one of the only 2 power-ups (the other being the Red Star) in Super Mario Galaxy that did not reappear in Super Mario Galaxy 2 but the hexagon platforms created by this power up stayed and appeared briefly in the Shiverburn Galaxy. However, if the game were hacked, Ice Mario can be found.