Star (Yoshi's Island series)

Stars, or Star Men, are a common collectible in the Yoshi's Island games, found in certain defeated enemies and some Winged Clouds or by dropping an enemy or egg inside a Tulip. Winged Clouds can hold five stars, while Tulips spout out eight stars. However, if a Yoshi has reached the maximum number of stars, these stars will be replaced with coins. There are also packs of stars that come in 10 or 20. Two of them also appear if a Yoshi Egg hits an enemy while it is red. These stars are used when Baby Mario falls off a Yoshi's back. The stars create a bubble around Baby Mario, protecting him from Toadies until it is depleted. Every star collected adds one more second to the Countdown Timer, maxing at 30. Checkpoint Rings give a Yoshi ten more seconds as he passes through them. Should the player recover Baby Mario with fewer than 10 stars remaining, the counter will gradually refill to 10. In Yoshi's Woolly World and Yoshi's Crafted World, stars are replaced with Hearts.

In the WarioWare: D.I.Y. microgame Yoshi, the Shy Guys turn into stars when Yoshi performs the Ground Pound.

Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3

 * Nintendo 3DS electronic manual description: Each one increases your star power by one. The maximum that you can have at any time is 30.

Trivia

 * In prototype builds of Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, clocks were used to replenish the Countdown Timer, but were replaced by stars by the final game. The same goes for what would become the 10 Point Star and 20 Point Star.