Power Star

Mario collecting a Power Star at Dire Dire Docks.

In Super Mario 64 and Super Mario 64 DS games, Power Stars are spread throughtout the worlds, and Mario (or in the Nintendo DS remake, Mario, Yoshi, Luigi, and Wario) is sent to go find them all. There are an average of about 10 power stars to collect in each world, and after finding 70 of them (80 in DS remake), the final boss, Bowser, can be defeated. There are 150 Power Stars in all, as of Super Mario 64 DS, but only 120 were in the original.

Stars have since been a reoccuring theme in Mario, but in particular Power Stars are used often in the Mario Party series of games. As of late, however, they have been phased out in favor of Shine Sprites.