Bubbles are floating objects that appear throughout the Mario franchise of games. Bubbles sometimes have contents within them, and bubbles can be ridden inside in some games. Some bubbles also replenish the air meter if Mario or Luigi is underwater.
Artwork of a Galoomba in a bubble from Super Mario World.
Enemies and items encased in bubbles in Super Mario World
Bubbles first appear in Super Mario World, where they can be found floating around in a few levels. Bubbles contain either power-ups, Bob-ombs, Goombas, or Cheep Cheeps. Simply touching one causes it to burst, with whatever in it falling down. In Japanese releases, the enemies appear upside-down while in the bubbles, but in international versions, they are rightside-up like the Mushrooms. Large green bubbles also appear as obstacles in Vanilla Ghost House.
Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
Artwork of Mario in a bubble from Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
In the Hippo level, the titular Hippo blows bubbles that allow Mario to "swim" in air, allowing him to reach the entrance to the Space Zone. They pop when they touch water or an enemy - in the latter case, a powered-up Mario briefly flashes between his large and small Mario sprites as if he has taken damage, but will not lose his current power-up (e.g., Fire Mario does not become Super Mario).
Super Mario 64 / Super Mario 64 DS
A bubble found in a treasure chest in Super Mario 64
Breathable bubbles forming after Mario squirts Eely-Mouth's toxic bubbles
In Super Mario Sunshine, Mario can use bubbles in Noki Bay when he dives to see Eely-Mouth. There Eely-Mouth spews forth toxic bubbles. If Mario were to squirt the toxic bubbles long enough, they turn into breathable air, filling up Mario's air life meter.
During the fight with King Boo, if the slots end with any incorrect combination, King Boo will spew out bubbles that drop water bottles when sprayed, but will also home in on Mario and hurt him if he touches them.
In Super Mario Galaxy, Bubbles have two roles. They can be found throughout underwater areas, and refill Mario or Luigi's oxygen meter if he touches one, much like in Super Mario 64. There are also Bubbles that can be found on land, which Mario or Luigi can enter and ride around in. The player must use the Wii Remote to aim the Bubble in the desired direction, blow it around by pressing , and leave the bubble by pressing . Originally, bubbles were going to be shaped like cubes.[1]
In New Super Mario Bros. Wii, if a player loses a life in Multiplayer Mode, they reappear in a bubble. The player can also enter a bubble by pressing or , giving themselves immunity. The player can shake the Wii Remote to move closer to the other players; each character will make pleas for help that can be heard from the Wii Remote's speakers. However, if all players end up in a bubble, they get sent back to the map screen and lose their power-ups, but they don't lose any lives. Players can not bubble in Coin Battle mode.
Coins and items can be found in bubbles floating around some levels, particularly in Free Mode; bubbles with coins appear in the underwater levels, just as in the game's DS predecessor.
Also, in World 7-2, there are water bubbles, called Water Balls. Players can swim in them, and they also slow down Bullet Bills. They move in mid-air that the player can jump in. Once in one, the player can swim through it to continue onward.
Bubbles reappear in Super Mario Galaxy 2, and serve the same function as they did previously, though in this game, Mario and Luigi can no longer ride around in bubbles at all, so they are used only for replenishing Mario or Luigi's air gauge when it gets too low. One minor difference in this game involves the Co-Star Luma being able to physically fetch air bubbles that are far away from the player, and then bring them to the player. Peach is also shown to be trapped inside a Bubble before the final boss.
New Super Mario Bros. 2
In New Super Mario Bros. 2, bubbles have the same function they did in New Super Mario Bros. Wii. They are entered by pressing a special button on the Nintendo 3DS' touch screen. A player in a bubble can approach the other by pressing . If the lead player goes too far off the other player's screen, the other automatically enters a bubble, as opposed to dying, which would have been the case in New Super Mario Bros. Wii.
New Super Mario Bros. U
Artwork of Luigi in a Bubble in New Super Mario Bros. U
Super Mario 3D World / Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury
In Super Mario 3D World, players are able to put themselves inside bubbles just like in the New Super Mario Bros. series, but unlike in those games, if only one player is active, they cannot put themselves into a bubble. This marks the first time it can be done in a 3D Mario game. In addition, some Super Mushrooms can be found encased in bubbles, while bubbles containing Super Bells can be found above water in Bowser's Fury.
In Super Mario Run, bubbles serve as extra lives for the player, essentially replacing 1-Up Mushrooms. Unlike in previous games, they are not carried over between levels, as each level starts the player off with two bubbles. If the player is hit by an enemy in small form or falls into a pit, they reappear in a bubble and float to the left, allowing them to backtrack to a previous part of the level and retry once they pop the bubble by tapping the screen. If the player loses all of their bubbles and dies, they fail the level and have to restart from the beginning. The player can also manually activate a bubble by tapping the bubble icon at the top left corner of the screen. Extra bubbles can be found in ? Blocks.
Super Mario Odyssey
In Super Mario Odyssey, when Mario falls into a pit while in Assist Mode, instead of resuming from the last checkpoint, he is carried back inside a bubble to the last stationary platform he was on, although he loses one hit point in the process. When falling off certain areas of the game, such as the concert stage during the New Donk City Festival and the Floating Island in the Luncheon Kingdom, he is placed in a bubble without losing any coins, similar to the transparent sphere from the Comet Observatory in Super Mario Galaxy and the credits in Super Mario Galaxy 2. Large bubbles appear in some underwater parts of the game and replenish Mario's air meter like in the Super Mario Galaxy games. When a Checkpoint Flag is touched underwater, it creates a bubble.
Super Mario Maker 2
In Super Mario Maker 2, if a player is defeated in Multiplayer Co-op mode, they return inside a bubble, similar to the New Super Mario Bros. games. Additionally, when a player carrying a Key or a completed Clear Condition is defeated in multiplayer, the Key or Clear condition enter a bubble, allowing other players to grab them.
Yoshi franchise
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
In Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island and Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3, Bubbles have a number of roles. They sometimes house 1UPs, but usually appear in the form of morph bubbles. If the player is hit by an enemy, Baby Mario floats away in a Bubble. Bubble Dayzees and Barney Bubbles also spit out Bubbles as their attack method. These Bubbles cannot hurt a Yoshi directly, but are capable of knocking him back. Yoshis can also bounce up high after jumping onto these Bubbles. The Yoshis can also spit these Bubbles themselves upon licking them up, though theirs' defeat enemies instead, and must be restocked by licking up another bubble.
Yoshi's Story
In Yoshi's Story, bubbles appear in every level in the game. They commonly contain fruits such as apples, bananas, grapes, watermelons, and melons. A Yoshi can pop a bubble by simply throwing a Yoshi Egg at it or by touching it about 15 to 30 times. When the Yoshi bumps into it once, it simply gets knocked around, without popping. These objects occasionally just float or move around the area of the level above the ground. In some levels in the game, a bubble contains a Heart Fruit that can actually help the Yoshi. Occasionally, bubbles marked with question marks, known as ? Bubbles, contain surprises.
Yoshi's Island DS
Bubbles appear throughout Yoshi's Island DS, and serve the same purpose as they do in the original Yoshi's Island.
Yoshi's Woolly World / Poochy & Yoshi's Woolly World
Bubbles debut in the series in Wario Land II, then reappear in Wario Land 3 and Wario Land 4. In each game, bubbles are found in the underwater segments of various levels. If Wario makes contact with one, he becomes Bubble Wario, being trapped inside and forced to float to the water's surface or until he hits a ceiling. In some areas, they are a helpful tool, allowing Wario to bypass water currents, but when Wario needs to swim down a channel, the bubbles become a nuisance, as they push him back to the surface. In Wario Land II, the boss Awabō is made from a bubble.
In Paper Mario: Color Splash, Mario and Huey are in a Bubble while playing Snifit or Whiffit. When Mario answers a question incorrectly, a Big Urchin will appear. If Mario gets four questions wrong (one in the bonus rounds), a Big Urchin pops the Bubble, giving him an instant Game Over.
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
Air Bubbles[2] are used in Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze to recover air while underwater. Generally, air bubbles sprout discretely from sunken diving helmets, and the Kongs can run into them to restore air. In some levels, such as Deep Keep, they also encounter clusters of tiny bubbles gushing out of sea sponge. These rising columns of bubbles have the same effect on the characters.
Mario Sports Superstars
Baby Luigi in a bubble during his Eagle animation, alongside various items in bubbles as well
Bubbles make an appearance in Baby Luigi's Eagle animation in the golf portion of the game, where, alongside Baby Luigi being in a bubble, various items, such as coins, Super Mushrooms, and Fire Flowers can be found in them, possibly referencing their appearances in bubbles in New Super Mario Bros. U.
In Mario Party: Island Tour, Bowser uses a bubble machine to lock the fun of the Mario Party Islands away and construct Bowser's Tower. He creates bubble clones to attack the player in mini-games. At the end of the mode, it is revealed the Bowser they fight is also a bubble clone, with the real Bowser ambushing the player and knocking them off the tower.
An image demonstrating the bubble feature in Dr. Mario World.
Bubbles appear as stage features in Dr. Mario World, first appearing in World 2. A bubble will float to the top of the screen until it is obstructed by an object, and it may contain viruses or other objects. An object that can be matched with capsules such as viruses or exploders will require matching with the capsules to pop the bubble, while in other instances including empty bubbles, just making a capsule match near the bubble will pop the bubble. A bubble can also be popped through use of a skill or item. A bubble that is currently floating will not react to anything else in the stage until it lands, except for when pushing the bubble upwards or blocking the bubble from floating upwards with a capsule. Normally, popping a bubble would fill the skill meter by one point, but popping an empty bubble fills the skill meter by two points. The Hammer Bro. assistant will affect the floating speed of the bubble when equipped by slowing down the floating.
Dr. Bowser Jr.'s and Dr. Dolphin's skills involves bubbles. For Dr. Bowser Jr., his stage mode skill pops up to 10 bubbles while his versus mode skill covers up to 10 viruses in the opponent's field in bubbles. For Dr. Dolphin, its stage mode skill pops up to 4 bubbles (3 prior to version 2.2.0), while its versus mode skill covers up to 6 viruses inside bubbles. Although Dr. Dolphin skill involves less bubbles than Dr. Bowser Jr., it is compensated by a lower skill meter to allow for potentially more uses of the skill. Dr. Morton's skill in versus mode also involves bubbles (in addition to ice), in which he will cover some of the viruses inside bubbles. Bubbles may appear in some of the starting layouts in versus mode.
Mario Kart Tour
Bubbles reappear in Mario Kart Tour as Baby Peach, Baby Daisy, Baby Rosalina, and Lemmy's special item, who coincidentally are all Normal drivers. They are used to sustain one hit from almost any obstacle without the driver crashing, but will pop upon collision. However, colliding with a Clampy as it closes its valves will still cause the driver to spin out while the Bubble remains intact. The Bubble also functions similarly to the Bullet Bill in that it pulls the player forwards automatically when activated, though it is slower and does not harm other drivers, and the player can slightly steer while using a Bubble. Bubbles automatically pop after being used for a certain period of time. When Bubble+ is active, the Bubble has a faster movement speed than normal.
Profiles
Mario Kart Tour
Tips & Tricks:"Briefly envelops your kart and protects you from damage for a set time. While in the bubble, you will get a speed boost and float in the air. Watch out, because it will vanish upon taking damage!"
Driver info:"Kick back and relax as this bubble floats you around. But beware the sudden pop!"
Driver info (Bubble+):"Increases the Bubble's movement speed."
, and leave the bubble by pressing 
. Originally, bubbles were going to be shaped like cubes.[1]
, giving themselves immunity. The player can shake the Wii Remote to move closer to the other players; each character will make pleas for help that can be heard from the Wii Remote's speakers. However, if all players end up in a bubble, they get sent back to the map screen and lose their power-ups, but they don't lose any lives. Players can not bubble in Coin Battle mode.
. If the lead player goes too far off the other player's screen, the other automatically enters a bubble, as opposed to dying, which would have been the case in New Super Mario Bros. Wii.
