It's-a Mario World: Rare Power-ups

by Kenneth Caldwell { Jun 26th 2008 at 1:15PM }

Welcome to the inaugural edition of It's-a Mario World, Nintendo Wii Fanboy's newest feature about one of Nintendo's oldest characters. Every Thursday, we'll bring you a fresh perspective on Mario games and culture, emphasizing his lesser-discussed titles and memorable game content for your nostalgic enjoyment. In this first issue, join us as we reminisce about Mario's hard-to-find power-ups.

You know the common fare: Mushrooms, flowers and stars comprise the mainstay arsenal in any Mario game, and other traditional items like golden coins and 1-ups are found in sequels and off-shoots everywhere. But what about the obscured items of Mushroom Kingdom history, the rare perishables you rationed and strange pick-ups you briefly adored? Why didn't they catch on? Were they too uncouth for mainstream appeal? Let our gallery shed some light on these shadowy items of utmost rarity.

It's-a Mario World is a weekly feature in which the ubiquity of Nintendo's flagship character is celebrated: We'll incessantly ruminate about mustache wax, debate the curious whereabouts of Princess Peach and covet the luminous power stars strewn about the galaxy. Check back here every Thursday to find out what strange and wonderful thing has got us tipping our caps.

Tags: items, Its-a Mario World, Its-aMarioWorld, joystiqfeatures, mario, mario collectibles, mario weapons, MarioCollectibles, MarioWeapons, powerups, super mario bros., super-mario, SuperMarioBros.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

SegaPleaseMakePanzerDragoonWii! @ Jun 26th 2008 1:28PM

Obvious choices are the Mario 3 suits, most specifically the way awesome hammer bros. suit. I can remember always saving my hammer bros suit to kill Bowser at the end of the game. Once you made it through his entire castle without being hit, you could preceed to hammer the crap out of him, getting some sweet revenge for all the hammer beatings you've taken from him in the original SMB as a kid. Good times. Revenge is sweet. Die by the hand of your own weapon, bowser!

SegaPleaseMakePanzerDragoonWii! @ Jun 26th 2008 1:30PM

Sp. correction: proceed, not preceed.

SegaPleaseMakePanzerDragoonWii! @ Jun 26th 2008 1:33PM

Also in SMB3, I almost forgot about Kuribo's shoe. That thing was cooler than an iceberg.

Prof_Chaos @ Jun 26th 2008 2:09PM

Nice list. What about the warp whistle though? I was expecting that on the list.

Kenneth Caldwell @ Jun 26th 2008 3:31PM

The warp whistle rules, no doubt, but it seems too obvious to be on a list of rare items. Same with the tanooki suit, but I couldn't resist.

Mr Khan @ Jun 26th 2008 4:16PM

Hey, another new face

I wondered if anyone else remembered the 3-up Moon. It was mentioned in a blurb in Super Mario Advance 2's instruction manual, and i only found one or two of them in the whole game

Anyway, welcome

Shadow31 @ Jun 26th 2008 2:22PM

Hah, first item that came to mind for me was, in fact, the moon from Super Mario World. What a coincidence. :)

jenkinl1302 @ Jun 26th 2008 2:33PM

And let's not forget the Tanooki suit. Like the leaf (racoon Mario) but you could turn into a statue and let the baddies just walk on by.

randomguy132 @ Jun 26th 2008 2:58PM

Nice list; I look forward to seeing more of these columns.

Garst @ Jun 26th 2008 3:56PM

I love the tanooki suit. It was the only thing that could destroy those damn circling disks in dungeons. Although the hammer suit was the only thing that could kill dry bones. But the disk were more of a neucence.

Mr Khan @ Jun 26th 2008 4:18PM

See, i would've mentioned that Super Turnip you could get in USA Mario Bros 2, but i don't remember enough about it

RupeeClock @ Jun 26th 2008 4:19PM

How is the rocket an item? It's not even rare, it's MANDATORY on one of the levels.

Patius @ Jun 26th 2008 4:33PM

I liked how the hammer suit could kill those annoying flowers that shot out fire underwater.

bc @ Jun 26th 2008 5:21PM

Nice list. The Tanooki Suit, however, turns you into a Buddhist monk (not Hindu - they have priests), and it's a Hammer Bros. suit, not a Sledge Bros.

unreal mccoy @ Jun 26th 2008 9:47PM

There are Hindu monks.

kodama444 @ Jul 2nd 2008 7:42AM

More specifically, Tanooki Mario transforms into the Bodhisattva called Ojizo-sama, who is protector of children. Statues of Ojizo-sama can be found all over Japan. So yeah it is Buddhist, definitely not Hindu.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Jizo_Children.jpg

milan @ Jun 26th 2008 6:04PM

Great list, great write-ups, great matching pics... I quite enjoyed! *thumbs up*

Aaron @ Jun 26th 2008 6:39PM

I have to say that the most odd of all items in a Mario game are Yoshi's power ups in SMW2: Yoshi's Island. At one point, Yoshi turns into a mole-type vehicle that digs tunnels through the dirt!

And yes, Yoshi's Island *is* as true a 'Mario' game as there ever was.

Kenneth Caldwell @ Jun 26th 2008 11:19PM

There are indeed some peculiar items in the Yoshi's Island games. What about the "dizzy bubble" that basically makes Yoshi drunk? Weird.

But yeah, I had to draw the line somewhere, or else I would have had a gallery filled with rare items from Super Mario RPG and Super Princess Peach. :P