TheSuper Mario Bros. Movieis a rendition of a beloved video game franchise was a well-received love letter to the fans that took you on a somewhat enjoyable nostalgia-loaded trip. Illumination gave you exactly what you wanted. A fun yet wholesome and clean family-friendly origin story for a ragtag team of brothers from Brooklyn looking to make it big!
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It’s a faithful representation that neatly tied a bow around the questions you’ve probably asked before about the famous Italian plumber and his adventures navigating through the mushroom kingdom. This movie had several ‘if you blinked, you missed it’ moments and callbacks that felt too clever to ignore.
1Super Mushroom - Red With White Spots
Ability
Enlarges the consumer’s entire body, limb by limb. It grants them extra strength and the ability to jump higher, even through blocks made of bricks.
Drawbacks
Ingesting too many can potentially induce nausea and vomiting.
They’re the first power-up you’ll notice on your playthrough of the original games. Similarly, in the movie, the red mushrooms Mario gets from jumping up into a question mark box are smaller than the ones featured in the game yet look generally the same as their larger counterparts.
Another key difference is that they don’t quite move the same way they do in the games. Comically enough, the protagonist despises eating mushrooms yet has to endure swallowing a piece whole to gain any of its powers.
2Mini Mushrooms - Blue With White Spots
This power-up shrinks the consumer’s body at break-neck speeds. They end up turning into miniature versions of themselves.
Being so tiny hinders your ability to perform under stressful combat situations. Consuming too many of these probably makes you nauseous as well.
These blue variants of the powerful super mushrooms were first introduced back whenMario Party4 came out. As useless as they were for Mario during the fight against Donkey Kong in the movie, they turned out to be some rather valuable assets.
Funnily enough, they changed the course of the events that would have played out by the end of the movie. Unlike their red ones, these mushrooms can move on their own as soon as they are spawned out of a question box the same way.
3Fire Flowers - Broken And Powerful
Grants you the power to animate and shoot fireballs at will.
Although this wasn’t explored in the movie, fire-based enemies aren’t affected by any projectiles you hurl their way in the video games.
Alternatively referred to as Flame Flowers, these plants seemingly grow in droves on fields and meadows even though you’ll find them popping out of a question mark block occasionally. You’ll notice Peach uses them to light up a campfire. They look largely the same as their video game counterparts but function in a few different ways.
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They’re far more detailed now since they have a green stem with leaves sticking out. They also somehow change a character’s entire outfit, much like they did so in video games. Fire flower-powered Donkey Kong looks very cool with his red fur, white tie, and white hair near the top of his head and around his hands and feet.
Instead of consuming these flowers, most characters end up absorbing their flame. Hence, it’s easy to prevent that by blowing out the flower with a good gust of wind directed at it before it’s used.
4Ice Flower - Cool, But Still Broken
Allows you to shoot ice balls or projectiles at, and freeze, enemies in a block of ice.
In the video games, the ice flower takes away your ability to spin midair.
This blue flower grants the user ice powers. Not only that, when Peach uses it to ambush andfreeze Bowser in placeto stop her forced wedding to the villain, it gave the user a whole other outfit, just like the Flame Flower did. This power-up is fairly decent and doesn’t really have any drawbacks in the movie.
5The Superbell - Mysterious Yet Resourceful
The user experiences a speed increase, better dexterity, and gets claws to strike enemies down with.
You start exhibiting cat-like behavior.
This bell-looking power-up initially fromSuper Mario3D World turns Mario into a yellow cat during his fight with Donkey Kong at the Jungle Kingdom’s arena.
It gives the user a yellow cat costume with ears that are pink on the inside and fluffy white claws.
6The Tanuki Suit - I Believe I Can Fly
The suit allows the user to fly and perform a tail-whipping attack.
None at all.
This Super Mario Brothers 3 power-up does the same thing as the movie version. WhileMario makes his way up to Bowser’s floating castle of doom, it gave him a Tanuki suit with a tail that initially started spinning of its own accord. He kept his white gloves but gained raccoon fur and ears.
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This power-up is similar to what the Super Leaf is like, but it shouldn’t be confused with them.
7The Super Star - Undisputed Invincibility
The users are granted super strength, super speed, a super jump, and invulnerability to all attacks, including Bowser’s fire breath.
It only lasts briefly since you may’t get hit unless it’s lava or you get crushed in-game.
When Luigi and Mario manage to get their hands on Bowser’s star after Peach kicks a Koopa shell into it and sends it flying off, the brothers grab it and suddenly become invincible. Their bodies got covered with a rainbow aura, hence they turned into Rainbow Mario and Luigi.
Starmen, as they’re affectionately called, are rather tricky to find since they’re inside hidden blocks in Super Mario Bros.
8Bonus: Blue Shell - Devastate Your Enemies
Lets you shoot a destructive exploding shell at enemy racers in the first place. It stops them in their tracks.
Takes considerable aim and precision to shoot, hence it may even end up occupying the space you need for another item.
This explosive power-up is a blue Koopa shell that the new Blue Shell Paratroopa shoots at Mario and Donkey Kong while they make their way across Rainbow Road.
It was an excellent homage to a power-up that’s usually only featured in theMario Kartseries.
Next:Mario Kart: Every Game In The Franchise From Worst To Best, Officially Ranked
