Top 5 Mario Power-Ups

As Old-Wizard continues to remember the good old days of retro games, we always come back to Nintendo and the Mario Brothers games. In this list we will go through what we think are the top five power ups for Mario. There were many power ups that Mario could have too, from a shitty frog suit to a raccoon tail. In this list we want to highlight the ones that made us excited to procure these great gifts. One thing we knew for certain was that the Frog suit wasn’t making it. That suit in itself makes us want to make a top 5 worst Mario suits, but for now we will focus on the best.

5. Mushroom

One of the first power-ups many gamers experienced was the classic mushroom from Super Mario Brothers. This wondrous mushy little jewel had to be head-butted out of a box, and would always travel along its predetermined path at the exact same rate of speed regardless of the level. Running after this tasty morsel, you watch Mario grow beyond twice his size after ingesting this delicious treat. Many things happen once this magical mushroom is enjoyed, such as opening up the doors for future power ups later in the level, and the sensation of being safe in case you run into an enemy. Gamers always knew they could take a little extra risk once on this wild mushroom, because if they ran into an undesirable enemy and happened to touch them wrongly, there was no fear. What’s the worst that can happen? Mario shrinks back down to his miniature size and will eventually trample amongst another wildly colored magical shroom to make him big again? That’s exactly what will happen, which in turn makes gamers chronic users of magical digital shrooms. Enjoy your trip!

4. Cape

The cape was a power up obtained in Super Mario World for the SNES, it was much like the Raccoon suit from Mario 3, but had more attributes. The biggest attribute of the cape suit was being able to smash down on the ground from above and destroying all the enemies. You could swash away enemies with a spin and fly great distances. Getting back down to the ground would see Mario gently floating back and forth until he hit it. All the power ups on this list couldn’t be from Mario 3, the cape though one upped the raccoon tail from Mario 3 and made it more flexible and damaging with its earthquake power.

3. Fire Flower

The fire flower gave Mario so much power. He could spew fireballs on command and destroy almost anything in his path. Taking out enemies at a distance with fire power made the games more fun than they already were and gave you one of the best powers for any protagonist in the video game medium. Mario would turn all fiery and red and run across levels throwing out fireballs with reckless abandon. We all remember the feeling of overwhelming grief when you lost this power up and had to go back to regular Mario.

2. Hammer Suit

The hammer suit gave you the rare power of throwing hammers like the hammer brothers and even Bowser himself. This was a rare suit to get throughout the Mario series which made it that more special to obtain. Mario would turn a grayish color and have an unlimited supply of hammers to throw on command. This helped especially when trying to fight those who had the same power, like the hammer brothers. Not only that, but the hammers could kill almost anything. This was a great power to have in the more difficult levels in the series.

1. Tanooki Suit

The Tanooki is the suit in Mario 3 is the raccoon tail times 10. Why times 10 you ask? By being able to transform into an nigh invulnerable statue, enemies would walk by you like they were in a museum. This is the suit you wanted out of the chests in the Mushroom houses. Mario never looked so unlike himself than the way he did in this suit. Regardless of the warm aesthetic of the suit, Mario would prove to be at his strongest when endowed with this power up.