Key

Keys are items that appear in the Mario series, and usually are used to unlock doors and gates. They have appeared in many of the platform and RPG games in the series.

Super Mario World


Keys first appeared in Super Mario World. They are hidden in often hard to reach locations, out of the way from the usual path that Mario has to take. If Mario is able to a find a key, he can bring it to its corresponding keyhole, and exit the level early and find an alternate route on the map.