Fire Flower



A Fire Flower is a power-up from the Super Mario Bros. series of video games. It transforms Mario (or Luigi) into Fire Mario (or Luigi). Fire Mario's trademark distinction is his all-white or mostly-white suit in many of the Mario games; however, Fire Mario is bright orange all over in the original version of Super Mario Bros. 3, and has a feather in his cap in Super Mario Land 2 for Game Boy (most likely to illustrate the difference on the Game Boy's monochrome screen; in the official artwork for that game, Fire Mario is depicted with the character's regular color scheme). Fire Mario has the ability to throw bouncing fireballs at enemies. In Super Mario Land 2 Wario can transform into Fire Wario as well, when he fights against Mario.

Fire Flowers are routinely acquired when Mario hits a "?" block from below, but occasionally they're hidden in brick blocks or music-note blocks. In Super Mario Bros. 3, Fire Flowers can also be acquired in a game of "Concentration".

The fireballs can defeat some of the more common enemies in one hit, such as Goombas, Koopa Troopas, Paratroopas, Lakitu, and Spinies.

Fireballs can also be used sometimes to defeat Bowser and the Koopalings, with multiple hits. Buzzy Beetles are immune to fireballs in every Mario game in which they appear, as are many enemies found in fortresses and ghost houses such as Boos and Thwomps.

In Super Mario World, Fire Flowers acquired a more tulip-like appearance. The flowers in the previous games vaguely resembled poppies. The Super Smash Bros. games and New Super Mario Bros. still used the original design, however.

In general, Fire Flowers will not appear on-screen if Mario is small. This is not the case, however, in Super Mario World and New Super Mario Bros., in which the player can hold an item in reserve that will automatically descend from the screen when Mario gets hit. In the original Super Mario Bros. for NES, there is a glitch in the game where Mario can be both small and have the ability to shoot. To acquire this state, a player must hit Bowser and the axe that destroys the bridge at the same time while Mario is big or has the fire ability in a castle level. If executed correctly, Mario will flash to show he has been harmed, but he will remain big and the clip of Mario talking to Toad will be normal. In the following level, when Mario hits a question box, a mushroom will appear (even though he is big) which will make Mario small, but he will be wearing a white suit. When the button to throw the fireball is pressed, Mario will appear big when throwing the ball, but return to small after he throws it.

Usually, if Mario makes a Fire Flower appear and shrinks before touching it, the Fire Flower will only change him into Super Mario. This is not the case in Super Mario World, New Super Mario Bros., or in the Game Boy Advance remake of Super Mario Bros. 3--in these games, small Mario will be transformed directly into Fire Mario upon touching a Fire Flower.

In Super Mario Bros., most versions of Super Mario World, and the original Japanese version of Super Mario Bros. 3, Fire Mario will revert all the way down to small Mario if hit. In the American version of Super Mario Bros. 3 and New Super Mario Brothers, however, if Fire Mario is hit, he merely reverts back to Super Mario, giving the player the ability to get fully powered-up with the next item that appears, rather than having to first grab a Super Mushroom to become Super Mario. This trait would later resurface in Super Mario Advance 2 and New Super Mario Bros.

In Super Mario World, an enemy defeated by a fireball typically turns into a gold coin worth 200 points which can then be collected by Mario. This trait was later enabled in Super Mario Advance 4 by an e-Reader card, and then carried over to New Super Mario Bros. (However, in this game, the only way to get 200 points from a coin is to hit a block with a coin in it.

Fire Flowers are set to make a reappearance in Super Mario Galaxy, along with the Super Mushroom and the Starman. This marks the first appearance of classic power-ups in a 3D Mario Platform game. Unlike previous games, however, the Fire Flower is lost after a certain amount of time, not through being hit by an enemy. The Ice Flower from Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time will make a reappearance as well.

Strangely, fire flowers are waterproof, as they can be thrown during water levels.