Fire Flower
| Fire Flower | |
|---|---|
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| First game: | Super Mario Bros. (1985) |
| Effects: | Gives the user the ability to throw fireballs, usually only two at a time. |
A Fire Flower is one of the main power-up items present in the Mario franchise since its debut in Super Mario Bros.. Collecting it grants Mario or another character the ability to throw fireballs. While a character is under the effects of a Fire Flower, their clothing is colored white and red.
In certain games, such as the Super Smash Bros. series, Mario or Luigi can shoot a fireball without using a Fire Flower.
Mario game appearances
Super Mario series
Super Mario Bros.
In Super Mario Bros., if Mario is already powered up as Super Mario, a tier above his Small Mario form, hitting a ? Block that would otherwise contain a Mushroom instead reveals a Fire Flower. When Mario (or Luigi, controlled by the second player) touches a Fire Flower, his sprite briefly flickers as his clothing changes to a red shirt, white overalls, and a white cap. 1,000 points are added to the player's score whenever a Fire Flower is collected.
The original Super Mario Bros. depicted Luigi's Small and Super forms as having white overalls and a white cap, more in line with Fire Mario's sprites. For consistency, the Super Mario All-Stars and Super Mario Bros. Deluxe remakes rectified this so that Luigi has a green cap and green shirt while in either his Small or Super form, and both clothing items change to white when he collects a Fire Flower to become Fire Luigi.
Super Mario Bros. 2 (Famicom Disk System)
In Super Mario Bros. 2, or Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels for its Super Mario All-Stars remake, Fire Flower returns as a power-up item. Its role and sprites are identical as in Super Mario Bros..
Super Mario Bros. 3
In Super Mario Bros. 3, the Fire Flower functions similarly to its appearance in Super Mario Bros.. Just as before, the player can earn 1,000 points from having Mario or Luigi obtain a Fire Flower.
Super Mario World
The Fire Flower again returns in Super Mario World, having the same role as before and retaining its value of 1,000 points.
Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins saw the return of the Fire Flower, after it had been replaced by the Superball Flower in the previous game, Super Mario Land. The Fire Flower grants the same effects as before, but collecting one instead puts a feather on his head. The reason for this is likely because the restrictive, four-color display of the Game Boy cannot properly distinguish their differences in color, so Nintendo had to do a workaround.
New Super Mario Bros.
In New Super Mario Bros., Fire Flowers return as a power-up item, acting the same as in earlier Super Mario games. Collecting a Fire Flower contributes 1,000 points to the score, just as before.
Mario Kart series
Since the Mario Kart series' inception with Super Mario Kart, the Fire Flower has been represented as the mascot of its own Grand Prix cup, Flower Cup. The Flower Cup is the cup with an intermediate difficulty setting, and because of this, the Fire Flower became a symbol for average difficulty for Mario spinoffs in general.
List of game appearances
| Game | ESRB rating | Year released | Console | Role | Additional notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Super Mario Bros. | Everyone* |  1985
|
Nintendo Entertainment System |
Power-up item | Retained in the direct Family Computer Disk System port of the game, released exclusively in Japan in 1986 |
| Super Mario Bros. 2* | Everyone* |
|
Power-up item | Retains the same appearance and role from Super Mario Bros. | |
| Super Mario Bros. 3 | Everyone* | 1990
|
Nintendo Entertainment System
|
Power-up item | Similar to its appearance and role in Super Mario Bros., but now also an inventory item and a depiction in a few minigames run by Toad. |
