Fire Flower

In the Super Mario Bros. games, a Fire Flower is a power-up item that transforms Mario (or Luigi) into Fire Mario (or Luigi). Fire Mario has the ability to shoot fireballs at enemies, which can defeat some of the more common enemies. Fire Mario's trademark distinction is his all-white or mostly-white suit in many of the Mario games; however, Fire Mario is bright red in the original version of Super Mario Bros. 3, and has a feather in his cap in Super Mario Land 2 for Game Boy.

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

In general, Fire Flowers will not appear on-screen if Mario is small. This is not the case, however, in Super Mario World, in which the player can hold an item in reserve that will automatically descend from the screen when Mario gets hit.

In general, if Mario makes a Fire Flower appear and gets hit before touching it, the Fire Flower will only change him into Super Mario. This is not the case in Super Mario World or in the Game Boy Advance remake of Super Mario Bros. 3-- in both games, Small Mario will be transformed directly into Fire Mario upon touching a Fire Flower.

In Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario World, Fire Mario will revert all the way down to Small Mario if hit. In Super Mario Bros. 3, however, if Fire Mario is hit, he 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.

In Super Mario Bros. 3, Fire Flowers are depicted on cards (referred to as "panels" in the Super Nintendo and Game Boy Advance remakes of the game) that are collected by the player to end a common stage. The card rapidly flashes between the Super Mushroom, Fire Flower and Starman objects. If Mario manages to collect three Fire Flower cards, he gains three extra lives.

In Super Mario Bros. 3, Fire Flowers are also seen when Mario enters a "spade" card on the world map. The spade game is played somewhat like a slot machine game, only the player is trying to create one full image instead of three side-by-side images. As with the panels, the image varies between a Super Mushroom, Fire Flower and Starman, and if the Fire Flower is successfully completed, the player gains three extra lives.

The Fire Flower is also seen in Super Mario Land and Super Mario Land 2 for the Game Boy system.

Fireballs can defeat most common enemies such as Goombas, Koopa Troopas, Piranha Plants, Spinys and Lakitu in one hit. (This is by no means a comprehensive list.) They can be used to defeat Bowser Koopa and the Koopa Kids with multiple hits. Beetles are immune to fireballs in every Mario game in which they appear, as are most enemies such as Boo Diddlys and Thwomps which are commonly found in Super Mario 3 and Super Mario World's Fortresses and Super Mario World's Ghost Houses.

In Super Mario World, an enemy defeated by a fireball turns into a gold coin which can then be collected by Mario.