Fire Flower

Fire Flower
Type	Power-Up
Debut	Super Mario Bros.

The Fire Flower is a power-up appearing throughout the Mario series, known for the fireball-tossing abilities it grants to its users.

Information

The Fire Flower is a special flower that contains special fiery powers. It has been used by Mario and Luigi commonly in most of their adventures. When used, it changes their clothing colors (to a red-and-white color scheme) to make them into Fire Mario or Fire Luigi. In these forms, they can toss fireballs freely, which can destroy a wider range of enemies and some obstacles. Like most power-ups, it expires once Mario or Luigi is hit by an enemy, although the rules differ in some games.

This flower has had several different designs over the years. Its original appearance was oval-shaped and glowing. Starting in Super Mario World, a new design was used that resembled an orange tulip topped by jagged lines and sporting pleased-looking eyes. In Super Smash Bros. Melee, they resemble flowers with eyes surrounded by white petals. New Super Mario Bros. then introduced a design for them that was used for almost all games afterwards. This appearance was oval-shaped, featuring a white center with a pair of black eyes and surrounded by two outer segments, one yellow and one orange.

Appearances

This power-up originated in Super Mario Bros. as one of the original power-ups, along with the Super Mushroom. The Fire Flower is also the only way to defeat Bowser without hitting the axe at the end of his bridge. Afterwards, the Fire Flower becomes a regular in most of the 2-D Mario adventure games, such as The Lost Levels, Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins, New Super Mario Bros., New Super Mario Bros. Wii, New Super Mario Bros. 2, New Super Mario Bros. U, Super Mario Maker and Super Mario Maker 2. They have also made appearances in some of the 3-D adventures such as Super Mario Galaxy, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Super Mario 3D Land and Super Mario 3D World. In the Super Mario Galaxy games, the Fire Flower power-up instead runs on a time limit. Mini-Marios can also use Fire Flowers to shoot out fireballs for a limited time in Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis.

It also appears in the RPG games, being used as an item in the Paper Mario series and as part of special attacks in the Mario & Luigi games. In Paper Mario and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, the Fire Flower is planted in the ground and spits fireballs automatically which take away 3 HP each and have a chance of burning the enemy. In Super Paper Mario, Fire Flowers only made some came appearances in some areas. In Paper Mario: Sticker Star and Paper Mario: Color Splash, they appeared as a sticker and battle card respectively, which could be used to turn Mario into Fire Mario and launch fireball attacks. Sticker Star also included two stronger variants called the Shiny and Flashy Fire Flower, while Color Splash included a Big Fire Flower card.

In Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, it appears as the Bros. Flower, one of the game's Bros. Items. When used, Mario and Luigi each toss fireballs (but only one at a time), and with the babies they could attack aerial enemies as well. In Bowser's Inside Story, the Fire Flower is an Attack Piece operating similarly to the Bros. Flower without the babies, and Mario and Luigi are also clearly shown using the Fire Flowers to transform into Fire Mario and Fire Luigi. The Fire Flower is similarly used for a self-named Bros. Attack in Dream Team and Paper Jam.

Fire Flowers have also had different roles in other miscellaneous games; in Yoshi's Safari there are two Fire Flowers found in the game, and they can boost the Power Meter for the Super Scope. Fire Flowers are also among the symbols that could be used during the Mush Mode off Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix, where they also melted Freezies.

Sports

Within the Mario Kart subseries, the Fire Flower is used as a symbol for the Flower Cup, which is usually the second racing competition that can be played after the Mushroom Cup. The Fire Flower itself has also appeared as an item in Mario Kart 7, Mario Kart 8, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Mario Kart Tour, where it can be used to launch several fireballs forward or backward for ten seconds or until the racer has used ten fireballs. In Tour, the item can only be used by Mario and two of his variations (Metal Mario and Mario's Santa costume), Luigi, the Freerunning Red Koopa and Fire Bro.

Fire Flowers have also appeared as an item in Mario Golf: World Tour, where they were associated with Daisy and could be used to make a golf ball burn through obstacles while also increasing its shot distance. In Mario Tennis Open, it was used to represent the game's Flower Cup, similar to the Mario Kart games. A Fire Flower-themed outfit and racket were also available for Miis, but without any special powers.

Other Appearances

Video Games

• In Mario is Missing!, the Fire Flower makes a brief appearance in the PC version, where it is used to defeat a Koopaling.
• The Fire Flower appears as an item in all of the Super Smash Bros. games, where it is used as a flamethrower-like weapon. Its appearance is accompanied by a trophy in Melee, Brawl and Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U, and a sticker of it from New Super Mario Bros. also appears in Brawl. In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, it also appears as a Novice-rank Support Spirit with the effect of letting the player fighter start a battle equipped with a Fire Flower.
• In the Animal Crossing games, Fire Flowers appear as a furniture item. Most of the games its their original Super Mario Bros. design, with some of those appearances having it appear in 8-bit form.
• Fire Flowers also appeared in Scribblenauts Unlimited.
• In Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition, they appear replacing Fire Element tiles from the original game.
• As part of the Super Mario Mash-Up Pack made available for Nintendo releases of Minecraft, Fire Flowers appeared replacing Flint and Steel.

Other Media

• The Fire Flower appears in the Super Mario Bros. Super Show and its sequel shows, where it is shown as a blue daisy. Mario and Luigi often do not change form while using it, or their clothes turn orange with red overalls.

Trivia

• There are some inconsistencies among the games, as Mario and Luigi are sometimes shown to be capable of shooting fireballs without the aid of a visible fire flower, such as in Super Mario RPG and the Smash Bros. games. Additionally in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, Mario learns the Firehand technique, which allows him to generate fire independently. There is also confusion as to whether the Fire Flower's power is gained by eating it or just touching it.
• In Super Mario Odyssey, the Fire Flower is replaced by the ability to use Cappy's capture ability on a Fire Bros.. One of Peach's outfits in the game, a kimono that she wears at Bowser's Kingdom, does feature a Fire Flower pattern.

See Also

• Ice Flower