Cape Feather
| |
| Mario in his cape form. | |
| Cape Feather | |
| Type | Power-Up |
| Debut | Super Mario World |
The Cape Feather is a power-up from the Mario series that was originally featured in Super Mario World. It is a brown feather that grants Mario a yellow cape that can be used for gliding.
Information[edit]
The Cape Feather is a power-up that can be used by Mario or Luigi to transform into a Cape form. This grants them a magical cape, which which they can spin in place to attack enemies, block projectiles or destroy obstacles. With a running start, they can also take to the skies and glide temporarily. While gliding, they can also drop down with a pound attack.
Aside from the Mario Bros., the cape could also be worn by enemies known as Superkoopas. The Superkoopas are Koopas without shells that use capes to glide forward. Hopping on them once makes them lose their cape, similar to Mario or Luigi, at which point they will crawl around on the ground normally and can be defeated with another hit. Some Superkoopas wear flashing red capes, and those ones will drop Cape Feathers upon losing their own capes.
Appearances[edit]
The Cape Feather was primarily featured as a power-up within Super Mario World. Along with the Fire Flower, it was one of the game's most fundamental and most commonly-appearing power-ups. They were also produced by green ! Blocks. In the game's prologue, Yoshi gave the Mario Bros. a cape after being freed from his egg, although he did not do so during the similar scene that occured early in the game. This game also featured the Superkoopas.
It later made a bonus appearance in Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3, where it could be obtained via e-card or a minigame in World e. To prevent it from overshadowing the Super Leaf, the Cape in that game was incapable of breaking blocks. The Cape Feather also appeared in Super Mario Maker and Super Mario Maker 2 as a power-up that could be placed in levels, but it could only be used for levels made in the Super Mario World style. In the second game, Toad and Toadette were also able to use the Cape Feather during multiplayer games.
It has also appeared in Super Mario Kart, as an item that could be used to make the kart jump. It was absent from most of the rest of the Mario Kart series, except for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, where it could be used only in Battle Mode.
Miscellaneous Appearances[edit]
The feather has also made cameo appearances in other Mario games:
- There is an accessory in Super Mario RPG called the Feather, which raises speed by 20 and defense by 5. This feather is presumably one of Dodo's, however.
- Baby Mario's Starman-induced "Super Baby Mario" form in Super Mario Land 2: Yoshi's Island and Yoshi's Island DS also includes a temporary cape that is similar to the Cape Feather's, although it is used as a parachute rather than for actual gliding.
- In Super Mario 64 DS, the Cape Feather was one of the items pictured in the game's slot machine minigames. Matching three of them would earn the player five times the coins that they bet. Additionally, a white feather is used to activate Mario's Wing Cap in that version of the game.
- In Mario Kart 8, there are feather pens seen at the Sunshine Airport stage which match the design of the Cape Feathers.
- In Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, Wingo has a feather resembling the Cape Feather attached to his turban.
- In Super Mario Party, a sprite of Cape Mario could be featured in the Puzzle Hustle minigame.
Other Appearances[edit]
Video Games[edit]
- The cape appears in the Super Smash Bros. series for one of Mario's moves that was present in every game from Super Smash Bros. Melee onwards. The move, which was Mario's side special move, consisted of Mario suddenly producing and whirling his cape. This could be used to deflect attacks and projectiles, and to spin an opponent to face the opposite direction. The move did not do any damage on its own. Dr. Mario had a matching move in which he used a white blanket instead.
Other Media[edit]
- It was used by Mario in several episodes of the Super Mario World cartoon series.
- It also appeared in the Super Mario-Kun manga, during the volumes based on Super Mario World. During the final battle with Bowser, he stole Mario's Cape Feather from his Inventory and used it to become a caped version of himself.
- The Cape Feather appeared in the Super Mario Adventures comic, where it was used by both Princess Peach and Toad.
Canceled Appearances[edit]
- The feather was apparently an item in a beta version of Mario Kart 64, but it was absent from the final game.
Trivia[edit]
- It acted as a successor to the Super Leaf from Super Mario Bros. 3.
- The cape was considered as the power-up to be featured in Super Mario 3D Land, but the Super Leaf and Tanooki form were ultimately chosen instead.