Super Mushroom
The Super Mushroom is a power-up from the Mario series of video games. It is, traditionally, about the size of "regular" Mario, and has a white stalk atop a red and white (originally red and orange) spotted cap. Like many mushrooms seen in fantasy works, it resembles the hallucinogenic Fly Agaric mushroom.
It debuted in Super Mario Bros. for the NES\Famicom, and the powers it grants the player lent itself to the game's title. It emerges from flashing blocks marked with a '?' when they are bumped from below (a convention carried over from Mario Bros., where bumping platforms was the main form of attack). Upon emerging, it then begins to slide either to the left or right, depending on the way the player was facing when they hit the block. If the player catches it, they become Super Mario: it doubles Mario's size and allows him to take an extra hit. It also allows him to gain better powers, such as Fire Mario (shoot bouncing fire balls). Furthermore, Super Mario can break bricks, whereas regular Mario can't.
In some Mario games, it heals Mario and friends, such as in Super Mario RPG. In the Super Mario Kart series of racing games, it gives the player a short boost of speed.
It is said that Shigeru Miyamoto was inspired by the novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland when creating this item. In the novel, Alice eats pieces of mushroom to change her size.
Because the mushroom is the most basic power-up, without which other powers can't be granted, it is occassionally used in the Mario series to denote basic rewards or easier skill levels. Winning three consecutive mushroom cards from the roullette goal boxes at the end of each level in Super Mario Bros. 3 will earn the player two extra lives, whereas winning three consecutive star cards will earn them five. In Super Mario Kart, the easiest tracks belong to the Mushroom Circuit.
Poisonous / 1-up mushrooms
The Japanese version of Super Mario Bros. 2 (also known as Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels) features "poisonous" mushrooms which cause Mario to shrink, or "power-down". It was originally a brown palette swap of the typically red Super Mushroom, but in enhanced remakes of the game, it was given a different sprite. The only game since The Lost Levels to have poisonous mushrooms as items is Super Smash Bros. Melee. In Super Smash Bros. Melee Poisonous Mushrooms are brown instead of blue and 3-dimensional instead of 2-dimensional. The 1-up mushroom featured in most of the canonical Mario games is a green palette swap of the Super Mushroom, and gives the player an extra life. They are usually found in hidden places.
