Item of the week #19

[Dark Seraphim]

Spring Mushroom



First Appearance: Super Mario Galaxy (Wii, 2007)
Latest Appearance: Same

The Spring Mushroom is one of the harder items to get a handle of in Super Mario Galaxy, primarily used in the Toy Time Galaxy, it appears only a handful of additional times throughout the game, specifically the Matter Splatter Galaxy and the Beach Bowl Galaxy's Purple Coin challenge. Its frequency in the game is not unlike the Boo Mushroom.

The Spring Mushroom's effect is pretty standard, it makes you jump . . . really, really high! It appears as a metallic mushroom with a spring coil for a cap, and when Mario touches it, the spring coil actually wraps around him, turning our mustachioed hero into a human slinky. Spring Mario isn't without its boons, with the right timing Mario can mega jump, easily scaling otherwise impossible obstacles, and in addition to that, while within the spring, Mario will auto wall jump, making scaling walls even easier. However . . . the Spring Mushroom isn't without its drawbacks. First of all Mario loses the ability to run, or really even stand still, everywhere he goes he bounces half-haphazardly, making anything with a precariously placed death pit a chore to not bounce into. In addition to that, the timing for the jumps can be tricky, if you don't press it at exactly the right moment, Mario will fail to super jump (which can be especially stressful on a moving conveyor belt). Like most power-ups in Super Mario Galaxy, the Spring Mushroom is also very easy to lose, similar to the Bee Mushroom and Boo Mushroom, adding to the difficulty of use.

In the end the Spring Mushroom isn't a bad power-up, you can even ground pound in the middle of a super jump, but its difficulty have certainly not made it the most popular item in the Mario franchise. As of right now there is no say if the Spring Mushroom will make another appearance in Super Mario Galaxy 2 . . . although it is possible it may still show up, so we shouldn't write the Spring Mushroom off completely . . . at least not just yet.

Click to view video.

Item of the week #1: Hammer
Item of the week #2: Boo Mushroom
Item of the week #3: Metal Cap
Item of the week #4: Tanooki Suit
Item of the week #5: Ice Flower
Item of the week #6: Thunderbolt
Item of the week #7: Coconut Gun
Item of the week #8: F.L.U.D.D.
Item of the week #9: Bob-omb
Item of the week #10: Kart
Item of the week #11: Mini Mushroom
Item of the week #12: Boo
Item of the week #13: Warp Pipe
Item of the week #14: Pixl
Item of the week #15: Koopa Clown Car
Item of the week #16: Hammer Bros. Suit
Item of the week #17: Vibes
Item of the week #18: Carrot

[Valigarmander]

I hated maneuvering around in that thing.

[Dark Seraphim]

Originally Posted by Valigarmander

I hated maneuvering around in that thing.

I know, I remember how easy it was just to accidentally bounce right off the edge, or even just land from a super jump and realize you're not landing on ground!