マリオ – Super Mario Bros. Items in Japanese
Over the past almost 40 years Mario has shown a wide variety of skills as he ventured through the Mushroom Kingdom. He has used a wide range of mushrooms, flowers and other items to help him beat Bowser. Below is a list of many of the items available through out the years to Mario and how to say them in Japanese.
INDEX
キノコ – Mushroom
The most icon item in the Mario series is the mushroom. Mario and Luigi have been using mushrooms to grow themselves into a bigger version of themselves for years. This allows them to be able to take a hit instead of being pushed out of the game.
The Japanese word for mushroom is きのこ. In normal everyday Japanese this is written in hiragana as きのこ. But, in Mario it is usually written in katakana as キノコ.
https://japaneseuniverse.com/2024/02/18/pac-man-in-japaneseconcepts-behind-development-to-global-icon/This is the same for many of the items and characters in the Mario series. This is actually common in games and other media. Katakana is used for emphasis here to say that we are not just talking about any きのこ but Mario’s キノコ.
So, before Mario (マリオ) has a mushroom, he is just known as plane old マリオ or ちびマリオ which means little Mario. After he eats the mushroom though マリオ becomes スーパーマリオ(Super Mario)!
ファイアフラワー – Fire Flower
In the Mario series we also see a lot of different flowers in addition to mushrooms. The most common and first flower in the series is the Fire Flower. In Japanese it actually has the exact same name, ファイアフラワー. In the Mario series, several if not most of the names for characters and items are English words.
Why not use Japanese?
This is all speculation but there are a few reasons Nintendo decided to use an English word for this item.
If we break down ファイアフラワー we have the following:
- ファイア(Fire) → 火
- フラワー(Flower) → 花
In Japanese the everyday word for fire is 火 and flower is 花. But, in the Mario series the English word is used. There are a few possible reasons for that. Remember this is all my personal speculation and could be 100% wrong.
Avoiding Confusion
in Japanese 火花 is an actual word. 火花 means spark. You would not say 火花 when talking about actual flames. So, my guess is that Nintendo got inspiration from the name 火花 and translated the name to ファイアフラワー. Or, maybe from the word 花火 which means Fireworks.
Aesthetic Reasons
Nintendo could have just thought that the English name sounded cooler or fancier. From the Japanese perspective having a foreign sounding word would make the items sound more exotic, or fancier. Also, the English words, Fire and Flower are pretty common words that are used in other names of things, products etc. which any Japanese person would know the meaning of.
International Terminology
Finally, Nintendo may also have wanted to keep the Japanese and English version as close as they could. So, by using an English word in both versions that can be accomplished.
アイスフラワー – Ice Flower
Just like the the ファイアフラワー the Ice Flower has the same name in both the English and Japanese versions of the Mario series. アイスフラワー is how you say Ice Flower in Japanese.
Again here, アイス means Ice and is not the normal word used to talk about everyday ice in Japanese. 氷 is what you would say when you wanted ice for a cold drink.
アイス though like ファイア is a commonly known word in Japanese. It actually is used in many common words borrowed from English
- アイスクリーム → Ice Cream
- アイスコーヒー → Ice Coffee
雲フラワー – Cloud Flower
The third flower we have to introduce is 雲フラワー which means Cloud Flower. This flower breaks the pattern and actually uses a Japanese word, 雲 in the name. This means cloud of course. There probably is not any deep reason why Nintendo chose 雲 instead of クラウド . Probably just 雲フラワー is shorter and easier to say than クラウドフラワー.
スター – Super Star
The Super Star is the most powerful item Mario has. It makes him invincible for a short amount of time.
In Japanese it is called スター which is from the English word Star. You could also call it スーパースター meaning, Super Star, but mostly it would just be called スター.
Just as we saw earlier with the flower, the Japanese word used for star in everyday life in Japanese is different. 星 is the Japanese word for star, but スター is also a word that everyone would know.
When Mario has the star powerup, he is known as 無敵マリオ. This means Invincible Mario.
スーパーこのは – Super Leaf
The Super Leaf which first showed up in Super Mario Bros. 3 was one of my favorite items. Basically any item that let’s you fly was my favorite, but none had quite the appeal as the original. Anyway, the Japanese name is スーパーこのは.
- スーパー → Super
- このは（木の葉）→ Leaf
When Mario has this power-up he gets ears and wings. In English he is known as Racoon Mario but in Japanese しっぽマリオ. The しっぽ here actually means tail. This is probably to avoid confusion with the Tanooki Mario. That is because actually he has the ears and tail of a tanuki, but in the English version he is called a racoon.
羽根 – Cape Feather
Next we have another item that allows Mario to fly. This item is the Cape Feather and is called 羽根 in Japanese. The word 羽根 means Feather in Japanese.
When Mario picks up one of these feather he becomes Cape Mario or in Japanese マントマリオ. Here, of course マント means cape.
タヌキマリオ – Tanooki Suit
This Tanooki Suit comes from the word, Tanuki or Racoon Dog which is たぬき in Japanese. The name of the suit is exactly the same in Japanese, タヌキスーツ.
As タヌキマリオ, Mario is able to also turn into Statue Mario or 地蔵マリオ. In Japan you will see these statues all over the place. They are kind of like a symbol of protection for people that are passing by.
カエルスーツ – Frog Suit
The frog suit is known as カエルスーツ in Japanese. There is not too much to say here. 蛙 is the Japanese word for frog in Japanese which is where the name カエルスーツ comes from.
はねぼうし – Wing Cap
Starting from Mario 64, Mario now gets his abilities from using different hats. The most icon hat in Mario 64 is the Wing Cap. In Japanese this is known as はねぼうし. This has the same meaning in both languages, Wing Cap or Wing Hat.
- はね（羽根）→ Wing/Feather
- ぼうし（帽子）→ Hat/Cap
スケスケぼうし – Vanish Cap
Also in Mario 64 we had the スケスケぼうし also known as the Vanish Cap in English. This hat allowed Mario to become invisible and run through objects and walls.
The word 透け透け in スケスケぼうし means transparent or see-through.
メタルぼうし – Metal Cap
The last hat is the Metal Cap. This is called メタルぼうし and when Mario wears it he is called メタルマリオ. As you know by now there are a lot of English words in the Japanese language. Even where there is a Japanese equivalent the English loan word will often be preferred to be used in names. If you are curious, the more common everyday word for metal is 金属.
スーパードングリ – Super Acorn
The Super Acorn showed up first in the New Super Mario bros. U game. This acorn allows Mario to jump through the air and grab onto walls. In Japanese it is called スーパードングリ. Here the ドングリ means Acorn. So we have another exact translation. When Mario has one of these acorns he becomes, Flying Squirrel Mario or in Japanese ムササビマリオ.
無敵このは – Invincibility Leaf
This is similar to the Super Leaf or スーパーこのは discussed above. But the Invincibility Leaf allows Mario to be invincible also. It is called 無敵このは which has the same meaning in both languages. When Mario has this he is known as しろしっぽマリオ or White Tail Mario.
ほうだいボックス – Cannon Box
With the introduction of Super Mario 3D World we got boxes as a new type of item. The Cannon Box does exactly what it is called. It shoots cannon balls. In Japanese the meaning is close but a little different.
ほうだいボックス is the word in Japanese for this item. 砲台 is means fortress or fort where cannons or other weapons would be shot. the Japanese word 大砲 would be the more direct translation of Cannon.
ハリボテクリボー – Goomba Mask
The Goomba Mask is an interesting mask that allows Mario and the other characters in Super Mario 3D World to run by unnoticed by the other enemies. The name is Japanese is a interesting and needs a bit of an explanation.
ハリボテクリボー is what it is called in Japanese. Let’s break it down
- ハリボテ（張りぼて）→ papier-mâché
- クリボー → Goomba
So basically 張りぼて means papier-mâché but it has a second metaphorical meaning to it also. It means also something that looks superficially impressive but has no substance. So, when Mario has this on he looks like a true goomba but is just a sham.
ヨッシー – Yoshi (Bonus!)
Yes, I know Yoshi is not an item. But in the New Super Mario Bros. games he sort of functions as one in his baby form. As a baby, just like little mario is known as ちびマリオ, baby Yoshi is known as ちびヨッシー.
フウセンちびヨッシー – Balloon Baby Yoshi
The magenta colored Baby Yoshis allow you to grab onto them and float around. They are called フウセンちびヨッシー. The name is the same as in English and 風船 is the word for balloon in Japanese.
アワちびヨッシー – Bubble Baby Yoshi
As the name applies this blue Yoshi shoots out bubbles that can trap enemies. 泡 is the word for bubble in Japanese.
ヒカリちびヨッシー – Glowing Baby Yoshi
Finally we have the Glowing Baby Yoshi. So, here the word ヒカリ in the name is from the Japanese word, 光 which mean light.
There are many other items in the Mario games not mentioned here but if you would like to learn more feel free to leave a comment if you have anything else you would like to know about. Hopefully though, you were able to learn some Japanese.
If you want to learn more Japanese I reviewed a dictionary of grammar series which I personally recommend and use myself.
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