Mario Power-Up fan art pulled from memory by the Polygon staff

It’s March 10th, also known as Mario Day. And to celebrate, the Polygon crew decided to pull from memory their favorite Mario power-up.

Some of us – the usual suspects if you’ve entered the expanded universe of Polygon Draws – really got our submissions this time around. And others of us have drawn whatever is something from our hearts.

The Polygon staff only managed to use their memories to draw Sonic the Hedgehog, Tom Nook of Animal Crossing. Final Fantasy 7‘s Cloud Strife, Detective Pikachu, and everyone’s favorite Pokémon, but with human teeth (???). Of course we had to sit down again for Mario’s special day.

There has been some internal debate about what counts as a power-up in the Mario universe. The mushroom, of course. But what about Kuribo’s shoe? Is it a power-up? A vehicle? What about all the helpless souls that Mario is in? Mario Odyssey? Would the FLUDD out Super Mario sunshine Number? Nobody wants to answer these kinds of questions. So we don’t!

Please enjoy our wide range of Mario power ups. Please read what the artists say to really bring the creators to mind, then let us know your favorites (all of them, right?) In the comments.

Clayton Ashley

“I know one? The cube is not in itself a” Mario Power Up “, but it can become any number of Mario Power Ups. So it’s more of a power-up than a single power-up. To be honest, I just wanted to an excuse to draw an unfathomable geometric object. It’s kind of my thing. ”

Charlie Hall

“As Maddy mentioned so gently, my style has had a very strong lately … let’s call it theme. Is it done with colored pencil? Yes. Yes it is. Does it look like it could have been done in minutes? Yes. Yes, it does. But you see, that’s because I can’t draw. The more time I spend drawing a picture, the worse the picture becomes. This took almost four minutes, but that was after I ruined two other sheets of paper with awful misshapen star-shaped bundles and tossed them in the trash. Drawing is not my main skill. Well, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go back to that single Space Marine that I built over the last week, airbrushed highlights with semi-opaque inks and details with sable hair brushes and oils. “

Cass Marshall

“I applaud the ambition of the Super Crown. Reject the power ups of the past and move on to the future. I won’t go into any other reasons for the love of the Super Crown. “

Ana Diaz

“I chose the fire flower … or is it a flame flower? Either way, it’s a solid, reliable Mario power-up. It’s the same in every game and I feel safe. There is nothing more satisfying than smashing a button and releasing a steady stream of fireballs. “

Josh Rios

“When asked to draw something related to Mario, I panicked because I was spending some time drawing one of those Mario Kart diamonds. So this is what makes a fire flower panic! “

Chelsea Stark

“I have the feeling that Mario wouldn’t be happy to be in Kuribo shoes. It would probably wobble a lot and have poor visibility considering Mario is crammed in it. Accidents will happen like this. “

Maddy Myers

“The cat power-up from Super Mario 3D world, Delivered via the “Super Bell” is one of the newest power-ups to add to the Mario lore. Because of this, I consider this piece “modern art”. My only regret is that I forgot the Super Bell was supposed to have small eyes. Well that and I forgot that cats have tails. “

Julia Lee

“The Cape Feather from Super Mario World is my favorite. It’s cute, strong, yellow, and makes really satisfying sounds as you float through the levels. You can also dive and fall back on the ground causing earthquakes and the like, which is really great too. “

Petrana Radulovic

“The blue bowl is the great balance. I wanted to capture the moment of calm before it ravages the world. “

Patrick Gill

“I love it when Mario gets in the shoe and walks around. Hell yes !!! ”

Nicole Carpenter

“I wanted to capture the anger and tenderness of the fire flower. I think I did that. “

Ryan Gilliam

“That bruised bell is something I really felt I hit right away – not in terms of quality, but I felt it was the best effort I could make straight away. I had some problems exporting the image so I took the time to add some clouds and experiment with the question block which looks especially 2D in this image. I’m grateful for my technical problems because I think the clouds and background make a better piece. As my colleague Pat famously coined in our Zoom chat: “All art is built out of strife”, and nothing is more annoying than Microsoft Paint. “

Russ frushtick

“I always thought that Waluigi might be grumpy because he never got a chance to sit in the shoe. I thought it appropriate to correct this. “