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- “When the moon hits your eye, like a big pizza pie, that's Amore!”
- —Mario, Mario Teaches Typing 2
The Moon is a celestial body that orbits a planet (based on Planet Earth's natural satellite). It has made several appearances in Mario games, either as decoration for a background or as a setting for a particular level.
History
Super Mario series
Super Mario World
The Moon's first appearance is in Super Mario World, where it made a very minor cameo in the background of the Star World map. In this cameo, the Moon was anthropomorphic in that it gave a smile and was shown to be in its waxing crescent phase.
Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
The moon, also smiling (although its expression could be changed based on completion of a secret level) and in a waxing crescent phase, appeared as a playable area in Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins, in which it was one half of Space Zone (actually two thirds if one counts the aforementioned secret stage). It was populated by many Bomubomus, and this was the first time any character ever explored it; when on the moon (and anywhere in the Space Zone) Mario was wearing a spacesuit, and the Moon had more gravitational affect on Mario than the star where Tatanga was fought did.
Super Mario Galaxy
In Super Mario Galaxy, some moons appear in the various Galaxies. The boss Kamella comes from the moon on the Deep Dark Galaxy the second time she is fought.
Super Mario Galaxy 2
In Super Mario Galaxy 2, six moons are shown. There are two green moons, a brown moon with holes through it, a small white moon, a small green moon and a small dark red moon. A similar body serves as a planet in Boo Moon Galaxy. There are no enemies on it, but if Mario stands on it, it will balance and possibly make Mario fall. Mario must collect the Star Chips on it to progress.
New Super Mario Bros. U
In New Super Mario Bros. U, the moon appears in the background of Frosted Glacier.
Super Mario's Wacky Worlds
In the unfinished game of Super Mario's Wacky Worlds, the moon can be seen in the level Ship 1 if the player jumps high enough.
The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!
The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! episode "Count Koopula" showed that, if a Koopa Troopa stared at the moon when it was full, they would make the horrific transformation into a Wereturtle.
Mario Kart series
Mario Kart: Super Circuit
In Mario Kart: Super Circuit, the Moon appears in three courses: Cheese Land, Rainbow Road, and SNES Rainbow Road.
Mario Kart Wii
The Moon appears on the course Moonview Highway in Mario Kart Wii.
Mario Kart 7
In Mario Kart 7, part of the Rainbow Road course goes over the Moon.
Mario Kart 8
The Moon makes several appearances, mainly in night-themed courses, in Mario Kart 8. It appears in Mario Kart Stadium, Twisted Mansion, Electrodrome, GCN Sherbet Land, SNES Rainbow Road, and Mute City.
Yoshi series
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
A much smaller Moon also appears in World 5-8 of Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island and Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3; Raphael the Raven was combated on the Moon (Generic Ravens also used Moon-like planetoids as their native turf). This small Moon was given artwork in Tetris Attack (where it never actually appeared in-game) in a panorama featuring Raphael trotting it once more. After Baby Bowser is defeated and returns to his normal size, Kamek takes him and flies to the Moon for some unknown reason. This Moon also resembles a baseball due to its stitches. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island's moon also appears in the background of the Yoshi's Island stage in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
Yoshi's Story
The Moon next appeared in Yoshi's Story, where it was seen in the background during the fight against Cloudjin. A cardboard moon with two eyes and a nose can also be seen in the background of some stages.
Yoshi's Woolly World
The Moon appears several times in Yoshi's Woolly World. At the end of star-S Yoshi is launched over the Moon which has three Red Shy Guys on it.
Also, in the credits Poochy runs around the Moon, chasing a Bomb Guy, and a bomb ends up detonating it in front of Baby Bowser, sending him flying off. Poochy remains on the Moon, though. The Moon spins around and reveals that it is only a hemisphere.
Mario Party series
The Moon appears in many Mario Party games. The minigame Crane Game from Mario Party 2 seems to take place on the actual Moon. Lunar Outpost, a Super Duel Mode arena, takes place on the moon. Twila, a character from Mario Party 6, could be considered the physical manifestation of the Moon.
Paper Mario series
Paper Mario
The Moon was originally supposed to appear in the background of Forever Forest. However when Forever Forest was changed to its current appearance, it was removed.
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
In Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Mario and co. had to go to the moon in order to obtain the Crystal Star, which was located in the X-Naut Fortress. The X-Naut Fortress itself was located on the Moon, as well. The only way Mario could get to the Moon was to fire himself out of the Giant Cannon in Fahr Outpost. Once landing on the Moon, Goombella will also mention how a Goomba landed on the Moon in '69, which is a reference to the Apollo 11 landing (the first manned landing on the Earth's moon) in 1969. The Moon in this game is shown to contain no land features other than craters and rocks.
The Moon is also consistently visible throughout Twilight Town - it is an apparently significant object to the villagers there, who believe it has the power to grant wishes. One of the Twilighters even foreshadows the fact that Princess Peach is being held captive on the moon; if Mario speaks to him after his name and body are stolen, he exclaims that someone living on the moon must have heard his wish to not be turned into a Pig before asking the plumber who he thinks lives there, to which there are two possible answers - 'little green men' or 'Princess Peach'.
Enemies
Area tattles
- We're on the moon! Awesome! The moon I always look up at, can you believe it? I mean, I heard they'd put a Goomba on the moon in '69, but who knew WE'D get here? Boy, nothing's impossible on your adventures, Mario! You are the COOLEST!
- Boy, I guess there are pretty much just rocks on the moon. I guess I knew that, but it's still kind of disappointing. Bummer...
- The stars sure are pretty here. I wonder if I can find my favorite constellation... I'm such a totally shameless romantic, it's not even funny.
- There's a weird-looking building off in the distance. Why would THAT be there? Looks like we'll need to find a pipe to get there, though. So...let's look for a pipe.
- You see the Moon Clefts that live up here? You think they live on green cheese, Mario? ...You know I'm kidding, right? I'm not that much of a cheeseball...get it? I'm still bummed there are only rocks here.
- Hey, Mario! Did you see that? I saw a comet or something! It was all, like, "PSHOOWEE!" Should I try and make three wishes, do you think? I wish for... Hee hee hee! That's TOP SECRET!
Luigi's Mansion
The Moon was later given an appearance in Luigi's Mansion, where it appeared in the background of the Observatory. Luigi, in his quest to find Mario's Star and progress in the mansion, ended up blowing the Moon up with a Meteor Ghost shot from his Poltergust 3000, which quite conveniently created a path of debris leading to the Star he was looking for. Very oddly, after this, the Moon could still be seen from the outside rooms and managed to show up in other games. It is therefore likely that Luigi destroyed a fake moon, especially since the Japanese name of the Observatory is the Room of Illusion..
Wario Land series
Wario Land 4
In Wario Land 4, the Moon appears on several occasions throughout the level Crescent Moon Village. During the ending credits, Wario has a flashback, where he had a dream that he was sleeping on a waxing crescent Moon.
Wario Land: Shake It!
In Wario Land: Shake It!, the Moon appears only in the background of the night levels in the game.
Donkey Kong series
Donkey Kong 64
The moon appears in the background of the Creepy Castle stage.
Donkey Kong Country Returns
The Moon also appears in each of the possible but similar endings for Donkey Kong Country Returns, depending on the characters remaining. After defeating Tiki Tong, the Kongs are blasted high in the sky and fall down to the moon. If only Donkey Kong defeats Tiki Tong, Donkey Kong uses his fist to punch the moon into the atmosphere and slam the Tiki statue in the Volcano. If Tiki Tong is defeated by Diddy Kong, Diddy attempts to escape the gravitational pull of the Moon to no avail and lands on his head. However, the force of the impact also results in Diddy unintentionally causes the moon to fall and slam into the Tiki statue. If Tiki Tong is defeated while both Kongs are active, Donkey Kong has Diddy Kong speed him toward the moon with his jetpack, accelerating Donkey Kong as he punches the moon, which causes it to fall onto the statue. After the moon crushes the Tiki statue, the volcano erupts the banana hoard, sending the moon back into its original position.