Thorny flower
Rendered model of the prickly plant in Super Mario Galaxy.
Model of a prickly plant from Super Mario Galaxy
First appearance Super Mario Galaxy (2007)
Latest appearance Super Mario 3D All-Stars (2020)
Variants
Comparable
Sharp red things. No touch!”
Whittle, Super Mario Galaxy 2

Thorny flowers,[1] also described as spiky things,[2] prickly plants,[3] plants,[4] prickly flowers,[5] spikes,[6] and thistles,[7] are obstacles first appearing in Super Mario Galaxy. They are red spiked plants.

HistoryEdit

Super Mario seriesEdit

Super Mario Galaxy / Super Mario Galaxy 2Edit

 
Prickly plants in the Good Egg Galaxy in Super Mario Galaxy

In Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Galaxy 2, prickly plants damage Mario or Luigi when touched, and the only way to destroy them is by attacking them with a rubbery bulb, spinning a coconut into them, having Yoshi eat them, or rolling into them in Rock form.

There are three types: the standard variant, a larger variant, and a floating variant. The larger variants, after being destroyed by a coconut, reveal a Sling Star or Launch Star leading to another planet. The floating variants serve as obstacles in various areas, and they are more common in certain galaxies, such as the Gusty Garden Galaxy, the Yoshi Star Galaxy, and Tall Trunk Galaxy.

When touched by the Co-Star Luma, prickly plants retract their spikes, allowing Mario or Luigi to pass over them safely without needing to destroy them.

Super Mario 3D LandEdit

 
A thistle in Super Mario 3D Land

Thistles later appear in Super Mario 3D Land, being first encountered in World 4-1. As of this game, their thorns are stubbier and are arranged in a globe, instead of being grown from the plant's calyx like in the previous games; their leaves also continuously rotate around their stems. They can be destroyed with projectiles (such as the Fire form's fireballs), a tail whip in Tanooki form, by landing on them in Statue form, or by touching them while invincible.

Mario Party seriesEdit

 
In Mario Party: Island Tour

Thorny flowers are obstacles in a few minigames of the Mario Party series. In Mario Party: Island Tour, they appear in Goomba to Maneuver, scattered on the path that the player needs to follow. The player needs to maneuver a line of Goombas between them. Goombas that touch a thorny flower are flung away, reducing the number of Goombas in the line. Thorny flowers appear in both normal and big sizes, with bigger ones becoming more common as the minigame progresses. In Mario Party: Star Rush, thorny flowers in the minigame Leafboard Hoard.

GalleryEdit

Additional namesEdit

Internal namesEdit

Game File Name Meaning

Super Mario Galaxy
Super Mario Galaxy 2
Super Mario 3D Land
ObjectData/NeedlePlant.arc NeedlePlant Needle Plant
Super Mario Galaxy
Super Mario Galaxy 2
StageData/ObjNameTable.arc/ObjNameTable.tbl
SystemData/ObjNameTable.arc/ObjNameTable.tbl
トゲ植物 (Toge Shokubutsu) Thorn Plant

Names in other languagesEdit

Language Name Meaning Notes
Japanese トゲ草[8]
Toge Kusa
Thorn Grass Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Galaxy 2
トゲ植物[9]
Toge Shokubutsu
Thorn Plant Super Mario 3D Land
Chinese 紅色刺刺[?]
Hóngsè Cì Cì
Red Spike
French (NOA) Fleur à épines[10] Thorny flower
French (NOE) Fleur à épines[11] Thorny flower
Herbe épineuse[12] Thorny herbs
Plante épineuse[13] Thorny plants
Épineux[14] Thorny, Spiny
German Stachelgras[?] Barbed grass
Italian Pianta ago[15] Needle Plant
Spine rosse[?] Red spikes by Whittle
Portuguese Flor espinhosa[16] Thorny flower
Spanish Flor espinosa[17] Thorny flower

ReferencesEdit

  1. ^ "Get as many Goombas to the finish line as possible without leading them into the thorny flowers." – Controls for Tour and Simple. Mario Party: Island Tour. Nintendo (British English).
  2. ^ "Apparently those spiky things just HATE coconuts! Shake to spin and smack them with coconuts!" – Purple Toad. Super Mario Galaxy.
  3. ^ Black, Fletcher (November 9, 2007). Super Mario Galaxy PRIMA Official Game Guide. Prima Games (American English). ISBN 978-0-7615-5643-5. Page 43, 48, 50, 53, 170, 171, 175, 177, 178, 202, 207, 244, 303.
  4. ^ Black. Super Mario Galaxy PRIMA Official Game Guide. Page 48, 50, 53, 170, 202.
  5. ^ Black. Super Mario Galaxy PRIMA Official Game Guide. Page 302.
  6. ^ Browne, Catherine (May 23, 2010). Super Mario Galaxy 2: PRIMA Official Game Guide. Roseville: Random House Inc. ISBN 978-0-30746-907-6. Page 112-114, 118.
  7. ^ von Esmarch, Nick (November 13, 2011). Super Mario 3D Land PRIMA Official Game Guide. Prima Games (American English). ISBN 978-0-307-89386-4. Page 187.
  8. ^ October 19, 2015. Super Mario Bros. Hyakka: Nintendo Kōshiki Guidebook. Shogakukan (Japanese). ISBN 978-4-09-106569-8. Page 136 and 170.
  9. ^ Super Mario Bros. Hyakka: Nintendo Kōshiki Guidebook. Page 185.
  10. ^ Défilé Goomba minigame description. Mario Party: Island Tour via Imgur.
  11. ^ À la queue leu leu minigame description. Mario Party: Island Tour via Imgur.
  12. ^ July 4, 2018. Super Mario Encyclopedia. Soleil Productions (French). ISBN 2302070046. Page 136 and 170.
  13. ^ Super Mario Galaxy, Le Guide Officiel. Prima Games. ISBN 978-1906064020. Page 170.
  14. ^ Super Mario Galaxy, Le Guide Officiel. Page 171.
  15. ^ November 15, 2018. Super Mario Bros. Enciclopedia. Magazzini Salani (Italian). ISBN 889367436X. Page 136 and 170.
  16. ^ "Conduza o maior número de Goombas até a meta, evitando as flores espinhosas." – Goomba to Maneuver minigame description, Mario Party: Island Tour (European Portuguese).
  17. ^ "Evita las flores espinosas para llegar a la meta con el mayor número de Goombas posible." – Goomba to Maneuver minigame description, Mario Party: Island Tour (European Spanish).