Editing Axe

|latest_appearance=''[[The Super Mario Bros. Movie]]'' (cameo) (2023)

|effect=Destroys the support of a castle's bridge.

'''Axes'''<ref>{{cite|language=en-us|author=Cain, Christine|title=''Super Mario Bros. Deluxe'' Prima's Official Strategy Guide|page=19|publisher=[[Prima Games]]|date=1999|isbn=0-7615-2190-9}}</ref> (or '''ax''')<ref>{{cite|author=Tochikubo, Hiroo|title=''[[How to win at Super Mario Bros.]]''|publisher=Tokuma Shoten|date=1987|isbn=4-19-720003-XC|page=16}}</ref> appear in the [[Super Mario (franchise)|''Super Mario'']] franchise as objects often appearing at the end of [[castle]] levels.

[[File:SMB Axe.gif|frame]]Axes first appear in ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'', where they are found in the [[castle]] levels. The player can defeat [[Bowser]] or [[Fake Bowser|his duplicates]] by touching the axe, which cuts the support of the bridge Bowser is standing on and sends him falling into the [[lava]] below. If the player does not have a [[Fire Flower]], using the axe is the only way that the player can defeat Bowser. If Mario already defeated either Bowser or his fakes with fireballs, then the animation of the bridge being destroyed will not be played. Axes return and work in the same way in ''[[Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels]]''. If Mario was to touch both Bowser and the axe at the same time, then it could potentially result in a glitch involving Mario becoming Fire Mario while he is still small. In the ''[[All Night Nippon: Super Mario Bros.]]'' version of the game, owing to the game being filled with cameos from the eponymous radio program, the ax was replaced with the logo for Nippon Broadcasting System, Inc., the home radio station for the program.

[[File:Superstarfalse.png|thumb|An axe right of a crude depiction of Bowser in ''Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga''.]]The axe makes a cameo in ''[[Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga]]'' and [[Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions|its remake]], where it is found at the end of a ''Super Mario Bros.''-like section of [[Bowser's Castle]] alongside a cardboard duplicate of Bowser. The section can only be accessed by [[Mini-Mario]], and touching the axe does the same thing as in previous appearances, "defeating" the cardboard duplicate and opening a path for [[Mario]] and [[Luigi]] to progress.