Editing Health Meter

The '''Health Meter''' is an on-screen indicator of how much health the player character currently has left. It usually appears somewhere on the top of the screen as part of the {{wp|Head-up display (video gaming)|HUD}}, but it can also appear in other locations on the screen as well. The Health Meter varies from game to game on how many sections it has.

[[File:SMB2 Health Meter Luigi.png|frame|right|The Life Gauge from ''Super Mario Bros. 2'', with Luigi sprites reflecting its status]]

In ''[[Super Mario Bros. 2]]'', the Health Meter (known as the '''Life Meter'''<ref>''Super Mario Advance'' manual, pg 18.</ref> or '''Life Gauge'''<ref>''[[Super Mario All-Stars Limited Edition]]'' manual, pg 31.</ref>) appears in the top-left corner of the screen at the start of each level, and consists of two hexagons arranged vertically. These hexagons were later changed to hearts in the ''[[Super Mario All-Stars]]'' remaster of the original game as well as in ''[[Super Mario Advance]]''. Each section of the Life Gauge represents one hit point each. Normally, the hexagons or hearts will be red. When the player is damaged, however, one health section will be lost, and will turn white instead of red (in the ''All-Stars'' remaster and the GBA remake, it will turn concave and empty). The character will [[Small Mario|shrink]] when they have one hit point left; this state persists between levels and is the starting form for each life in ''Super Mario Advance''.

Sections of the Life Gauge can be replenished by collecting [[small heart]]s (which are bigger in the GBA remake). These hearts can often be found floating upward from the ground after eight enemies have been defeated (in the original and ''All-Stars'' versions) or floating in place, appearing after a thrown object beats two enemies in a row, from [[Mega Guy|Big Shy Guy]]s or [[Big Ninji]]s thrown to the ground or beaten, from enemies beaten with [[Red Shell|shell]]s, from beaten [[Ostro]]s, or by pulling them up from [[grass]] (in the GBA version).

In most levels, there are up to two (three in ''Super Mario Advance'') [[Mushroom#Super Mario Bros. 2|Mushroom]]s hidden in [[Subspace]] which will refill the Life Gauge and each increase its sections by one, up to a maximum of four (five in ''Super Mario Advance''). It will then revert back to just two health sections at the beginning of the next level.

In ''[[Super Mario 64]]'', [[Mario]]'s Health Meter (known as the '''Power Meter''') is normally not displayed on the screen until he takes considerable damage from falling or touching enemies, etc. When it does appear, it is displayed on the top middle of the screen. It appears by popping up at a short distance below the top middle of the screen, and shortly, it moves to the top middle of the screen. Once it is full again, it will disappear, except when Mario is on the water. In this game, it is a wooden profile shaped like Mario's head, with a circle in the middle that displays eight wedges. When he takes damage, some of the wedges will gradually disappear.

As some of the wedges disappear, the color of the wedges changes to correspond to the number of wedges that remain:

*{{color|'''Blue'''|dodgerblue}}: When there are eight to seven wedges.

*{{color|'''Green'''|green}}: When there are six to five wedges.

*{{color|'''Yellow'''|gold}}: When there are four to three wedges.

*{{color|'''Red'''|red}}: When there are two to one wedges.

Mario can refill his Power Meter by collecting various coins: [[Coin|Yellow Coins]] will replenish one wedge, [[Red Coin]]s will replenish two wedges, and [[Blue Coin]]s will replenish five wedges. He can also refill it by running through [[Spinning Heart]]s, which can be found in most if not all of the levels. The faster he runs through them, the more health he will regain. The Power Meter will also automatically refill immediately after Mario exits a level after collecting a [[Power Star]] if it is not already filled.

In this game, Mario's Power Meter also acts as his breath meter when he is floating on the water. When he enters the water, the Power Meter will show, even when he is on the surface of the water. After he goes underwater, the wedges will gradually disappear. On the flip side, if Mario remains in the water with his head above the water, the Power Meter will completely refill to eight wedges. The [[freezing water]] in [[Snowman's Land]] and [[Chief Chilly Challenge]] (''Super Mario 64 DS'' only) depletes his wedges three times faster than normal water, even if he is on the surface of the freezing water, and the Power Meter cannot be replenished when Mario has his head above the freezing water.

When the Power Meter has two or one wedge remaining, Mario will begin to pant when standing still on ground. This is only a cosmetic effect as he can still perform moves. When Mario is underwater, an alarm will go off. If the Power Meter runs out at any time, Mario will lose a life and forcibly exit whatever level he is currently in (excluding the [[Peach's Castle|Mushroom Castle]], where he is just placed outside the building). When Mario lands on the ground after he is forced to exit the level, the Power Meter will refill all of the wedges starting from one wedge. If Mario loses his last life, he will be given a [[Game Over]].

 

 

While the Power Meter shows only eight wedges, Mario's health actually ranges from 0 to 2,176, with each wedge representing 256 units of HP. In most cases, the lower limit is 255, at which point Mario will die.

[[File:Life SMS.png|thumb|left|Mario's Health Meter in ''Super Mario Sunshine'']]

In ''[[Super Mario Sunshine]]'', [[Mario]]'s Health Meter is shaped like a stylized sun, with a polygonal spiral shape at the center. Again, it will not visibly appear onscreen until Mario takes damage. When it appears, it is positioned in the top right corner of the screen. There are once again eight sections of health, with each section represented as a sunray around the central spiral.

It is normally a golden-orange color when completely filled, and each individual section will "flash". When Mario takes damage, the rays of the sun will gradually become blacked out to signify the loss of energy. When they have been blacked out, they will no longer flash. He can regain energy by collecting normal [[Coin]]s, which will refill one section, or [[Red Coin]]s and [[Blue Coin]]s, which will refill two sections. Energy can also be regained by collecting a [[1-Up Mushroom]], which will completely replenish every section of the Health Meter immediately upon collection.  

When the Health Meter has lost five sections of energy, an alarm will start to sound for the remaining three sections of health. As each section after this is gradually lost, the alarm will sound faster, and the energy sections will flash to match its warning. As it gets gradually lower, Mario will start to droop lower and lower, visibly getting weaker from the lack of energy. When it has been completely depleted, Mario will lose a life. If he has no remaining lives, he will receive a [[Game Over]]. The Health Meter will automatically be fully depleted if Mario falls in [[Lava]], touches [[Spike (obstacle)|Spikes]], gets crushed, fails a timed Red Coin challenge, or loses a race to [[Il Piantissimo]].

Unlike in ''[[Super Mario 64]]'', there is a separate meter for Mario's air meter when he is underwater. This meter is blue, and the health sections continually deplete underwater. Mario will also flash red and an alarm sounds as the meter depletes. When the meter is depleted to three sections, an alarm will sound as it gets steadily lower, and will continue to do so until Mario collects a coin, 1-Up, returns to the surface, or dies.

====''Super Mario Galaxy'' / ''Super Mario Galaxy 2''====

[[File:SMG Health Meter.png|frame|Mario's Health Meter in ''Super Mario Galaxy'']]

In ''[[Super Mario Galaxy]]'', the Health Meter appears in the top right hand corner of the screen after [[Mario]] or [[Luigi]] has taken considerable damage, or after Mario/Luigi has remained inactive for a certain period of time. It is shaped like a circle and has a total of only three health wedges as opposed to eight in the previous two games.

One of the new features of this game involves the inclusion of a new item called the [[Life Mushroom]], which will increase Mario’s Health Meter from three to six when it is collected. However, if at any time the health sections drop back below four, the Health Meter will revert to a maximum of three sections until another Life Mushroom is collected.

The coloration of the regular Health Meter in this game is as follows: three sections are {{color|'''cyan'''|cyan}}, two are {{color|'''yellow'''|gold}}, and one is {{color|'''red'''|red}}. The additional three sections that are added as a result of the Life Mushroom are all colored in {{color|'''green'''|lime}}, and they do not change the color unless the Health Meter drops below four.

As in previous games, [[coin]]s can be collected to refill one section of his Health Meter, and can be found by stomping enemies and hitting certain [[Brick Block|Brick]] or [[? Block]]s, among many other methods. [[Purple Coin]]s do not affect the Health Meter in any way.

When the Health Meter drops below two (and there is only one section left), a warning alarm will begin to sound. This will continue until Mario is able to pick up at least one coin, which will fill it up again. Also, as in ''Super Mario Sunshine'', the Health Meter is separate from Mario’s air meter when he swims underwater. The meter that does appear when he is underwater is similar to the meter that appears when Mario is flying as [[Bee Mario]]. Mario will only start taking damage underwater when his air gauge has been fully depleted, at which point his Health Meter will be quickly depleted as well.

At the beginning of every [[Daredevil Comet]] mission, Mario's Health Meter is automatically decreased to just one health wedge (the only difference being that no alarm will sound under these conditions), forcing Mario to complete the mission without taking damage once.

 

In both games, Mario's Health Meter will be depleted immediately if he falls into a [[black hole]], is crushed by a [[Thwomp]], [[Whomp]], [[Rhomp]], or [[Tox Box]], falls into [[quicksand]] or [[Poison (obstacle)|poison]], touches [[dark matter]], or fails a timed [[Purple Comet]], [[Speedy Comet]], or [[Romp Comet]] challenge.

After an absence in ''[[Super Mario 3D Land]]'' and ''[[Super Mario 3D World]]'' (due to those games using the power-up system of the 2D ''Mario'' platformers), the Health Meter reappears in ''[[Super Mario Odyssey]]'' with three sections of health, as in ''[[Super Mario Galaxy]]''. This time, [[Heart (item)|Heart]]s are required to restore lost health instead of [[coin]]s. Collecting [[Power Moon]]s, touching a [[Checkpoint Flag]], or going inside the [[Odyssey]] can also restore health. It can be extended to six with a [[Life-Up Heart]]. Unlike prior iterations, the meter has a flat, solid-color appearance, and the {{color|'''cyan'''|cyan}} and {{color|'''green'''|lime}} colors are swapped from their ''Super Mario Galaxy'' positions. As in ''Super Mario Sunshine'' and the ''Super Mario Galaxy'' games, Mario has a separate air meter while underwater. Upon dying, Mario will lose ten [[coin]]s instead of a [[Extra life|life]], as lives and [[Game Over]]s are absent in this game.

In [[Assist Mode]], Mario starts with a default of six health wedges, which is extended to nine when he collects a Life-Up Heart. Also, the Health Meter refills itself if he is idle, and if he falls into a pit, he only loses one section (instead of all of them and ten coins) and is sent back to his previous location in a [[bubble]] (instead of the most-recently activated checkpoint).<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUHl52HLOM0</ref> When the meter is at 6 sections, it will be {{color|'''green'''|lime}}; 5 is {{color|'''lime green'''|chartreuse}}, 4 is {{color|'''green yellow'''|yellow}}, 3 is {{color|'''yellow'''|gold}}, 2 is {{color|'''orange'''|orange}}, and 1 is {{color|'''red'''|red}}.

====''Yoshi's Story''====

[[File:yS Healthmeter.png|frame|The Smile Meter as seen in the game ''Yoshi's Story'']]

In ''[[Yoshi's Story]]'', the '''Smile Meter''' (or '''Smilometer'''<ref>''Official UK Nintendo Magazine'' Issue 65, page 28.</ref>) is a version of the Health Meter depicted as a smiling flower that appears in the upper left-hand corner of the screen during gameplay. Normally, the Smile Meter will have a total of eight sections, signified by the eight white petals positioned around the circular center of the smiling flower. In addition to displaying the health of the [[Baby Yoshi]]s, the Smile Meter also represents the [[Yoshi's Mood|current mood]] of the Baby Yoshis.

When a Baby Yoshi takes damage from touching enemies or other hazards, the petals will begin to gradually fall away from the center of the flower, starting with the topmost left petal and going counterclockwise. It is also recommended that Baby Yoshis should not eat some things such as [[pepper]]s or [[Black Shy Guy]]s because they will lose petals from the Smile Meter, unless it is Black Yoshi or White Yoshi. In addition, the face of the flower will slowly change from a smile to a frown. When this happens, the color of the face on the flower will also change, and the music will wind down (but not to a halt) a happy version to a "sad" version (pitch lowers greatly as well as the speed slowing down greatly). The face will start out being orange, and it will turn yellow as health is lost, eventually turning blue when no flower petals remain at all.

A Baby Yoshi can take damage only up to eight times before the flower will start frowning (as there are only eight petals on the flower). If the Baby Yoshi is hit one additional time while the flower's face is frowning, the little dinosaur will faint and be captured by [[Baby Bowser]]'s [[Toady|Toadies]]. The player can regain health by having a Baby Yoshi eat various [[fruit]]. When the Baby Yoshi eats fruit, any lost petals will return to the flower, and it will begin smiling once again.

SmileMeter.jpg|Artwork of the Smile Meter with all its petals, and at death, without any petals

In the [[Super Smash Bros. (series)|''Super Smash Bros.'' series]], the Health Meter always appears at the bottom of the screen, except in ''Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS'', in which it is displayed on the touchscreen. It acts as a damage counter which displays the amount of damage that a particular character has taken as a percentage. The higher the percentage goes, the more damage the character has taken. As the character takes more damage, the color of the percentage will gradually change from white to a dark red, with yellow being a middle gradient introduced in ''Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U'', and the character will simultaneously become easier for the opponents to KO them. The highest amount of damage a character can possibly take is 999%. [[Food]], [[Heart Container]]s, [[Fairy Bottle]]s and [[Maxim Tomato]]es can help reduce the amount of damage that a character has taken. In all games, the Health Meter appears for each character that participates in a match. Starting in ''Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U'', characters with 100% of damage or higher will begin to emit smoke.

Aside from displaying the damage of a character, the Health Meter will also display other information. For example, in ''Super Smash Bros. Brawl'', the name of the character will always be displayed directly under the damage percentage, and an icon of the character's face will be displayed to the left of the damage percentage (at the top in the earlier games). The symbol signifying the series that the character comes from will appear behind the damage percentage. In Stock matches, up to five circles (represented as character heads in the first two ''Super Smash Bros.'' games and ''Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U'') will appear above the damage percentage representing the amount of [[Stock Ball|Stock]] that the character currently has left. One of the circles will disappear for every time that the character is flung off the screen. When the character has no circles left, they will be defeated and the character will be out for the remainder of the match. In Time matches, the number of KOs is shown above the damage percentage. A point is earned or lost if the character KOs an opponent or gets KO'd, respectively. In Coin Matches, the number of coins in hand is displayed.

The Health Meter appears in various boss minigames throughout the [[Mario Party (series)|''Mario Party'' series]]. It can be represented as hearts or a bar. Once the boss's health is depleted, the minigame is won. As of ''Mario Party 9'', the player who deals the final blow will get an extra point bonus to their score. In some minigames, players also have a Health Meter, and when they lose all health, they will lose the minigame.

[[File:Health bar DKCTF.png|thumb|right|Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong's health bar]]

In ''[[Donkey Kong Country Returns]]'' / ''[[Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D|3D]]'' and ''[[Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze]]'', the Kongs' health is measured in [[Heart (item)|hearts]]. Donkey Kong naturally has two hearts &ndash; two more if he carries a partner with him, as well as an additional one if a [[Heart Boost]] is equipped. [[Banana Juice]] adds ten (five in "New Mode" in ''3D'') non-refillable hearts to the Health Meter. Each time the Kongs get damaged, they lose one heart from their Health Meter. If all of their hearts have been depleted, they lose one life. Their health will be instantly depleted if they fall into a pit, hit anything while riding the Mine Cart or a Rocket Barrel, or if they fall into lava. Hearts can be found along the way and are used to replenish the primates' health bar. The latter game also has separate Health Meters for [[minecart]]s and [[Rocket Barrel]]s, with two hearts each; in ''Donkey Kong Country Returns'' / ''3D'', they had only one heart each, despite the Kongs' current health.

[[File:HealthMeterSuperMarioKun.png|thumb|left|The Power Meter in ''Super Mario-kun''. The Japanese text means "I'll die if I continue this way."]]

In volume 16 of ''[[Super Mario-kun]]'', which is mostly adapted from ''Super Mario 64'', the Power Meter occasionally displays Mario's power level, usually at a very low point.

|Jap=パワーメーター<ref>[https://m1.nintendo.net/docvc/NUS/JPN/NSMJ/NSMJ_J.pdf ''Super Mario 64'' Japanese instruction booklet], pages 16 and 17.</ref><br>''Pawā Mētā''<br>にこにこメーター<br>''Nikoniko Mētā''<br>ハート<ref>''Wario Land Advance: Yōki no Otakara'' Japanese instruction booklet, page 16.</ref><br>''Hāto''<br>ライフ<ref>''Wario Land Shake'' Japanese instruction booklet, page 16.</ref><br>Raifu

|JapM=Power Meter (''Super Mario 64'')<br><br>Smiley Meter (''Yoshi's Story'')<br><br>Heart (''Wario Land Advance'')<br><br>Life (''Wario Land Shake'')

|Spa=Medidor de Corazón<ref>''Wario Land 4'' European instruction booklet, page 92.</ref>

|SpaM=Heart Meter (''Wario Land 4'')

|Fre=Jauge de Vie<ref>''Wario Land 4'' European instruction booklet, page 52.</ref>

|FreM=Life Gauge (''Wario Land 4'')

|Ger=Herzleiste<ref>''Wario Land 4'' European instruction booklet, page 32.</ref>

|GerM=Heart bar (''Wario Land 4'')

|Ita=Energimetro<br>Cardiometro<ref>''Wario Land 4'' European instruction booklet, page 112.</ref>

|ItaM=Energy Meter<br>Cardiometer (''Wario Land 4'')

[[File:SMG Beta Health Meter.png|thumb|right|300px|The second pre-release Health Meter design from ''Super Mario Galaxy'']]

*The Health Meter in the [[List of Super Mario Galaxy pre-release and unused content|pre-release]] version of ''[[Super Mario Galaxy]]'' originally had a total of eight sections, like in the first two 3D ''Super Mario'' games. It featured the same coloration as in ''[[Super Mario 64]]'', although later the green and blue colors were switched.

*The Health Meter in the [[List of Mario Sports Mix pre-release and unused content|pre-release]] version of ''[[Mario Sports Mix]]'' looked very similar to the Health Meter from ''[[Super Mario Galaxy]]'' and [[Super Mario Galaxy 2|its sequel]], except it had four sections instead of just three.

*A flower that resembles the Health Meter from ''[[Yoshi's Story]]'' appeared in the minigame [[Loves Me...?]] from ''[[Super Mario 64 DS]]''.

*''[[Super Mario 3D Land]]'' and ''[[Super Mario 3D World]]'' are the only 3D ''Mario'' games not to include a Health Meter, opting instead to use the power-up system of the 2D ''Super Mario'' platformers (except for ''Super Mario Bros. 2'') and, as such, are the only 3D ''Mario'' platformers to feature the Small form.

*''[[Super Mario Bros. 2]]'' is the only game to feature both the [[Small Mario|Small form]] and a Health Meter, as well as the only 2D ''Super Mario'' game with a Health Meter.

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[[Category:Game Mechanics]]