Pumpkin

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It has been requested that this article be rewritten and expanded to include more information. Reason: include information related to Luigi's Mansion 3 and Luigi's Mansion 2 HD.

Upshroom Downshroom's Wonder Effect
Jack-o'-lanterns in Super Mario Bros. Wonder

Pumpkins occasionally have functional roles in Super Mario games. Within the games, they commonly take on the appearance of jack-o'-lanterns, a type of Halloween decoration, and are consequently encountered in autumnal or spooky environments. The role pumpkins typically fulfill in the franchise is to release collectibles or grant points when destroyed.

Pumpkins and jack-o'-lanterns are also employed stylistically within the franchise, replacing the heads of Jumping Piranha Plants in the Fall mode of Super Mario World; being the dominant motif of the Pumpkin Zone in Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins; and serving as the basis of the Prancer and Pumpkin Kart in the Mario Kart series. Sentient jack-o'-lanterns, called Splunkins, appear in New Super Mario Bros.

History[edit]

Super Mario Galaxy / Super Mario Galaxy 2[edit]

Jack O'Goomba, an enemy type appearing in Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Galaxy 2, is a Goomba with a jack-o'-lantern mounted on its head. The pumpkin fully protects the Goomba from stomp attacks and allows the enemy to easily bounce back from one spin attack, though it shatters in the process. Regardless, the enemy can instantly be defeated with a Ground Pound or by touching it while in Rainbow form.

Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon[edit]

In Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, jack-o'-lanterns are among the many interactive objects in ScareScraper mode. Luigi can grab one using the Poltergust 5000's vacuuming function, then blow it away into a hard surface to destroy it, potentially releasing a heart. Greenies may pick up a pumpkin and use it as a shield against Luigi's Strobulb, though Luigi can wrest the pumpkin away from a Greenie by vacuuming it.[1]

WarioWare Gold[edit]

In the Pumpkin Panic minigame in WarioWare Gold, Ashley can shoot magic at the mandrakes to turn them into pumpkins, then walk into them to knock away and destroy them. If there are multiple pumpkins in a line, Ashley can kick one pumpkin into another to cause a chain reaction; the first pumpkin in a row grants 100 points when destroyed, with the number of points earned per pumpkin increasing as more of them are destroyed in the chain. Pumpkins also produce purple orbs when destroyed, which help charge up Ashley's special ability—a torrent of magic that turns all mandrakes currently spawned on the play field into pumpkins. Ashley is required to kick pumpkins into the occasional large mandrake to defeat it.

Mario Kart Tour[edit]

Toad (Party Time) near two Jack-o'-lanterns in Wii Maple Treeway during the 2020 Halloween Tour
Shy Guy Jack-o'-lanterns in Wii Maple Treeway

Jack-o'-lanterns (written with a capital "J" in-game) appear as course elements in Mario Kart Tour, exclusively during tours that occur around Halloween. They have the face of Bowser, Boo, or Shy Guy carved on them.

Jack-o'-lanterns appear in several sizes. Smaller ones typically lie on the track and can be knocked away by driving into them or hitting them with an item, growing back in the same spot after a while. Larger Jack-o'-lanterns are found on the sides of tracks or in the background, and, when hit, they make a bobbing movement while remaining in place. Like with festive trees and kadomatsu, interacting with a Jack-o'-lantern of any size awards the player bonus points, with the action being displayed as "Trick or treat!" Additionally, when hit, Jack-o'-lanterns emit a brief Boo-like chortle, with larger ones emitting said sound at a lower pitch than the small ones. Starting October 25, 2020, 06:00 UTC, interacting with a Jack-o'-lantern also gives drivers an event token.

The only tours to have featured Jack-o'-lanterns thus far were all the Halloween Tours as of 2020, the 2021 Autumn Tour, and the Battle Tour.

The following are courses that have featured Jack-o'-lanterns:

Jack-o'-lanterns do not appear in most bonus challenges. When they do, they are all off the main track.

A MKT Report reveals that a total of 403,223,289 Jack-o'-lanterns were "blown away" by the game's playerbase during the 2024 Battle Tour and Halloween Tour.[2]

Super Mario Bros. Wonder[edit]

Unknown Breakable Pumpkin SMBW
A pumpkin in Super Mario Bros. Wonder

Super Mario Bros. Wonder features a large, blocky type of pumpkin in the course Upshroom Downshroom. Appearing in various sizes, these pumpkins are typically stacked on top of each other, acting as platforms and walls for both the player character and the enemies. In this game, the player character can destroy a pumpkin with a Ground Pound, by jumping or drilling into it from below, by smacking it with their trunk while in Elephant form, or by throwing a Gamboo at it. In doing so, the pumpkin usually reveals something such as a group of coins, a Talking Flower, or, in one case, a Wonder Flower. At the end of the course, there are several pumpkins placed in staircase formation that can help the player character reach the top of the Goal Pole.

During the course's Wonder Effect sequence, pumpkins become jack-o'-lanterns. In this instance, many of them are bounced into the air by moving Mushroom Platforms. The player can interact with them the same as with regular pumpkins, but throughout much of this sequence, they do not produce anything when destroyed, the only exceptions being the two jack-o'-lanterns to the sides of the Wonder Seed, which release coins. If a bouncing jack-o'-lantern is destroyed, another is launched from below the course to replace it soon after.

Gallery[edit]

Names in other languages[edit]

Jack-o'-lantern
Language Name Meaning Notes
Chinese (simplified) 杰克南瓜灯[?]
Jiékè Nánguā Dēng
Jack-o'-lantern Mario Kart Tour
Chinese (traditional) 傑克南瓜燈[?]
Jiékè Nánguā Dēng
Jack-o'-lantern Mario Kart Tour
German Halloweenkürbis[?] Halloween Pumpkin Mario Kart Tour
Italian Zucca di Halloween[?] Halloween pumpkin Mario Kart Tour

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ RetroArchive (November 24, 2022). Luigi's Mansion 2: Dark Moon - ScareScraper All 25 Floors (No Damage - Surprise Expert Mode) (19:51). YouTube. Retrieved October 8, 2024. This gameplay footage of the ScareScraper mode in Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon shows a Greenie and Luigi using a jack-o'-lantern.
  2. ^ "While we're here, this is how many jack-o'-lanterns were blown away during the Battle Tour and Halloween Tour:
    "403,223,289
    "We hope you continue to enjoy #MarioKartTour!
    " – mariokarttourEN (November 5, 2024). Post. X. Retrieved November 12, 2024. (Archived November 12, 2024, 20:23:55 UTC via archive.today.)