Watermelon
- Not to be confused with Melon.
Watermelon | |
---|---|
First appearance | Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (1995) |
Latest appearance | Super Mario Party Jamboree (2024) |
Watermelons, also named melons, appear in the Super Mario franchise as fruits with various types of roles, most involving some form of interactivity.
History[edit]
Yoshi franchise[edit]
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island / Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3[edit]
Watermelons appear in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island and its reissue in three varieties (parsed as Water Melon in one preview),[1] each offering special attacks. Green watermelons allow a Yoshi to spit out the seeds as projectiles; if a green watermelon already has a bite mark in it, there will be only a third as many seeds. Ukikis have many watermelons, some half-eaten by them, which they use to spit seeds at a Yoshi. Red watermelons allow three shots of fire breath that burn enemies and melt Ice Blocks. Blue watermelons allow three shots of ice breath that freeze enemies, making them harmless and immobile and causing them to break apart when a Yoshi touches them. Super Green Watermelons, Super Red Watermelons, and Super Blue Watermelons are also available as Special Items, which automatically give a Yoshi the ability of the watermelon as if he had gulped it. Watermelons are featured prominently in the Mini Battle called Watermelon Seed Spitting Contest.
The Super Green Watermelon[2] Special Item is available in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island and Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3, and it gives a Yoshi as many as 60 seeds.
Yoshi's Story[edit]
Watermelons in Yoshi's Story appear as one of the favorite fruit of Green Yoshis, along with melons.
Yoshi Touch & Go[edit]
Watermelons in Yoshi Touch & Go can be eaten by Yoshi to receive five eggs.
Yoshi's New Island[edit]
Watermelons in Yoshi's New Island are functionally the same as in the original. Watermelons with bite marks are first encountered in Ukiki Jammin', first held by an Ukiki and having seeds that are spat out by them. A full variant of the watermelon is found in Ride the Blarggwich. Red and blue watermelons can also be found in later levels of the game, with red watermelons first debuting in Harry Hedgehog's Labyrinth and blue watermelons in Brave the Bumpty Blizzard.
Yoshi's Woolly World / Poochy & Yoshi's Woolly World[edit]
Green watermelons appear in Yoshi's Woolly World and Poochy & Yoshi's Woolly World, where Yoshi uses them to spit out seeds that can hit enemies and Winged Clouds, break sponge obstacles, and collect beads or Smiley Flower. A full watermelon has 50 seeds. When there is a bite on a watermelon, there are a 20 seeds in it. Seeds vanish on contact with invisible Winged Clouds but successfully reveal the cloud; seeds are the only projectile in the entire game incapable of passing through these clouds. Wonder Wool fully negate watermelon seeds. Many enemies and bosses can survive a single hit from a watermelon seed, but some of them flinch and they will take damage after being pelted by enough seeds. Out of all of Yoshi's attacks, watermelon seeds are the least efficient in terms of inflicting damage. Watermelons first appear in Clawdaddy Beach. Some Ukikis use watermelons with bites in them to spit an endless supply of seeds at Yoshi on volleys of four at a time. Eating the watermelon from them is prioritized over the Ukiki and cancels the attack even if they already took a bite from the watermelon.
Fire and ice watermelons also return, again allowing Yoshi to use fire and ice breath.
The All-you-can-eat watermelon! Power Badge causes a watermelon on a propeller to appear in a course above Yoshi. It reappears whenever Yoshi has not eaten this watermelon and this watermelon is currently offscreen. This means Yoshi can spit watermelon seeds at nearly any point in the game. However, the badge cannot be used while fighting Mega Baby Bowser. Watermelons from this badge fly away after Yoshi defeats a boss.
Watermelon slices also occasionally appear in the Bonus Game only included in Yoshi's Woolly World, where they are worth 300 points each. Yoshi can collect them with his body or using his tongue.
Super Mario-kun[edit]
Watermelons appear in volume 14 of Super Mario-kun, which is the adaption of Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. Like in the game, they give characters who eat them respective abilities. The first time they appear, Mario and Luigi stuff a Super Red Watermelon inside a crying Baby Mario to quiet him. He then breathes fire at Toadies who first attempted to attack. The next time they appear, Helicopter Yoshi eats a Super Green Watermelon and spits seeds at Kamek, Toadies, and Baby Mario they are carrying. During their battle against a Lunge Fish, Mario stuffs a Super Blue Watermelon inside Yoshi to make Yoshi freeze the Lunge Fish.
Mario Party series[edit]
Watermelons in the Mario Party series have differing roles between each appearance. Giant watermelons appear in Mario Party as giant fruits on Watermelon Island part of Yoshi's Tropical Island. In Mario Party 5, Super Duel Mode contains a weapon for machines called the Seed Machine Gun, which is modeled after the watermelons from Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island; it is a weak, lightweight gun that fires seeds at a rapid rate and is worth five Battle Game Points. Watermelons in Mario Party 10 appear in the minigame Watermelon Whalin', where they are carried by the rival players, and the solo player has to break them.
Donkey Kong franchise[edit]
Donkey Kong 64[edit]
- “For 7 coins, I can now give you an extra melon to help you live longer and upgrade your weapon. Do you want it?”
- —Candy Kong, Donkey Kong 64
Melons in Donkey Kong 64 are used as the Kongs' life meter. Each melon is made up of four slices, and if a Kong takes damage, they lose a melon slice of their health, sometimes even half a melon (the equivalent of two slices). Melon slices refill the Kongs' health, and can be found by either breaking open Melon Crates or by defeating enemies such as Kritters or Gnawties. If the Kongs lose all their health, they are sent back to the starting point of the area. At first, the Kongs start out only having one melon in their health meter, but they can have up to three by obtaining a melon upgrade from Candy Kong in Angry Aztec and Crystal Caves each. Melons are ammo in some bonus stages such as Teetering Turtle Trouble!.
Donkey Kong Jungle Beat[edit]
Watermelons in Donkey Kong Jungle Beat are the theme for the Watermelon Kingdom, where the goal for each level from this kingdom is a giant watermelon.
DK: Jungle Climber[edit]
A giant watermelon appears in Veggie Patch in DK: Jungle Climber, where its seeds are used as pegs.
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze[edit]
Watermelons appear in Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze as explosive objects known as Watermelon Fuse Bombs, which can be picked up and thrown at enemies to defeat them, or at certain obstacles to destroy them, usually to reveal a secret. Large rectangular watermelons also make an appearance as platforms in the level Fruity Factory, a reference to real-life square watermelons grown in Japan.
Super Mario series[edit]
Super Mario Sunshine[edit]
Watermelons appear in Super Mario Sunshine as giant interactive objects in Gelato Beach, where the Surf Cabana makes juice smoothies out of watermelons, and there is a Watermelon Festival where participants show off their largest watermelon. These watermelons are quite sensitive to pressure, and act and look more like water balloons. If broken, they will respawn in the spot where they were originally found after a short while. Additionally, a broken watermelon will release one coin: this can be done up to a maximum of ten times per watermelon, after which no more coins will be given if it's broken again.
There are watermelon blocks in secret levels and Pianta Village, which act as breakable blocks.
Super Mario Galaxy[edit]
In Super Mario Galaxy, when 9999 Star Bits are collected, all the green coconuts in the game turn into watermelons. A watermelon is also featured in the Bubble Blastoff mission in the Deep Dark Galaxy. Mario lands on a glass planet where he must Ground Pound the three encircling tennis balls within the planet which will hit the watermelon in the center and cause it to grow visibly larger until it shatters the glass planet and becomes the new planet.
Super Mario Galaxy 2[edit]
In Super Mario Galaxy 2, all green coconuts turn into watermelons when 9999 Star Bits are collected, like in the previous game.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder[edit]
There are watermelon-like Piranha Plants introduced in Super Mario Bros. Wonder called Melon Piranha Plants. They spit out watermelon seeds which players can bounce off of. Like in the Yoshi's Island series, if a Yoshi eats a Melon Piranha Plant, it can spit out a large number of watermelon seeds at rapid-fire pace, or, if it grabs one of the seeds the enemy spits out, it can spit it back out.
Nintendo Puzzle Collection[edit]
In Nintendo Puzzle Collection, green, red, and blue Watermelons cascade down the screen when a stage of Round 9 is cleared in the Action Mode of Yoshi no Cookie.
WarioWare series[edit]
Watermelons appear in a few of the microgames in the WarioWare series. In WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$!, Body Block involves people keeping a watermelon bouncing around. In WarioWare: Touched!, these fruit appear in Steel Chef and It Slices, It Dices, where the player has to cut through them. They also appear in Global Warning. The microgame Universal Marionette from WarioWare: Smooth Moves features watermelons as projectiles that must be deflected. Body Block, Steel Chef and Universal Marionette reappear in WarioWare Gold, though Body Block is rethemed and does not include watermelons.
Mario Kart Arcade GP[edit]
A watermelon in Mario Kart Arcade GP appears in the bonus stage of the Mario Cup, where the goal is to push a watermelon to the goal.
Mario Hoops 3-on-3[edit]
The Watermelon is one of the unlockable basketballs in Mario Hoops 3-on-3.
Mario Sports Mix[edit]
Watermelons in Mario Sports Mix are objects in Feed Petey, where player characters can earn fifty points by throwing a watermelon into Petey Piranha's mouth. The watermelon is suspended in midair on a rope, and player characters can obtain the watermelons by jumping up under it.
Luigi's Mansion series[edit]
Watermelons appear in the Luigi's Mansion series as interactive objects found in certain rooms. In Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, Watermelons appear in the room floors of ScareScraper, where if a player breaks one, it will release several hearts. In Luigi's Mansion 3, Watermelons are found in the Kitchen alongside pumpkins. They don't drop hearts when destroyed, but they can be flung at Chef Soulfflé to disarm him of his frying pan.
Minecraft[edit]
In the Super Mario Mash-up for Minecraft, Melons are replaced by Watermelons.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie[edit]
Watermelons in The Super Mario Bros. Movie can be seen in a fruit cart along with pineapples and bananas while Toad is escorting Mario through the Mushroom Kingdom.
Profiles[edit]
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island / Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3[edit]
- Instruction Booklet description: Places a Green Watermelon in Yoshi's mouth. Allows Yoshi to spit seeds.[2]
- Nintendo 3DS digital manual description (Game Boy Advance version): Puts a green watermelon in Yoshi's mouth. Yoshi will be able to spit seeds for a certain length of time.
Gallery[edit]
Yoshi spitting seeds in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
Super Mario Sunshine (watermelon block)
Nintendo Puzzle Collection (Yoshi no Cookie)
Artwork of Mario eating a watermelon
Names in other languages[edit]
Watermelon[edit]
Language | Name | Meaning | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Japanese | みどりのスイカ[3] Midori no suika |
Green watermelon | |
スイカ[?] Suika |
Watermelon | ||
Chinese | 西瓜[?] Xīguā |
Watermelon | |
Dutch | Watermeloen[?] | Watermelon | |
French (NOA) | Melon d'eau[?] | Watermelon | |
French (NOE) | Pastèque[?] | Watermelon | |
German | Wassermelone[?] | Watermelon | |
Knatterkürbis (Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3)[?] | Rattle pumpkin (Gunfire pumpkin) | ||
Italian | Cocomero Verde[4] | Green Watermelon | Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island |
Cocomero[5][6][7] | Watermelon | Yoshi's Story, Super Mario Sunshine, Super Mario Galaxy, Yoshi's New Island | |
Cocomero verde[8] | Green watermelon | Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3 | |
Korean | 수박[?] Subak |
Watermelon | |
Portuguese | Melancia[?] | Watermelon | |
Romanian | Pepene verde[?] | Green melon | |
Russian | Арбуз[?] Arbuz |
Watermelon | |
Spanish | Sandía[?] | Watermelon |
Super Green Watermelon[edit]
Language | Name | Meaning | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Japanese | スペシャルスイカ(みどり)[9] Supesharu Suika (midori) |
Special Watermelon (green) | |
Italian | Super Cocomero Verde[10] | Super Green Watermelon | Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island |
Super cocomero verde[11] | Super green watermelon | Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3 | |
Spanish | Supersandía verde[?] | - |
References[edit]
- ^ "WATER MELONS EVERYWHERE Yoshi respects Water Melon etiquette by blurting seeds out all over the place. There are a few strains of Water Melon, the benefits of which vary depending on colour. The red ones, for example, cause Yoshi to breathe fire!!!" – September 1995. Nintendo Magazine System (AU) #30. Page 14.
- ^ a b 1995. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island instruction booklet. Nintendo of America (American English). Page 24.
- ^ 1995. Super Mario: Yossy Island instruction booklet. Nintendo (Japanese). Page 17.
- ^ Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island GIG's Italian manual. Page 9.
- ^ 1998. Yoshi's Story manual. Nintendo of Europe (Italian). Page 123.
- ^ Super Mario Sunshine Italian PRIMA Guide. Prima Games (Italian). Page 14.
- ^ Super Mario Bros. Enciclopedia. Page 105, 136.
- ^ 2002. Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3 manual. Nintendo of Europe (Italian). Page 112.
- ^ 1995. Super Mario: Yossy Island instruction booklet. Nintendo (Japanese). Page 23.
- ^ Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island GIG's Italian manual. Page 12.
- ^ Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3 European manual. Page 114.
- Melons
- DK: Jungle Climber
- Donkey Kong 64 items
- Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze objects
- Donkey Kong Jungle Beat objects
- Donkey Konga 3 JP
- Luigi's Mansion 3
- Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon
- Mario Sports Mix
- Super Mario Galaxy objects
- Super Mario Galaxy 2 objects
- Super Mario Sunshine objects
- Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island items
- The Super Mario Bros. Movie objects
- Yoshi Touch & Go items
- Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3
- Yoshi's New Island items
- Yoshi's Story items
- Yoshi's Woolly World items