Mario Cap

Mario's Hat is an important part of Mario's clothing. The hat is red and has Mario's "M" symbol. This hat has appeared in every game featuring Mario (with the excption of Dr. Mario and Dr. Mario 64, where Dr. Mario donned a doctor's cap instead). Mario has worn the hat since he was a baby, and was even born with it!

The Hat's Importance

Mario was given his hat in his first appearance (Donkey Kong) because of the limited advances in video game graphics when the game was made. Since it was difficult to draw hair on a moving character, Mario was given a red cap.

The hat has appeared with Mario ever since then, but was unimportant until Super Mario 64. This was the first game in which Mario could lose his hat. When the hat was lost (by having it stolen by a Ukiki or blown off by a gust of wind), Mario would take added damage when attacked. The same thing happened in Mario's next platformer, Super Mario Sunshine, but with the added effect of gradually losing health. The same effects are presumed to occur again in upcoming Super Mario Galaxy.

The Hat as a Weapon

By taking advantage of certain glitches in Super Mario 64, Mario could end up with more than one hat. Mario could use the duplicate hat as an effective weapon.

Alternate Hat Colors

A few Badges in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door can change his hat as well as his shirt. This can be done by equipping the L Emblem Badge (which gives him Luigi's clothes), the W Emblem Badge (which gives him Wario's clothes), or a combination of both.(which gives him Waluigi's clothes) Both use 0 BP and have no effects other than changing his appearance.

Trivia

In Luigi's Mansion after Luigi scanned the washer, It stats that Luigi handwashes his hat while Mario just tosses his in the washer.