Spike Ball

It has been requested that this article be rewritten and expanded to include more information. Reason: include info on Donkey Kong Country Returns / Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D (specifically Boulder Roller)

This article is about the spiked iron ball appearing in numerous Mario platformers. For the obstacle from Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins, see spiked ball (Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins). For the overworld move in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, see Spike Ball (move). For the recurring Clear Pipe obstacle, see spike ball (seed). For the recurring object also referred to as an iron ball, see metal ball.

Spike Ball
Artwork of a spiked ball in New Super Mario Bros. Wii
First appearance	Super Mario Bros. 3 (1988)
Latest appearance	Super Mario Bros. Wonder (2023)
Variants Giant Spiked Ball Ice Ball (obstacle) Spinner
Relatives Ptooie Spike
Comparable Giant Spiked Nut Mine Shell (Super Mario Odyssey) Spike ball (seed) Spike Trap Spiny Egg Togetoge Spiked roller

Spike Balls, also referred to as Spiked Balls (sometimes lowercase), are iron balls with silver or white spikes that first appeared in Super Mario Bros. 3. They were originally spat out and thrown by Spikes and used by Ptooies, but they can later be found independently. They mainly appear in castle levels, where they roll around and destroy other obstacles. Spinners are a variant of Spike Balls, which hang from chains and swing in various motions. Stone Spike Balls are spat out by Stone Spikes instead of the metal balls, which have the same effect. Another form of the Spike Ball is the Giant Spiked Ball, which is a larger version of the Spike Ball. It has similar features but causes the destruction on a larger scale. Spike Balls can usually be defeated with Invincible Mario; however, in some games, the use of the Super Star only prevents damage to Mario.

History

Super Mario series

Super Mario Bros. 3

Spiked balls first appear in Super Mario Bros. 3, where they are approximately the size of Spiny Eggs. They are spat out and thrown straight left or right by Spikes, as well as continuously blown into the air by Ptooies. In this game, the player can jump on Spikes even if they are holding a spiked ball.

New Super Mario Bros.

In New Super Mario Bros., since Spikes are absent in this game, Spiked Balls are always seen rolling along the floor from off-screen, though they may also roll in a half-pipe motion between two hills. The game also features Giant Spiked Balls. They, like their smaller counterparts, are almost indestructible, except to Mega Mario or Mega Luigi. They act similarly to the iron balls in Super Mario 64. They are usually found in castles and can also destroy anything it rolls over, including the smaller Spiked Balls.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii

New Super Mario Bros. Wii features Spikes throwing spiked balls, as well as introducing the Stone Spike to throw stone spiked balls. In this game, spiked balls thrown by Spikes cannot break bricks. Giant Spiked Balls are found only in the World 8 where they appear in World 8-2. Giant Spiked Balls with shorter spikes and active fuses appear in World 8-Airship, where Bowser Jr. uses them as exploding weapons against Mario. However, Mario can use them against him by Ground Pounding the ground to throw them into the Koopa Clown Car three times.

Super Mario 3D Land

Both spiked balls and giant spiked balls return in Super Mario 3D Land. They function very similarly to the preceding games. They can be destroyed by Statue Mario and invincibility. Due to the absence of Spikes, both variants are generated from a cannon, a hole in the wall, or a black hole-like hole, the last of which disappears after generating a spiked ball and reappears after a few seconds to generate another.

New Super Mario Bros. 2

In New Super Mario Bros. 2, both spiked balls and giant spiked balls reappear. A pair of very large spiked balls appear in World Mushroom-Castle. Similar to New Super Mario Bros., they are always seen rolling from off-screen due to the absence of Spikes in this game. Ice Balls appear in World 4-1. Spiked balls can be found in World Mushroom-A, and a giant spiked ball helps Mario obtain a Star Coin. Spiked balls also feature in the battle against Morton Koopa Jr., where Morton fires them from his wand to attack Mario/Luigi.

New Super Mario Bros. U

New Super Mario Bros. U sees the return of both Spikes and Stone Spikes with spiked balls. They can now throw the spiked balls straight down rather than just left or right as they did in previous games. Regular spiked balls alone are replaced by Grrrols.

Super Mario Run

In Super Mario Run, spiked balls appear in the level Land of Spikes. They are mainly thrown by Spikes like in previous games; some spiked balls spawn independently, though ahead of a Spike's position, appearing as though they were produced by the Spike. During the final battle, Bowser's Koopa Clown Car spits out giant spiked balls, which can destroy certain platforms.

Super Mario Odyssey

A Spike Ball in Bowser's Kingdom

Spike Balls, described as cannonballs by Prima Games, return in Super Mario Odyssey, where they only appear being released by a Yoofoe during its fight. Shells that act similarly to Spike Balls appear in the Seaside Kingdom.

Super Mario Maker 2

In version 2.0 of Super Mario Maker 2, Spike Balls are thrown by Spikes in all level themes except the snow theme, where they are replaced by snowballs, and can also be placed as a separate object. They fly forward in the Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. 3 styles similar to the latter style's original game, though if they fly towards the ground, they will start to roll. In the Super Mario World, New Super Mario Bros. U, and Super Mario 3D World styles, they roll along the ground. They can be spin-jumped on, activate ? Blocks, POW Blocks, and ON/OFF Switches, can be eaten and spit out with Yoshi, and act as weight on Seesaws in the latter two styles. Giant spiked balls thrown by Mega Spikes can break through blocks. Since they did not appear in Super Mario Bros., Super Mario World, and Super Mario 3D World, new sprites are made for them. They can also be tossed by Lakitus for the first time since Yoshi's Story.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder

Spike Balls that roll along the ground reappear in Super Mario Bros. Wonder, along with those produced by Spikes and Tailies. Spike-produced Spike Balls are green (yellow with various-colored spikes during musical Wonder Effects) and roll along the ground, while Taily-produced ones are red and break upon impact. In this game, Spike Balls can be destroyed by Fire Mario's fireballs. In addition, the characters can turn into a Spike Ball form during certain Wonder Effects.

Wario Land series

Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3

Artwork of a spiked ball for Wario Land

Spiked balls appear again in Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3, where they are preponderant in the Parsley Woods. This game marks the first time spiked balls are seen rolling towards the player. They plummet from the trees' thicket when Wario approaches before rolling along the ground, though one spiked ball falls straight down and disappears off-screen. When they reach the end of the ground, they fall straight downwards and then continue rolling if they land on more ground. In this game, spiked balls stop immediately when they hit a wall, and fall off the screen. They also sometimes cause the screen to shake when they land, freezing everything on screen in place for a moment.

Wario Land: Shake It!

Spiky balls in Wario Land: Shake It! only appear in the form of enemy attacks, shot by Shortfuse, Crackpot, and Boomdinero. Though two of these enemies represent the cannons seen in various Super Mario titles, the spiky balls are used in place of cannonballs as their spikes are meant to be clear visual indicators that they cannot be touched or jumped on.

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island / Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3

Spiked balls appear in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, being tossed by Mace Penguins. They only appear in BLIZZARD!!!, as well as Endless World of Yoshis in the remake. In these games, spiked balls are colored white with yellow spikes.

Yoshi's Story

Spiked balls appear in Yoshi's Story, being tossed by Lakitus, Gabons, and also being used in Cloudjin's boss fight. In this game, they are described as either bombs or rocks.

Luigi's Mansion series

One of King Boo's Spike Balls in Luigi's Mansion 3

In the Luigi's Mansion series, Spike Balls are used in every final boss fight against King Boo. In Luigi's Mansion and its Nintendo 3DS version, one of the Bowser suit's attacks is rolling two spiked balls at once, and before the spiked balls flash red and explode, Luigi must suck one up and hit the Bowser suit with it to expose King Boo. In Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, red spiked balls and giant spiked balls appear in King Boo's battle, where they have to be avoided by Luigi as they roll around the tilting arena toward him. In Luigi's Mansion 3, one of King Boo's attacks is throwing Spike Balls into the air that fall back onto the Rooftop, breaking and revealing multiple bombs that are about to explode; if a Spike Ball hits the player, they lose 20 HP.

Mario Party series

Mario Party 4

Spiked balls, referred to as spiky balls, appear in Mario Party 4 in the minigame Hop or Pop.

Mario Party 6

Spiked balls, referred to as spike spheres, play an important role in the Mario Party 6 minigame Pit Boss, where large ones must be avoided from within a small area.

Mario Party 9

Spiked Balls appear in several minigames in Mario Party 9. In the minigame Bumper Bubbles, players must try to collect balloons while avoiding Spiked Balls that fall onto the screen from above; hitting a Spiked Ball results in a player's bubble popping, which causes all their balloons to be released and the player to fall offscreen. Spiked Balls also appear in the minigame Tumble Temple, in which the players must avoid the Spiked Balls and giant spiked balls that roll through several pegs from above; hitting one results in that player being eliminated. Additionally, in Chain Event, players must slide down chains, flipping from one side to the other to avoid Spiked Balls. The player must do the opposite of said objectives when playing Tumble Temple and Chain Event as a Reverse Minigame from a Bowser Space. The minigame Spike-n-Span also involves one player hitting the platform above to roll a Spiked Ball in the direction of the other players. Giant spiked balls are also in Spike Strike, where the player must use a hammer to send them back at the large Spike.

Mario Party 10

Spiked Balls appear in Mario Party 10 in the minigame Bowser's Painball.

Mario Party: The Top 100

Spike Balls reappear in Mario Party: The Top 100, where they are found in the minigame Bumper Bubbles reappearing from Mario Party 9.

Mario Party Superstars

Spike spheres reappear in Mario Party Superstars, reprising their roles in the Mario Party 6 minigame Pit Boss.

Wario World

Spiked balls are obstacles in Wario World. They appear in the various obstacle courses found inside wooden and steel trapdoors, and are also used as weapons by several enemies and bosses in the game. Hawks and Hōhō drop them, and the Sandworm also spits spiked balls at Wario as one of its attacks. In this game, they are colored dark blue and have long spikes of the same color.

Super Princess Peach

These balls take two forms in Super Princess Peach. Spikes and Mad Spikes use larger versions, referred to as iron balls, which resemble their appearance in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, except the former is blue and the latter is red. Ptooies and Glad Ptooies use smaller versions, referred to as simply balls, which resemble their appearance in Super Mario Bros. 3. A Glad Ptooie will toss its ball up a few times, and then it will toss it over to another location and run over to it. Bowser 2 also drops a green version of an iron ball from the ceiling as an attack.

Mario & Luigi series

Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time

In Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, the Elder Shrooboid, the boss of the Star Shrine, uses a spiked ball in one of its attacks. One of the Bros. has to hit the spiked ball with their hammer, or else it will slam into them and cost lots of HP. However, if one of the Bros. does hit the spiked ball, it will fly off into the sky and the Elder Shrooboid will be vulnerable to jump attacks for a brief period of time. In the second phase, however, when the spiked ball hits the Shroob saucer with the timer, the timer resets. The Shroid, an enemy from Toad Town, also uses a spiked ball in one of its attacks. It consists of the Shroid calling a Shroob saucer into battle, which then gives the Shroid a spiked ball. This ball will either have "M" or "L" printed in it, which indicates the brother at whom the ball will be thrown. However, if the Shroid is malfunctioning, its attacks are reversed (i.e. an "M"-printed ball will land on Luigi, and vice versa).

Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam

In Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam, Spiked Balls are once again used by Spikes as projectiles, which can be avoided by jumping over them, while the giant spiked balls must be hammered back at them.

Spiked Balls are also utilized by Bowser and Paper Bowser in their boss fight. They will use then as projectiles against the trio.

Flat, disc-like Spiked Balls appear as part of the boss transition animation. In the E3 2015 demo build. These Spiked Balls were not flattened.

Paper Mario series

Paper Mario: Sticker Star

In Paper Mario: Sticker Star, Spike Balls appear as a projectile thrown by Spikes, where their spikes are aesthetically brown. They are also dropped by Spikes as a sticker when defeated. When used in battle, Mario will toss a Spike Ball ahead, dealing moderate damage to all grounded enemies.

The Spike Ball can also be placed into the Sticker Museum as #89, alongside other enemy-based stickers.

Paper Mario: Color Splash

Once more, Spiked Balls return in Paper Mario: Color Splash, where they are thrown by Spikes, but they have a different design from that of Paper Mario: Sticker Star, since the spikes are now white rather than brown. Ptooies also use Spiked Balls in the game, and they can attack by shooting the Spiked Ball at Mario.

Paper Mario: The Origami King

Normal spiked balls make a minor appearance in Paper Mario: The Origami King, where they are thrown by the temporary Spike partner in Autumn Mountain during its main attack, Up-Chuck. These spiked balls deal 25 damage to enemies in a straight line provided the attack does not fail. Origami spiked balls also appear more commonly, thrown by origami Spike enemies. The normal spiked ball itself has the paper outline from Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam, while the origami spiked balls themselves resemble their Sticker Star and Color Splash appearances.

Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker

Spiked balls reappear in Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker and its Nintendo Switch and Nintendo 3DS ports once again being tossed by Spikes.

Yoshi's Woolly World / Poochy & Yoshi's Woolly World

In Yoshi's Woolly World and Poochy & Yoshi's Woolly World, Spiked Balls are used by Big Montgomery and Miss Cluck the Insincere.

Mario Sports Superstars

In Mario Sports Superstars, Spiked Balls appear as obstacles in boss battles.

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle

A Spiked Ball in Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle

In Spooky Trails, a level from Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, many Spiked Balls lie scattered across the Underwater Village, with one encountered earlier in Spooky Square. Although they are mainly used for decoration, Beep-0 remarks the one in Spooky Square, expressing that he hopes it stays put and does not cause more trouble than he and the other team members already have.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, spiked balls appear when Piranha Plant uses its neutral special Ptooie, based on the spiked ball-blowing enemy of the same name. Piranha Plant blows a spiked ball up and down and can launch it to the left or right.

Yoshi's Crafted World

In Yoshi's Crafted World, the Shy Guys on the Gator Train throw metal Spike Balls at Yoshi.

Mario Golf: Super Rush

Spike Balls reappear in Mario Golf: Super Rush as obstacles produced by Spikes in Spiky Palms and can hit players during Speed Golf. In Target Golf, one of the possible golf balls that players can obtain is also a Spike Ball, except it is smaller as to be used like a golf ball. It is able to stick in place, as it resists running (bouncing or rolling after the ball lands), thereby making it likely to land on the carried spot (the spot that the ball lands the first time).

Profiles and statistics

Paper Mario: Sticker Star

• Item description: Sometimes dropped by Spikes. Provides a spiked ball that can be thrown at a single foe. Doesn't reach high-flying foes.
• Sticker Museum description: A spiky steel ball horked up by a Spike. This bad boy deals bonus damage for a well-timed throw.

Gallery

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  Super Mario Bros. 3

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  Super Mario Bros. 3

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  Super Mario Bros. 3

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  Super Mario Bros. 3

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  Art of a Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 spiked ball from Perfect Ban Mario Character Daijiten

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  Yoshi's Story

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  Yoshi's Story

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  Game & Watch Gallery 2

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  Game & Watch Gallery 2

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  A Spiked Ball in New Super Mario Bros.

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  In-game model render of a Spiked Ball from New Super Mario Bros.

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  In-game model render of a spiked ball in Super Mario 3D Land

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  Spiked balls in New Super Mario Bros. 2

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  Artwork of a spiked ball in Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker

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  Paper Mario: Color Splash

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  Super Mario Run

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  Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

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  Super Mario Maker 2 (Super Mario Bros. style)

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  Super Mario Maker 2 (Super Mario Bros. style)

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  Super Mario Maker 2 (Super Mario Bros. 3 style)

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  Super Mario Maker 2 (Super Mario World style)

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  Paper Mario: The Origami King

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  Paper Mario: The Origami King

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  LEGO Super Mario

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  Play Nintendo

Additional names

Internal names

Game	File	Name	Meaning
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker	content/ObjectData/NeedleBall.szs	NeedleBall	Needle Ball

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning	Notes
Japanese	シューリンガン (Super Mario Bros. 3 / Paper Mario: Sticker Star / Super Smash Bros. Ultimate / Super Mario Maker 2) Shūringan	Based on the Japanese rakugo folktale Jugemu, from which the Japanese names of Lakitu (Jugemu) and Spiny Eggs (Paipo) are also derived<
	Template:Nowrap[?] Gorō	From「ゴロゴロ」(goro-goro, onomatopoeia for rolling) and possibly "roll"; shared with Grrrol
	トゲのついたボール (Mario Party 4)[?] Toge no tsuita bōru	Ball with spikes
	いがいがスパイク (Wario World) Igaiga Supaiku	Thorny Spike
	トゲトゲのボール (Mario Party 6 and Mario Party Superstars)[?] Togetoge no Bōru	Spikey Ball
	てっきゅう (Super Princess Peach, Spike version)[?] Tekkyū	Iron ball
	タマ (Super Princess Peach, Ptooie version)[?] Tama	Ball
	トゲ鉄球 (New Super Mario Bros. series and Super Mario 3D Land) Toge Tekkyū	Spiked iron ball; refer to Giant Spiked Ball
	トゲトゲボール (Mario Party 9)[?] Togetoge Bōru	Spiky Ball
	トゲボール (Mario Party 10)[?] Toge Bōru	Spike Ball; shared with mine and spike ball
Chinese (simplified)	殊力钢[?] Shūlìgāng	Transliteration of the Japanese name. 殊力钢 can also mean "specially powerful steel".
Chinese (traditional)	刺刺球 (Mario Party 9) Cì Cì Qiú	Spike Ball
	殊力鋼 (since Paper Mario: Sticker Star)[?] Shūlìgāng	Transliteration of the Japanese name. “殊力鋼” can also mean "specially powerful steel".
Dutch	Spijkerbal[?]	Nail Ball
French	Boule Spikante[?]	From "spike" and boule piquante ("spiky ball")
Italian	Palla acuminata[?]	Prickly ball
	Palla spinosa[?]	Spiky ball
	Palla chiodata (Mario Party 9)[?]	Spiked ball
Portuguese (NOE)	Bola de espinhos	Spike ball
Spanish (NOA)	Bola de Picos[?]	Spike Ball
	Bola Espinosa (Super Mario Maker 2)[?]	Spiky Ball