Spindrift

From the Super Mario Wiki, the Mario encyclopedia
Revision as of 08:55, March 30, 2023 by Alternis (talk | contribs)
Jump to navigationJump to search
Spindrift
Spindrift
First appearance Super Mario 64 (1996)
Latest appearance Super Mario 3D All-Stars (2020)
Comparable
Notable members

Spindrifts,[1] or Flower Heads,[2] are hovering enemies in Super Mario 64 and Super Mario 64 DS. They have spinning flowers on their heads that allow them to hover around. They also have yellow cones at the bottoms of their heads. Green leaf-like capes top the first halves of the yellow cones. A Spindrift's head is just a white sphere with two eyes and a small mouth. In the Nintendo DS remake, Spindrifts' heads have a peach-yellow color, the flowers on their heads are somewhat bigger, they have eyelashes, and their mouths are darker. They can also hover above water in the DS version.

A Spindrift in Super Mario 64
A Spindrift in a prototype version of New Super Mario Bros.

If Mario, Yoshi, Luigi, or Wario jumps on a Spindrift, it releases three coins and the player character spin-jumps in the air. This technique can be used to get to other areas in new ways. Spindrifts appear in both snow courses: Cool, Cool Mountain and Snowman's Land. In the latter course, several of them make their home inside an igloo.

Spindrifts were supposed to appear in New Super Mario Bros. but were taken out of the final version, where Spin Blocks fulfill their function.

While standard Spindrifts do not appear in Super Mario Odyssey, one of the game's bosses, Torkdrift, is a mechanical Spindrift.

Names in other languages

Language Name Meaning Notes
Japanese フワフワさん[3]
Fuwafuwa-san
Portmanteau of「フワフワ」(fuwafuwa, fluffy) and「さん」(san)
Chinese 飘飘花 [4]
Piāopiāohuā
Fluttering Flowers
German Propy[?] From "propeller" with diminutive suffix "-y"
Italian Spindrift[5] -
Korean 둥둥이씨[?]
Dungdung-i-ssi
From 둥둥 (dungdung, floating); "이" and "씨" are honorific terms

Trivia

  • The Japanese and Korean names for the mission Into the Igloo imply that the igloo is the home for the Spindrifts.

References

  1. ^ M. Arakawa. Super Mario 64 Player's Guide. Page 10.
  2. ^ (June 10, 1998). Course 4 - Star 6: Wall Kicks Will Work. Nintendo: Super Mario 64 Strategy (Internet Archive: Wayback Machine). Retrieved February 23, 2018.
  3. ^ Shogakukan. 2015. Super Mario Bros. Hyakka: Nintendo Kōshiki Guidebook, Super Mario 64 section, page 86.
  4. ^ Guide posted on forums describing how to beat Mission 4 of Snowman's Land
  5. ^ Super Mario Bros. Enciclopedia, pag. 86