Grass
Grass is a common world element encountered in various Mario titles, but they only serve actual importance to the gameplay of Super Mario Bros. 2. In Super Mario Bros. 2, the player could pull on tall blades of red (black in Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic) grass emerging from the ground (by pressing 
) to pull out a vegetable. Other items grass could contain include Magical Potions, bombs, Heart Radishes (in Super Mario Advance only), shells, Stop Watches, coins (in Subspace only), or Rockets. Super Mario Advance also adds large turnips called Giant Vegetables, which take longer to pull out. They work just like their normal-sized counterparts, but can hit more enemies, due to their bigger size.
Grass later returns in Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3, as scanning the Blue Green Switch will activate grass patches with vegetables below them in the main game. They also appear by default in several World-e levels, namely Vegetable Volley, The ol' Switcheroo, A Sky-High Adventure, Ice Cubed, Ground Work and Treacherous Halls. Note that in this game, only turnips appear, in both their unripe and ripe forms, as well as the giant turnip that was introduced in Super Mario Advance. Some grass patches also hide coins (either a single one or a bunch of them), or, in Ground Work only, Monty Moles. Grass is colored green in this game, matching the leaves on the vegetables plucked.
While vegetables made their 3D Mario debut in Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, grass is replaced by Pluck Patches, which work the same way. A very similar element to grass is the Item Handle from Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, which works the same way.
Grass tufts appear in Mushroom Kingdom II in Super Smash Bros. Melee, though they are mere 2D background decorations. Inspired by its function in Super Mario Bros. 2, grass returns as an item in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. When a player pulls on blades of grass emerging from the floor of the stage, any random item will be plucked into the player's hands, with status or recovery items activating immediately upon being plucked. However, vegetables cannot be plucked from grass, although that is Peach's down special move. Grass has a reddish coloring in these games. As Mushroom Kingdom II returns in Ultimate, the grass tufts there also return, though their look is more accurate towards Super Mario All-Stars.
Grass also has an important role in the Mario Golf series, where it acts as the lie of the ball, and determines the size of the impact bar. It comes in the form of the Fairway, Fast Fairway, Rough, Heavy Rough and the Green. Grass also serves a purpose in Mario Tennis games as a court with fast speed and low bounce.
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U trophy information
| Name | Image | Appears In (Wii U version only) |
American English description | British English description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grass | 
|
NES Super Mario Bros. 2 (10/1988) | This special grass first appeared in Super Mario Bros. 2, where plucking it revealed hidden items. It works exactly the same way in Smash Bros.-if you pluck the grass, maybe you'll find a game-changing object! If only cleaning an unkempt lawn would reveal such neat things... | A patch of overgrown grass with an item buried underneath. Grass like this grew all over the place in Super Mario Bros. 2, and Mario and co. could pull it up to get all kinds of handy items for their quest. It works the same way in this game: pull it up to get an item. Who knows what it'll be? |
Names in other languages
| Language | Name | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese | 草[?] Cǎo |
Grass | |
| German | Grasbüschel[?] | Tuft of Gras | |
| Russian | Трава[?] Trava |
Grass | |
| Spanish | Hierba[?] | Grass |
References
- ^ Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic instruction booklet, pages 20 and 26.
