Black hole
- This article is about the obstacle in the Super Mario franchise. For the item in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, see List of Super Smash Bros. series items § Black Hole. For Palutena's Final Smash in the Super Smash Bros. series, see List of fighters debuting in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U § Palutena.
| Black hole | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Render of a black hole from Super Mario Galaxy | |||
| First appearance | Mario Party 5 (2003) | ||
| Latest appearance | Mario Party Superstars (2021) | ||
| |||
- “Be sure not to fall in the black hole!”
- —Luma, Super Mario Galaxy
Black holes appear as hazards in some games within the Super Mario franchise, most notably in Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Galaxy 2. They are based loosely on real black holes.
Description[edit]
Black holes have varied appearances across the various games they appeared in. In their first appearance in Mario Party 5, black holes resemble semi-realistic vortexes. Mario Party 6 portrays them as steadily growing black orbs with the background swirling, warping, and pulsating with lightning. In Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Galaxy 2, black holes appear as black balls with a blood-red accretion disk and outline.
History[edit]
Mario Party series[edit]
Mario Party 5[edit]
In Mario Party 5, a black hole appears in the background of the minigame Frightmare. After Bowser is defeated, the black hole increases its force and Bowser struggles to escape, but he fails and breaks the side gates, falling into the black hole.
Mario Party 6[edit]
A black hole appears in the Mario Party 6 Duel minigame Black Hole Boogie. Here, both players must rapidly press 
to escape the black hole. Also, in the minigame Seer Terror, one of the fortunes has Bowser sucked into a black hole.
Mario Party 8[edit]
Something similar to a black hole appears in Mario Party 8 in the background of the final boss minigame, Superstar Showdown. When Bowser is defeated, he gets sucked downwards into the vortex while stuck in his Koopa Clown Car.
Mario Party 9[edit]
Another black hole appears in Mario Party 9, in the background of the final boss minigame, Bowser's Block Battle. It seems to suck in large planets, as well as Mini Stars. When Bowser is defeated, he stumbles into the black hole, although in the final cutscene, it is shown that Bowser and Bowser Jr. can fly normally inside the black hole with their Koopa Clown Cars.
Super Mario series[edit]
Super Mario Galaxy[edit]
Black holes play a much larger role in Super Mario Galaxy, where they act as obstacles, sucking in any characters, enemies and objects within their range. Most of them are seen under floating landmasses, acting as pits, or else near areas with Sling Pods or cannons. If Mario or Luigi get too close to a black hole, the black hole's gravity begins to pull them in playing a warped eerie sound in the process. Being sucked into one instantly depletes the Health Meter, and they lose a life. Enemies destroyed by falling into black holes do not leave behind coins or Star Bits.
In some galaxies such as the Hurry-Scurry Galaxy, successfully collecting a group of notes turns a nearby black hole into a Power Star. The Power Star pulls Mario or Luigi closer using a similar gravitational pull.
At the end of Super Mario Galaxy, after Mario/Luigi has defeated Bowser for the final time, one of the planets near Bowser's giant star undergoes a supernova. The planet starts to have its rock either split from each other or sink into the magma below, then swells and eventually collapses in on itself, becoming a supermassive black hole, which quickly begins to engulf Mario/Luigi, Princess Peach, Bowser and his entire fleet of Airships, Peach's Castle, and even the Comet Observatory. Just as everything is about to be destroyed, Baby Luma suddenly appears in front of Mario/Luigi, waves at him and then sacrifices himself by throwing himself into the black hole. Thousands of other Lumas soon join him in flinging themselves into the supermassive black hole in hopes of stabilizing it and ultimately saving the universe from destruction. Eventually, the black hole shrinks and twists wildly around in space before finally exploding, thereby reforming the entire cosmos and creating an entirely new galaxy, which Mario/Luigi welcomes in the final cutscene of the game.
The texture of the black hole's event horizon, if extracted from the files of the game, is revealed to be a blurry screenshot of an early version of Beach Bowl Galaxy.[1]
Locations[edit]
- Gateway Galaxy: The second planet has a black hole.
- Good Egg Galaxy: The Bitten Apple Planet visited in the missions Dino Piranha and Dino Piranha Speed Run has a black hole. Two more appear next to the Flipswitch Planet in the same missions, and a fourth appears below King Kaliente's titular Airships in King Kaliente's Battle Fleet.
- Honeyhive Galaxy: Beneath the Starting Planet, the Flower Planet and the planet with the Honey Queen's castle in Bee Mario Takes Flight, and Bugaboom's planet.
- Flipswitch Galaxy: At the center of the Starting Planet.
- Bowser Jr.'s Robot Reactor: At the center of the Starting Planet.
- Space Junk Galaxy: Beneath the Assembly Block Planet in the mission Pull Star Path and Pull Star Path Speed Run, Kamella's battle fleet in Kamella's Airship Attack, and the stone planet with the archway in Tarantox's Tangled Web.
- Battlerock Galaxy: Beneath the bowl-shaped planet in Topmaniac and the Topman Tribe. There is also another close to the side of the Cannon's firing cone on the colorfully tiled missile-shaped planet at the end of Breaking into the Battlerock.
- Hurry-Scurry Galaxy: Beneath the Starting Planet and at the center of the angular planet made of Shrinking platforms.
- Sling Pod Galaxy: Beneath the entire level.
- Bowser's Star Reactor: A few black holes can be found scattered throughout the level to the side or under platforms.
- Beach Bowl Galaxy: At the ends of the Cyclone Stone in The Secret Undersea Cavern and Fast Foes on the Cyclone Stone and beneath the Twin Fall Lake Planet in Wall Jumping up Waterfalls. The Starting Planet is the only planet where black holes do not appear.
- Ghostly Galaxy: Beneath the Boo Mansion Gate Planet and the Haunted Mansion. More can be found beneath Bouldergeist's planet in Beware of Bouldergeist and Bouldergeist's Daredevil Run.
- Bowser Jr.'s Airship Armada: Many can be found beneath Bowser Jr.'s fleet.
- Gusty Garden Galaxy: There is a black hole near the Gravity Scramble Planets in Gusty Garden's Gravity Scramble. Another, larger one can be found lower, but it seems to be unreachable and therefore could be decoration.
- Freezeflame Galaxy: Beneath the Frozen Peak Planet in the mission The Frozen Peak of Baron Brrr and surrounding the Ice and Lava Platform Planets in Hot and Cold Collide and the Ice Platforms Planets in Frosty Cosmic Mario Race.
- Honeyclimb Galaxy: Beneath each planet.
- Bowser's Dark Matter Plant: A black hole can be found below the first platform of the Dark Matter Holes Planet. There is also another in the Gravity field area of the Starting Planet, although unreachable due to being behind a wall.
- Gold Leaf Galaxy: Beneath the Starting Planet.
- Sea Slide Galaxy: At the center of the angular planet made of Shrinking platforms visited in Hurry, He's Hungry.
- Toy Time Galaxy: Beneath the Starting Planet, the planet with the pink gravitational walls and bolts, the Dessert Area Planets, and the Undergrunt Gunner's planet.
- Bowser Jr.'s Lava Reactor: At the center of the Starting Planet.
- Dreadnought Galaxy: Beneath the collapsing tower in the mission Infiltrating the Dreadnought and the planet with the Chibi Wanwans in Dreadnought's Colossal Cannons.
- Melty Molten Galaxy: Only encountered in the mission Through the Meteor Storm, more specifically at the center of the Stone Octagon Planet and beneath the Lava Ball Rolling Planet.
- Bubble Blast Galaxy: Beneath each planet.
- Bowser's Galaxy Reactor: Beneath the Tower Planet.
Super Mario Galaxy 2[edit]
Black holes reappear in Super Mario Galaxy 2, serving a similar role. A black hole also features once more in the final battle against Bowser in Bowser's Galaxy Generator: defeating him in the first phase of the battle causes him to sucked into a black hole. He then emerges from the vortex, swallowing the final Grand Star and growing to a massive size to start the second phase. Defeating Bowser in this phase causes him to be sucked into a slightly larger black hole, which then sucks up the surroundings as well; Princess Peach and the final Grand Star are shot out of its remains several seconds later.
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games[edit]
In the Wii version of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, a single black hole appears under the landing area in the Individual version of Dream Ski Jumping. If the player falls into it due to missing the landing area or falling off the edge of it, they will not gain any bonus points at the end of the event.
Names in other languages[edit]
| Language | Name | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japanese | ブラックホール[?] Burakku Hōru |
Black hole | |
| French | Trou Noir[2] | Black Hole | |
| Italian | Buco nero[?] | Black hole | |
| Spanish | Agujero negro[?] | Black hole |
References[edit]
- ^ @MarioBrothBlog (April 4, 2021). Every black hole in Super Mario Galaxy contains an image of Mario in Beach Bowl Galaxy, filtered and distorted beyond recognition alongside its outer edge.. Twitter. Retrieved December 12, 2021. (Archived April 3, 2021, 17:57:35 UTC via Wayback Machine.)
- ^ 2014. Super Mario Manga Adventures Volume 1. Soleil Productions (French). ISBN 978-2302043350. Page 179.
