Balloon Mario

Balloon Mario (Japanese: バルーンマリオ Mario) is a power-up that appears in the Super Mario series. First appearing in , the "Balloon" form can be taken on by Mario and Luigi by touching a P-Balloon. While Balloon Mario, the player will float upwards uncontrollably as if filled with helium, only being able to slightly adjust whether their character moves left or right while doing so.
In Balloon Mario, here referred to as Floating Power (Japanese: 風船マリオ Mario), appears as the power-up that Mario receives via the Power Flower. Only Mario is able to become Balloon Mario in this game as Wario instead becomes Metal Wario, Luigi becomes Vanish Luigi, and Yoshi gains the ability to breath fire upon touching the same power-up. Floating Power in this game is very situational, as it is extremely similar to the Wing Cap, another power-up that only Mario can use within the same game.
Balloon Mario would also reappear in . In this game Balloon Mario was once again a form exclusive to Mario, who could now access this form by walking over air vents on the ground. Instead of Mario floating upwards indefinitely until the effects of the power-up run out, this game instead saw Luigi grab onto Mario's legs, allowing the two brothers to jump higher and slowly float down to the ground afterwards.
In Super Mario World, Mario or Luigi would revert to their small forms should they take damage while the P-Balloon's effects are active. In , characters affected by the P-Balloon will instead revert to their Super form upon taking damage, regardless of whether they had any other power-up previously. Yoshis also can not be ridden while under the effects of the P-Balloon.
== Physical Appearance ==
Originally, a character under the effects of the P-Balloon would simply inflate into a spherical shape and hold their breath, essentially transforming them into a balloon. Mario and Luigi's clothing would remain unchanged in this form, making it one of the rare power-ups that does not give them a unique colour scheme; though it technically doesn't alter their appearance in any way, aside from inflating the character using it.
Beginning in Super Mario Maker 2, characters would receive a new design while under the effects of a P-Balloon. When in their Balloon forms, Mario, Luigi, Toad, and Toadette would instead gain yellow pants emblazoned with a white "P", while still inflating as they did normally; as Toadette wears a dress as opposed to pants, the "P" would be present on her dress while her pants would instead become yellow.
Balloon Mario is one of the few power-up forms that has exclusively appeared as an item with a time limit. While in some games, such as , limited-time power-up forms would have the music speed up as time runs out, Balloon Mario instead sees the character affected deflate for a few frames before reinflating; this process speeds up the closer the effects are to ceasing before eventually ending altogether and having the character fall back to the ground. In the Game Boy Advance remake of Super Mario World, , the music's tempo would slow while controlling Balloon Mario or Luigi and slowly speed up as the effects wear off, with a deflating noise accompanying their return to normal; this is the only game in which this happens, however.
== Fanon Appearances ==
=== Super Mario Maker 3 (TheProjectXZoneFan1997) ===
Balloon Mario is one of the many transformations of the game, the ones who can turn into this form are Mario, Luigi, Toad, Toadette, Peach, Daisy, Rosalina, Wario, Donkey Kong and Nabbit.
== Gallery ==
SMW Balloon Mario.png|
SM64DS Balloon Mario.png|
Cape Mario - KC Mario manga.png|Kodansha's Super Mario manga, alongside Cape Mario and several enemies.
BalloonMario.png|Balloon Mario
Balloon Luigi.png|Balloon Luigi
Youdoodle-2017-07-23T10-47-54Z.png|Balloon Yellow Toad
Balloon Peach.png|Balloon Princess Peach
File:Balloon Mario.png
File:SMM2 Balloon Mario sprite.png
File:SMW Balloon Mario sprite.png
File:Balloon Mario MGC.png
File:BalloonMario SM64S.png
==See also==
*Blimp Yoshi
Category:Mario's Power-Ups
Category:Transformations
Category:Mario (series)
Category:Goomsday
Category:Super Mario Evolution
Category:Power-Ups
Category:Non-fanon characters