! Switch

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! Switch
! Switch
Artwork from Yoshi's Island DS
First appearance Super Mario World (1990)
Latest appearance Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch) (2024)
Effect Triggers an effect to change the stage in some way
Variants
Related
Comparable

A ! Switch[1][2][3] (or !-Switch),[4] also known as a ! Switch Block[5] or simply a switch, is a type of Switch Block first seen in Super Mario World. They usually either turn blocks solid or affect the environment in some capacity.

History[edit]

Super Mario series[edit]

Super Mario World / Super Mario World: Super Mario Advance 2[edit]

The four big switches from Super Mario World

Each of the four Switch Palaces in Super Mario World and its reissue feature a differently colored ! Switch (simply referred to as a "big switch" in the manual[6] and also known as a Switch[7]) of a different color, in the order of Yellow Switch,[8]:56 the Green Switch,[8]:67 the Red Switch,[8]:82 or the Blue Switch.[8]:108 They turn every Dotted-Line Block of the same color into an Exclamation Mark Block. Pressing B Button in the original Super Mario World the instant a switch is pressed keeps them in midair while a message is displayed for activating it.[9]

Super Mario 64 / Super Mario 64 DS[edit]

A Purple Switch in Super Mario 64
A Purple Switch from Super Mario 64
Unused leftover of Super Mario 64 DS's Purple Switch from New Super Mario Bros.
A Switch from Super Mario 64 DS

Super Mario 64 features two types of ! Switches. Purple Switches[10] (or Purple Exclamation Switches)[11] appear in most courses and are flat and rectangular in shape, being colored plum in Super Mario 64 and later dark red in Super Mario 64 DS. Purple Switches usually cause either breakable platforms to appear or make it possible to bypass terrain. A Purple Switch makes a ticking sound indicating its effects and sounds increasingly fast until the effects expire. The original version also has three Cap Switches, which are shaped like ! Switches in the previous game and similarly make a certain type of block usable, Cap Blocks. Super Mario 64 DS integrates the functions of the three ! Switches into one red ? Switch and adds another variation, the Star Switch.

Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3[edit]

Small yellow !-Switches are in three World-e levels of Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3: Doors o' Plenty, A Sky-High Adventure, and Sea to Sky. Pressing them turns every Dotted-Line Block into ! Blocks temporarily. They can be carried, similar to Switch Blocks, though they can be activated more than once.

New Super Mario Bros.[edit]

Every ! Switch is red in New Super Mario Bros., temporarily making every Dotted-Line Block into a Red Block.

The Purple Switch from Super Mario 64 exists as an unused object in the files.

Super Mario Galaxy / Super Mario Galaxy 2[edit]

Tox Boxes in Super Mario Galaxy 2.
A blue switch in Super Mario Galaxy
Main article: Blue switch (Super Mario Galaxy)

There are ! Switches titled blue switches, a type of Ground-Pound Switch in Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Galaxy 2 with a temporary effect indicated by a timer noise.

An unused model of a red checkpoint ! Switch is in the files of Super Mario Galaxy.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii[edit]

! Switches appear in New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Activating one in World 3 makes every Red Block usable in World 3-4 and World 3-5, though a different one nearby deactivates them. A ! Switch functions in place of an axe during the final battle with Bowser, causing him to fall, and a large ! Switch is later into the battle, defeating Bowser completely.

New Super Mario Bros. 2[edit]

Mario, jumping towards a cobweb, which is next to a ! Switch, and a Yellow Pipe.
A ! Switch upside down on a platform in New Super Mario Bros. 2

Red ! Switches are single-use objects in New Super Mario Bros. 2. They usually cause coins to appear, but they do appear in various fights against Bowser, including the final one, Dry Bowser in World Star, and in the third course of the Gold Classics Pack.

New Super Mario Bros. U / New Super Luigi U / New Super Mario Bros. Deluxe[edit]

The map of Rock-Candy Mines in New Super Mario Bros. U has red and blue switches similar to ! Switches, and one functions in the battle against Bowser the same as in New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

Super Mario Run[edit]

! Switches are yellow in Super Mario Run, although Red Blocks are formed from Dotted-Line Blocks temporarily. Scuttlebug Forest has some ! Switches that cause coins to dangle from strings temporarily.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder[edit]

There is only one ! Switch in Super Mario Bros. Wonder, found in the second 10-flower coin room of The Midway Trial: Hop to It. Having a Hoppycat press the ! Switch causes a line of yellow blocks to form over spikes temporarily, then the player character has a chance to get the 10-flower coin. There is also a large ! Switch under the chin of Wonder Bowser.

Yoshi's Island series[edit]

A Switch in Yoshi's New Island
A ! Switch

Switches[12][13][14][15] appear in every installment of the Yoshi's Island series: Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (and its reissue), Yoshi's Island DS, Yoshi's New Island. Jumping on them causes the Dotted-Line Blocks to transform into red ! Blocks. These allow the Yoshis to cross obstacles such as pits and spikes, or reach otherwise inaccessible areas. Pressing these switches also occasionally causes a warp to a bonus area to appear, indicated by a red arrow above it. Yoshi's Story instead features the ? Switch, which has a similar role to the latter function.

Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars[edit]

Switches are green, circular, and have a flat top in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. One in Kero Sewers drains the water in the main portion, and Belome stands on another with more water contained behind a lock. A switch is also found in a house of Rose Town and activates the stairway to it. Booster Tower has a switch that opens a path in Booster Pass. Belome stands on a different switch in Belome Temple, now causing a door to Monstro Town to be closed. Several switches are in one of Dr. Topper's puzzles in Bowser's Keep, where pressing them is required. There is lastly a switch in the Factory that activates a crane to Smithy's workshop.

Wario Land 4[edit]

! Switches
The different colored "!" Buttons in Wario Land 4

Three colored blocks are in Wario Land 4, and these "!" Buttons[16] (or Exclamation Switches[17]) similarly solidify when Wario hits them from below and often appear in pink areas.

Paper Mario series[edit]

Paper Mario[edit]

! Switch
Kooper hitting a ! Switch in Koopa Bros. Fortress in Paper Mario
Mario using Kooper to hit a switch in Koopa Bros. Fortress

In Paper Mario, switches trigger various events when hit or jumped on and are often involved in puzzles. The standard dome-shaped switches appear in blue and red. Blue switches can only be used once, normally for opening passages of some kind, while the red switches can be used an unlimited amount of times, and are normally used for moving important objects.

In the prologue, the Goomba King warns Mario not to press a blue switch, claiming it is "dangerous". However, Mario presses it, the Goomba King's Fortress turns into a bridge, and the Goomba King and Goomba Bros. are thrown away. In Chapter 1, Mario has to use Kooper to press switches that appear over gaps. In Dry Dry Ruins, flat, stone, square off-pink colored ones appear in certain rooms and are used to drain sand, or in one case cause stairs to emerge from a wall. Similar switches without the exclamation mark are used to rotate stairways.

In the basement of Boo's Mansion, a giant-sized switch appears, and must be triggered using a Spin Jump to make the stairs appear. In Chapter 6, a series of paired stone elevators appear with flat, square switches on top in red, green, and purple and must be navigated to reach the Puff Puff Machine; these also must be pressed with a Spin Jump.

In Chapter 7, a flat, circular green one nearly identical to the ones in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, called a floor switch by Goombario, appears on Shiver Mountain and is used to raise a platform of icy ground. Additionally, more flat square switches which change color when slammed are used to switch between doors in the Crystal Palace, and Mario needs Bombette for two round red switches that activate a rotating door in the same area. Finally, Bowser uses another green floor switch to remove the bridge to the Power Platform once Mario and his team have boarded, triggering the final battle.

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door[edit]

The tutorial for Shell Toss in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
Shell Toss demonstration

Switches make appearances in several parts of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, appearing as red or blue like the previous, as well as retaining its usual functionality of hitting blue switches once and red switches for an unlimited amount of time. Standard switches in this game are now cube-shaped. On rare occasions, they float in the air as blocks and must be jumped at to activate.

In Petal Meadows, Mario has to hit two blue switches with circular insides, called tandem switches (which appear after retrieving the two Stone Keys in Shhwonk Fortress), simultaneously to activate the Warp Pipe to Hooktail Castle; he accomplishes this by utilizing Koops's hold ability.

There are also black and white switches found in the Great Tree. Mario and company push the black switch to reveal four white switches in the room where Mario found the blue key to free the other Punies. Mario has to hit the white switches in this order: Sun, Moon, Puni, and Star to retrieve the Super Boots. Also in the Great Tree is a light-blue colored flat switch (simply called a "typical switch" by Goombella) which causes a standard blue switch to move underwater whenever it is depressed. Koops' hold ability again must be used to hit the switch when it comes back out.

A giant super switch appears outside the juice bar in Glitzville. Mario needs to perform a Spin Jump on it to activate it, allowing him to reach the roof. More super switches appear in Rogueport Underground, and cause blue pipes to appear when triggered.

Switches with numbers inside appear in the lower floors of the Riverside Station. Mario and friends have to defeat three Goombas guarding them to access them. The left switch has to be hit 3 times, the center switch has to be hit 10 times and the right switch only has to be hit once. Hitting the switches the correct amount of times will make them flash red until the last switch is hit. After all the switches are hit, the switches will vanish, opening a staircase leading Mario and friends to the Ultra Boots, as well as a Shine Sprite. Goombella cannot tattle these switches.

Seven red switches found in the Palace of Shadow are the only red switches that can only be used once. They move a wheel allowing Mario and his friends to get to the Shadow Queen's throne room and crypt. From left to right, hitting the first, third, fourth and sixth switches, as noted by the stars underneath the wheel, will activate it.

Tattles
  • "That's just a normal switch. Stomp on it or whack it to flip the switch."
  • "That's a super switch. Do a Spin Jump above it to activate it."
  • "That's a Lift Switch. Hit it to ride a Lift Block of the same color."

Super Paper Mario[edit]

A giant red switch
Blue ! Switch
A blue switch

Red and blue switches appear in Super Paper Mario similarly as before. Floating block versions are uncovered by the Pixl Fleep. A standard blue switch can be activated to spawn a giant red switch on the floor of Yold Ruins, causing Spiky Tromps to fall into a large pit and opening access to a door. Flopside similarly has one near a Heart Pillar. Switches changing between blue and pink appear in The Dotwood Tree, spawning platforms of the same color but removing those of the other color. Four switches in Floro Caverns change between black, white, blue, and red, and changing them is required to match nearby portraits of Floro Sapien royalty.

Super Mario-kun[edit]

! Switch from Super Mario-kun. Page 18, volume 3.
In one part of Super Mario-kun, the switch is used to activate blocks so they can fall and defeat the Rex.

! Switches appear several times in Super Mario-kun. In one instance, the switch is used to defeat Rex. In another instance, a Reznor knocks Mario onto a building shaped like the ! Switch. After defeating the Reznor, Mario is shown to be exasperated at a set of invisible blocks, which require a ! Switch to activate.

Mario Pinball Land[edit]

Mario Pinball Land includes the Red Switch,[18]:23 found in every level, and the Blue Switch,[18] appearing in Grassy Greens Stage, the Bob-omb minigame within the blue Toad's tent, and in the boss fight against Bowser. Both types of switches give 3,000 points when activated. The Red Switch spawns eight Red Coins temporarily, but one can activate it again afterward until Mario gets a Star, turning the deactivated switch into a red ! Block with a Special Egg. The Blue Switch functions differently by location, including by making the windmill accessible in Grassy Greens Stage, making cannons shoot a Bob-omb if activated while flashing, and dropping Thwomps during the Bowser battle temporarily, obstructing him.

Mario Party 6[edit]

A non-functional green, a yellow, and a red ! Switch are displayed inside of Orb huts in Mario Party 6.

Super Princess Peach[edit]

Switches are found in the Fury Volcano stages and certain secret stages in Super Princess Peach. They can be activated while the Rage vibe is in effect. There are orange, floating, block-like switches that can turn on or off, and they appear blue in Wavy Beach.

Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story / Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey[edit]

A ! Switch from Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story A pressed ! Switch from Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story

There are many ! Switches in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story and its remake. They can only be activated using Bowser's Body Slam attack. ! Switches are pink (red in the remake) and transparent but otherwise use their design from Super Mario 64. ! Switches have various effects, like opening doors or spawning platforms, then they become grayed, meaning they are no longer usable.

Yoshi's Woolly World / Poochy & Yoshi's Woolly World[edit]

Red and yellow ! Switches are in Yoshi's Woolly World and Poochy & Yoshi's Woolly World. The red ! Switches work the same as in the Yoshi's Island series. The yellow type, found only in Perils of the Perplexing Pyramid, works the opposite by turning yellow ! Blocks back into Dotted Line Blocks.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate[edit]

Several red, blue, and yellow ! Switches appear in World of Light of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, most prominently within the Molten Fortress. They cause ! Blocks to appear, creating functional bridges composed of ! Blocks.

Unused appearances[edit]

Paper Mario: Sticker Star[edit]

A ! Switch from the E3 2010 build of Paper Mario: Sticker Star
Blue ! Switch in a Paper Mario: Sticker Star pre-release screenshot.

Blue ! Switches were intended to appear in Paper Mario: Sticker Star but were removed from the game.

Profiles[edit]

Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3[edit]

  • Instruction booklet description:
    • English (British):
      Step on these to reveal hidden objects and cause other special things to happen.[page number needed]

Gallery[edit]

For this subject's image gallery, see Gallery:! Switch.

Names in other languages[edit]

Language Name Meaning Notes
Japanese スイッチ[19][20][21][22]
Suitchi
Switch
[﹗]ボタン[23]
[﹗] Botan
[!] Button Wario Land Advance
あおスイッチ[24]
Ao Suitchi
Blue Switch Super Mario Ball
あかスイッチ[25]
Aka Suitchi
Red Switch
スイッチブロック[26]
Suitchi Burokku
Switch Block New Super Mario Bros., shared with P Switch and ? Switch
ビックリスイッチ[27]
Bikkuri Suitchi
Surprise Switch Encyclopedia Super Mario Bros.
Chinese 开关[?]
Kāiguān
Switch
French Interrupteur ![?] ! Switch
German !-Schalter[?] ! Switch
Italian Interruttore ![?] ! Switch
Portuguese Interruptor ![?] ! Switch
Bloco de Mudança ![?] ! Change Block New Super Mario Bros.
Russian Переключатель[?]
Pereklyuchatel'
Switch
Purple Switches
Language Name Meaning Notes
Italian Interruttore[28] Switch

References[edit]

  1. ^ Bueno, Fernando (November 15, 2009). New Super Mario Bros. Wii: PRIMA Official Game Guide. Prima Games (American English). ISBN 978-0-307-46592-4. Page 67 and 171.
  2. ^ von Esmarch, Nick (2012). New Super Mario Bros. 2 PRIMA Official Game Guide. Prima Games (American English). ISBN 978-0-307-89552-3. Page 86, 87, 142, 168, 228.
  3. ^ Stratton, Steve (November 18, 2012). New Super Mario Bros. U PRIMA Official Game Guide. Prima Games (American English). ISBN 978-0-307-89690-2. Page 201.
  4. ^ Hodgson, David S J (October 21, 2003). Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 Prima's Official Strategy Guide. Prima Games (American English). ISBN 0-7615-4425-8. Page 122.
  5. ^ 2012. New Super Mario Bros. European instruction booklet (PDF). Nintendo of Europe (British English). Page 18.
  6. ^ Super Mario World English instruction booklet. Page 21.
  7. ^ September 1991. Nintendo Power Volume 28. Nintendo of America (American English). Page 14 and 22.
  8. ^ a b c d August 1991. Mario Mania Player's Guide. Nintendo of America (American English).
  9. ^ February 12, 2022. Yump. Super Mario World Speedrunning Wiki. Retrieved July 17, 2023. (Archived July 17, 2023, 23:25:45 UTC via Wayback Machine.)
  10. ^ 1996. Super Mario 64 Player's Guide. Nintendo of America (American English). Page 18.
  11. ^ "Bowser in the Dark World" Nintendo: Super Mario 64 Strategy. nintendo.com (American English). Archived February 24, 1998, 21:11:56 UTC from the original via Wayback Machine. Retrieved March 15, 2022.
  12. ^ 1995. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island instruction booklet (PDF). Nintendo of America (American English). Page 17.
  13. ^ 2002. Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3 instruction booklet (PDF). Nintendo of Europe (British English). Page 11.
  14. ^ 2006. Yoshi's Island DS instruction booklet (PDF). Nintendo of Europe (British English). Page 17.
  15. ^ Yoshi's New Island digital manual (PDF). Page 13.
  16. ^ 2001. Wario Land 4 instruction booklet. Nintendo of America (American English). Page 26.
  17. ^ Fall 2001. Nintendo Power Advance Volume 3. Nintendo Power (American English). Page 53.
  18. ^ a b 2004. Mario Pinball Land instruction booklet (PDF). Nintendo of America (American English). Page 23.
  19. ^ Super Mario World Japanese instruction booklet, Switch Palace section (PDF). Nintendo (Japanese). Page 25.
  20. ^ 1995. Super Mario: Yossy Island instruction booklet (PDF). Nintendo (Japanese). Page 16.
  21. ^ 2006. ヨッシーアイランドDS (Yosshī Airando DS) instruction booklet (PDF). Nintendo (Japanese). Page 15.
  22. ^ 2014. Yoshi New Island digital manual (PDF). Nintendo (Japanese). Page 15.
  23. ^ 2001. Wario Land Advance Japanese instruction booklet. Nintendo (Japanese). Page 22.
  24. ^ 2004. Super Mario Ball instruction booklet (PDF). Nintendo (Japanese). Page 16.
  25. ^ 2004. Super Mario Ball instruction booklet (PDF). Nintendo (Japanese). Page 18.
  26. ^ 2006. Newニュー スーパーマリオブラザーズ (Nyū Sūpā Mario Burazāzu) instruction booklet (PDF). Nintendo (Japanese). Page 17.
  27. ^ Sakai, Kazuya (Ambit) et al. (October 19, 2015). Super Mario Bros. Hyakka: Nintendo Kōshiki Guidebook, Super Mario Sunshine section. Shogakukan (Japanese). ISBN 978-4-09-106569-8. Page 61, 119, 151, 201, and 216.
  28. ^ November 15, 2018. Super Mario Bros. Enciclopedia. Magazzini Salani (Italian). ISBN 889367436X. Page 92.