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Summary
Mariois inarguably one of the most iconic characters in gaming, and many facets of his design make him recognizable, whether it’s his red overalls, mustache, or logo-emblazoned hat. However, one recurring tool he uses tends to be overlooked in spite of it being something that reappears again and again.
In a lot of Mario-related media, the plumber is shown to use a hammer, and in the RPGs especially, it is his most common weapon. But why are there so many games where Mario never touches a hammer and so many where it is an inseparable part of his skill set?
Why Mario Uses A Hammer?
If you’ve played a few Mario spin-off titles, then the plumber using a hammer probably seems like nothing out of the ordinary, but the origins of Mario using the tool date back to before plenty of the series traditions you know and love.
As you might already know, before he starred in his own series of games, Mario first appeared as a playable protagonist in Donkey Kong.
While Mario is now most well-known as a plumber, in his very first appearance,he was actually a carpenter since the originalDonkey Konggame takes place on a building site.
With Mario being a carpenter, themost fitting tool for him to use would be a hammer, making it Mario’s very first power-up.So before Luigi, Peach, the Mario Bros. series itself, and even Mario’s impromptu career change, Mario wielded a hammer.
Mario’s days as a carpenter were numbered, with him being changed to a plumber to fit the underground setting of Mario Bros. (the first game to feature Luigi).
So while the Mario brothers became plumbers, the iconography of the hammer stuck, and is now a staple for the plumber in spin-off media especially.
When Mario Uses A Hammer
As mentioned, Mario’s use of a hammer is very sporadic, and it is most consistent in spin-off Mario games that are not part of the mainline Mario series. It is interesting to note when Mario does and doesn’t use the hammer since there are certain series where the tool shows up incredibly consistently, while there are others it has completely skipped. So, where does Mario tend to use the hammer most often?
Mainline
While Mario tends to use the hammer a lot less often, inmainline Mario Bros.games, it still appears occasionally, making these occasional appearances noteworthy.
While its inclusion as a mainline Mario game is questionable, since the whole series spawned from it, it is worth mentioning Donkey Kong again.
The hammer was Mario’smost powerful ability in the game, and when he had it equipped, he was able to break barrels and any other obstacles that came from the front.
However, it was not flawless, since he was vulnerable from behind, and his iconic jumping ability was severely limited as well. A similar hammer power-up was also available in Wrecking Crew, where Mario was also playable.
The Donkey Kong hammer has remained such a recognizable part of Mario’s arsenal that it was brought in as an itemusable in Super Smash Bros.
When the item is used,the theme from Donkey Kong plays, and the character using it can unleash strong hits on nearby players, but starting in Melee, the weapon became a double-edged sword, with the head of the hammer occasionally falling off, sticking the character in the swinging animation, but rendering them completely vulnerable.
The hammer completely skipped Mario’s career change to a plumber in Mario Bros. butreappeared out of his grasp in the Super Mario Bros.series.
The item instead became a tool to use against Mario, with it being the signature weapon of the Hammer Bros. and even used by Bowser against Mario in certain encounters to stop him from being able to jump over King Koopa as easily.
The weapon was available as a power-up again in the early years of Super Mario Bros.but only in Super Mario Bros. Special, a Japanese and South Korean exclusive available on certain PCs only.
The next time Mario would be able to use hammers would be inSuper Mario Bros. 3 where Mario can unlock the Hammer Suit power-upthat essentially lets him use hammers like a Hammer Bro.
This was one of the most powerful abilities in the game and allowed Mario to break otherwise impenetrable blocks and even boulders blocking off certain parts of the overworld map.
After this, Mario’s hammer-wielding era took a hiatus, with the closest thing for years being Yoshi’s ability to swallow and throwback hammers when ridden by Mario in New Super Mario Bros. Wii, New Super Mario Bros. U, and Mario Galaxy 2.
The next time Mario would get more direct control over hammers would not be untilSuper Mario Odyssey, where Mario can use Cappy to possess Hammer Bros., letting Mario directly use their hammer-throwing abilities.
After this, the final mainline use of Mario using a hammer would be inSuper Mario Maker 2, which introduced the Super Mario 3D World theme.
In this theme exclusively, you are able to place down Super Hammers (an ability notably not featured in the actual Super Mario 3D World), and when equipped, wouldtransform Mario into Builder Mario, the outfit he wears on the game’s cover, and this ability lets him use hammers in the same style as the Hammer Suit in Super Mario Bros. 3.
Throughout the years, Mario has featured in a variety of RPG titles, and in almost all of these, he is shown to use a hammer as one of his primary weapons. The first Mario RPG,Super Mario RPG, and its 2023 remakeboth feature Mario using a hammer as the first weapon he equips.
It is ironically first shown after beingpicked up from the first boss, the Hammer Bros. There are multiple hammer upgrades and new versions available throughout the game for Mario to collect.
The hammer is also used frequently in thePaper Mario series, as well as the Mario & Luigi series, with the hammerbeing given to Baby Mario and Baby Luigi in Mario & Luigi Partners in Time.
Even InMario + Rabbids, the only characters that are able to equip hammers are Mario and Rabbid Mario.
Spin-Off
Aside from the RPGs, there are a few other appearances where Mario uses hammers. The tool is used not just by Mario,but by all playable characters in various Mario Party seriesmini-games, like Bash ‘n’ Cash and Coin Block Bash in 1, Lights Out in 2, Pipe Cleaners and Swing ‘n’ Swipe in 3, Hammer Spammer in 7 and Spike Strike in 9.
While the hammer is not present in themainline Mario Kart games, it is usable in some of the spin-offs, with it being a special item in the Mario Kart Arcade GP series and an event skill in Mario Kart Tour.
A hammer is even used in Mario Tennis, being wielded by Mario and Luigi for theiroffensive shots in Mario Power Tennis and Mario Tennis Power Tour.
