History GameBreaker / SuperMarioBros

** Don't forget the P-Wing. Even if it only lasts one level, it still gives you the ability to fly as long as you want. You don't even need a running start to get airborne.
*** And worse, in one stage in Giant World, you could use a P-Wing, find the Tanooki suit in that level, and go through the second half of that stage with a ''P-Tanooki''. World 6-3 and the first World 7 fortress also had them.

** Don't forget [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07CrnqGX73k This bug]] either. Heaps of lives easily at a whim? There's no point anymore.

** Luigi is a GameBreaker once more in SuperPaperMario. Play an earlier level, and he can simply jump over most of the sections where you'd normally need Mario to flip, Peach to glide, or Bowser to smash stuff. He can also be hacked into the game early to fight bosses he can't normally, and most of them become just as easy as the Bonechill battle is when playing as Luigi, if not easier. If you're going to try to hack him, just don't fight Mimi with anyone but Mario or Princess Peach. Anyone else will mess up the cutscene, forcing you to restart your save file.

* ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBros'' Has the mini-mushroom. Which essentially shrinks Mario down to half his un-powered up forms size, and while it makes him a OneHitPointWonder who can't even kill enemies without a ground pound, it makes you more floaty, gives you greater control over your movements in the air, lets you jump higher, further, faster, and makes you far harder to hit, in addition to being able to run across water. In short, it essentially trivializes all the platforming in the game, even most bosses are far easier once you get the timing of butt pound down.

** Hell, [[DivergentCharacterEvolution Luigi]] in ''general'' is broken (as far as platformers are concerned). In a platforming series known for its [[PlatformHell technical jumps]] and [[BossDissonance obstacles]]. Being more floaty, having greater control over your movements in the air, and being able to jump higher and farther than your [[TheMario redder counterpart]] goes a long way in curving the actual difficulty of the game in your favor.

*** Powerups in general are broken in Super Mario World. Whereas there are a finite number of Hammer Suits, P-Wings and Tanooki Suits in ''SuperMarioBros3''(and are a hassle to farm in remakes where they are infinite since you still have to play the levels in that World all the way back to the vendor), you can just backtrack and get another Blue Yoshi or Cape with much greater ease. And to make the game [[SarcasmMode infinitely harder]], this game has the Top Secret Area, a small space where a player can stock up on a Yoshi and infinite lives and power-ups, all in no more than a few seconds (except for the infinite lives).

* Unlike the overpowered cape, the Raccoon Tail in ''SuperMarioBros3'' only allowed Mario to fly for a few seconds, and its spin attack is much slower and much shorter in range. However, the Tanooki Suit, which is basically a suped-up version of the Raccoon Tail, simply dominates over that and the other flying powerups for one simple reason: its statue mode. Sure, it renders you immobile and it only lasts a few seconds, but you can slide under gaps that are too narrow for even small Mario if you're on a conveyor belt, and you can kill nearly ''any'' enemy by [[DeathFromAbove statue-stomping them from above]], ''including the otherwise-invulnerable Rotodisk''.

* Luigi in VideoGame/SuperMario64 DS. The game was made for Mario's abilities, and most definitely not with the exaggerated jumping skill of Luigi in mind. Since his backflip allows for infinite gliding, and the Vanish ability is usable from all ? blocks, you can use it to literally get all the stars in Hazy Maze Cave without going through the poisonous maze, get most of the stars in Rainbow Ride without tricky platforming and completely skip having to ground pound the pillars in Shifting Sand Land.
* Hell, [[DivergentCharacterEvolution Luigi]] in ''general'' is broken (as far as platformers are concerned). In a platforming series known for its [[PlatformHell technical jumps]] and [[BossDissonance obstacles]]. Being more floaty, having greater control over your movements in the air, and being able to jump higher and farther than your [[TheMario redder counterpart]] goes a long way in curving the actual difficulty of the game in your favor.

* ''NewSuperMarioBros'' Has the mini-mushroom. Which essentially shrinks Mario down to half his un-powered up forms size, and while it makes him a OneHitPointWonder who can't even kill enemies without a ground pound, it makes you more floaty, gives you greater control over your movements in the air, lets you jump higher, further, faster, and makes you far harder to hit, in addition to being able to run across water. In short, it essentially trivializes all the platforming in the game, even most bosses are far easier once you get the timing of butt pound down.

** The game's own playthrough videos in ''NewSuperMarioBros Wii'' frequently depict it being used to ride Bullet Bills across ''entire levels'' for extra lives and profit.

* The Cape in ''SuperMarioWorld'' earns its GameBreaker status with flying colors. It not only allowed Mario to perform sustained flight (which, given a few minutes practice, allows you to bypass most levels by taking a running jump and hitting the left directional button every few seconds), but it also gives him a spin attack powerful enough to kill most enemies. Even more broken is when he is flying - it is the only instance where Mario does not lose his power if he gets hit by an enemy. It also allows you to fall much more slowly than you normally would, so you can control where you'll land.

** The Hammer Suit from the same game has [[DemonicSpiders Hammer Bros]]-style hammers that go through structures and enemies and have hilariously high damage output; one hit will destroy a mini-fortress boss, and six will take down Bowser.

* The Cape in ''SuperMarioWorld'' earns its GameBreaker status with [[IncrediblyLamePun flying]] colors: it not only lets Mario fly over entire stages, but it also gives him a spin attack powerful enough to kill most enemies. Even more broken is when he is flying, it is the only instance where Mario does not lose his power up if he gets hit by an enemy. Oh, and it also allows you to fall much more slowly than you normally would, so you can control where you'll land. This might explain the lack of a flying powerup in ''NewSuperMarioBros''.
** The Wii version of NSMB has the Propeller Mushroom. It acts like a mega jump, it allows you to glide, and then you can fall on enemies at high speed to kill them. Basically, it's the power of flight all over again!

*** And worse, in one stage in Giant World, you could use a P-Wing, find the Tanooki suit in that level, and go through the second half of that stage with a ''P-Tanooki''. Thankfully, that's the only stage This Troper knows of with that combination.
**** World 6-3 and the first World 7 fortress also had them.

* Luigi in SuperMario64 DS. The game was made for Mario's abilities, and most definitely not with the exaggerated jumping skill of Luigi in mind. Since his backflip allows for infinite gliding, and the Vanish ability is usable from all ? blocks, you can use it to literally get all the stars in Hazy Maze Cave without going through the poisonous maze, get most of the stars in Rainbow Ride without tricky platforming and completely skip having to ground pound the pillars in Shifting Sand Land.

* Not strictly "SuperMarioBrothers", but from the Mario series: Super Mario Land: Six Golden Coins. One stage had hippo statues that blew bubbles out of their ears (don't ask). The problem with these bubbles was that if you held the jump button down, you would ascend to the top of the level. This meant that you could fly over the entire level, avoid every single enemy, and get the level end bonus, all without really trying. Needless to say, this meant infinite fire flowers, infinite lives, etc. Even better, if you did this trick when in mushroom or fire flower form, you picked up all the coins along the second to top row of the map.

* The Cape in ''SuperMarioWorld'' earns its GameBreaker status with [[IncrediblyLamePun flying]] colors: it not only lets Mario fly over entire stages, but it also gives him a spin attack powerful enough to kill most enemies. Even more broken is when he is flying, it is the only instant that Mario does not lose his power up if he gets hit by an enemy. Oh, and it also allows you to fall much more slowly than you normally would, so you can control where you'll land. This might explain the lack of a flying powerup in ''NewSuperMarioBros''.
** While that's true for NSMB, the Wii version has the Propeller Mushroom. It acts like a mega jump, it allows you to glide, and then you can fall on enemies at high speed to kill them. Basically, it's the power of flight all over again!
*** That's not totally true. The Propeller Mushroom is balanced that it slows you down a lot while gliding, you can't really fly over the level, and it is basicly just a super jump. However, it does become a gamebreaker on any verticle stage level.
** In addition, the Blue Yoshi (which lets you fly when he eats a Koopa shell of any color). You can find this variant in two ways: A) Hatch one in 'Star World 2'(the water stage) and feed him 5 enemies or 1 powerup to make him mature; or B) Use any breed of Yoshi and catch the pair of Magic Wings on the Cheese Bridge (how appropriate!) stage, which turns him into the blue variant. Once you have one, you can then bypass entire stages easily: Simply slurp up a Koopa, hold up and right, and wait. It's the easiest way to pass the hardest level in the game, the Special World's [[ScrappyLevel "Tubular"]] level. It's ''that'' broken.

* Hell, [[{{Luigification}} Luigi]] in ''general'' is broken (as far as platformers are concerned). In a platforming series known for its [[PlatformHell technical jumps]] and [[BossDissonance obstacles]]. Being more floaty, having greater control over your movements in the air, and being able to jump higher and farther than your [[TheMario redder counterpart]] goes a long way in curving the actual difficulty of the game in your favor.

* ''NewSuperMarioBros'' Has the mini-mushroom. Which essentially shrinks Mario down to half his un-powered up forms size, and while it makes him a OneHitPointOnder who can't even kill enemies without a ground pound, it makes you more floaty, gives you greater control over your movements in the air, lets you jump higher, further, faster, and makes you far harder to hit, in addition to being able to run across water. In short, it essentially trivializes all the platforming in the game, even most bosses are far easier once you get the timing of butt pound down.

* ''NewSuperMarioBros'' Has the mini-mushroom. Which essentially shrinks Mario down to half his un-powered up forms size, it also doesn't give an extra hit like the other power up, and it forces you to do a butt pound to hurt any of your enemies. So what makes it game breaking? It makes you more floaty, gives you greater control over your movements in the air, lets you jump higher, further, faster, and makes you far harder to hit. In short, it essentially trivializes all the platforming in the game, even most bosses are far easier once you get the timing of butt pound down.
** Don't forget running on water.

**** The Advance version made this even ''more'' broken, by making Yoshis of a certain color available from ''any'' Yoshi box (once fully grown in the Star World, of course). Having a cape would net you a full-grown Blue Yoshi automatically.

** In addition, the Blue Yoshi (which lets you fly when he eats a Koopa shell of any color). You can find this variant in only two ways: he's in one stage in the Star World, and he needs to eat 5 enemies or 1 item to make him grow larger; or you could just catch a pair of Yoshi's Wings on the Cheese Bridge (how appropriate!). Once you have him, however, you can pass entire stages easily. Simply eat a Koopa, hold up and right, and wait. It's the easiest way to pass the hardest level in the game, the Special World's "Tubular" level.
*** Powerups in general are broken in Super Mario World. Whereas there are a finite number of Hammer Suits, P-Wings and Tanooki Suits in ''SuperMarioBros3'', you can just backtrack and get another Blue Yoshi or Cape with much greater ease. And to make the game [[SarcasmMode infinitely harder]], this game has the Top Secret Area, a small space where a player can stock up on a Yoshi and infinite lives and power-ups, all in no more than a few seconds (except for the infinite lives).

* Unlike the overpowered cape, the Raccoon Tail in ''SuperMarioBros3'' only allowed Mario to fly for a few seconds, and its spin attack required much more precise timing to pull off. However, the Tanooki Suit, which is basically a suped-up version of the Raccoon Tail, simply dominates over that and the other flying powerups for one simple reason: its statue mode. Sure, it renders you immobile for a while, and it only lasts a few seconds, but you can slide under gaps that are too narrow for even small Mario if you're on a conveyor belt, and you can kill nearly ''any'' enemy by [[DeathFromAbove statue-stomping them from above]], ''including the otherwise-invulnerable Rotodisk''.

* The Cape in ''SuperMarioWorld'' earns its GameBreaker status with [[IncrediblyLamePun flying]] colors: it not only lets Mario fly over entire stages, but it also gives him a spin attack powerful enough to kill most enemies. Even more broken is when he is flying, it is the only instant that Mario does not lose his power up if he gets hit by an enemy. This might explain the lack of a flying powerup in ''NewSuperMarioBros''.