Hothead

Hothead
A fire/electric item used to circle stages and cause damage
Universe	Mario
Appears in	SSBB
Item class	Throwing/Living

Hotheads　(パサラン, pasaran) are items that, when thrown, will slide across the ground releasing bursts of sparks and damaging your opponents. When hit with fire or electricity-based attacks, they grow bigger, dealing more knockback. Ness, Lucas, Pikachu, Charizard, Bowser, and Captain Falcon are the best to use when you want the hothead to get big. However, in contrast to what its trophy says, there's an upper limit to how large the Hothead can become (roughly 3 times its original diameter).

It must be picked up and thrown to be activated. Once the Hothead lands on the ground or a platform, it will move along the surface in the direction it was thrown. A Hothead can continue to grow after it is thrown. If it's thrown onto a stage, the Hothead will cling onto the stage's walls and surface. If, however, it lands on a platform, the Hothead will simply roll off until it finds solid ground (or just falls off the screen). To prevent this happening, throw the hothead down on a solid platform, so that you don't waste getting easy damage. Hotheads eventually disappear in an amount of time inversely proportionate to their size. They can also be reflected while active and reflecting it will change the "owner" of the Hothead to the player who reflected it. After consecutive reflecting the Hothead will still be the same size, but will now be unreflectable and opponents who touch it will receive damage as high as 80% and an instant One-hit KO.

Origin

In Super Mario World, Hotheads were enemies that appeared inside Wendy Koopa's Castle on World Six, Choco Island. This level largely comprised of stone blocks, which had Hotheads constantly moving around them. Unlike those in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, they were not enlarged by fire and they never disappeared. An interesting fact to note is that there were smaller versions of Hotheads, know as Li'l Sparkies. It is possible that the idea of them getting bigger in SSBB developed from combining the two foes. A few hotheads were also featured in Burt the Bashful's Fort and Baby Bowser's castle in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island.

Trophy Info

An item that, when tossed, sticks to the terrain and moves, causing damage to those it touches. Whoever threw it won't take damage. It will grow larger if it's attacked, which ups its attack range. However, an increase in size corresponds to a decrease in the time it stays on the screen. A really big Hothead will take up the entire screen, and is quite a sight to behold.

Super Mario World (1991)

Trivia

• Oddly enough, even though Hotheads do fire damage, they cannot ignite blast boxes upon contact.
• In game, Hotheads are actually rendered in 2D. However, in their trophy appearnce they are in 3D.
• If you attack a Hothead, it will emit non-damaging electricity.
• If reached its largest size possible or has been reflected to the maximum times possible, the Hothead can One-hit KO a character at even 0%.

External Links

• DOJO!! list of items