There’s no doubt about it. Business is booming in the Mushroom Kingdom.

After leaving his stash unchanged for nearly a decade, Nintendo has finally begun to add to Mario’s classic bevy of ability-altering floras and fungi. In the last two years, the company has provided the plumber more than ten new power-ups, ranging from Super Mario Galaxy’s wildly popular Bee Mushroom and Ice Flower to the contrasting Mega and Mini mushrooms of the original New Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo DS.

Indeed, their latest additions—New Super Mario Bros. Wii’s Propeller Mushroom and Penguin Suit—reaffirm Nintendo’s restored focus on creative new Mario power-ups.

Cute and clever as they may be, however, they just aren’t as useful as the oldies.

Mario’s greatest power-ups are timeless not for aesthetic charms, but because they were so inexorably weaved within the fabric of their games. Whether swimming by an irritating school of Bloopers, navigating Bowser’s army of airships or battling with the brawny turtle himself, some levels seemed impossible without the right power-up.

And, chances are, you probably needed one of these five classics.

5. Cape Feather

There’s a reason you can’t purchase a cape at your local clothier. More than a scrap of fabric, a cape is stitched from our greatest fables, threads sewn in legendary folklore rather than spindles.

Money cannot buy the honor that comes from a cape, and only icons earn the right to wear one.

Bruce Wayne. Clark Kent. Mario Mario.

Appearing only in 1990’s Super Mario World, the Cape Feather enables the heroic plumber to soar above levels with rhythmic undulation until diving toward hapless enemies like a stinger missile.

4. Starman

Perhaps no power-up has led to more unhinged play—or long sighs of relief—than the Starman.

Debuting in 1986’s timeless Super Mario Bros., Mario first sees the polychromatic flashes of this luminescent power-up at the end of the opening level, and it’s been a staple of the series since.

More than any other power-up, using a Starman changes the entire tone of a game—as the music hits a sudden sforzando, players can tear through foes like wet paper, prompting most to run as fast as possible to maximize the Starman’s impact.

In tough levels, there’s no better power-up.

3. Super Leaf

Like the Cape Feather, the Super Leaf has only appeared in one Mario game, but unlike the piles of briefly useful new power-ups introduced since, it was an invaluable part of Mario’s repertoire.

Imagine playing Super Mario Bros. 3 without it.

This power-up gave Mario groundbreaking new abilities. With two raccoon ears popping through his cap and a bushy striped tail from his trousers, Mario could fly for the first time. Immortalized by the game’s iconic box art, there hasn’t been a more useful or celebrated power-up since.

2. Super Mushroom

Imagine for a minute, if you will, being unable to reach your toothbrush after crawling out of bed.

Or mouthwash, for that matter. Or your coat.

As you stretch away lingering remnants of sleep and embark on yet another exhilarating day in the saga of your life, imagine trying repeatedly to step onto the bus to no avail. The leaps and persistent jumps aren’t enough—even after running starts.

As you run to work, trying desperately to make it on time, you bump into a bloke on the sidewalk.

Inexplicably, you’re back in bed. Try again.

It isn’t the fanciest ‘shroom in the kingdom, but when the Koopas are coming and the Bullet Bills are flying, there’s no sweeter sight than a Super Mushroom gliding across the perilous plains.

For nearly 24 years, it’s been the most constant power-up in Mario’s arsenal, a faithful fungus he has relied upon from the caverns of Vanilla Dome to Desert Hill and back to Level 1-3. For many of us, it was the very first crop we sampled in what we’d eventually discover is the Mushroom Kingdom’s virtually limitless variety of fascinating flora and fungi. 

Among them all, however, the original is still the best—with one fiery exception.

1. Fire Flower

Frothing at his feet like water boiling over a pot, the heat from the scorching lava still stings his eyes after these long years, but someone has to save the Princess. As Mario approaches Bowser, his mustachio dripping with sweat and the Koopa king growling, he sees a sole question block faintly glowing in the smoke and haze—the last one.

With Peach’s fate hanging in the balance, what would you hope it contains?

Innumerable new alternatives have been introduced since the Fire Flower burned its first baddies, but in this familiarly epic situation, would you hope for anything else?

Like the Starman and Super Mushroom, the blazing blossom debuted in the original Super Mario Bros. game and has had a massive impact on the fabled franchise. Upon finding a Fire Flower, Mario can toss bouncing fireballs from his bare hand, a powerful ability by which very few foes are unfazed—indeed, when his overalls turn red, Mario becomes an enemy-roasting force, tipping the balance of any game in his direction.

In a kingdom where turtles can throw hammers, the Fire Flower evens things up, and nearly a quarter-century after its inception, it remains Mario’s most useful power-up.