How to Ground Pound in Super Mario Bros

The ground pound in Super Mario Bros is a powerful move. It was introduced in Super Mario Bros 3 for the NES and was originally a move that Bowser used against Mario. In later Super Mario Bros games, the move can cause playable characters to smash downward into the ground. The ground pound can break and activate bricks from above. It is also one of Mario's offensive moves and is the only way you can defeat certain enemies or bosses. The way to perform a ground pound in Super Mario Bros depends on which game you are playing.

Jump into the air and press the crouch button to do a ground pound as Mario in the 3D Mario Bros games. These include "Mario 64," "Super Mario Sunshine," "Super Mario Galaxy" and "Super Mario Galaxy 2." In these games, when the ground pound is executed, Mario will stop jumping in the direction he was traveling and immediately fall downward. This ability allows you to land on precise spots, which can occasionally be difficult in the 3D view of these games.

Press the downward directional arrow while jumping to do a ground pound in "New Super Mario Bros" for the Nintendo DS. In the DS version, a ground pound will do double damage to enemies. Perform a ground pound in "New Super Mario Bros" Wii in the same fashion; in the Wii version, though, the ground pound does not do double damage.

Perform a ground pound while riding Yoshi in "Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island" for the SNES system by pressing down on the control pad while in the middle of a jump. This move can only be performed while on Yoshi.