Fire Bars (or fire bars) are recurring Dungeon traps in The Legend of Zelda series, which typically names them Guruguru Bars.[name reference needed] Though they do appear in The Legend of Zelda games, Fire Bars were introduced in the Mario franchise. They go unnamed in The Minish Cap.
Similarly to Chain Chomps, despite their prime association with Mario, Fire Bars were actually originally intended to appear in The Legend of Zelda, which would have been their first appearance, but were transferred to Super Mario Bros. as the development team find it more suitable for its platformer-style gameplay, making their debut in that flagship Nintendo franchise instead.[1] In the Zelda games, Fire Bars first appeared in A Link to the Past, and the latest so far being Tri Force Heroes.
Characteristics
Link near two Fire Bars in Spirit Tracks
Much like in Mario, Fire Bars are bars of endlessly spinning flames attached to a base, usually a block or a statue. A few later games in the The Legend of Zelda series attach a Fire Bar to a unique base, including a fireball in Phantom Hourglass, a peg in its center flame in Spirit Tracks, and a rotating fire cannon in A Link Between Worlds.
If they touch Link, Fire Bars will damage him and set him on fire temporarily. This can be especially hazardous in narrow spaces or in areas with nearby pits, where the flames can be difficult to avoid and may knock the young hero down a hole. Fire Bars in A Link to the Past have a consistent length of having four fireballs attached to them, though subsequent games have much longer Fire Bars, with some having multiple spokes spinning around a single block, similar to the Super Mario series.
As traps, Fire Bars cannot be destroyed, though they can often be avoided through using the Roc's Feather or Roc's Cape.
Mainline appearances
A Link to the Past
In A Link to the Past, Fire Bars appear in five Dungeons: the Tower of Hera, Swamp Palace, Skull Woods, Turtle Rock, and lastly Ganon's Tower. Link can pass through a Fire Bar's flames harmlessly by using the Magic Cape or the Cane of Byrna. While this is also possible to do using the Hookshot, the option is not always available, as the Hookshot has to grapple on to something. An instance of this is in Turtle Rock, in an area where Fire Bars spin from the Medusa statues.
Four Swords Adventures
Fire Bars appear in certain Dungeons in Four Swords Adventures, such as in the Tower of Flames. In some Dungeons, the Links can change the direction of a Fire Bar's spinning bars of flame by using certain Switches.
The Minish Cap
In The Minish Cap, Fire Bars appear in caves and dungeons, such as Dark Hyrule Castle, both while Link is regular-sized and while he is Minish-sized. They can be leapt over using Roc's Cape. If Link uses the reforged Picori Blade to split himself into copies, a copy touching the flames of a Fire Bar will have the same damaging effect as if Link himself came into contact with it, dispelling the copies and setting Link on fire for a time.
Phantom Hourglass
Fire Bars appear in two color varieties in Phantom Hourglass: red and blue, encountered in the Temple of Fire and the Ghost Ship respectively. Fire Bars have smaller fire segments than before, although this is compensated for having longer segments, varying in length, and up to three Fire Bars can rotate around the same fire ball.
Spirit Tracks
Only red Fire Bars return in Spirit Tracks. They are based on their appearance in Phantom Hourglass and even appear only the Fire Temple, like in the previous game.
A Link Between Worlds
Fire Bars in A Link Between Worlds appear in a few dungeons, including Skull Woods, Turtle Rock, and Lorule Castle. Link now has the ability to temporarily freeze a Fire Bar using the Ice Rod.
Tri Force Heroes
Fire Bars appear in Dungeons in Tri Force Heroes. Similarly to A Link Between Worlds, the effects of a Fire Bar can be stopped temporarily using a rod, this time the Water Rod, which douses a Guruguru Bar's flames temporarily. Fire Bars have stationary variations in Secret Fortress, where dousing them with the Water Rod is required to press down Switches for the Links to advance.
Spinoff appearances
Ancient Stone Tablets
In Ancient Stone Tablets, Fire Bars are obstacles, functioning and appearing identically as in A Link to the Past.
Crossover appearances
Super Smash Bros. series
The Super Smash Bros. series is the most notable instance of Fire Bars appearing in games with both The Legend of Zelda and Super Mario representation. In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the Fire Bar is an item, consisting of a column of five fireballs attached to a pommel, making it appear as a sword. A fighter can swing a Fire Bar at their opponent to inflict flame damage on them.
In the Mario series
A Fire Bar as seen in Super Mario Bros., in the game's fifth castle
In their source material in spite of being originally created for The Legend of Zelda,[1] Fire Bars are recurring obstacles which are used by Bowser and his Koopa Troop to hinder or harm Mario or Luigi from progressing further into levels. They made their debut in the iconic 1985 Nintendo Entertainment System title Super Mario Bros.. Throughout the Mario franchise, Fire Bars are usually found in Fortresses and Castles alongside Podoboos but can appear in other areas, even underwater. Attached to Blocks and occasionally having multiple spokes, as in the Zelda games, they function as rotating columns of flames, and if the Mario Bros (or other playable protagonists) were to touch them, they take damage and shrink in the same manner as colliding with enemies. In spin-off games such as Mario Kart, Fire Bars are used as hazards for the player to avoid.
Although normally four to six fireballs long, some games, including Super Mario Bros., have longer Fire Bars containing 12 fireballs, making them more difficult to dodge. In the Super Mario Maker titles, they can be adjusted by the player and it is possible to have Fire Bars with an exceptional length of 18 fireballs or as short as only one.
Trivia
A fire trap in the Fire Temple, from Ocarina of Time
- In Ocarina of Time, at the Fire Temple and Ganon's Castle, traps containing rotating flames resembling Fire Bars can be seen.
- In both the Mario and The Legend of Zelda series, similar to the Spin Attack, Fire Bars are normally seen rotating clockwise, but can spin in the opposite direction.
- It is speculated by some that if Fire Bars had made their intended debut in The Legend of Zelda, while they would likely appear in dungeons, it's possible they could be difficult to dodge if the fireballs were to rotate at the same speed seen in Super Mario Bros. and when placed on certain areas such as underground passages, especially with longer traps and the fact Link in-game has no special ability to move faster via the Pegasus Boots (which did not debut until A Link to the Past, the same game the hazard itself first appears in Zelda).
- According to Iwata Asks, late former Nintendo president Satoru Iwata was surprised to know that Fire Bars were initially designed for The Legend of Zelda rather than Super Mario when told by Toshihiko Nakago. Nakago himself claimed that either Shigeru Miyamoto or Takashi Tezuka were the ones of the development team who suggested the transfer of the hazard from The Legend of Zelda to Super Mario Bros..[1]
Nomenclature
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Gallery
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The Fire Bar as seen in Super Mario Bros., their debut appearance
External links
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Iwata: You mean the spinning bars of fire attached to the castle walls that you encounter as you make your way along the corridor to fight Bowser.
Nakago: Right. Those first appeared right in the centre of the screen in Zelda.
Iwata: ...Really!?
Nakago: Yes, that idea originally comes from Zelda. We thought it would work better in Mario, so we transferred it across. I think it was Miyamoto-san who suggested it. Or perhaps it was Tezuka-san..." — Iwata Asks: New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Nintendo Official Website.
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