Special Skill (Mario & Luigi series)
Special Skills are techniques used in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions and Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey. They are exclusive to the Minion Quest: The Search for Bowser mode in the former and the Bowser Jr.'s Journey mode in the latter. Every ally and enemy in both games has a Special Skill which will randomly activate during battles. The likelihood of this happening is determined by a trooper's spirit stat. Most Special Skills are offensive moves which deal heavy damage to one or more opposing troopers, though a few of them give stat boosts instead.
When a trooper is about to use their Special Skill, an "!" will appear above their head. The "!" will be red for allies and blue for enemies. The effectiveness of allied troopers' Special Skills is dependent on Action Commands requiring well-timed presses of the button (or in the case of Rain of Pain and Spitfire Fury, pressing
repeatedly).
Captains can prevent opposing troopers' Special Skills from activating by using the Deny command after the "!" appears. In Bowser Jr.'s Journey, the Stop and Drop command can also prevent Special Skills, while also dealing a small amount of damage to the trooper being denied. Additionally, enemies under the effects of Malatone Formula:X cannot be denied, whereas Stop and Drop still works on them. Only one Special Skill can activate at a time, and the effects of any Captain Commands used during a Special Skill's execution other than Deny will not occur until after it is finished.
Bowser Jr's Journey introduces group attacks, where multiple copies of the same troop team up to perform a more powerful version of their Special Skill. If Deny is used against a group attack, at least one unit will resist. If Stop and Drop is used against a group attack, all units will be stopped and damaged.
List of Special Skills[edit]
Minion Quest: The Search for Bowser[edit]
There are a total of 22 Special Skills in the game. Most of them are usable by multiple kinds of troopers. The only exceptions are Evasion Cloak and Feed the Speed, which are exclusive to Boos and White Magikoopas, respectively.
Name | Description | Allies | Enemies |
---|---|---|---|
Rocket Headbutt | Face a foe and fly forward to give them a powerful headbutt! Press the |
Goomba, Private Goomp | Gritty Goomba |
Cranium Crush | Move above the enemy, and then drop down with great force to deal lots of damage. The big drop happens after a mid-air spin. Press the |
Paragoomba, Koopa Paratroopa, Koopa Paratroopa (Red), Corporal Paraplonk | Parabeanie, Paratroopea, Scaratroopea, Mecha-Fawful Y |
Spin Cycle | Swing a tail or weapon to deal damage to surrounding foes. Press the |
Big Tail Goomba, Tail Boo | Tanoomba, Chuck Guy, Elite Chuck Guy |
Whomping Wallop | Aim a unit's body or weapon at an enemy and crash into them with great force to deal damage to the foe in front. Press the |
Goomba Tower, Pokey | Clumph |
Rock Solid | Increases a trooper's DEF. Press the |
Koopa Troopa, Buzzy Beetle | Troopea, Elite Troopea |
Chain Shot | Press the |
Dry Bones, Magikoopa (Blue), Ludwig | Most Furious Fawful Z, Fawful |
Evasion Cloak | Raises a trooper's EVASION, but beware! You still will not be able to evade Special Skill attacks. Press the |
Boo | None |
Kaboom Bash | Crash into an enemy and explode. This also damages nearby foes. After your unit explodes, it will not reappear until the next battle. Press the |
Bomb Boo, Bob-omb | None |
Piercing Projectile | A thrown weapon or beam will pierce through an opponent and damage all enemies behind them. Press the |
Big Boo, Boomerang Bro, Wendy | Beanerang Bro, Mecha-Fawful Z |
Air Bash | Knock an opponent into the air to deal heavy damage. This attack also lowers the foe's defense. Press the |
Broozer, Chargin Chuck | None |
Throw the Fight | Throw a huge weapon and deal heavy damage to an opponent! Press the |
Shy Guy, Bandit, Ice Bro, Spike, Larry | Birdo |
Rain of Pain | Gather power and cause projectiles to hail down on and damage multiple surrounding foes. Press the |
Spear Guy, Hammer Bro, Fire Bro | Fuzzbush, Popple |
Mega Tackle | Ram into an opponent with a powerful tackle! Press the |
Fly Guy, Mechakoopa | Beanie, Gold Beanie, Rex |
Dive Attack | Aim for an opponent's head from up high, and then crash into them at a high speed! Press the |
Para-Beetle, Starlow | Most Furious Fawful Y |
Spin to Win | Spin and smash into enemies. Successfully perform button inputs to attack foes up to three times. Press the |
Spiny, Roy | Sharpea, Pestnut, Elite Pestnut |
Chain Stomp | Jump atop an opponent's head, and then jump some more to chain together up to two stomps. Press the |
Lakitu, Morton | Lakipea, Most Furious Fawful X |
Charging Champ | A trooper charges through foes before returning to their starting position. Deals damage to all enemies they run into along the way. Press the |
Chain Chomp, Prince Peasley | Mecha-Fawful X |
Spitfire Fury | Spit out flames or projectiles to damage enemies in front. Press the |
Fire Stalking Piranha Plant, Lemmy | Ice Snifit, Piranha Bean, Starkiss |
Feed the Speed | Ups the SPEED of a trooper and their surrounding allies, allowing for more battle actions. Press the |
Magikoopa (White) | None |
Power Up | Increases the POW of a trooper and their surrounding allies. Press the |
Magikoopa (Red), Iggy | None |
Sure Shot | Ups the ACCURACY of a trooper and their surrounding allies. Press the |
Magikoopa (Green), Sergeant Guy | None |
Smack Back Attack | Knock an opponent backwards and into the unit behind them. The other unit also receives damage. Press the |
Bowser Jr. | Limbo Bro, Elite Limbo Bro |
Bowser Jr.'s Journey[edit]
There is a total of 26 Special Skills in this game. Only four skills, all of which raise stats, are exclusive.
Name | Description | Allies | Enemies |
---|---|---|---|
Rocket Headbutt | Face a foe and fly forward to give them a powerful headbutt! Press |
Goomba, Captain Goomba, Private Goomp | Oho Jee (Red) |
Mega Tackle | Ram into an opponent with a powerful tackle! Press |
Koopa Troopa (Green), Buzzy Beetle, Mechakoopa, Para-Biddybud (Purple), Fly Guy | Scutlet, Sockop |
Spin Cycle | Swing your tail to deal damage to surrounding enemies. Press |
Big Tail Goomba, Tail Boo | None |
Chain Stomp | Jump atop an opponent's head, and then jump some more to chain together up to two stomps. Press |
Morton, Lakitu | Fawful Guy, Urchin, Oho Jee (Blue) |
Charging Champ | A trooper charges through foes before returning to their starting position. Deals damage to all enemies they run into along the way. Press |
Koopa Troopa (Red), Chain Chomp | Fawflant, Pendril, Choomba |
Hit 'Em Up | Launch a foe into the air, and then pierce them with your horns or spikes when they land. Press |
Spike Top, Spiny, Horned Ant Trooper | Drillbit Crab |
Whomping Wallop | Aim a unit's body or weapon at an enemy and crash into them with great force to deal damage to the foe in front. Press |
Bowser Jr. (Melee), Goomba Tower, Pokey | Toothy, Crawful |
Kaboom Bash | Crash into an enemy and explode. This also damages nearby foes. After your unit explodes, it will not reappear until the next battle. Press |
Bomb Boo, Bob-omb | Alarm Bob-omb |
Spin to Win | Spin and smash into enemies. Successfully perform button inputs to attack foes up to three times. Press |
Roy, Bowser (Melee) | None |
Smack Back Attack | Knock an opponent backwards and into the unit behind them. The other unit also receives damage. Press |
Bowser Jr. (Flying), Broozer, Chargin' Chuck, Bully | Chuboomba, Broque Madame |
Cranium Crush | Move above the enemy, and then drop down with great force to deal lots of damage. The big drop happens after a mid-air spin. Press |
Paragoomba, Koopa Paratroopa (Green and Red), Corporal Paraplonk, Para-Biddybud (Yellow) | None |
Super Stomp | A mighty stomp on an enemy from above. Try to press |
Koopa Paratroopa Trio, Para-Biddybud (Green) | Cheep Cheep |
Dive Attack | Aim for an opponent's head from up high, and then crash into them at a high speed! Press |
Para-Beetle, Parabones, Para-Biddybud (Red) | None |
Discord | Uses a dissonant chord to deal a small amount of damage to a nearby enemy and to reduce their stats. Press |
Boo, Swoop | Fawfulcopter, Kaley |
Air Bash | Knock an opponent into the air to deal heavy damage. This attack also lowers the foe's defense. Press |
Iggy | Beef |
Rain of Pain | Gather power and cause projectiles to hail down on and damage multiple surrounding foes. Press |
Bowser Jr. (Ranged), Dry Bones, Spear Guy, Hammer Bro, Fire Bro | Treevil, Dieter, King Bob-omb |
Spitfire Fury | This attack spits flames to damage enemies in front. Press |
Lemmy, Fire Stalking Piranha Plant | Borp |
Throw the Fight | Throw a huge weapon and deal heavy damage to an opponent! Press |
Larry, Shy Guy (All colors), Captain Shy Guy, Ice Bro, Spike, Bandit | None |
Chain Shot | Press |
Ludwig, Kamek | Magifoofa |
Piercing Projectile | A thrown weapon or beam will pierce through an opponent and damage all enemies behind them. Press |
Wendy, Big Boo, Boomerang Bro | Shroob, Beehoss, Best Fitness Friends, Bowser (Ranged) |
DEF Up | Increases the DEF of a trooper and their surrounding allies. Press |
Captain Koopa Troopa, Magikoopa (White) | None |
POW Up | Increases the POW of a trooper and their surrounding allies. Press |
Magikoopa (Red) | |
SPEED Up | Ups the SPEED of a trooper and their surrounding allies, allowing for more battle actions. Press |
Magikoopa (Green) | |
ACCURACY Up | Makes the attacks of a trooper and their surrounding allies more accurate. Press |
Sergeant Guy | |
EVASION Up | Makes enemy attacks easier to avoid. Special Skills still cannot be avoided, so be careful! Press |
Captain Boo | |
Hurt or Heal | Hit a block overhead to earn a mushroom or a weapon. If a mushroom comes out, it will heal you. If a weapon comes out, it will deal damage to enemies. When used as a group attack, mushrooms and weapons will also affect troopers other than you and your target. | Ninji, Nabbit | Lakitu King |
Names in other languages[edit]
Language | Name | Meaning | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Italian | Abilità speciale[?] | Special skill |