Special Skill (Mario & Luigi series)

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A Goomba's Special Skill activating

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. 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 Team 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 team attack, at least one unit will resist.

List of Special Skills

Minion Quest: The Search for Bowser

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	Command	Allies	Enemies
Rocket Headbutt	A jump attack that resembles the Headbonk move from the Paper Mario series.	Press right before colliding with the enemy.	Goomba, Private Goomp	Gritty Goomba
Cranium Crush	The user flips in midair, then stomps on an enemy.		Paragoomba, Koopa Paratroopa, Koopa Paratroopa (Red), Corporal Paraplonk	Parabeanie, Paratroopea, Scaratroopea, Mecha-Fawful Y
Spin Cycle	The user approaches the target, then spins to inflict damage. Hurts nearby enemies as well.		Big Tail Goomba, Tail Boo	Tanoomba, Chuck Guy, Elite Chuck Guy
Whomping Wallop	The user slams the ground, creating a shockwave that damages all enemies directly in front of the user.	Press when the spark appears.	Goomba Tower, Pokey	Clumph
Rock Solid	Raises the user's defense.	Press when the meter is above the line.	Koopa Troopa, Buzzy Beetle	Troopea, Elite Troopea
Chain Shot	Hits an enemy with up to four projectiles.	Press each time the cursor is in the center of the targeting reticule.	Dry Bones, Magikoopa (Blue), Ludwig	Most Furious Fawful Z
Evasion Cloak	Raises the user's evasion.	Press when the meter is above the line.	Boo	None
Kaboom Bash	Charges into an enemy and explodes. Any other enemies caught in the blast will be damaged as well.	Press right before colliding with the enemy.	Bomb Boo, Bob-omb	None
Piercing Projectile	Either hurls a projectile that comes back to the thrower (Boomerang Bro, Beanerang Bro, and Wendy) or fires a large laser beam (Big Boo and Mecha-Fawful Z). Both versions of this attack will damage any enemies in their path.	Press when the cursor is in the center of the targeting reticule.	Big Boo, Boomerang Bro, Wendy	Beanerang Bro, Mecha-Fawful Z
Air Bash	A charging attack that lowers the target's defense.	Press right before colliding with the enemy.	Broozer, Chargin Chuck	None
Throw the Fight	Throws a large projectile at an enemy.	Press when the cursor is in the center of the targeting reticule.	Shy Guy, Bandit, Ice Bro, Spike, Larry	Birdo
Rain of Pain	Throws projectiles at multiple enemies.	Press repeatedly.	Spear Guy, Hammer Bro, Fire Bro	Fuzzbush, Popple
Mega Tackle	The user charges into an enemy.	Press right before colliding with the enemy.	Fly Guy, Mechakoopa	Beanie, Gold Beanie, Rex
Dive Attack	The user flies into an enemy.		Para-Beetle, Starlow	Most Furious Fawful Y
Spin to Win	The user rolls into an enemy up to three times.	Press right before each collision with the enemy.	Spiny, Roy	Sharpea, Pestnut, Elite Pestnut
Chain Stomp	Jumps on a single enemy twice.	Press right before each collision with the enemy.	Lakitu, Morton	Lakipea, Most Furious Fawful X
Charging Champ	The user charges into an enemy and keeps going, damaging any other enemies in the way.	Press right before colliding with the enemy.	Chain Chomp, Prince Peasley	Mecha-Fawful X
Spitfire Fury	Spits projectiles at multiple enemies.	Press repeatedly.	Fire Stalking Piranha Plant, Lemmy	Ice Snifit, Piranha Bean, Starkiss
Feed the Speed	Raises the speed of nearby troopers.	Press when the meter is above the line.	Magikoopa (White)	None
Power Up	Raises the power of nearby troopers.		Magikoopa (Red), Iggy	None
Sure Shot	Raises the accuracy of nearby troopers.		Magikoopa (Green), Sergeant Guy	None
Smack Back Attack	The attacker charges into an enemy, knocking them into another enemy and damaging them both.	Press right before colliding with the enemy.	Bowser Jr.	Limbo Bro, Elite Limbo Bro

Bowser Jr.'s Journey

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 as your trooper slams into their enemy. When used as a group attack, troopers will line up and headbutt the enemy from the front.	Goomba, Captain Goomba, Private Goomp	Oho Jee (Red)
Mega Tackle	Ram into an opponent with a powerful tackle! Press as your trooper slams into their enemy. When used as a group attack, troopers will line up on either side of the enemy and take turns tackling.	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 as your trooper slams into the enemy. When used as a group attack, troopers stack up and spin their tails together, dealing a high amount of damage to all surrounding enemies. Particularly effective against flying enemies.	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 right as your trooper stomps down. Succeed to get another chance to stomp! When used as a group attack, both troopers will face the opponent and stomp at the same time.	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 as your trooper slams into its foe. When used as a group attack, troopers will charge forward in order, starting with the one who is farthest in.	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 when you first hit an enemy. Then press again when the launched enemy lands to ram into them. When used as a group attack, the foe will be launched toward an ally, and the two allies will keep hitting the foe back and forth.	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 right when your trooper leans all the way back. When used as a group attack, all troopers will line up and attack at the same time.	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 as your trooper slams into their enemy. When used as a group attack, exploding allies will latch onto an enemy and wait for a melee trooper to charge in and detonate them.	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 as your trooper slams into their foe.	Roy, Bowser (Melee)	None
Smack Back Attack	Knock an opponent backwards and into the unit behind them. The other unit also recieves damage. Press as your trooper slams into their enemy. When used as a group attack, the enemy will be thrown high, and then an ally will be thrown at the foe to deal even more damage.	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 as your trooper lands! When used as a group attack, troopers will move above the enemy and stomp down on them in order.	Paragoomba, Koopa Paratroopa (Green and Red), Corporal Paraplonk, Para-Biddybud (Green)	None
Super Stomp	A mighty stomp on an enemy from above. Try to press when you're positioned right above the enemy's head. When used as a group attack, all troopers will move into the air. Press when they're right above an enemy's head!	Koopa Paratroopa Trio, Para-Biddybud (Yellow)	Cheep Cheep
Dive Attack	Aim for an opponent's head from up high, and then crash into them at a high speed! Press as your trooper slams into their enemy. When used as a group attack, troopers will line up and crash into the enemy, one after another.	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 when the circle appears right over the character. When used as a group attack, Discord is performed after input has been completed for all units involved.	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 right as your trooper strikes their enemy.	Iggy	Beef
Rain of Pain	Gather power and cause projectiles to hail down on and damage multiple surrounding foes. Press quickly to build up power. The more power you build, the more projectiles your trooper will be able to throw. When used as a group attack, all troopers will throw their weapons at once.	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 quickly to build up power. The more power you build, the more fire you can spew at your enemies. When used as a group attack, all troopers will blast fire at the same time.	Lemmy, Fire Stalking Piranha Plant	Borp
Throw the Fight	Throw a huge weapon and deal heavy damage to an opponent! Press when the moving cursor appears over the target. When used as a group attack, the cursor will grow even bigger and can damage anything caught within its scope.	Larry, Shy Guy (All colors), Captain Shy Guy, Ice Bro, Spike, Bandit	None
Chain Shot	Press each time the moving cursor appears over the target. Each time a button input is successfully performed, the number of projectiles increases, all of which are eventually fired at once.	Ludwig, Kamek	Magifoofa
Piercing Projectile	A thrown weapon or beam will pierce through an opponent and damage all enemies behind them. Press when the moving cursor appears over the target. When used as a group attack, troopers line up and throw weapons or fire shots at once. Press when the dark cursor is over a foe.	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 when the circle appears right over the character.	Captain Koopa Troopa, Magikoopa (White)	None
POW Up	Increases the POW of a trooper and their surrounding allies. Press when the circle appears right over the character.	Magikoopa (Red)
SPEED Up	Ups the SPEED of a trooper and their surrounding allies, allowing for more battle actions. Press when the circle appears right over the character.	Magikoopa (Green)
ACCURACY Up	Makes the attacks of a trooper and their surrounding allies more accurate. Press when the circle appears right over the character.	Sergeant Guy
EVASION Up	Makes enemy attacks easier to avoid. Special Skills still cannot be avoided, so be careful! Press when the circle appears right over the character.	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