Hammer Bro (Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time)

“AREA RESTRICTED. ALL NOOB INTRUDERS 2 B HAXORED BY US L33T HAMM3R BROZ.!”

—Hammer Bro, Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time

The Hammer Bros. are a pair of characters from Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time. They were originally just like any other Hammer Bro until the evil Shroobs brainwashed them and ordered the two to guard the Vim Factory. They are forced to wear mind-control helmets, which the Shroobs use to keep the Hammer Bros. under their control. While under the influence of the helmets, the Hammer Bros. speak in the Internet "language" known as "1337-speak" (pronounced "leet speak"). In the Japanese version, they speak completely in katakana, as opposed to hiragana, and in the Korean version, their speech is full of spelling and spacing errors. In German versions, they do not speak in 1337, but in broken sentences. The Spanish translation of the game removes the 1337 aspect of the characters entirely. Under the influence of the antennae, they speak completely in capital letters with a robotic tone; their vocabulary is completely normal apart from that, however. It is possible that this happened due to difficulties with localization, as 1337-speak is extremely uncommon among online Spanish communities. One of them introduces themselves as the "L33T HAMM3R BROZ." due to the way they speak in the English version.

History

Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time

When Mario, Luigi, Baby Mario, and Baby Luigi arrive in the Vim Factory, they are instantly confronted by the "L33T HAMM3R BROZ." After Mario and Luigi are captured by the factory's automated defenses, Baby Mario and Baby Luigi are forced to battle the Hammer Bros. In battle, the Hammer Bros. have 100 HP (90 in Japan and PAL regions) and attack by using the Knockback Bros. technique, a move from Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga. Using his hammer, one Hammer Bro smashes the other into a ball, then hits him into either Baby Mario or Baby Luigi. To avoid the attack, the babies have to jump over the ball Hammer Bro as he approaches. Sometimes, the Hammer Bro's hammer will break, sending the ball bouncing towards a baby. In this case, the baby brother should not jump, as the balled brother will simply bounce over the baby's head.

The Hammer Bros. giving two Hammers to the Baby Mario Bros.

After one Hammer Bro is defeated (or if one of the Hammer Bros is unable to attack), the other one is forced to fight by himself. To attack, the sole Hammer Bro tosses spinning hammers that roll on the ground. To defend against this attack, the Baby Mario Bros. have to jump over the hammers as they approach. To predetermine the menacing attack, the player has to watch carefully if the Hammer Bro jumps or not. If it does, it will hit Baby Mario. If it doesn't, it will hit Baby Luigi. There will be a bouncy noise when Bro's about to hit Baby Mario, and the noise that the Hammer Bros. make when they were talking (prior to the battle) when he's about to hit Baby Luigi. Ultimately, Baby Mario and Baby Luigi have to work together and defeat the second Hammer Bro.

After defeating the Hammer Bros., the Baby Mario Bros. destroy their mind-control helmets, thus returning the Hammer Bros. to their normal state. Free from Shroob influence, the Hammer Bros. begin to speak normally again (and even comment on the strange manner of speaking they were just using). Grateful for being released, the Hammer Bros. give the babies hammers and teach them how to use the weapons in battle (piggybacked or not) and outside battle. The Hammer Bros. also teach the babies how to use the Baby Drill technique before leaving. Since the adults were sucked up by the machine, they never received hammers, although they can help their past selves do more damage with the hammer in battle.

The Hammer Bros. battle is the second battle where the Baby Mario Bros. must fight by themselves, after Baby Bowser.

Quotes

Before battle:

• "AREA RESTRICTED. ALL NOOB INTRUDERS 2 B HAXORED BY US L33T HAMM3R BROZ.!"
• "WE R TEH SHROOB ALLIES. WE ROXOR U AND THEN ROFL. THEN U AM CRY."
• "WE RECEIVE ORDERS THRU ANTENNAS ON THESE L33T HELMETS. THEY R HOTNESS."
• "WE MUST OBEY ALL ORDERS. WE LIKE 2 PWN NOOBS 4 TEH MASTER SHROOBZORS."
• "U = NOOBS. BROZ. = L33T. PREPARE 4 TOTAL PWNAGE. WOOT! WOOT! WOOT! WOOT!"
• "NOOBZ STILL R NOT PWNED. CONTINUE PWNERSHIP UNTIL ALL NOOBZ R PWNED"
• "TEH ESCAPE IS IMPOSSIBLE. WE R 2 L33T. WE OWNZ JOO."
• "U WILL GET FLATZORED BY R L33T HAMMERS."

After battle:

• "Whoa... My helmet antenna! It's broken! Oh, man, YESSS!"
• "Hey... Mine broke too! Talk about lucky! I mean, didya HEAR what was coming out of my mouth?"
• "I know, dude! Seriously, who talks like that?! Anyway, I think these tots freed us!"
• "Ya think? You little taters trashed our antennas?"
• "Right ON! Seriously, thanks! you saved our bacon. We were... not right in the head."