Star Skill

A Star Skill is a special hit or pitch that can be used by any player and is unique among the captains in Mario Superstar Baseball and Mario Super Sluggers. Star Skills require a limited meter that can be used only a certain number of times; the meter drops whenever the player uses a Star Skill. The meter can be replenished when the players either hit the field features (such as hitting a yellow Piranha Plant with the ball in Yoshi Park) or when they get a hit or strike a player out when the words, "STAR CHANCE!" appear. Players start with a more filled meter if there are many subcharacters that have good Chemistry with the Team Captain. Team Captains and subcharacters use one Star Skill while Team Subcaptains use two.

Star Swings, which use the Star Skill, have one of the several possibilities that happen when a subcharacter uses them:


 * Ground Ball: This Star Swing hits the ball, which, in many scenarios, gives the batter a hit.
 * Fly Ball: This Star Swing causes the ball to become a fly ball.
 * Line Drive: This Star Swing causes the ball to roll and is used to drive in runs.
 * Instant Home Run: This Star Swing must be a "Perfect" swing and 5 Star Skill slots must be filled out, and this Star Swing is exclusive to Mario Superstar Baseball. It makes the sound of an activated Star Swing, but has a high-pitched whistle as it flies through the air.

Star Pitches also use Star Skills and also have their set of possibilities:


 * Fastball: As its names implies, this Star Pitch causes the ball to have very high momentum.
 * Change-Up: This Star Pitch acts very much as a powered-up change-up; it first moves quickly, then slows down considerably.
 * Breaking Ball: This Star Pitch is a slow, floating pitch that can be easily curved.

All team captains have their own unique Star Skills in both games, with some characters keeping their Star Skills through both games while other characters gain new Star Skills from Mario Superstar Baseball to Mario Super Sluggers. The lists below show each captain's Star Skills in both games.

 Mario Superstar Baseball 
 * Mario: Fireball, Luigi: Green Fireball
 * Peach: Heart Ball, Daisy: Flower Ball
 * Yoshi: Egg Ball, Birdo: Weird Ball
 * Donkey Kong: Banana Ball, Diddy Kong: Boomerang Ball
 * Wario: Phony Ball, Waluigi: Liar Ball
 * Bowser: Killer Ball, Bowser Jr.: Killer Jr. Ball