Dancing Spear Guy

Dancing Spear Guys are a more energetic variety of Spear Guys that first appears in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. They are generally orange or yellow in color and are commonly depicted as having green paint on their mask, although sometimes they appear as red. Dancing Spear Guys lack the shield and the feather held by Spear Guys.

There are also similar dancing Spear Guy pairs, the bamboo dancers, which made their appearance in Yoshi's Story.

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
Dancing Spear Guys hold their spears permanently upward and attack by dancing around a designated spot. They move to the right while rotating around the spear, then jump back to the left, damaging Yoshi at direct contact. They are edible, however, so Yoshi can simply swallow them. Unlike a normal Spear Guy, eating one and spitting it out will not change it into a normal Shy-Guy and will also not cause it to roll down a path. However, they can still be tossed at other enemies this way to defeat them. Dancing Spear Guys can be defeated by turning them into a Yoshi Egg or by throwing a Yoshi Egg at them. A chant can be heard while within a Dancing Shy Guy's range.

The enemies are first included in the level Jungle Rhythm... Their spears are taller than those of regular Spear Guys, which makes it more difficult for Yoshi to surpass them. This is also sometimes used to their advantage when they occupy spaces under platforms, from where they can poke their spears at Yoshi without being vulnerable to his attacks.

Yoshi's Island DS
Dancing Spear Guys reappear in Yoshi's Island DS. Unlike most other Shy Guys in the game, their sprites are based off enlarged versions of their Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3 sprites rather than Shy Guys' Yoshi Touch & Go sprites, and as such they keep the green tint on their masks as opposed to blue like most others. They also move differently in that they hop when moving, and after every hop, they make a circle and jump in height, then they hop again to move.

Yoshi's New Island
In Yoshi's New Island, Dancing Spear Guys appear in the level Don't Fear the Spear. Unlike other games, they appear in a variety of colors. Some of them are pink with red face paint, while others are yellow with green face paint, somewhat resembling their original artwork and the Mario Party games. Unlike previously, if Yoshi eats one and spits it out, it loses its spear and turns into a normal Shy Guy. There are also unused textures for red and green Dancing Spear Guys that had different animations and were planned to appear, but were cut out.

Mario Party 3
Several torch-carrying Dancing Spear Guys appear in the Mario Party 3 minigame The Beat Goes On, and are led by a Spear Guy that plays a tune on drums. The players must follow the beat while adding their own continuation of it, or the Dancing Spear Guys will throw their torches at them.

Mario Party 4
Three Dancing Spear Guys appear in the 1-vs-3 minigame, Hide and Go BOOM!, wherein each of them lights the torch for the player to trigger one of the four cannons. In this minigame, they are orange and do not carry spears.

Mario Party Advance
In Mario Party Advance a bamboo dancer named Hulu appears, using a design closely resembling a Dancing Spear Guy. She runs a dancing school in Shroom City and teaches the player to dance.

Mario Party: The Top 100
The Dancing Spear Guys return in Mario Party: The Top 100 in the minigames Hide and Go BOOM! and The Beat Goes On.

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island

 * Official Nintendo Player's Guide: Get into the funky rhythm or else these jitterbuggers will lance you with their spears. Ouch!
 * Shogakukan guide: フラダンス系の腰づかいが人気. 踊っているときも、ヤリだけははなさない. (The hula-dance skirt is popular. Even when dancing, it never lets go of its spear.)

Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3

 * Shogakukan guide: おどっているときもヤリだけは手放さない. たては持っていないので、前後どちらからでも飲みこめる. (It doesn't let go of its spear even when it's dancing. Since it doesn't have a shield, it can be swallowed from either the front or the back.)