First officer



A first officer is a special type of minion position introduced in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey. In Bowser Jr.'s Journey, certain minions can optionally be made a "first officer", which function somewhat differently than normal minions in combat, as they stand beside Bowser Jr. rather than actively begin fighting right away. They only begin fighting once an enemy is within range of them (which is more easily seen with ranged minions), or if an enemy engages them directly, or Bowser Jr. Only the Koopalings and Kamek can be made first officers, the latter only after clearing Chilling Magma, with each character providing different combat bonuses once chosen.

First officers have commands in the same way that Bowser Jr. does, and can gain additional commands and command points as they level up. First officer commands are used with and. Also like Bowser Jr., command points can be gained after every battle - by 1 if the first officer's maximum CP is 1-5, 2 if the first officer's maximum CP is 6-8, and 3 if the first officer's maximum CP is 9 or 10. In the screen where the player selects which minions they wish to battle with, the first officer slot is above Bowser Jr.

Command descriptions

 * Super Counter - Iggy asks Bowser Jr. who last attacked him, after Bowser Jr. answers, Iggy attacks 1-3 enemies that last attacked Bowser Jr. with high damage. He also gains an extra boost to POW for "still being angry". If Bowser Jr. has not been damaged yet, Iggy does not attack anyone and the command points remain unused.
 * Lightning - Shrinks enemies for a limited time, making both their attack and defense weaker. Enemies that arrive through Call for Backup are not affected, and appear normal-sized.
 * Shield - Morton stands in front of Bowser Jr. to protect him. Morton gains an increase to POW and DEF every time Bowser Jr. berates Morton (or, after Junior matures, encourages him) for shielding him.
 * Thwomp Thump - Morton summons a Thwomp to smash down in the middle of the battle area. The player must jump at the right time to avoid damage from it. The enemy can do the same. Morton then jumps on a random enemy after the Thwomp slams down.
 * Larry Rally - Bowser Jr. kicks Larry as he bounces back and forth off enemies while spinning in his shell.
 * Call for Backup - One or two random allies appear in battle.
 * Negotiate - Ludwig attempts to convince an enemy to leave the battle. If this fails, Ludwig instead gains a stat boost.
 * Stop and Drop - Works similar to the Deny command, except that it deals a small amount of damage to the enemy, denies all enemies involved in a group attack, and can stop a special attack from an enemy affected with Malatone Formula:X, whereas Deny cannot. If no enemy is about to perform a special attack, Ludwig will not attack anyone and one command point will be wasted.
 * Shell Shock - Roy spins in a close circle while spinning in his shell, damaging any enemies nearby.
 * Banzai Bill Thrill - Roy and Bowser Jr. ride a giant Banzai Bill, passing the battle area three times while damaging enemies with every pass.
 * Parry - Lemmy dodges two attacks, then promptly attacks the attacker each time.
 * Rolling Riot - Bowser Jr. punts a rolling ball with Lemmy on it. The player must choose which row the ball will be punted, which will damage all enemies within the chosen row.
 * Mystery Box - Wendy will hit an item box, which grants a random benefit for the player's team. This includes a stat buff, a stat lowered for the enemy team, more experience given if the battle is won or command points being replenished.
 * Doppelganger - Wendy makes one or two copies of herself to fight in the battle.
 * Sneak Attack - Kamek sneaks off to the other end of the battle area and scores a free hit on the opposing captain.
 * Coddle - The only command that only Kamek knows, and is not known by any enemies. Kamek will give Bowser Jr. a shower of compliments, which raise his command points once finished, though overdoing it will greatly reduce its effectiveness and yield less command points. More and more musical notes as well as happier-sounding music surround Bowser Jr. the more confident and happy he feels as more compliments are given.