Elite Trio

The Elite Trio is a group of three of Bowser's minions that first appeared in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story. It is made up of Private Goomp, Corporal Paraplonk and Sergeant Guy.

Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story / Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey
The trio first appear in Dimble Wood where they are aiming a Banzai Bill Cannon at Bowser's Castle, which had been hijacked by Fawful. When Bowser arrives, they explain that the castle was already stolen and were going to launch a Banzai Bill at it. However, they did not have a Banzai Bill, and Bowser angrily orders them to search the forest for one. When Bowser returns with a Banzai Bill, the trio converse on how they believe Bowser to not be very competent as a leader. After launching the Banzai Bill, Bowser's Castle hovers toward their location and crushes Bowser, however this allows him to become giant and battle the castle while the trio spectate. After the battle, the trio separate and lose track of each other.

Bowser later finds Private Goomp at Blubble Lake, where he explains his quest for the Star Cures. Private Goomp informs Bowser that one is in the treasure chamber of Bowser's Castle, and goes to search for Corporal Paraplonk and Sergeant Guy while Bowser goes ahead. Once the trio meet up with Bowser in the treasure chamber, they extract the safe containing the Star Cure. However, when Bowser opens it, the trio shove him inside and lock him in, revealing they have turned to Fawful's side.

After the defeat of Fawful and when Bowser returns to his castle, the trio remorsefully admit they made a mistake in betraying Bowser and request to rejoin the Koopa Troop. Despite Kamek angrily dismissing them, Bowser allows the trio to rejoin and orders them to help with repairs of the castle.

In the game's remake, they have the same role in the main story, and briefly appear in the Bowser Jr.'s Journey mode during the level A Traitor's Fate, which takes place after the events of the main story. The other minions berate the trio for locking Bowser in the safe and refuse to forgive them, calling out the trio as a disgrace to the minions. Bowser Jr., on the other hand, assumes the trio were under the influence of Malatone Formula:X at the time, and requests the trio to fight with him out of boredom, and ignores their decline. After winning the fight, Bowser Jr. makes the trio his "punching bags", requesting they fight with him whenever he wants to. All three members can then be used as allies.

Mario & Luigi: Dream Team
The trio return in Mario & Luigi: Dream Team as tertiary antagonists. They along with Kamek accompany Bowser to Pi'illo Island, and first appear while Mario is in Dream's Deep. They reveal that they recently became Bowser's elite guard. Later, the Elite Trio appear atop the summit of Mount Pajamaja with Kamek, Bowser, and Antasma, where they use the dreambeats to put the inhabitants of the island to sleep to channel power for the Dream Stone, even though the trio are also put to sleep in the process. After awakening, Antasma uses the Dream Stone to create Neo Bowser Castle, where the trio watch in horror as the castle destroys the surrounding islands.

When Kamek disguises himself as Princess Peach, the Elite Trio hide underneath the dress until Mario and Dreamy Luigi bring the imposter to the depths of Dreamy Driftwood Shore, where Kamek reveals himself and orders the Elite Trio to defeat the Mario Bros.

The Elite Trio's primary gimmick is the need to defeat all three of them in a single attack. If one of them has not been defeated, they will revive the others with one HP. Corporal Paraplonk can also replenish his allies' HP with Mushrooms, in a way reminiscent of the Bowser Memory ML from Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story. Private Goomp gives this advice to Mario if one of them does fall in battle, but is then hit from behind by Sergeant Guy for telling too much.

Private Goomp can attack by ordering the Sub-Goomba horde to pile up in a rectangular formation, which he sends to smash into Mario. By stomping on the pile, Mario can force the Sub-Goombas back to their commander, who promptly sends them back towards Mario. After several redirections, Goomp will eventually be hit by the pile; however, if Mario misses the pile with his jump, they will charge off-screen and return individually, forcing Mario to jump over any Sub-Goombas that are heading his way. Goomp can also summon Sub-Goombas from the background to replace any defeated members of his horde - if Mario manages to defeat enough Sub-Goombas on his turn, Goomp will skip his attack in favor of calling more reinforcements.

Apart from his aforementioned Mushroom stash, Corporal Paraplonk can attack by having two Paratroopas place a block on either side of Mario and using a Shell Shot to bounce between them in his shell. To end the attack without being hit by the Corporal's shell, Mario must jump on Paraplonk mid-attack, rebounding him into Private Goomp and his Sub-Goomba horde. If deflected in this way, Paraplonk will damage Goomp, all Sub-Goombas horizontally adjacent to Goomp, and the entire first line of Sub-Goombas in the background.

Sergeant Guy may attack by turning the Sub-Goomba horde into copies of himself, which attack Mario from all four sides. Each copy will either run past Mario harmlessly or run up to Mario and smash him with a hammer. Mario must turn to meet each attacker and counter them with a Hammer strike of his own; hitting the authentic Sergeant Guy (identifiable by a black flag with a red Bowser emblem on his back) will end the attack. The Sergeant can also attack by firing a Banzai Bill from his Sergeant Guy Cannon, but the attack can only be used after Guy spends a turn loading the cannon with a Banzai Bill; if Mario attacks the cannon before it can fire, the Banzai Bill will explode prematurely, causing massive damage to all enemies. If the cannon does fire the Banzai Bill, the player must repeatedly press to outrun it - doing so will cause the projectile to bounce off the ground and hit Sergeant Guy instead.

The Elite Trio's final attack has Corporal Paraplonk dropping a huge Bob-omb on to Sergeant Guy, which he uses to chase Mario (for his part, Paraplonk hovers overhead to watch the chase). Private Goomp will realize this too late to get out of Guy's way, forcing him to flee with his Sub-Goomba horde. As Mario runs from Sergeant Guy, Goomp and his minions will charge forward in an attempt to escape the Bob-omb, which Mario must stomp on or dodge. If Mario gets hit by any of the Sub-Goombas or Goomp, he will trip and Sergeant Guy will throw the Bob-omb on him, causing massive damage to the plumber. If Mario successfully avoids being hit by any Goombas for the duration of the attack, the Bob-omb will explode in Sergeant Guy's hands, damaging him, Paraplonk, and any Goombas that failed to escape off-screen.

After the trio's defeat, Kamek demotes them to janitors for losing, then teleports them out. When Mario and Luigi first enter Neo Bowser Castle, the trio ponder what the deal is with the vines spread all around the castle, and flee upon spotting the Mario Bros. Mario and Luigi briefly encounter the trio again when they are going after Bowser after defeating Antasma for the final time. This time, the three minions decide to roll giant Bob-ombs down the spiraling ramp to prevent the Bros. from getting up to Bowser. After the Mario Bros. reach the top, the trio flee once again.

During the epilogue of the game, the trio are on their way off the island along with Bowser and Kamek, where Bowser complains about losing again, but commends the trio for doing well by their standards. After it starts raining coins, Private Goomp and Sergeant Guy end up rocking the Koopa Clown Car so much trying to collect coins that it falls into the ocean, prompting Paraplonk (with assistance from Kamek) to rescue them and Bowser.

After defeating them in Dreamy Driftwood Shore, a stronger version of the trio known as Elite Trio X can be fought in the Battle Ring.

Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions
The trio reappear in the Minion Quest: The Search for Bowser mode of Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions. Private Goomp first appears on Hoohoo Mountain during the level Goombas vs. Goombas, where he is brainwashed by Fawful and attacks Captain Goomba. After his defeat, Private Goomp finds Corporal Paraplonk and Sergeant Guy and fights Captain Goomba with his comrades again in Beanbean Fields during the level The Rival Trio. After this defeat, trio blame each other for losing and lash out at each other, causing them to split up.

Throughout the course of the game, each member is fought individually in separate levels and are each recruited. However, during the level The Trio's Last Stand in Joke's End, the trio are fought one last time after attempting to rig the Koopa Cruiser with a bomb. Captain Goomba's squad defeats the trio once more, at which point they remain on Captain Goomba's side.

If all three members are included in a squad, a bonus skill called "The Elite Trio" is activated which increases the squad's HP by 15% and Spirit by 10%.

Minion Quest: The Search for Bowser / Bowser Jr.'s Journey profiles

 * Private Goomp: A Goomba with dreams of grandeur. He's quite good at dodging attacks and avoiding being lectured.
 * Corporal Paraplonk: An elite Koopa Troopa with big dreams. The bucket on his head gives him a tough defense.
 * Sergeant Guy: An elite Shy Guy with big dreams. His cowardly nature is great for dodging.

Trivia

 * Each member's strength seems to match their rank, with Private Goomp being the weakest and Sergeant Guy being the strongest.
 * Private Goomp drops an item (a Mushroom) inside a large Gift in Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, a rare case of this happening.
 * Each member of the Elite Trio has a unique animation for reviving their fallen comrades:
 * Private Goomp jumps up and down on his ally.
 * Corporal Paraplonk lands next to his ally and shakes/tickles them.
 * Sergeant Guy bops his ally with his wand.
 * In Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions, the three members wear their Elite Trio garb, despite not having been promoted yet.

Trio Élite