Gold Beanie

Gold Beanies are a rare type of Beanie that are found in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga and Mario & Luigi: Dream Team.

Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
Gold Beanies have more powerful attacks than Beanies, and as such net more experience points and coins for Mario and Luigi when defeated. However, they more often run from battle rather than attack. The Beanies and Gold Beanies in the Oho Ocean merely float up to the surface, preventing them from being fought. However, allowing the Beanies to float up to the surface still counts as a win, meaning that it is much easier to obtain badges in this fashion. Defeating a Gold Beanie will result in a rare badge called the Spike Badge, which allows Mario or Luigi to jump on spiked enemies. If the Game Boy Horror SP is used, it will yield a Chuckola Badge instead.

Mario & Luigi: Dream Team
Gold Beanies (now called Golden Beanies in PAL versions) once again appear as an enemy in Mario & Luigi: Dream Team. After coming back from Dream's Deep through the Dreamy Pi'illo Castle entrance, the player will encounter a Golden Beanie, escaping from Dreamy Broque Monsieur. The latter will explain that this Golden Beanie is a very rare and powerful enemy that only appears in dreams, and is said to grant legendary loot to whoever can defeat it. A Golden Beanie may rarely be found in dreams. Gold Beanies are one of the most powerful enemies the player can encounter, but still run away when they can. Defeating one will result in a variety of loot, including more coins and experience points, a DX Bean of a random type, and after defeating six of them, they may sometimes drop a rare piece of equipment. Despite Broque Monsieur mentioning a single Golden Beanie, more may be found after the first one is defeated.

Gold Beanies have three attacks. First, it will try to keep ramming Mario; every time Mario stomps it, it will become faster. Sometimes, a rock may appear, causing the Gold Beanie to trip. In the second attack, the Gold Beanie will charge at Mario, who must counter with the hammer; if the Gold Beanie is glowing red, it will jump on Mario, possibly throwing off its timing. In the final attack, the Gold Beanie will run from the background, summoning many Beanies to attack Mario; it will hide behind one of the Beanies. Sometimes, it may switch between Beanies to confuse the player; the one hiding it will be sparkling. If the player fails to avoid getting hit or to jump on the Gold Beanie, the attack will end, and Mario will take damage; however, if the player jumps on the Gold Beanie, all the Beanies will be shocked, and the Gold Beanie will start to sweat, making it fall.

While in battle, the Golden Beanie can be knocked down by successfully countering its attacks. This will prevent it from fleeing.

Trivia

 * The Gold Beanie is the only enemy in Mario & Luigi: Dream Team to drop three different pieces of gear and six different DX bean types, for a total of nine different items, the most any enemy has the potential to drop in the whole Mario & Luigi series.
 * The Gold Beanie also drops gear items as small Gifts rather than large Gifts, a rare case of this.
 * The Gold Beanie also has the highest defense rating of any enemy in the game, at 950.
 * The Gold Beanie is also one of the only non-background enemies that has no designated number for the Expert Challenges, the other being the Golden Egg.