Boo Buddies

Boo Buddies, also known as Circling Boo Buddies, are a circular formation of Boos with different facial expressions first found in Super Mario World. They appear in small rooms in Ghost Houses and other haunted areas, including swamps and shipwrecks. Touching any one of the buddies can damage the Mario Bros. Unlike regular Boos, they do not become shy when looked at, suggesting Boos have more confidence in groups.

Circling Boo Buddies also make an appearance in of New Super Mario Bros. Wii, and in various haunted areas of New Super Mario Bros. U, where they can be found with different numbers of Boos and form larger or smaller circles. In New Super Mario Bros. Wii, they can be defeated by drilling them as Propeller Mario, unlike regular Boos.

Boo Buddies reappear under their current name — which itself was previously used for regular Boos in Super Mario World — in Super Mario Maker and Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS. This variant of Boos can be made in the Course Maker by shaking a Boo. Like many objects, they can be enlarged with a Super Mushroom and given wings, which the latter will make them move in and out when they are circling. They can be placed in Warp Pipes, Bill Blasters, Blocks, Lakitu's Clouds and tracks. Because of the fact that these Boo Buddies did not appear before Super Mario World, new sprites have been made for the Super Mario Bros. game style. Also, Boo Buddies do not make facial expressions unlike in other games. In Super Mario Maker 2, Boo Buddies follow the player in the nighttime ground theme, and stop moving when looked at.

In Yoshi's Safari, a trio of Circling Boo Buddies appear as the second phase of the Big Boo fight. Here, the player must shoot at the one with an open mouth to defeat them.

A single group of Boo Buddies appears in the Gloomy Woods in Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam, when the player is controlling Luigi after Mario and Paper Mario disappear. They are invisible, hence their movements can only be tracked by their shadows. If Luigi touches one of the Boos, they will appear and scare him, causing him to run away. Additionally, one of the Paper Boos' attacks is to separate their copies and move in a motion similar to that of Boo Buddies.

Boo Buddies appear in the Boo Hunt co-op challenge of Mario Tennis Aces. They circle high and/or low, and can be hit for coins. However, they will take coins if players take too long.

Boo Buddies make a cameo in WarioWare Gold, where a Boo must be shaken in Level 3 of the Super Mario Maker microgame to make it become a group of Boo Buddies.

Although Boo Buddies do not appear in Super Mario 3D Land and New Super Mario Bros. 2, Peepas appear instead, behaving identically. Similarly, in Super Mario Galaxy 2, there are groups of Octoboos which behave just like Boo Buddies.

A similar Boo formation is the Boo Buddy Snake.