Guard

Guard is a defensive move used in Paper Mario and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. It is used to reduce damage dealt by enemies. By pressing the A button just before contact, damage can be reduced by 1; the player has only 1/2 of a second before the attack connects to press the button. Guarding will also negate almost every Status Effect linked to the attack, such as Poison (the only exception is immobilization, which only one enemy in the series can perform without an item). If equipped with the Badge Damage Dodge, Guards can prevent additional points of damage.

The Guard is the weaker version of the Superguard, which will always prevent all damage and status effects without fail, yet requires tighter timing.