Star Skill

A Star Skill is a special hit or pitch that can be used by any player and is unique among the captains in the Mario Baseball series. Star Skills require a limited meter of Team Stars; at least one Team Star is used whenever the player uses a Star Skill. Team Stars are gained when the players either hit the field features (such as hitting a yellow Piranha Plant with the ball in Yoshi Park) or when they get a hit (for offense) or get the batter out (for defense) when the words, "STAR CHANCE!" appear. Players start with a more filled meter if there are many players on the team that have good Chemistry with each other; the meter can hold up to five Team Stars. A team's main captain and minor players use one Team Star while other captains on the team use two (though only one Team Star is consumed if a secondary captain gets a strike while attempting to hit with a Star Skill). Batting Star Skills all make better contact with the ball than normal hits, helping avoid strikeouts.

List of Star Skills
All team captains have their own unique Star Skills in both games, with some characters keeping their Star Skills through both games while other characters gain new Star Skills from Mario Superstar Baseball to Mario Super Sluggers. The lists below show each captain's Star Skills in both games. In Mario Superstar Baseball, the pairs of captains tend to have generally the same Star Skill, with only minor differences in color and other attributes. For example, when Mario bats with his Fireball Star Skill, it is a line drive to the outfield, while Luigi's equivalent Green Fireball is a short-ranged grounder, but both skills have the same effect of burning fielders if they try to catch the ball. In Mario Super Sluggers, the captains all have unique Star Skills of their own, with some captains gaining completely new Star Skills, some captains having their Star Skills work differently, and some captains carrying over the same Star Skill they had in Mario Superstar Baseball.

Mario Superstar Baseball

 * Mario: Fireball, Luigi: Green Fireball
 * Peach: Heart Ball, Daisy: Flower Ball
 * Yoshi: Egg Ball, Birdo: Weird Ball
 * Donkey Kong: Banana Ball, Diddy Kong: Boomerang Ball
 * Wario: Phony Ball, Waluigi: Liar Ball
 * Bowser: Killer Ball, Bowser Jr.: Killer Jr. Ball

Mario Super Sluggers

 * Mario: Fireball (pitching), Fire Swing (batting)
 * Luigi: Tornado Ball (pitching), Tornado Swing (batting)
 * Peach: Heart Ball (pitching), Heart Swing (batting)
 * Daisy: Flower Ball (pitching), Flower Swing (batting)
 * Yoshi: Rainbow Ball (pitching), Egg Swing (batting)
 * Birdo: Suction Ball (pitching), Cannon Swing (batting)
 * Donkey Kong: Barrel Ball (pitching), Barrel Swing (batting)
 * Diddy Kong: Banana Ball (pitching), Banana Swing (batting)
 * Wario: Phony Ball (pitching), Phony Swing (batting)
 * Waluigi: Liar Ball (pitching), Liar Swing (batting)
 * Bowser: Killer Ball (pitching), Breath Swing (batting)
 * Bowser Jr.: Graffiti Ball (pitching), Graffiti Swing (batting)

When minor, non-captain players use a batting Star Skill, the ball will fly in one of three predictable ways depending on the batting character, at a considerably higher velocity than ordinary hits of the same type:


 * Ground Ball: This Star Skill hits the ball as a grounder; at a low angle into the infield.
 * Fly Ball: This Star Skill is a high-angled and fast fly ball hit into the outfield.
 * Line Drive: This Star Skill, the rarest of the three batting Star Skills, hits the ball in a straight line towards the outfield.

If any minor player uses a Star Skill to hit the ball with a charged swing, the ball will be hit as a relatively slow fly ball to the outfield, where it can very likely be caught out. Captains' Star Skills are the same regardless of whether the swing is charged. However, in Mario Superstar Baseball only, if the a Star Skill is used with a charged swing, the player has five Team Stars, and the batter makes perfect contact, the hit will become a guaranteed home run with extreme distance and power; however, this uses the player's entire stock of Team Stars and may be a foul ball.

Minor players also have one of three types of pitching Star Skills each:


 * Fastball: This Star Skill throws the ball with very high velocity similar to an ordinary fastball, but with greater speed and movement and no need to charge the pitch.
 * Change-Up: This Star Skill acts very much as a powered-up change-up; it first moves quickly, then slows down considerably, and does not need to be charged.
 * Breaking Ball: This Star Skill is a slow, floating pitch that can be easily curved.