Special Attack (Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games)

Special Attacks are moves that are often featured in Dream Events in the Mario & Sonic series. Special Attacks allow characters to perform special moves in events with a variety of beneficial effects, such as powerful hits, high point-scoring moves and bursts of speed. The Attacks are often limited by filling gauges and collecting items. Normally, each character has a unique animation for their special attack, and depending on the event, may also have a unique effect as well.

Wii
Special Attacks appear in two events in the Wii version of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, Dream Fencing and Dream Table Tennis. Players can use them by pressing the A and B Buttons at the same time while performing a lunge or hit. Whilst playing the two events, there is a bar at the bottom which fills with energy every hit. When the bar is filled, the players can use a special attack and the bar will refill again to charge a new attack. The maximum amount of attacks the player can store at one time is three.

Dream Table Tennis

 * Mario: Mario uses a racket with fire to hit the ball, which sets it on fire. After swinging it away, the ball falls after several seconds and bounces away when reaching the table.
 * Luigi: Luigi swings his racket to create a tornado, which causes the ball to plummet down from a high spot.
 * Peach: Peach spins spins around in a sea of hearts and then hits the ball. Her ball becomes invisible, making it harder to hit.
 * Daisy: Daisy twirls and hits the ball with a petal covered racket. The ball is then fired at high speeds with a trail of petals.
 * Yoshi: Yoshi uses his tongue to hit the ball, which causes it to be fired at high speeds.
 * Wario: Wario jumps up and releases a fart, which blasts away the ball. After that, it stays on the table before bouncing away and causes the stadium to rumble.
 * Waluigi: Waluigi stomps on the floor and hits the ball away. The ball becomes invisible, making it harder to hit.
 * Bowser: Bowser burns the ball with his fire breath, and swings the ball away. After that, the ball stays on the table before bouncing away.
 * Sonic: Sonic spins rapidly and hits the ball away. After that, the ball is shot away at high speeds.
 * Tails: Tails flies upwards with his tail and hits the ball away with it. After that, the ball becomes invisible, making it harder to hit.
 * Knuckles: Knuckles claps his hands and causes the ball to hover in place. After hitting the ball, it stays on the table before bouncing away and causes the stadium to rumble.
 * Amy: Amy laughs and hits the ball that is covered with hearts. The ball then plummets down from a high spot.
 * Shadow: Shadow jumps up and twirls vertically. When he lands, he inhales and fires the ball at high speeds at the opponent.
 * Vector: Vector jumps up and hits the ball. The ball then stays on the table for several seconds before bouncing to the opponent.
 * Blaze: Blaze raises up her racket and spins in the air and hits the ball. The ball then plummets down from a high spot.
 * Dr. Eggman: Dr. Eggman charges his racket with lightning, and hits the ball away. The ball becomes invisible, making it harder to hit.
 * Mii: The Mii causes the ball to hover in place and hits it. After that, the ball plummets down from a high spot.

Nintendo DS
Similar to the Wii version, the Nintendo DS version includes special attacks in a selection of Dream Events, with the effect and usage of the attacks differing between events. Each character has a unique animation for their attacks, but the specific effect on the gameplay is sometimes shared with other characters.

Dream Table Tennis
In Dream Table Tennis, special attacks are charged by filling a gauge onscreen, that allows the player to store up to three special attacks at once. The attacks are used by pressing the X Button when the player has one stored, which plays a short animation before returning a powerful shot with one of a number of effects to the opponent. Special attacks can be returned, but are difficult to do so. For special attacks that return multiple balls, the player an hit any of the balls back to continue the rally.
 * Mario: Sets fire to the ball and performs a fast-moving lob shot that bounces once off the table.
 * Luigi: Sets fire to the ball with green fire and performs a fast-moving lob shot that bounces once off the table.
 * Peach: Spins around with a heart effect before retuning a ball that tightly curves after each bounce.
 * Daisy: Spins around with a petal effect and returns three fast balls in convoy.
 * Yoshi: Returns the ball with his tongue and a star effect, causing it to zigzag wildly and disappear while passing over the net.
 * Wario: Returns three fast balls in convoy with a fart and star effect.
 * Waluigi: Kicks up a dust cloud, and then sends back three balls that spread out across the table with a smoke effect.
 * Bowser: Sets fire to the ball, and returns it with a fast and powerful smash shot.
 * Sonic: Creates a tornado effect that causes the ball to zigzag wildly and disappear while passing over the net.
 * Tails: Uses his Tails to create a tornado effect that returns a ball with a star effect that tightly curves after each bounce.
 * Knuckles: Bangs his fists together creating a dust cloud and returns the ball with a flame effect and a fast and powerful smash shot.
 * Amy: Twirls with a heart effect, and the sends back three balls that spread out across the table with a petal effect.
 * Shadow: Strikes the ball with Chaos Control lightning that causes the ball to zigzag wildly and disappear while passing over the net.
 * Vector: Creates a musical note effect and returns three fast balls with a tornado effect in convoy.
 * Blaze: Strikes the ball with lightning, and then sends back three balls that spread out across the table with a fire effect.
 * Dr. Eggman: Uses a lightning effect to return a ball that tightly curves after each bounce.

Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games
In the Nintendo 3DS version of Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games, Special Attacks are featured in a select number of Events. In this game, each character's Special Attack functions the same as the others in their entry characters group, due to the way that playable characters are grouped for the event. Each character still retains a unique animation or effect for their Special Attacks. When a Special Attack is started, a banner featuring the character's face will appear onscreen with their name preceding the word "Special" on it, before launching into the move.

Long Jump
In Long Jump, Special Attacks can be performed by jumping at a near perfect angle right before the takeoff board, and will give the character a greater distance.
 * Wario: Punches through the air with a lightning effect.
 * Waluigi: Swims through the air with a purple star effect.
 * Dr. Eggman: Runs through the air.
 * Metal Sonic: Flies through the air using the booster on his back.

100m Freestyle
In 100m Freestyle, Special Attacks are performed by keeping the character's speed in the green area at the end of the speed meter. The character will periodically gain a speed boost from doing so.
 * Mario: Spins in the water while shouting "Here we go!", resembling the Spin.
 * Luigi: Similar to Mario's, though instead using a green effect.
 * Sonic: Performs a Spin Dash that propels him out of the water.
 * Tails: Uses his tails to propel himself through the water.

Tennis (Singles)
In Tennis (Singles), if one of the characters performs a poor return shot, the other character will be able to return it with a special attack. If the character returning it hits the ball with the wrong timing, the attack will fail. Special attacks cannot be returned. Each character performs a unique return.
 * Bowser: Spins around and returns the ball.
 * Donkey Kong: Beats his chest and returns the ball.
 * Knuckles: Winds up as if preparing a punch and says "Here I go!" while smashing the ball down.
 * Vector: Smashes the ball downwards while saying "Let's have some fun!".

Judo
In Judo, when character perform perfect throws, which award them a full point, the animation to start one is very similar to that used for Special Attacks, but is not identical, as the names of the special moves are replaced with the Judo move performed and all characters perform the moves the same way.

Horizontal Bar
In Horizontal Bar, each character performs a Special as their last move to dismount from the bar. In this event, each character performs the same animation with no additional special effects, doing several tucked flips through the air before landing.

Balance Beam
In Balance Beam, each character performs a special move as their last one to dismount from the beam. For the last move, the player must move the indicator around a more complex shape, such as a crown or tight S, and doing so successfully will allow their character to perform another cartwheel along the beam before dismounting with a spinning jump.

Rings
In Rings, each character will perform their special move as the last one in the routine, however is the player does not maintain the correct input for it, the move will fail and the character will fall off, getting a much lower score. The special move requires the player to hold a diagonal direction on the Circle Pad and two of the A, B, X or Y Buttons. Each character performs a unique pose on the rings for their special.
 * Bowser: Stands on the rings and folds his arms.
 * Donkey Kong: Holds one ring and stands on the other, flexing his free arm.
 * Knuckles: Stands on the rings, holding one fist in the air.
 * Vector: Bites onto one ring, puts his foot through the other, and hold his hands in the air.

Trampoline
In Trampoline, each character can perform a special move for performing their final jump with perfect timing and close to the centre of the trampoline. By doing this, the character will perform a special jump with several more moves that earns them a higher score than the standard final jump. Each character has a unique final special jump.
 * Yoshi: Flutter Jumps back up into the air, performing three more drops and flipping each time.
 * Bowser Jr.: Performs a spiral spin in his shell in mid air, producing sparks.
 * Shadow: Uses Chaos Control to suspend himself in the air and perform a long series of flips.
 * Silver: Uses his Psychokinetic abilities to levitate, teleport while performing flips, and create two clones of himself.