Grunt (Yoshi's Island series)

Grunts are red-colored Bandit-like enemies that have Spiny Shell-like crowns on their heads, and domino masks with tight-fitting yellow hoods instead of large white masks and loose hoods, appearing in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3 and Yoshi's New Island. In the former two, Grunts are only encountered in Marching Milde's Fort, a bonus arena in Scary Skeleton Goonies! and in Ultimate Castle Challenge. They do not actively seek Yoshi to attack him, instead simply wandering on the platform they are on. However, they can damage Yoshi if they touch him. When hit with an egg, Grunts lose their crowns, resulting in them looking embarrassed and frantically running back and forth, away from the character. A Yoshi can also consume a Grunt and turn it into an egg. If spat out, the Grunt will adopt a curled position and make flips in the air before landing. When a Grunt is spat back out, it will always be wearing a crown.

In Yoshi's New Island, if the player tries to eat one while it has its crown, the Grunt's crown will be removed. The player can no longer swallow one if they eat one, and the Grunt no longer has its crown back when spat out.

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island

 * Official Nintendo Player's Guide: Throw an egg to relieve these guards of their spiked headgear, then eat them to make new eggs.