Uploaded June 2024 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
This was recorded on emulator using savestates! Also I didn't capture any sound, the video is completely silent on purpose.
It's not much of a path, but it's a path. We can attempt this strat on the first pitch of the match and either get it or reset, "only" having wasted one Easy Barrel Batter clear's worth of time. Extra nice is the fact that no menuing at all during game setup is necessary. Finish up with a full chem Grand Slam on Bowser's second plate appearance and you are on track for a 16 PA finish - the lowest number possible.
Timing is key, here. I was mashing until Bowser rounded third base, at which point I stopped mashing until shortly before reaching home plate - you do need to be mashing as you reach home plate in order for the Body Check ability to even activate. This setup is very fussy, though, and it only seems to work if the fielders send the ball to SS or 2B for the final throw home - when Baby Mario threw to Birdo at 3B, it would always void the home run (likely because the scenario changes to that of a 'rundown' rather than a genuine race to home plate, and the game doesn't award home runs for rundowns or something).
You can pull this strategy off with help from both the RF and LF Piranha Plants, but I always aim for RF because Baby Mario is so short that he frequently dodges the Piranha Plant's bite while successfully retrieving the ball, on top of the aforementioned third base problem. If you don't get the Piranha Plant bite then it's legitimately hopeless and there's no point trying any further - at least, I never even got close to succeeding without a bite like the one shown in this video that takes the outfielder considerable time to recover from.
I've tested the strat both with and without Dash Spikes - Dash Spikes don't ruin the strategy, but they definitely aren't necessary. This particular recording was done without Dash Spikes. There wasn't a whole lot different with them versus without them - going forward I doubt we'll need any shop items other than the Bullet Bill and I won't be grabbing any (whew).
There's a lot of inherent randomness to this strategy, in particular *not* getting a Team Star-awarding yellow Piranha Plant wherever you hit the ball on top of getting a favorable outcome on the 60% Body Check dice roll at the very end. I really, really do not look forward to attempting this on console, but I'll probably give it an honest few hours' try, at least. We know that this can work, and we even know how - that knowledge is powerful indeed.
Peach and Wario don't have stage hazards Bowser's Killer Ball can reach, Mario doesn't have stage hazards at all, and DK's fielders are competent enough to recover from barrel impacts and still beat you to home plate handily - I think Yoshi is the way to go for this, and there's no real competition.
This was recorded on emulator using savestates! Also I didn't capture any sound, the video is completely silent on purpose.
It's not much of a path, but it's a path. We can attempt this strat on the first pitch of the match and either get it or reset, "only" having wasted one Easy Barrel Batter clear's worth of time. Extra nice is the fact that no menuing at all during game setup is necessary. Finish up with a full chem Grand Slam on Bowser's second plate appearance and you are on track for a 16 PA finish - the lowest number possible.
Timing is key, here. I was mashing until Bowser rounded third base, at which point I stopped mashing until shortly before reaching home plate - you do need to be mashing as you reach home plate in order for the Body Check ability to even activate. This setup is very fussy, though, and it only seems to work if the fielders send the ball to SS or 2B for the final throw home - when Baby Mario threw to Birdo at 3B, it would always void the home run (likely because the scenario changes to that of a 'rundown' rather than a genuine race to home plate, and the game doesn't award home runs for rundowns or something).
You can pull this strategy off with help from both the RF and LF Piranha Plants, but I always aim for RF because Baby Mario is so short that he frequently dodges the Piranha Plant's bite while successfully retrieving the ball, on top of the aforementioned third base problem. If you don't get the Piranha Plant bite then it's legitimately hopeless and there's no point trying any further - at least, I never even got close to succeeding without a bite like the one shown in this video that takes the outfielder considerable time to recover from.
I've tested the strat both with and without Dash Spikes - Dash Spikes don't ruin the strategy, but they definitely aren't necessary. This particular recording was done without Dash Spikes. There wasn't a whole lot different with them versus without them - going forward I doubt we'll need any shop items other than the Bullet Bill and I won't be grabbing any (whew).
There's a lot of inherent randomness to this strategy, in particular *not* getting a Team Star-awarding yellow Piranha Plant wherever you hit the ball on top of getting a favorable outcome on the 60% Body Check dice roll at the very end. I really, really do not look forward to attempting this on console, but I'll probably give it an honest few hours' try, at least. We know that this can work, and we even know how - that knowledge is powerful indeed.
Peach and Wario don't have stage hazards Bowser's Killer Ball can reach, Mario doesn't have stage hazards at all, and DK's fielders are competent enough to recover from barrel impacts and still beat you to home plate handily - I think Yoshi is the way to go for this, and there's no real competition.
