- “If Thunder hurt me, I take double-damage from Thunder!”
- —Oho Jee, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
Lightning (also called Electricity or Thunder) is an element given to various attacks, items, and enemies in RPGs. In the Paper Mario series, it is closely linked to the Electrified status effect. In Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope, it is linked to the Shock Super Effect.
History
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
In Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars and its remake, lightning is one of the four elements assigned to Special attacks, alongside Jump, Fire, and Ice. Mallow's Thunderbolt and Shocker are designated with the lightning element. Attacking enemies or bosses weak to lightning will deal twice the damage; conversely, attacking enemies and bosses who are resistant to it will have no effect and inflict 0 damage instead.
Some enemy attacks are also affiliated with the lightning element (Bolt, Electroshock, Lightning Orb, and Static E!/Static Electricity), and can be negated with the Lazy Shell or Super Suit. In the remake, using Mallow's Thought Peek will reveal the targeted enemy's weaknesses, including lightning. The Clown Car Barrage Triple Move deals additional damage to enemies that are weak to either lightning, fire, or ice, ignoring any resistance that they could also possess to these elements.
Enemies who are only affected by lightning in the remake are indicated in bold.
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Paper Mario series
Paper Mario
In Paper Mario, lightning is an element given to the Thunder Bolt and Thunder Rage items, and Watt's Electro Dash. Some enemies are immune to lightning, which will negate the attack entirely and inflict 0 damage instead. Bob-ombs will be instantaneously defeated if attacked with the lightning element.
Any character with the lightning element is immune to the electrified status effect; conversely, the electrified status does not give its wearer immunity to lightning attacks. Watt is always both electrified and of the lightning element, allowing her to be immune to lightning attacks such as General Guy's Lightning Shot. Despite its name, Electro Blooper is not of the lightning element, and will take damage from lightning attacks or from attacking an electrified Mario, even when electrified itself. The Zap Tap badge is an exception to the rule, as it gives Mario immunity against the electrified status without making him immune to lightning damage.
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Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
Lightning returns in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and its remake in a more minor way. There is no equivalent to Watt in this game, and the only lightning attacks are the returning Thunder Bolt and Thunder Rage items. The only enemy with the lightning Element is the Ruff Puff (but not the other Cloud variant enemies, despite them also having electrified and/or lightning-related moves), who is now healed by the amount of damage it was supposed to receive from lightning attacks instead of being immune to them. In the remake, attacking enemies that are immune to lightning with this element displays a special icon denoting their immunity. Invincible enemies, such as The Iron Adonis Twins, Sir Grodus with a shield, or the Shadow Queen at the start of her second phase, are also redundantly immune to lightning.
Bulky Bob-ombs and Bob-ulks hit with any lightning attack will immediately detonate, dealing explosion damage to all characters on the stage, enemies and allies alike. There are several enemies in the game with lightning-related moves, such as Marylin, Grodus, and the Wizzerd variants, but they have no additional impact on the player's party (though many are themed around dealing piercing damage) and can't be altered by any badge or item.
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Paper Mario: Sticker Star
Lightning is not present as an element in Paper Mario: Sticker Star. However, a series of Thing Stickers related to electricity (the Watch Battery, D-Cell Battery, and Car Battery) use lightnings during their attacks; they are merely cosmetic, and have no application in combat outside of pure damage. They aren't used for any overworld puzzles either.
The D-Cell Battery solely returns in Paper Mario: Color Splash, now simply referred to as "Battery", still without any specific elemental value.
Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
- See also: Thunderhand
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In Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, lightning is one of the game's main elements, here called Thunderhand or thunder for shorts, alongside the fire element, here called Firebrand. It is the Hand Power associated with Luigi, which allows him to perform a Tickle in the overworld and the Thunder Bros. Bros. Attack as well as its Advanced version in battle.
Some enemies can be weak to thunder, which deals more damage to them as a Critical hit, or be immune to it and absorb the attacks to heal themselves. Others can be resistant to both Hand Powers, turning any thunder attack into a flat 1 damage. This is independent from the Critical and Heal effects and can be added to them, effectively dealing 2 damage and healing 1 HP respectively. This is changed in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions, which only reduces the attacks' power instead, is not cumulative with other effectivenesses, and is applied to each element separately rather than both.
Enemies who are only affected by thunder in the original are indicated in italic, while enemies who are only affected by thunder in the remake are indicated in bold. Some enemies have differences in the international release of the original game, denoted here by [I]. Additionally, several bosses, namely Bowser and Rookie, are weak to thunder but cannot be fought before Luigi acquires Thunderhand.
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Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope
Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope introduces the Shock Super Effect to the series, which has lightning elemental property. In this game, some enemies are weak to Shock-inflicting attacks and will receive additional damage from them, while others are resistant and will receive less damage instead, on top of being immune to the status effect.
Several Sparks can be assigned to playable characters to give them Shock related Powers. Electroid's Shock Attack and Electrodash's Shock Dash can give the Shock Super Effect to their ally's weapon and dash respectively for a single turn, and Electrogeddon's Skyrain Shock and Electroquake's Shockwave Shock attack all enemies within a 9 meters and 13 meters radius respectively with Shock damage. All four Sparks also give the Shock Protector Bonus ability to their ally, granting them immunity to the Shock status effect.
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Super Smash Bros. series
Electric is an effect given to several attacks, items, and hazards in the Super Smash Bros. series, such as Dr. Mario's forward smash and Hotheads' sparks, as well as the Shocking Cape, Lightning Punch, and Shocking Sheet variations in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U / 3DS. It provides more hitlag to them, meaning that the characters become stuck in place longer on hit. In Super Smash Bros., characters hit with an electric attack have a brief cosmetic effect where their skeleton appears. Yellow Pikmin are immune to attacks with the electric effect, and Hotheads will grow larger and stronger when hit with electric and flame moves.
In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, electric attacks can be altered in The Subspace Emissary with stickers. Some can enhance their associated character's electric attacks (such as Lightning, Blue Virus, 9-Volt from WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Party Game$!, and both Mario and Luigi from Super Paper Mario) and others can improve the character's resistance to the electric effect (such as Klaptrap, and Donkey Kong from Donkey Kong Country). Members of the Subspace Army can have a weakness or resistance to the electric effect, which is cumulated with their resistance to direct and indirect attacks. Spaak's battery is weak against everything but the electric effect, effectively making it its resistance by default; Spaak's body is also significantly stronger against electric than any other effect.
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In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, spirits serve a similar role to stickers, altering their associated character's attributes. The Fawful and Dr. Crygor spirits enhance the character's electric attacks, while Big Urchin and Enguarde increase the damage received from electric attacks.
Names in other languages
| Language | Name | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japanese | かみなり[?] kaminari |
lightning | |
| Chinese | 雷[?] léi |
thunder | |
| Dutch | Elektrisch[?] | electric | |
| bliksem[?] | lightning | ||
| French | électricité[?] | electricity | |
| French (NOA) | foudre[?] | lightning | |
| German | Elektro[?] | electro | |
| Italian | elettricità[?] | electricity | |
| Korean | 천둥[?] cheondung |
thunder | |
| Spanish | electricidad[?] | electricity |
Trivia
- In Paper Mario: The Origami King, an unused item called the Electric Hammer is found in the data, as well as its associated electric particle effect and a sound effect for enemies defeated with electricity. These could mean that Mario was initially meant to have lightning-based moves, which were removed later on. Sumo Bros. and Boss Sumo Bro use lightning attacks in the final game, but they have no elemental property.
