It’s that time again: #KappySpotlight time, where I talk about badges/items/partners/etc… that are generally seen as “bad” and not used very often by challenge runners. I dive deeper into why they’re perceived the way they are with some cool strategies centered around them mixed in! Today, I’ll be covering a partner in TTYD who’s bombastically underwhelming — BOBBERY!!
Glitz Pit Rank: 6th (of 7 Partners)
Unlike Paper Mario 64, Partners in TTYD serve different purposes and can be included in strategies since they can be hit and have many, many more badges that can affect them. As such, I will be sharing strategies for these partners.
BOMB
Bobbery’s Basic attack. 4 damage at Base rank is pretty great, but it’s basically a Hammer attack. It can only hit the front. Bonus points for him being able to flip Clefts with this move, though! It can also clear Fog. Unfortunately, because of partner balance Flurrie also gets to 6 at Ultra Rank, making Bobbery’s upgrades less impactful in terms of power. You’ll use this move if there’s a spiky enemy or a Cleft, but otherwise, you’ll stick with something stronger.
BOMB SQUAD
This is Bobbery’s ace in the hole but unfortunately is outclassed once you start stacking power. This move can be an incredible way to defeat certain bosses. Cortez, Smorg, and even Magnus Von Grapple 2.0/Grodus can all be disrupted heavily by Bomb Squad. You can also use it to skip a turn in Shadow Queen’s Phase 2, which can be invaluable, but ultimately is still niche since you can just KO them outright with well-planned strategies. Bomb Squad actually has an amazing niche in Impossible Mode, where it can be used to ultimately optimize turns since it’s the highest damage-dealing move in your arsenal that can hit multiple opponents. The biggest drawback to Bomb Squad is that it can’t have its damage increased by any badge that raises ATK, so it’s stuck at base 3 even at Ultra Rank. If it could be increased I guarantee Bobbery would be seen in a different light off this move alone, but alas.
HOLD FAST
The worst move by far in Bobbery’s arsenal. It’s literally the Return Postage badge as a partner move, and it’s not great. While the idea of having this move on the highest HP partner is good, the fact that many attacks later on aren’t direct attacks really sells the move short. Hard to justify it when basically every boss after Chapter 5 isn’t affected besides a select few moves, and you can’t double the damage Bobbery takes, so you’re forced to use a Spite Pouch to deal more damage. It’s just not good when you can do so much more.
BOB-OMBAST
This is probably Bobbery’s second-best attack behind Bomb Squad, and is actually quite good at Ultra Rank. 8 damage base is strong. Unfortunately, it costs 9 FP, meaning you’re really digging into your FP to use this move when fantastic moves like Shell Slam, Stampede, and Fiery Jinx are all 6 FP and can deal way more damage. This is basically diet Supernova that costs FP. It’s an explosion, so you can definitely get use out of it by flipping 4 Clefts or dealing extra damage to 5 Phantom Embers, but otherwise…well, you have better, more FP-efficient options.
Now, let’s look at a strategy with Bobbery featuring Bomb Squad!
CORTEZ STRAT
ITEMS: Power Punch
T3: Power Punch Mario, Power Bounce (4 bounces) [KO]
This is a modified strategy from one of our Puzzle Challenges hosted on the Glitz Pit. I wanted to specifically show this strategy to expose it to others and show how cool Bomb Squad is. This is a really nice, clean strategy and I love it, so let’s jump in!
We’ve set up Mario so that a Spin Jump does 4+6 damage against Cortez, who has 3 phases with 20 HP each. He has 4 ATK and 1 DEF. Our goal here is to completely skip Phase 2 with Bomb Squad. So, with Super Boots, Mario’s Jump does 2+2, and Spin Jump does 2+4. With DEF, we’re at 1+3 on Spin Jump, so Jumpman and two Power Plus badges put him at 4+6. We’ll be using FP every turn, so we put on Flower Saver so that Mario’s Spin Jump is 1 FP and Power Bounce is 2 FP.
Turn 1, we Bomb Squad and Spin Jump so that Cortez is at 10. It doesn’t matter who he attacks since this is the only turn he’ll get to attack. Turn 2, we Bomb Squad first to ensure we have six bombs out, then Spin Jump again to end Cortez’s Phase 1. After he transitions to Phase 2, the bombs from Bomb Squad thrown Turn 1 explode. Cortez sinks once when the bone pile is attacked in Phase 2, and the bombs attack the bone pile, so he sinks once, then exposes his gem on the second bomb. Now, on the third bomb, the bomb hits both the bone pile and the gem. Cortez’s gem actually has -1 DEF, and Bobbery’s bombs from Bomb Squad have 3 ATK, so he takes 2 on the bone pile and 4 on the gem, resulting in 6 damage total and leaving him at 10 HP. Now, two more bombs go off because the bombs from Bomb Squad can actually set each other off, and with two more bombs Cortez’s Phase 2 ends before Turn 3 has even started. Remember, we’re still at the end of Turn 2! And finally, the last bomb goes off and inflicts 2 damage on Cortez.
Now, finally, Turn 3 starts after Phase 2 is completely skipped. We have 2 FP left after two Spin Jumps and two Bomb Squads (both costing 4 FP total per turn). We Power Punch Mario and perform a Power Bounce with four bounces. With a Power Punch, Mario’s base 4 (factoring in Cortez’s DEF) is now at 6. (6+5+4+3) = 18 damage. And that’s exactly what we need to defeat Cortez’s third Phase and end the fight! I like this strat because you can really see how Cortez was definitely a boss for Bobbery. He annihilates him with Bomb Squad, and it’s amazing. Awesome, awesome, awesome!
Now let’s look at Bob-ombast!
SHADOW SIRENS & DOOPLISS STRAT
ITEMS: Point Swap, Shooting Star
T2: Double Dip (Shooting Star, Point Swap Bobbery) (20, 20, 10), Bob-ombast [KO, KO, KO]
This is a variation of the classic “Double Dip and destroy with Yoshi” strategy, but with Bobbery! There’s a lot to unpack, so let’s dive in!
The goal of this strat is to finish off the Shadow Sirens & Doopliss with Bob-ombast. To do that, we need to get Bobbery in Peril. So, we’ll need to use Point Swap. We also don’t want Mario to be KO’d Turn 1, so we equip P-Down D-Up to guarantee he lives all 3 attacks in the worst case (4 from Doopliss, 6 from Marilyn, and 3 from Beldam with guarding). Bobbery’s got 40 HP, so he can’t die Turn 1 even with P-Up D-Down P equipped. We also have FP Drain equipped, but we’ll get to that a little later. With two badges that drop Mario’s ATK, we need to boost that back up to normal, which is 3 with Ultra Boots. So, we equip Jumpman and All or Nothing, a classic combo that boosts Mario’s ATK by two for jumps at the BP cost of one Power Plus. We gave Bobbery all we could for boosting a partner’s ATK for maximum damage.
Okay, let’s actually get into this! Turn 1, we Multibounce for 3 damage each. Now, Multibounce is 2 FP, but because of FP Drain, we get 1 FP back, leaving us at 14 FP. We then Bob-ombast for 11 damage (8 base + 3 ATK from badges), which is 14 total for the turn. Now, here’s where FP Drain came into play. Without it, we’d be at 13 FP, and 13-9 is 4. With FP Drain, we get that one crucial FP back to be at a perfect 5 FP. Then, Doopliss and the Shadow Sirens attack. Turn 2, we are now able to do the classic Double Dip -> Point Swap thanks to FP Drain. We use a Shooting Star first for 6 damage, then Point Swap Bobbery, putting him at 1 HP and giving us all of our FP back. In Peril, Bobbery has +5 ATK from Mega Rush P and +4 from the two Power Rush P badges. That’s 9 ATK total, bringing Bob-ombast up to a staggering 20 damage beast of a move. As you can see, we’ve left Doopliss and Marilyn, who have 40 HP each, at 20. Beldam, who starts with 30 HP, has 10 left. With one last Bob-ombast, we finish off Doopliss and the Shadow Sirens at the same time, with perfect damage on Doopliss and Marilyn. Unlike other strategies, Bobbery’s insane FP requirement for Bob-ombast requires a couple FP Plus badges or some level ups in FP, so it’s a little unoptimal compared to a partner like Yoshi with his 6 FP Stampede. However, achieving a 2-turn fight with Bobbery is pretty cool, and it’s always nice to use FP Drain!
That’s it for Bobbery. All in all, his few strengths are greatly outclassed by other partners thanks to his insanely bad FP economy and the inability to increase Bomb Squad’s power. However, he is a great tank and you’ll be hard-pressed not to use him in a Level Zero run; and, Bomb Squad can actually obliterate certain bosses. As always, feel free to modify or use these strategies yourself and try out Bobbery sometime! You might be surprised.
Next time, I’ll be covering another badge in TTYD. I wonder what it will be… oh, and hey, check out that Puzzle Challenge I mentioned earlier that features Bobbery. It’s pretty sick.
Just Sayin' 
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