Ball Hop
| Ball Hop | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Screenshot from Mario & Luigi: Dream Team | |||
| Appears in | Mario & Luigi: Dream Team (2013) | ||
| Used by | Mario Luigi | ||
| Effect | Bounce in fixed arcs, reaching higher than normal and increasing precision of movements and landings | ||
| Input method |  or 
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| Variant of | Jump | ||
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The Ball Hop is a Bros. Move in Mario & Luigi: Dream Team. The move is taught to Mario and Luigi by Big Massif and Lil' Massif while at Mount Pajamaja when the Mario brothers are assembling the Ultibed. Big Massif and Lil' Massif also call it the "Super-beef-muscle-flex-ultra-special-double-ab-crunch-jump". It took 25 years for them to create it. Ball Hop can be seen as the spiritual successor to the moves High Jump and Thunder Tickle from Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (and its 3DS remake) while visually referring back to Bros. Ball from Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time.
This move used by first pressing 
until the action icon cycles to two curved arrows. Either or starts the move, with Luigi jumping onto Mario and having both of them curl into a single ball. If there is not enough space above the Bros. for this jump, Ball Hop is unable to start.
While in a ball, the Bros. bounce continuously. However, Ball Hop can only bounce in place or move a fixed distance in a cardinal direction. The trajectory is determined with the 
while the ball is grounded. (As in, pressing a direction while airborne has no effect on the arc.) By pressing or again, the Bros. split up and stand again. However, the move cannot be canceled during the initial bounce of Ball Hop.
The jumps that the ball make are higher than normal, enabling the Bros. to reach higher places or get over certain obstacles. The fixed jump arcs make it useful for moving across small platforms that are difficult to land on with the Bros.'s default movement. It is also used for Ring Puzzles, where Mario and Luigi must jump through rings in ball form without touching the same space again. When starting Ball Hop close to a Ring Puzzle, Mario will slide into a set position so as to align Ball Hop's jumps. Ball Hop is featured in Ding-a-Ring, a minigame based on going through rings while avoiding landing in any space more than once.
Ball Hop cannot pass through scene transitions. When the Bros. enter one, the move will end, then they walk through. If Ball Hop lands on an enemy, Mario performs the First Strike.
One of Ball Hop's purposes is blocking off access to Somnom Woods until after starting to assemble the Ultibed, as the path from Mushrise Park to Somnom Woods has consecutive cliffs requiring Ball Hop to get over.
Names in other languages[edit]
| Language | Name | Meaning | Note(s) | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| French (Europe) | Saut ballon | Ball jump | [?] | |
| German | Prall-Ball | Plump Ball | [?] | |
| Portuguese | Saltimbola | Pun on saltimbanco ("acrobat") and bola ("ball") | [?] |
