Mr. Batties are one of the most well-known enemies of the Mother series, and one of the few to appear in every game. They are small bats with a different color and appearance in each game. They are usually located in caves, haunted houses, attics, cemeteries, and dark forests. They are notable for the self-inflicting strangeness status ailment, and their low-level attacks.
In EarthBound Beginnings[]
In EarthBound Beginnings, Mr. Batties, known by the name Mr. Bat, are found in the Cemetery south of Podunk, as well as Spookane and the Rosemary's house. Mr. Bats frequently appear together in pairs or trios. As in later games, they often waste turns, such as by "thinking about the circumstances" (equivalent to "sizing up the situation" in EarthBound), which results in the Mr. Bat becoming confused.
Groups with[]
- Mr. Bat (x2)
- Mr. Bat (x4)
In EarthBound[]
- "Attack Bats hang out in the caves round Happy Happy Village. Try to attack them before they take flight."
- — EarthBound Player's Guide
They are first found by Ness in the Lilliput Steps cave. These enemies are green, small bats that can accompany the Mighty Bear into battle. They have a significant amount of HP, defense, and offense, and have few relatively good attacks. They can bash, dealing low damage. They can "size up the situation", which makes them have the strangeness status ailment. Lastly, they can become "friendly and affectionate" that deals the solidification status ailment to Ness and his party. When defeated, they give 304 EXP, $30, and drop a Jar of Hot Sauce 1/64 of the time.
In Mother 3[]
- "A bat native to the Sunshine Forest. It loves ambiguity and tends to be wishy-washy."
- — Battle Memory
- "It's nothing more than an average bat, man. A few simple swats at this nocturnal nuisance will send it back to its cave."
- — Mother 3 Handbook
The Mr. Batty enemies are some of the first enemies fought by Flint in Mother 3. Like their name implies, they are nocturnal bat creatures that appear in the Sunshine Forest until Chapter 4 and in the Drago Plateau cave. They are low-level enemies, with a relatively low HP, offense and defense. Despite their size, they can fly and are fast enemies. Its battle music, "Mr. Batty Twist", is unique to it alone, and they are the only non-boss enemy, aside from the Rhinocerocket Mark II, to have their own battle theme. This beginning of this theme bears a striking resemblance to the opening theme of the Batman TV show from the 1960s.
Battle[]
Like the Mr. Batty enemies in EarthBound, they still share a similar in-battle move set. Their standard attacks still deal low-level damage. At the end of the battle, they award the characters that defeated them with 20 EXP. It drops Nut Bread 20% of the time and a Nut Cookie 2% of the time.
- Attacks - The Mr. Batty attacks dealing low damage to one party member.
- Sized up the situation - The Mr. Batty sizes up the situation, feeling a little strange and inflicting strangeness to itself.
- Became friendly and affectionate - The Mr. Batty becomes friendly, solidifying a party member.
In Mother 3, its battle sound is Battle Sound 17 which falls under Code Numbers 487 for regular attack, 488 for Smaaaash! and 489 for Miss.
Trivia[]
- If the party feeds Mr. Batty coffee they will smile.
- All the Mr. Batty in-battle sprites appear to be inclined to the left.
- In Mother 3, the riff at the beginning of Mr. Batty's theme bears a major resemblance to the theme song from the original "Batman" TV series.
- In Mother 3, Mr. Batty and the Rhinocerocket Mark II are the only non-boss enemies to have their own battle themes.
- Pigmask Major is the only enemy that uses the More Audacious March battle theme, but it was also used the unused enemy Tiny Forest.
- In the companion guide, it is called "Mr. Bat" in Mother and EarthBound Beginnings, and "Mr. Batty" in Mother 1 + 2, making this one of the few Mother 1 enemies who only got a name change in the final version, likely to connect it to EarthBound.
- Their description reads, "Generally appears in groups. Despite the fact that he enjoys fighting alongside his friends, he'll sometimes put himself in his opponent's shoes and, confused, attack his own allies. Is he a philosophy buff or just a nitwit? Oh well, he is a cute little fella in any case.".