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Junker Cans are enemies that appear in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story and its remake, Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey. They are blue garbage cans with yellow eyes that assist Junker during its boss fight in Peach's Castle Garden. Stronger variants called Junker Can Xs appear during the fight against Junker X in the Gauntlet.
Battle[]
Up to two Junker Cans appear before each of Junker's attacks if none are present; as the battle progresses, the maximum number of cans that appears increases to three, and eventually four. The cans themselves attack by ramming one of the Mario Bros.; the attack can be countered using the hammer to send it rolling back. If the Junker Can sees Mario or Luigi ready their hammers, it skids to a stop and tries to close its lid. The can pops out continues running once the hammer is swung, and swinging too early means it will ram the target brother before they can ready it again. Counterattacking a can with its lid closed deals no damage; in the remake, it continues running after it closes its lid, though the hammer still knocks it back.
When a Junker Can's HP is depleted, it gets one last turn, where one of three enemies appears from inside it during the defeat animation and attacks. All three can be countered and defeated with the hammer, and are as follows:
- A Fish Bone circles one of the Bros. and eventually rams into them. The remake replaces it with a Scutlet, which attacks in the same pattern.
- A Chain Chomp charges directly at one of the brothers, which can inflict poison on them.
- A Nooz hovers above one of the Bros. to fall onto them, and may hover to slow its descent. The Nooz is always green in the original game, but properly matches the color of the brother that it targets in the remake.
Junker also uses the Junker Cans in a couple of his attacks. One of the Cans jumps into Junker's hands as it shakes out the contents. These consist of enemies and objects that may bounce towards the Bros., which can be avoided by jumping; Junker faces the brother being targeted as it shakes each item out. Any of the following can fall out of the Junker Can:
- Cheep Cheeps bounce over Mario or Luigi, damaging them if they jump into it. The remake replaces these with Poison Mushrooms, which can additionally poison them.
- Bob-ombs light their fuses before charging one of the Bros., doing significant damage if they are hit.
- Scutlets drop out and immediately charge Mario or Luigi; they are absent in the remake.
- Actual garbage falls out, such as wads of paper and briefs.
Emptied Junker Cans are removed from battle: After emptying a Junker Can, Junker tosses it away in the original game; in the remake, it instead throws the empty can at one of the Bros., which they can dodge by jumping.
Most notably, Junker can pick up Luigi and trap him in Junker Can; this attack is unavoidable in the original game, but in the remake Luigi can escape Junker's grasp by pressing the B button repeatedly. If Luigi is captured, Junker throws him into one of the Junker Cans, though he may bounce harmlessly off the rim instead. If Luigi is trapped in a Junker Can, Mario cannot use Bros. Attacks or multi-targeting items; if he is defeated while Luigi is still trapped, the can reduces Luigi's HP to 0 and KOs him as well, resulting in a Game Over. Defeating the Junker Can holding Luigi frees him, and after enough turns Luigi may escape on his own. The Junker Cans occasionally shuffle their contents between each other, and Luigi sometimes peeks out of his can and waves at Mario.
In the original game, all Junker Cans present are defeated when Junker itself is defeated; in the remake, if they and Junker are defeated at the same time, the cans still get their last attacks before Junker's defeat animation starts.
Trivia[]
- When Mario is defeated while Luigi is still in a Junker Can, Luigi will have all of his HP drained.