and 5 Shy Guys, Donkey Kong's team consists of Dixie Kong, Goomba, Paragoomba, 2 Paratroopas, and 2 Koopa Troopas, and Bowser's team consists of 4 Dry Bones, Hammer Bro, Fire Bro, and Boomerang Bro (although Hammer Bro, Fire Bro and Boomerang Bro are separate characters (enemies) in the Mario series, in this game, it is actually just a color variation of the same character.). Players challenge the other teams, beating the other four opens the path to Bowser's castle. The secondary purpose of defeating other teams is to recruit other characters to improve ones team. On opposing teams, each character has a set of scouting flags. During the game players will have mission objectives like "Strike 'em out", or "Score a run", that earn flags; if one gets all the flags of a particular character and wins the game, that character will be recruited. If the player fails to complete a mission, he/she must wait for a while to complete another mission. Flags are cumulative, so if the player doesn't get all the flags in a game, or loses the game after getting all the flags, the flags earned will remain when the team is challenged again; a team can be challenged as long as the captain of the team is not recruited. Players of a different color can't be recruited and can only be played in minigames and playing with the teams they start on. If the team captain is recruited, his or her team will disband; any characters from that team that were not recruited will join a team led by Bowser Jr. Another way to recruit characters is by a mercy win; if either team is leading by at least 10 runs at the end of an inning, the game is called out of mercy to the losing team. If the player wins a game in this fashion, all characters on the opposing team will be so impressed that they will immediately join. After every game or minigame, Bowser Jr. will wander around the map; if the player runs into him, they will be forced to play a game in the bottom of the 9th inning, with the player randomly chosen as visitor or home. If the player's team is the visiting team, then they will have the lead and must stop Bowser Jr. from mounting a comeback; otherwise, it is the player's job to mount a