Guard

Guard is a special tactic that is used in the Paper Mario series.

History
Guard can be used to guard against an enemy's attacks to lessen damage. In order to use Guard, the player must press the A button at the right moment to Guard against an incoming attacks. All attacks are different in the game so the timing for Guarding will always be different. A successful Guard can also prevent Mario or his partners from being affected with a status ailment.

In Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, there is a different version of the Guard known as the Superguard. It works similar to Guard except it nullifies all damage and, if the enemy used a physical attack, deals back 1 point of damage to them. However, the Superguard is much more difficult to pull off and is recommend to stick with the regular guard when trying to defend against a status-inducing attack.