Unite Gauge

The Unite Gauge is a major gameplay mechanic in The Wonderful 101. It's a segmented bar on the top left of the screen, under the Vitality Gauge, displaying the amount of Unite Energy available to use for the Wonder-Liner and for creating Unite Morphs. Creating Unite Morphs depletes the Unite Gauge, after which it gradually recharges over time.

By collecting Wonderful Batteries scattered throughout each level, you can increase the Unite Gauge past its initial capacity of 5 units, up to 10 units, allowing you to more easily create Unite Morphs. At the end of each level, however, the Unite Gauge is reset to its initial capacity, and Wonderful Batteries must be collected again.

Unite Energy Usage[]

Unite Morph draw — Depleting the Unite Gauge (top left) to draw a Unite Morph

Unite Energy is primarily used by the Wonder-Liner: extending the Wonder-Liner requires Unite Energy, as indicated by the energy in your Unite Gauge darkening as the liner is being drawn out. The Wonder-Liner is also limited by your available Unite Energy, as running out of energy stops the liner from extending any farther.
Although Unite Energy is required to extend the Wonder-Liner, it doesn't actually deplete any until it's used to create a Unite Morph, which instantly depletes all of the darkened energy in the Unite Gauge.

Because creating a Unite Morph depletes all of the Unite Energy being used by the Wonder-Liner, it's useful to know exactly how much energy is actually required to create a Unite Morph: you can easily draw a size 100 Unite Morph using over 5 units of energy, however, a size 100 Unite Morph actually only requires 2 units, meaning you're wasting 3 units every time you do that!
To conserve your Unite Energy, aim to use these amounts of energy for the size of Unite Morph that you want:

Size 10: less than 1 unit
Size 20: between 1 unit and 1.5 units
Size 50: between 1.5 units and 2 units
Size 100: just over 2 units
Size 200: just over 4 units

Apart from using the Wonder-Liner to draw Unite Morphs, there are also other mechanics that deplete Unite Energy:

Unite Guts, Unite Spring, Unite Ball, and Unite Rocket all deplete 1 unit of Unite Energy when used. Unite Tombstone depletes 3 units.
Increasing the size of a Unite Morph using the Unite Charge Custom Block depletes 1 unit of Unite Energy per size increase.
The Auto-Guts and Safeguard Custom Blocks deplete 2 units of Unite Energy when their effects activate. Hero Sense depletes 3 units.
The Double Power Custom Block doubles the amount of Unite Energy used by the Wonder-Liner and by Unite Charge.
"Heavy attacks" in "Solo Mode" deplete 1 unit of Unite Energy when used, as do other special solo abilities.
When playing on the 101% Hard difficulty level, creating a Unite Morph by pressing the attack button now depletes 1 unit of Unite Energy, meaning there's now always a cost to creating a Unite Morph.

Any action or Unite Morph that turns the Wonder-Liner rainbow-colored does not deplete Unite Energy. This includes using Unite Chain, drawing Unite Glider, and using the Wonder-Liner to circle citizens, secrets, or carriable objects and enemies. Platinum Forever, Wonderful Forever, and Unite Big don't use Unite Energy when first drawn, however, they quickly start depleting the Unite Gauge once their effects activate.
Interacting with Wonderful Toilets/Wonder-Holes does not deplete Unite Energy either.

Restoring Unite Energy[]

The Unite Gauge automatically regenerates to full on its own, and the only time it stops is while the Wonder-Liner is being drawn. Equipping the Speed Charge Custom Block doubles the Unite Gauge's natural regeneration rate.

Apart from waiting, the most obvious way of restoring Unite Energy is by breaking objects to find Wonderful Cakes, which come in three sizes: Small Cakes restore 1 unit, Normal Cakes restore 3 units, and Super Cakes restore 6 units. There are also Wonderful Cakes To Go, which are stored in your inventory until you decide to use them.
By equipping the Energy Converter Custom Block, you can also restore your Unite Gauge by collecting healing items (Wonderful Noodle Soups) with an already full Vitality Gauge.
Wonderful Batteries also restore Unite Energy when collected: small and medium batteries restore 1 Unit, and the rarer large batteries restore 5 Units. Additionally, any time an extra Unit on the Unite Gauge is unlocked, your Unite Energy is fully restored.

If you don't want to wait or use items, there are three ways to restore Unite Energy in combat:

The first and most obvious, earning defense bonuses in combat restores Unite Energy: blocking an attack using Unite Guts and earning the + 200PTS.+ 200PTS. bonus, or dodging an attack using Unite Spring and earning the + 200PTS.+ 200PTS. bonus, restores 2 units of Unite Energy, for a net gain of 1 unit when factoring in the cost of using these abilities. Other defensive bonuses, such as using Unite Hammer to block an overhead attack, can also restore Unite Energy.
Second, team members have the easy-to-miss effect of restoring Unite Energy every time they deal damage outside of a Unite Morph. This includes idle team members automatically attacking nearby enemies (without the Dash/Join Up button held,) team members engaging in Climb Attacks, and extending the Wonder-Liner near enemies with the Attack Liner Skill enabled.
This is actually a very powerful effect, and most of the time the easiest way to restore Unite Energy in a battle is to simply stay close to an enemy and allow your team members to attack them, especially in battles against multiple enemies.
Unite Camp has the unique effect of instantly restoring the Unite Gauge to full when created. Unite Camp also has other effects, which are discussed in the next section.

Unite Camp[]

Unite Camp is a highly unique Unite Morph that restores Unite Energy instead of depleting it. Any time Unite Camp is created, which is done by holding down the Dash/Join Up button for a few seconds while staying still, your Unite Gauge is instantly restored to full. Unite Camp can also be activated another way: when your team leader is under the effects of Taunting, you can instead mash the Dash/Join Up button to enter Unite Camp much more quickly.

While Unite Camp is already useful for restoring Unite Energy, it also has another unique effect on the Unite Gauge: staying in Unite Camp gradually overcharges the Unite Gauge to up to double it's normal capacity, shown by the Unite Gauge turning white. After exiting Unite Camp, your overcharged Unite Gauge gradually discharges until it returns to normal.
When the Unite Gauge is overcharged, any Unite Morph created will always be the maximum size possible. Additionally, your Unite Morph will stay at that large size for as long as the Unite Gauge is overcharged, meaning Unite Camp can be used to extend the duration of Size 100 or 200 Unite Morphs for far longer than normal.

Infinite Energy[]

There are three ways to obtain infinite Unite Energy:

Playing on the Very Easy difficulty level provides you with free infinite energy, making Unite Energy management irrelevant on this difficulty.
Using a Wonderful Parfait item provides you with infinite energy for 20 seconds, at the cost of inflicting a score penalty on the Operation Results screen.
Equipping the Infinite Energy Custom Block, obtainable after completing Operation 101, provides you with infinite energy, at the cost of inflicting a score penalty on the Operation Results screen.

Increasing The Unite Gauge[]

The Unite Gauge has only 5 units at the start of every level, but increasing its capacity is a simple matter: Wonderful Batteries can be found scattered throughout every non-boss level in the game, and they come in small, medium, and large sizes, equivalent to 1, 5, or 10 batteries respectively. Collecting 20 batteries adds 1 new unit to the Unite Gauge, and this can be done up to five times, meaning you can increase your Unite Gauge to a maximum of 10 units if you find 100 Wonderful Batteries within a level.
Certain enemies can also drop extra Wonderful Batteries if you use the Item Catcher Custom Block.

Almost every level contains well over 100 batteries, making maximizing the Unite Gauge a fairly easy process that can be done by the halfway points of most levels. The only non-boss levels with less than 100 batteries in them are the Prologue, Operation 009-A, and the Epilogue.
In the case of boss levels, the Unite Gauge is instead instantly maximized through the use of Unlimited Form.

As mentioned previously, the Unite Gauge is reset to 5 units after exiting every level, meaning you'll have to collect Wonderful Batteries again every time you enter a level.