Attack Pattern: They wander back and forth, and throw their spiked balls straight towards Mario at pretty high speeds.
Basic Fighting Strategies: Fireballs and Hammers are effective. So is stomping on them, but be careful or you'll land on them right as they're spitting up a spiked ball! You can also duck them.
Advanced Strategies: If you jump right away you can stomp a Spike before it completely spits up a ball, but otherwise it's best to wait until he's already thrown the ball, then stomp him as you jump over it.

Attack Pattern: They wander back and forth and spit up huge spiked balls that they throw straight towards Yoshi. They're a bit slower than in SMB3.
Basic Fighting Strategies: Spike (or "Mace Penguin") is not very dangerous in this game. Any attack will get him.
Advanced Strategies: None.

Attack Pattern: Spikes move fairly fast in this game and their ball pattern is a little trickier. After spitting up spiked balls, they toss the balls overhand: the balls go in a small arc and then roll along the ground.
Basic Fighting Strategies: Try not to get surrounded by them. Any attack will work, but eating Spikes earns 1 petal and an egg.
Advanced Strategies: The green Yoshi gets 3 petals for eating Spikes.

Attack Pattern: They move fairly slowly. Normal ones have light blue hair, while angry ones have red hair. The normal ones will throw their eggs straight forward, but only if you're in view, and the angry ones bounce their eggs like a basket ball. The don't throw eggs too often.
Basic Fighting Strategies: Any attack should disable or kill them, just watch out for the balls.
Advanced Strategies: If you want to be extra-careful, wait until they attack, then jump over the ball and counter-attack.

Attack Pattern: In this game, Spikes only appears in snow levels, and they don't move around at all, although they will turn in Mario's direction. They throw their snowballs at regularly timed intervals, not waiting for Mario to appear in their line of sight. The balls roll along the ground and kill anything, including other enemies, that get in their path.
Basic Fighting Strategies: If one is above you, wait until he has thrown his ball before you go. Often they're out of reach but any attack will work if you can get at them.
Advanced Strategies: None.