- For fighter info, see Piranha Plant (SSBU).
Piranha Plants are a species of carnivorous plant and common mob enemies throughout the Mario franchise.
It joined Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as a free (for a limited time) DLC fighter and is the first downloadable character overall.
Character Description
Piranha Plants are recurring enemies that are commonly seen living in Warp Pipes. Inspired by venus flytraps, they will periodically pop their red-and-white heads out in an attempt to bite Mario and his allies. They are often seen as stationary enemies but there have been instances where they can move about and even be capable of speech.
Super Mario series
The standard Piranha Plants first appeared in Super Mario Bros., showing up in every Warp Pipe beyond World 1-1. Variants begin to appear afterwards starting in Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, which showcases both the original Green Piranha Plants and the new Red Piranha Plants, which pop out much faster than the green ones. Super Mario Bros. 3 would later introduce three new subspecies: Fire Piranha Plants, Big Piranha Plants (also known as Pirhanacus Giganticus), and Ptooies. Jumping Piranha Plants and Munchers are introduced in Super Mario World; the former will jump out of their Warp Pipes and the latter are smaller near invincible.
Piranha Plants are shown outside of their Warp Pipes for the first time in Super Mario 64, now shown growing in a small field of flowers. They will be asleep by default; however, if Mario comes closer, the Plant will suddenly awaken and attempt to bite him. The leader of the Piranha Plants, Petey Piranha, is revealed in Super Mario Sunshine as a Boss that needs to be defeated using the F.L.U.D.D. Petey would later go on to be a recurring character in several Mario spin-offs. An alien Piranha Plant that resembles Petey Piranha, named Dino Piranha, is the first boss in Super Mario Galaxy; Mario first encounters it as an egg he accidentally cracks. Mario needs to defeat it by hitting it with its own tail. Both Galaxy and Super Mario Galaxy 2 also introduce new subspecies called Spiny Piranha Plants, which are Plants with spiky stems, and its derivation being a Prickly Piranha Plant, which are the same but now with spiked heads.
A new walking Plant with stretchable stalks named Stalking Piranha Plants make their debut in New Super Mario Bros. Wii alongside River Piranha Plants, which identically to a Ptooie. A new black variant, named Inky Piranha Plants, are introduced in Super Mario 3D Land; as the name suggests, they will spit black ink to cover the player's screen. A new skeletal enemy, the Bone Piranha Plants, are introduced in New Super Mario Bros. 2; much like Dry Bones, they are immune to fire balls but can be temporarily immobilized by a Tanooki tail or permanently with an ice ball. Piranha Creepers make their first appearance in Super Mario 3D World; they are large Plants with large stems that can retract each time the head is attacked. Potted Piranha Plants, like the one playable in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, also debut in this game as a usable item Mario, Luigi, Peach, Toad, and Rosalina can use to eat enemies. This is translated into their appearance as an Item Box item in Mario Kart 8, who will help give the racer small speed boosts after each bite.
Piranha Plants also frequently make appearances in Mario spin-offs. They resume their enemy roles in the Paper Mario and the Mario & Luigi RPG series, each introducing their own subspecies including the Putrid Piranha, the Frost Piranha, the Mom Piranha, Elasto-Piranhas, and Piranha Planets. Another boss variant, the Megasmilax, appears in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. They are hazards and obstacles in multiple racetracks throughout the Mario Kart series. Piranha Plants are often the basis of several minigames in the Mario Party series. A Fire Piranha Plant was made playable in a free update for Mario Tennis Aces on July 1, 2019. More recently, a Piranha Plant appears as an assistant in the mobile game Dr. Mario World.
Yoshi's Island series
Piranha Plants also appear throughout Yoshi's games. They first appear as one of the falling objects in the puzzle game Yoshi. They would make their proper debut in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island shown growing on the ground and function a little differently than in the Mario games; instead of biting Yoshi, they will eat him instead and spit him back out, causing him to lose Baby Mario. They cannot be jumped on or swallowed and must be hit by en egg. A boss called Naval Piranha is also introduced; they start out as a regular Plant until being enhanced by Kamek's magic. Smaller, baby-like species called Nipper Plants also make their debut; they come from Nipper Spores and can be eaten and turned into eggs.
Smaller subspecies known as Piranha Pests and Piranha Sprouts appear in Yoshi's Story, commonly seen as only a head with propeller stems (for the former) and little feet (for the latter) with long tongues like Yoshi's. More variations are introduced in Yoshi's Island DS including Polterpiranhas (Ghost Piranha Plants), Bungee Piranhas (Plants attached to ceilings that use their stems as bungee cords), Nipper Dandelions (Nipper Plants that fire Nipper Spores into the air), and a Big Bungee Piranha (one of the game's bosses).
Regular Piranha Plants, Stalking Piranha Plants, and Nipper Plants return in Yoshi's Woolly World, and much like all the characters, are now made of yarn. They can be tied up with a yarn ball and stomped on. They also appear in Yoshi's Crafted World alongside Bungee Piranha Plants and Nipper Plants.
In Super Smash Bros.
Piranha Plants appear at random from the Warp Pipes on the Mushroom Kingdom stage. Just as in the original Super Mario Bros. game, Piranha Plants will not appear when a player is standing on top of the Warp Pipe or directly next to one. A powerful enough hit will destroy the plant, although not permanently as another will simply take its place.
In Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Stage Hazard
A Piranha Plant may sometimes appear as a stage element on PictoChat. However, they don't go up or down, and they stay on the stationary platform.
Boss
Petey Piranha, the first boss of The Subspace Emissary, is a type of Piranha Plant. It appears to trap Peach and Zelda in its cages, forcing Kirby to choose one to free and let the other be kidnapped.
Trophy Description
A vicious, plantlike monster that typically hides in pipes. Piranha Plants emerge with mouths open, awaiting victims. A poorly timed jump means a chomping--hence the "piranha" name. While there have been exceptions--there are many Piranha Plants with unique traits-- they generally don't appear if Mario waits on top of or just next to a pipe. They hate fireballs.
- Super Mario Bros. (1985)
- New Super Mario Bros. (2006)
In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U
Trophy Description
NTSC:
These guys aren't so much carnivorous as Mario...nivorous. Ahem. There are lots of varieties, like Frost, Wild Ptooie, Ghost, Prickly, Dino, Bone, Elasto-Piranhas, Stalking, Naval... A helpful mnemonic is "Fireballs with Ground Pounds defeat baddies, even super nasties."
PAL:
These carnivorous plants are hungry for one thing - Mario! There are all sorts of them, including the Naval Piranha, Fire Piranha Plant, Inky Piranha Plant, Piranha Creeper, Bone Piranha Plant, Stalking Piranha Plant... But all you need to know is "plants with teeth want to eat Mario".
- Super Mario Bros. (09/1985)
- Super Mario Bros. 3 (02/1990)
In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Fighter
Piranha Plant was revealed in the final Ultimate Nintendo Direct held on November 1, 2018 making its playable debut for the first time in any game. Its moveset derives from its multiple subspecies and summons Petey Piranha for its Final Smash, swinging its cages from The Subspace Emissary.
It was made free for a limited time to anyone that pre-purchased and registered the game to My Nintendo before January 31, 2019. It was released on January 29, 2019 for those who registered as a part of Ver2.0.0. It was later made available to purchase separately from the Fighters Pass on February 1, 2019.
Spirit
A Nipper Plant appears as collectible Spirit in the base game. It is a Primary Attack Spirit under the Novice class. Its Spirit battle uses a tiny Pac-Man team, who will constantly jump. The stage is the Battlefield form of Super Mario Maker and the song that plays is "Ground Theme (Super Mario Bros. 3) - Remix", the latter being a reference to its debut on Super Mario Bros. 3.
The Nipper Plant Spirit can be enhanced; when it reaches Level 99, it will transform into the Petey Piranha Spirit, a Primary Grab Spirit under the Ace class.
Stage Hazard
Piranha Plants also return as a Stage hazard in the Mushroom Kingdom stage, functioning identically to the original game. The sprite has been updated to resemble the ones from Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels.
Trivia
- Piranha Plant is the only:
- DLC character to get a Palutena's Guidance
- Playable plant, discounting Ivysaur who is part-plant
- Fighter that can attack while footstooled
- Piranha Plant is one of six characters to be playable in Super Smash Bros. but not in any other game, following the Wii Fit Trainer, Palutena, the Duck Hunt dog, Ridley, and Dark Samus.
- This is discounting Petey Piranha (who is playable in several Mario spin-off games) and Fire Piranha Plant (who was made playable in Mario Tennis Aces as a free DLC character) as they are considered subspecies.
- Piranha Plant is the oldest newcomer in Ultimate, debuting in September 1985.
- Piranha Plant is one of two generic enemies to become fighters, preceding Zombie and Enderman.
- Piranha Plant and Corrin are the only two DLC newcomers to not come with a stage.
- Of the two, Piranha Plant is the only one to not come with any new music.
- Piranha Plant is the third DLC character to not be human, the other two being Mewtwo and Banjo & Kazooie.
- Piranha Plant is one of four characters to lack a proper "face" of some kind, following Mr. Game & Watch, R.O.B., and Dark Samus.
- Piranha Plant has the longest duration of time of being introduced in Smash Bros. in a non-playable capacity and eventually becoming a fighter, at over 20 years, due to its cameo as a stage hazard in the first Super Smash Bros.