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This article is about Piranha Plant's appearance in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. For other uses, see Piranha Plant.

Piranha Plant is a playable fighter in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. It was confirmed as a DLC fighter on November 1st, 2018.

It could be received as a free bonus after registering the game by January 31st, 2019, but was available on January 29th, and released for purchase on February 1st.

Attributes[]

Strengths[]

  • Ptooie is a projectile which has high priority, damage output, and some usage in combos. It also functions as a ledge trapping option and even possesses mindgame potential.
  • Long-Stem Strike has extremely high range when charged and deals good shield damage. It also gives Piranha Plant damage-based armor (15%) during its charging phase.
  • Has great ledge trapping capabilities with Ptooie, Poison Breath, and Long-Stem Strike.
  • Has a strong variety of anti-air options including up tilt, up smash, Long-Stem Strike, and Ptooie.
  • Poison Breath deals incredibly high damage, making it an excellent punishing tool for stunned or helpless opponents. It has some mindgame potential as well since it completely obscures Piranha Plant within the gas cloud.
  • Up throw is a strong and reliable kill throw, KOing most characters around 150%.
  • Piranhacopter goes an extremely long distance and can be controlled throughout flight. It also provides some protection from the sides.
  • Recovery can be stalled with Neutral Special, Side Special, and Down Special.
  • Has one of the fastest grabs in the game.
  • The combination of its great weight and Piranhacopter's recovery distance gives Piranha Plant some of the best survivability in the game.

Weaknesses[]

  • Slow mobility in general.
  • Attacks are somewhat slow and predictable.
  • Poison Breath inflicts no knockback and does not flinch opponents. It also counts as a projectile and can deal blistering damage if reflected/pocketed.
  • All projectiles are generally slow and easy to reflect or avoid.
  • Has trouble approaching opponents due to slow aerials and below-average framedata.
  • Long-Stem Strike also extends Piranha Plant's hurtbox when used, making it vulnerable to being damaged from long distances.
  • Recovery can be punished rather easily from above, as his head is exposed the entire move. This leaves openings for edgeguards and especially meteor smashes.
  • Has a short grab range and only down throw has any combo potential at lower percentages.

Summary[]

Piranha Plant is a character that specializes in anti-air defense, keeping opponents at a distance, edgeguarding, and ledgetrapping. However, he can have trouble actually getting in due to his poor range outside of his projectiles. He has trouble getting out of combos since most of his moves are too slow. Since he is one of the heaviest fighters in the game, getting comboed is even more troublesome. His options when stuck in said combo are quite slim: air-dodge, neutral aerial, down aerial, and, in some cases, neutral special. His neutral consists of mostly Ptooies, Poison Clouds, grabs, Side Tilts, and Neutral Airs, as these are decently quick moves or keep the opponent at bay. His recovery is among the farthest in the game, both vertically and horizontally. But, it doesn't make him invincible or trip up those who try to edge-guard you. Piranha Plant's head hitbox remains active the entire move, which means someone could easily attack you on your way to the ledge.

Moveset[]

  • Neutral Attack: A leaf jab, followed by a leaf swipe, followed by a headbutt. This jab launches opponents as a low angle, which can set up for a follow-up move. Alternatively, the leaf swipes can be followed by a flurry of bites, similar to Corrin's flurry attack.
  • Forward Tilt: A bite. Pressing the attack button a second time will have Piranha Plant follow up with a second bite. Comes out rather quick and can fake out an opponent into thinking you'll do the second hit. It resembles the attack a Piranha Plant performs in Super Mario 64 after waking up.
  • Up Tilt: Flails its head upwards. Small hitbox, but does decent damage. Can combo into itself or Ptooie at low percents.
  • Down Tilt: A leaf swipe. A potent combo starter into most of Piranha Plant's aerials.
  • Dash Attack: A pot-first dropkick. Lots of end lag, but good launch power. The hit-box stays active the entire dive, which is useful when trying to punish an opponent really quick. Makes a good move when in a pinch.

Smash Attacks[]

  • Forward Smash (Prickly Swing): Transforms into a Spiky Piranha Plant from Super Mario Galaxy 2 and headbutts. Has a strong sweetspot on its head, but its sourspot is noticeably weaker.
  • Up Smash: Lunges upward and bites. Hits twice with great knockback, but both hits may sometimes fail to connect. Grants intangibility to Piranha Plant's head during use. The combination of its immense power, active hitboxes and head intangbility make this move a dangerous anti-air option. Also a good out of shield option but it may miss smaller characters up close.
  • Down Smash: Sweeps its pot around itself. First in the front, then in the back. The back hit is stronger than the front. Launches opponents at a semi-spike angle.

Aerial Attacks[]

  • Neutral Aerial: Spins rapidly with its leaves extended, similar to Ivysaur's neutral aerial. Hits multiple times. A useful out of shield option.
  • Forward Aerial: Swings its pot upwards. Has decent range and power, but its high landing lag can make it unsafe to use often.
  • Back Aerial: Turns around and spits out a burst of fire behind itself, akin to a Fire Piranha Plant. Deals great knockback, but has very high ending lag, making it risky to use offstage.
  • Up Aerial: An upwards arcing headbutt. A decent juggling tool and can even KO opponents at higher percentages.
  • Down Air: A pot stomp. Can meteor smash opponents and is among the fastest meteor smashes in the game. However, the sourspot takes priority over the sweetspot, making it very difficult to hit.

Grabs and Throws[]

  • Grab: Reaches out with a leaf. The grab has low range, much like Pichu or Kirby, but is tied for the fastest in the game at 6 frames.
  • Pummel: Bites the opponent.
  • Forward Throw: Headbutts the opponent forward.
  • Back Throw: Chomps the opponent and flings them backwards. Has some KO potential around 148% at the ledge.
  • Up Throw: Tosses the opponent upward as it bites them. Piranha Plant's strongest throw, KOing most fighters around 150%.
  • Down Throw: Throws the opponent on the ground and bites them twice. This is its only combo throw and can combo into aerials.

Piranha Plant's Special Moves
Ultimate
Standard Special Ptooie
Side Special Poison Breath
Up Special Piranhacopter
Down Special Long-Stem Strike
Final Smash Petey Piranha

On-Screen Appearance[]

  • Rises straight up out of its pot, making a Warp Pipe noise as it does so.

Taunts[]

  • Up Taunt: Rises up out of its pot, using the same animation and sound effects as its entrance animation.
  • Side Taunt: Bites the air around it multiple times, similar to one of Bowser's taunts.
  • Down Taunt: Spins around and strikes a pose with a grin.

Victory Poses[]

  • Hangs down from the ceiling, posing for the camera.
  • Mario runs towards Piranha Plant's pot, only for Piranha Plant to pop out of the pot and bite Mario, sending him flying, before smiling.
  • Bites the air around it three times, before smiling.

In Competitive Play[]

Despite having received noticeable attention due to its unexpected inclusion, Piranha Plant's representation has been low at tournaments. This is due to its noticeable susceptibility to combos as well as sub-par mobility and approach options. In spite of its versatile projectile and recovery, many professionals consider Piranha Plant to be a low-mid tier character.

Piranha Plant's representation improved around the summer of 2019 thanks to dedicated mains such as Brood, Lucky, and Greward placing well at national tournaments. Brood in particular has brought forth more discussion over the character's true viability as a result of placing 2nd at Umebura SP 4. In addition, ESAM put out a video of where he reconsiders Piranha Plant's standing, believing that it is now a mid-tier character. In the current meta however, Brood has dropped Piranha Plant in favor of Banjo & Kazooie, leaving Piranha Plant's representation relatively stagnant once again, even with previous updates giving numerous buffs. As a result, Piranha Plant's current standing in the meta is up to debate.

Classic Mode: New Bloom[]

All of Piranha Plant's opponents are the base roster newcomers in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. With the exception of the first match, each battle features one unique newcomer and one Echo Fighter, with the matches being placed in the order of the unique newcomerโ€™s reveal. The stage and music choices reference each of the character reveal trailers. The boss, Rathalos, fits with the theme as it is new to the series.

Palette Swaps[]

Piranha Plant Palette (SSBU)




Gallery[]

Videos[]

Trivia[]

  • Piranha Plant is the only DLC character in Ultimate:
    • To not have a special code name in the game's files; it is referred to as "packun", its Japanese name (Packun Flower)
    • To be free (albeit for a limited time to those registered the game before January 31st, 2019)
    • To have a showcase video on the official website
    • Who shares a victory fanfare with base game characters (Bowser and Bowser Jr. in this case)
    • To have their own Palutena's Guidance, presumably due to being developed alongside the base roster
    • To not have a unique animated reveal trailer; instead it is made entirely within engine.
    • To not come bundled with a stage or music, as it is not part of the Fighters Pass.
  • Piranha Plant is the first DLC character in Ultimate:
  • Piranha Plant is currently the only DLC fighter whose Final Smash is not Trapping (being Stage-Wide instead).
  • Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is actually the first game ever to have Piranha Plant as a playable character (although Petey Piranha is playable in the Mario spinoffs). It is also the first Super Smash Bros. fighter to be a mob, with Zombie and Enderman showing up as alts for Steve (Super Smash Bros. Ultimate).
  • The Smash Piranha Plant makes references and shares the traits of multiple Piranha Plant subspecies.
    • This is one of the few depictions of a normal Piranha Plant having feet. Most depictions of the Piranha Plant are implied to be rooted to the ground, their pipe or their flower pot. The Ptooie, Stalking Piranha Plant and Elasto-Piranha Plant actually do have feet: but it's unconfirmed if they are identical to regular Piranha Plants or if they are subspecies. Ptooies and Stalking Piranha Plants are also not depicted with a flower pot: although the Elasto-Piranha Plant does have a warp pipe that it wears as pants and can still walk with its feet.
      • Ptooies also puff spike balls into the air in a manner similar to the Smash Piranha Plant.
    • Piranha Plant changes its coloration into that of a Putrid Piranha when using its poison attacks.
    • Piranha Plant's extremely elastic neck is possibly a reference to the Stalking Piranha Plant, the Piranha Creeper or the Elasto-Piranha Plant.
    • Piranha Plant's up special is a reference to the Jumping Piranha Plant from Super Mario World: which can also use its leaves to hover.
    • Each of Piranha Plant's 7 alternate skins are a reference to Piranha Plant subspecies. [1]
      • The 1985 Piranha Plant skin has the classical green Warp Pipe. Half of these skins have a warp pipe instead of a pot: and these pipes use a completely different model as the pot (most noticeably missing the holes that the pot has).
      • The 6th color in the pallete swaps most likely references the Dry Piranha Plant from the New Super Mario Bros. series, which is a skeletal version of the famous plant. This subspecies has questioned a few as to if all Piranha Plants have bones(besides teeth, of course).
      • The 7th color is most likely a reference to the Piranha Creeper from Super Mario 3D World. This plant is known to have thorns, be bright purple, and stretch to great lengths to reach Mario. It is one of the few plant subspecies with thorns and to be represented in Smash, with the other being the Spiky Piranha Plant from Super Mario Galaxy.
  • Originally in Update 2.0.0, if the player tried to play as Piranha Plant in All-Star Mode, the save data of the game could get corrupted. However it could be fixed through the Save Data Cloud Back Up functionality included with the Nintendo Switch Online Membership. This was patched in a later update.
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Daisy (Ultimate)
Piranha Plant (Ultimate)
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