Petey Piranha

Petey in Super Mario Sunshine.
Petey Piranha
Species	Piranha Plant
Affiliation	Bowser, Shroobs (formerly)
Eye color	None
Voiced by	Toru Minegishi
Debut	Super Mario Sunshine

Petey Piranha is a recurring boss character from the Super Mario series who was first introduced in Super Mario Sunshine and has gone in to appear in both adventure and sports game within the series. He is the boss of the Piranha Plants who was apparently created through some sort of mutation. Petey resembles a giant version of other Piranha Plants, but he has yellow petals and features a lower torso (similar to the Ptooie variant from Super Mario Bros. 3) rather than just a vine-based body.

Background

Petey Piranha existed long before his appearance in Super Mario Sunshine, as shown in Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time. In the "past" segment of the game, he was used by the Shroobs to dispose of their prisoners at the Gritzy Ceves. Although Princess Peach appeared to be fed to Petey Piranha, it was simply a ploy. In the sewers, Mario and company then witnessed Kylie Koopa being eaten by Petey Piranha. Afterwards, Mario and Luigi battled Petey Piranha, who had most of his abilities from his other appearances, aside from lacking in goop-related powers. Upon Pete's defeat, he left behind Kylie and a Cobalt Star shard.

Mario first officially met Petey Piranha in Super Mario Sunshine. This giant piranha plant was the source of the goop in Bianco Hills on Isle Delfino. Mario first confronted Petey Piranha on top of the windmill, but their combined weight broke the roof and so they battled within the windmill, Petey Piranha fought by spitting out brown goop, but Mario was able to defeat him by filling him up with water and then slamming down on his belly button repeatedly. Mario later battled Petey Piranha again, but that time Petey was able to fly and terrorized the local villagers. Mario used the same trick to defeat him, only by spraying him out of the air first.

Petey Piranha next appeared twice as a boss in Mario Pinball Land, again at a windmill. Then, he was the boss of the World 5-Castle in New Super Mario Bros. He and Mario were sealed within an ice-covered room, where Petey flew overhead and occasionally stopped to attempt to pound down on Mario. If Petey missed, he would slip on the ice and fall over, leaving himself open to an attack. Three hits was enough to defeat him. If Mario defeated Petey as Mini Mario, then World 7 would be unlocked instead of World 6.

He also appeared in Super Princess Peach as the boss of the Ladida Plains. This time, Petey attacked by creating shockwaves and spitting out Nippers. To defeat him, Princess Peach had to use the tears from her Gloom powers to make plants grow high enough to stand on and then to feed her tears directly into Petey's mouth whenever he prepared to spit out the Nippers. This acted as a substitute of the FLUDD attack from Super Mario Sunshine, filling him with water until he fell over, at which point Peach could stomp on his belly button to hurt him. After three hits, he turned red and began flying. He was then defeated after five hits.

In Paper Mario: Sticker Star, he appeared as the boss of Rumble Volcano, the game's fifth world. He was empowered by a Green Royal Sticker and ate many Spear Guys from a local tribe, as well as swallowing Mario's partner Kersti. During their battle, he used some of his usual tactics such as spitting out goop, flying around and trying to slam down on Mario. He also used spinning attacks that could make Mario dizzy, but they made him dizzy as well and could cause his belly button to appear. Once his belly button was struck, he would spit out Kersti, as well as possibly Dry Bones and other stickers. Eventually, he was defeated and destroyed, leaving behind a Royal Sticker.

Two versions of Petey Piranha appeared in Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam, both of whom were fought at the Sunbeam Plains at different points in the game. One was the 'normal' Petey Piranha, while the other was Paper Petey Piranha, based on his Paper Mario design, as the game's plot involved Paper versions of various characters being accidentally released from their storybook. The original Petey Piranha appeared as the game's first boss and was released by the Bowsers to act as a distraction while they escaped with the princesses. His attacks and weakness were similar to past battles, in addition to being weak against fire. Later on, Paper Petey Piranha was battled in the same area while Mario's group were on their way to the Gloomy Woods. He was chasing a Toad when he came across Mario's group and battled them instead. He stole Paper Mario's Copy Block and used it to make copies of himself, but he was still defeated.

In Paper Mario: Color Splash, he appeared as Petea Piranha and a mini-boss faced at Plum Park. He was similar to his other appearances, aside from having a teabag attached to his head. Apparently, some Snifits stuffed him into a stolen teapot in place of a teabag. He emerged from the teapot when Mario and Huey tried to squeeze it, and he battled them, ultimately being defeated.

Sports

Petey Piranha has also appeared in a surprising amount of sports games, being portrayed as a heavyweight character.

• Golf - Petey Piranha is unlockable in Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour after all the side games are beaten on all difficulty levels. In Mario Golf: Open Tour, he does not directly appear, but a costume of him can be unlocked for Miis, and a golf club and ball based on him could also be purchased within the game.
• Kart Racing- Petey Piranha is unlockable along with his partner, King Boo in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!. Both of them are capable of using any special item that other racers have.
• Tennis - Petey is playable in Mario Power Tennis (where he is unlocked by beating the two Special Tournaments in Doubles) and is a boss in the Adventure Mode of Mario Tennis Aces. In Mario Tennis Open, he did not appear, but a costume of him for Miis could be unlocked, and his tennis racket could be purchased.
• Baseball - Petey is playable in Mario Superstar Baseball (unlocked by completing Challenge Mode with Wario) and Mario Super Sluggers.
  • Within the Challenge Mode of Mario Super Sluggers, Petey Piranha appeared within a certain flower pot in the Peach Ice Gardens after Princess Peach used her Heart Power on it. After being awakened, he would seek a mission, and after his scout mission was completed he would be impressed enough to join the baseball team.
• Basketball - Petey is not a playable character, but he acts as a living hoop in the Daisy Gardens level of Mario Hoops: 3-on-3. Players should only dunk into Petey's mouth when he is sleeping, or he will attack.
• Soccer - Petey can be unlocked as a playable captain in Mario Strikers Charged by beating the Striker Cup, the game's final cup.
• Other - In Mario Sports Mix, Petey Piranha is not playable but appears as part of the Daisy Garden as in Mario Hoops. He once more acts as a hoop when playing basketball, and during dodgeball he spits goop as an obstacle.

He has also started making appearances in the Mario Party games as a boss character. In Mario Party 10, he was the boss faced in the Mushroom Park board, in a boss minigame where players had to throw bombs at him, which he tried to spit back at them. He made another appearance as a boss in Mario Party: Star Rush. Additionally, he replaced a giant Piranha Plant in a remake of a minigame from an older Mario Party game featured in Mario Party: The Top 100.

Other Appearances

• In the Super Smash Bros. series, Petey Piranha has appeared as a boss character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and as Piranha Plant's Final Smash in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. In Brawl, he was faced in the game's story mode, where he worked under the Ancient Minister for the Subspace Army. He was the first boss in the game and wielded cages containing Princess Peach and Princess Zelda as weapons. He was defeated and exploded after one of the two cages was broken. In Ultimate, he would be summoned by Piranha Plant's Final Smash and attack with the two cages from Brawl.
  • Petey Piranha has also been represented as a trophy (gained by using a Trophy Stand to defeat him in the boss fight) and two stickers (from Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour and Mario Strikers Charged) in Brawl and as two Primary Spirits in Ultimate. One was a Legend-rank Spirit that was gained by enhancing a Level 99 Nipper Spirit, and it had the effect of making the player character giant. The other Spirit was an Advanced-rank Spirit of Petey Piranha from Mario Strikers Charged. That one could be obtained through a Spirit battle in which Petey's Spirit possessed a giant Ivysaur and battled on a field filled with soccer balls.
• In Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Edition, Petey appears as the boss of World 5-7 and World 8-3, and he can also become an ally of the player.
• In Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, Petey himself does not appear, but one of the Rabbid bosses, known as Pirabbid Plant, bears some resemblance to him.

Trivia

• His patched-up belly button is quite similar to and is likely based on Naval Piranha's weakspot.
• Several boss similar to Petey Piranha, such as the Bean Piranha in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga and the Dino Piranha in Super Mario Sunshine, have appeared since Petey's introduction.
• In the Glossary of Super Princess Peach he was instead called Boss P. Plant, in a literal translation of his Japanese name (Boss Pakkun).