Piranha Plant
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| 200px | |
| Piranha Plant | |
| Origin | Mushroom Kingdom |
| Type | Plant |
| Debut | Super Mario Bros. |
Piranha Plants are a species of recurring enemies in the Mario series well known for their stiltiness and voracious appetite.
Information
Many kinds of Piranha Plants exist, the most common is the variety that grows in the Mushroom Kingdom lives in a Warp Pipe waiting for pray. They are characterized by a large round spotted head with nothing but a sharp-toothed mouth at the end of a long vine. They usually come in red, green or yellow with white spots on their head. Some spit fire balls, while others are simply obstacles. If something considered dangerous appears nearby they will react by hiding and wait until the threat is gone. Another kind of Piranha Plant developed the ability to shoot fire balls into upcoming targets. This variety can only aim once before returning to it's pipe.
Piranha Plants commonly grow to large sizes, and smaller Piranha Plant buds can often be found on larger piranha plants. Because of this, Piranha Plants are often the subject of boss enemies. This is usually achieved by increasing the Piranha Plant's size in some way. The earliest example of this was Naval Piranha, which was a simple Piranha Plant that had its size increased by Kamek during Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. A similar creature, Lava Piranha, was found in the volcano on Lavalava Island in Paper Mario and is noted for not sharing the weakness against fire that the rest of its species has.
Another example was Megasmilax, which was grown by a Shy Away in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. There was also the Mom Piranha, a boss in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga. Mom Piranha, and other Piranha Plants in that game, were healed by fire and vulnerable to lightning when red, but healed by lightning and vulnerable to fire when blue. One of the most well known examples of boss Piranha Plants, however, is Petey Piranha. Unlike the other Piranha Plants, he is actually capable of walking around and has made numerous appearances. He is also described as the boss of the piranha plants. Later giant piranha plants have included the Big Bungee Piranha in Yoshi's Island DS and the Dino Piranha in Super Mario Galaxy.
Appearances
Piranha Plants originally appeared as enemies in Super Mario Bros.. They returned for the Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2, where they also came out of overhead pipes for the first time. They make similar appearances in Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario Land. In Super Mario World, the traditional Piranha Plant appears in only one level, whereas the Jumping Piranha Plants appear primarily throughout the game and also in Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins.
In Super Mario Land 2: Yoshi's Island, Piranha Plants appeared frequently. However, the Piranha Plants featured in this game were not based in pipes and would pop in and out of areas of the ground to attack. Other Piranha Plants in the game spit out Needlenoses at enemies. In this game, they can usually be defeated with one or more eggs. The Piranha Plants of Super Mario 64 also were found without pipes. In various areas of the game, Piranha Plants would be found napping, but when if approached quickly or attacked the Piranha Plant would awaken and attack the intruder violently. They could be defeated by beating them down, the most effective method being to sneak up on them while they are sleeping.
They are also found in the wild in Yoshi's Story. One particular area, called Piranha Grove, is thriving with many Piranha Plants. Super Mario Sunshine also features Piranha Plant enemies that are composed entirely of goop. They act almost like mini-boss characters and can be defeated by continuously spraying them with water from FLUDD. They also appear as enemies in the Donkey Kong Jungle world of Mario vs. Donkey Kong as well as in Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis. They also appear in New Super Mario Bros., where they behave identically due their appearances in the original games, and in Super Princess Peach. In Yoshi's Island DS, Piranha Plants appeared commonly and attacked similarly as in the first Yoshi's Island.
Piranha Plants also appeared in Super Mario Galaxy. These Piranha Plants were similar to the Super Mario 64 plants except they did not nap and thus were more dangerous. They were most easily defeated by smacking green bulbs into them or by stunning them with Star Bits and then attacking them. After being defeated, on certain planetoids vines would grow from the defeated Piranha Plant's resting place.
The Piranha Plants are also often used as enemies in the RPG games, which have introduced a variety of unique variations. In Super Mario RPG, piranha plants attack primarily from pipes once more. The Paper Mario games had a number of Piranha Plants adapting to different habitats, all of which were free-moving Piranha Plants. In Paper Mario, Piranha Plants were found in Forever Forest. Strangely enough in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, the 'normal' Piranha Plant was only found in the Pit of 100 Trials. In Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, Piranha Plants were only found at the Beanbean National Airport during Mama Piranha's attack. They also appear as normal enemies in Super Paper Mario, similar to their apperance in previous Mario games.
The Piranha Plant has appeared in all of the Mario Party games, both in and out of minigames. One strange minigames revolved around singing Piranha Plants. In the Duel Mode of Mario Party 3, Piranha Plant appears as one of the Duel Partners. It has 3 Attack Power, but only 1 Stamina, and a Salary of 5 coins. It is the default partner of Waluigi. In the later games of the series, the Piranha Plant also appeared as a capsule item. A piranha plant also appeared as the first boss of the Story Mode in Mario Party DS, where it had terrorized Wiggler's garden. Within the other sports games, Piranha Plants commonly appear as obstacles.
Variations
- Bungee Piranha- Appearing in Yoshi's Island DS, the Bungee Piranha is attached from the ceiling and drops down to attack, using its vine as a bungee chord. A boss version, Big Bungee Piranha, also appea.rs.
- Chewy- The Chewy is a stronger version of the Piranha Plant found in Super Mario RPG that are green instead of red. They are only found in the Bean Valley area.
- Elasto-Piranha- A variation from Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time. This piranha plant would stretch up to the top screen and attack with fireballs.
- Frost Piranha- A variation from the Paper Mario series. The Frost Piranha could grow in icy areas and had ice breath. They appear in the Shiver Snowfield area of Paper Mario, the Fahr Outpost of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and the Underwhere in Super Paper Mario.
- Glad Piranha Plant- In Super Princess Peach, this is a yellow piranha plant that can fly similarly to Petey Piranha and spit fireballs.
- Glad Ptooie- A happy version of the Ptooie found in Super Princess Peach. This version will spin around while bouncing the spiked ball.
- Pale Piranha- From Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, this is a monochrome Piranha Plant which had changed color to adapt to life in the Boggly Woods.
- Piranha Planet- This strange enemy was a small piranha plant living within a meteor.
- Ptooie- The Ptooie is a walking piranha plant. it will usually walk back and forth while bouncing a spiked ball on its mouth while facing upwards. These enemies appear in Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Princess Peach.
- 'Putrid Piranha- A variation from the Paper Mario games. This piranha plant lives in the jungle and has poison breath. They are found within Lavalava Island's jungle in Paper Mario, the Keelhaul Key in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and in Chapter 5's prehistoric areas in Super Paper Mario.
Other Appearances
Video Games
- Piranha Plants appear as enemies in several sidescrolling areas of The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening. Similar to their portrayal in the Mario games, the piranha plants rise from pipes. They are vulnerable to attack from most of Link's weapons.
See Also
Trivia
- Piranha Plants go by Pakkun Flowers in Super Mario Land which is their Japanese name.
- The Piranha Plant appears as a trophy in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.