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Petey Piranha

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Petey Piranha
MPSR Petey Piranha.png
MarioSymbol.svg
Official artwork of Petey Piranha from Mario Party: Star Rush.
Universe Mario
Debut Super Mario Sunshine (2002)
Smash Bros. appearances Brawl
Ultimate
Most recent non-Smash appearance Super Mario 3D All-Stars (2020)
Console/platform of origin Nintendo GameCube
Species Piranha Plant
Place of origin Isle Delfino
Article on Super Mario Wiki Petey Piranha

Petey Piranha (ボスパックン, Boss Packun), is a recurring villain (usually a boss) in the Mario series.

Origin

[1]
Mario and F.L.U.D.D. encounter Petey Piranha in Super Mario Sunshine.

Petey Piranha first appeared in Super Mario Sunshine as the boss for episodes 2 and 5 of Bianco Hills. In both battles, his main methods of attacks are spitting out large amounts of brown goop on Mario, and if the player gets close enough, hitting Mario with his head by spinning it around himself. In episode 5, he gains the ability to swing his arm to cause a tornado that sends Mario flying upward.

Petey Piranha also appears as a boss in New Super Mario Bros. as the boss of World 5. In that game, he flies above the player and will try to stomp on them.

In Brawl, Petey Piranha's attack where he swings the cages he is holding is similar to his swinging motion in Super Mario Sunshine, except he does not cause a tornado. His stomping attack in Brawl is very similar to his attack in New Super Mario Bros..

While the cutscene prior to the first fight with him seemingly depicts him spitting out a cannonball at Mario, Petey Piranha has never had the ability to do so in the Mario series.

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl

In Adventure Mode: The Subspace Emissary

Petey Piranha's art for Brawl.

Petey Piranha appears as the first boss in Super Smash Bros. Brawl's The Subspace Emissary mode, holding the cages of both Peach and Zelda at the end of the Midair Stadium. The player, who is controlling Kirby, must destroy one of the cages to defeat Petey. The player can also attack Petey's head, which splits the damage received to both cages.

Once a cage's health is depleted, he will break and free the princess inside while Petey catches on fire, collapses, and explodes. If both cages' health is depleted simultaneously via an attack on Petey's head, the game will randomly decide which princess is freed. The unsaved princess will be turned into a trophy by Wario. At the last level, Tabuu resurrects Petey, along with the other bosses, and sends him after the heroes in The Great Maze.

Like all bosses, Petey can be fought outside of The Subspace Emissary in Boss Battles Mode. During this mode or in The Great Maze, Petey's cages will be empty and the sky in the arena will be blue (compared to in the Midair Stadium, where his cages will contain the two princesses and the sky will be an ominous red).

Rather than being voiced by Toru Minegishi who voiced the character in Super Mario Sunshine, Petey Piranha has a set of realistic monstrous beast roars, similar to how Donkey Kong, Bowser, and Diddy Kong were given realistic animal sounds.

Moveset

Petey has only two main attacks. The first involves swinging one of the two cages along the ground. The second is a jumping attack, where Petey tries to stomp the player while holding both cages vertically. Any contact with Petey or his cages during this attack will meteor smash the player as he comes down from a jump.

When either cage is reduced to 2/3 and then 1/3 health, Petey will roar and its body will glow momentarily, surrounded by a red aura. Petey will then speed up its attacks and often jump in a different pattern, usually two times in a row; his attacks will also deal slightly more damage and their knockback will be boosted. A cage hit after this roar gains One-hit KO power for the first hit only on Intense difficulty.

Like all bosses, Petey Piranha can be controlled with hacks in Boss Battles Mode. The start button will, like all bosses, self-destruct him. Unlike any other boss (besides of Meta Ridley), when controlled by a human, Petey Piranha will wait in a T-pose after either roaring or performing a cage attack.

Move Input Description
Jump Ready A^ Petey Piranha gets ready to jump. When controlled by a human, however, he can't actually do the jump.
Roar Av Petey Piranha roars, and is surrounded by a red glowing aura for a brief time. This move is used twice for battle and slightly boosts the following attacks in Speed, damage and knockback (although the change is subtle). Also, the immediately following Cage Smash is extremely powered-up, gaining OHKO power on Intense difficulty (but not in Boss Battles, where it KOs around 20%). When performed by a human, it is currently unknown if it makes his attacks stronger.
Left Cage Smash A< Petey Piranha smashes the cage in his left hand, which is the right cage from the screen's point of view. The attack is highly preventable but relatively swift and long-ranged. Damage varies from 12% (Easy in Boss Battles without boosts) to 48% (Intense in the Subspace Emissary after being boosted twice by Roar). Similarly, it KOs quite over 100% on the lower difficulties, but around 60% on Intense. If boosted twice by Roar, it can KO as low as 50%.
Right Cage Smash A> Petey Piranha smashes the cage in his right hand, which is the left cage from the screen's point of view. The mechanic is exactly the same as Left Cage Smash.
Jump Unusable Petey Piranha jumps high, landing on either the center or the sides of the stage. The attack doesn't follow a precise pattern, and landing distance can vary from half the stage to the entire length. After Roar, both knockback and damage are slightly boosted, and the patterns change; also Petey will usually jump twice in a row from this moment. This attack meteor smashes the player but can't KO. However, its damage can be very high (16% on Easy in Boss Battles without boosts to 62% on Intense in the Subspace Emissary after being boosted twice by Roar).

HP and damage taken

HP Values Lowest difficulty Below-middle difficulty Middle difficulty Above-middle difficulty Highest difficulty
Midair Stadium 127 157 180 217 255
The Great Maze 162 186 200 222 245
Round 1-3 4-6 7-9 1-3 4-6 7-9 1-3 4-6 7-9 1-3 4-6 7-9 1-3 4-6 7-9
Boss Battles 115 170 190 150 205 230 187 240 262 225 282 310 325 377 400
  EffectIcon(Normal).png EffectIcon(Slash).png EffectIcon(Electric).png EffectIcon(Freezing).png EffectIcon(Flame).png The icon for the grass effect. EffectIcon(Water).png EffectIcon(Darkness).png EffectIcon(Aura).png Specials: Direct Specials: Indirect
Damage taken ×0.7 ×0.7 ×0.7 ×0.7 ×1.0 ×0.7 ×0.7 ×0.7 ×0.7 ×0.7 ×0.3

The resistance values above apply only when hitting Petey's body, which will deal the resulting damage to each cage. When hitting an individual cage, no resistance modifier is applied. When either cage's HP is depleted, Petey is defeated.

Like all bosses in Brawl, Petey gains an additional ×0.6 damage resistance modifier when fought in co-op mode, effectively gaining 67% more health. This modifier is applied whenever the second player is in-game and is no longer applied if the second player loses all their stocks.

Trophy

Petey Piranha trophy from Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
The Petey Piranha trophy in Brawl.
Petey Piranha

A colossal Piranha Plant. Unlike its pipe-inhabiting cousins, it uses its legs to walk around. It can fly, too. As you might expect, it often appears as a boss character in Mario's adventures. This may come as a surprise, but it also displays surprising dexterity in kart races and ball games.

  • Super Mario Sunshine (2002)
  • New Super Mario Bros. (2006)

Stickers

Name Game Effect Characters
Petey Piranha Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour AttackDarkness+047EffectIcon(Darkness).png Attack +47 GanondorfGanondorfHeadSSBB.png
Petey Piranha Mario Strikers Charged AttackBite+032TypeIcon(Bite).png Attack +32 Yoshi Wario Wolf Pokémon TrainerYoshiHeadSSBB.pngWarioHeadSSBB.pngWolfHeadSSBB.pngPokémonTrainerHeadSSBB.png
Brawl Sticker Petey Piranha (Mario Golf TT).png
Petey Piranha
(Mario Golf: TT)
Brawl Sticker Petey Piranha (Mario Strikers Charged).png
Petey Piranha
(Mario Strikers Charged)

In Super Smash Bros. Wii U

Despite Petey Piranha making no appearance whatsoever in either version of Smash 4, he has unused animations in the Wii U version that are unique and are separate from Brawl. [1]

Even more curiously, there are no leftover models, textures, sounds or parameters with which these animations would correspond, as only the animations appear to remain in the game. The lack of leftover assets would appear to imply that Petey Piranha was scrapped at a very early stage in development.

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

As a Final Smash

Petey in Piranha Plant's Final Smash

Piranha Plant's Final Smash in Ultimate summons Petey Piranha, who attacks opponents with his cages from The Subspace Emissary. Petey also appears as two spirits.

Cosmetically, Petey Piranha has a more saturated color scheme than he did in Brawl, and is more smoothly textured (i.e. no cracks in his skin as in the aforementioned title.)

Additionally, he is mentioned in the Palutena's Guidance for Piranha Plant, as well as Paper Petey Piranha and Petea Piranha.

Spirits

No. Image Name Type Class Slots Base Power Max Power Base Attack Max Attack Base Defense Max Defense Ability Series
54
SSBU spirit Petey Piranha.png
Petey Piranha
Grab
★★★ 2 3319 9989 1616 4862 1322 3978 Giant Super Mario Series
125
SSBU spirit Petey Piranha (Super Mario Strikers).png
Petey Piranha (Super Mario Strikers) North America
Petey Piranha (Mario Strikers) PAL
Grab
★★ 1 1663 6696 798 3214 865 3482 No Effect Super Mario Strikers Series North America
Mario Strikers Series PAL

Trivia

  • If the player battles against Petey using Peach or Zelda in their default costumes, they will still be seen in the cage with the same costume.
  • The models used for Peach and Zelda in the cages are of much lower resolution than the characters themselves and do not have fingers or legs.
  • If one looks closely at the cages in the cutscene "Princesses, Both Captured and False", the cages that hold the trophies of Peach and Zelda are the exact ones Petey used.
  • When idling, if Zelda's cage is attacked, Petey will make a deep grunt, but if Peach's cage is attacked, he will make two sharp grunts. He will not respond to hits on his head.
  • Petey Piranha is the only boss to have two health bars, with both being dedicated to objects outside of himself. During the Midair Stadium battle, "Peach's Cage" and "Zelda's Cage" are displayed next to the health bars; in The Great Maze and in Boss Battles, the cages as aforementioned are empty, and the health bars are simply labeled "Cage".
The easter eggs of Petey's cages.
  • The cages' designs have several easter eggs, some of which can only be seen via a camera hack:
    • The rears of the hooks have a small Chain Chomp attached.
    • The interior roof is patterned with Bob-omb and Blooper sprites.
    • The bottom trim is patterned with various Piranha Plant and Nipper sprites. In addition, the back features a human face of unknown origin; this face is modeled as opposed to textured and is reasonably large in Petey's texture files.
  • Like Meta Ridley, Petey is fought against just after the countdown of a Subspace Bomb starts; however, Petey's boss fight has no time limit.
  • After Giga Bowser, Petey is the second boss to appear in a Final Smash.
  • Despite being usually depicted as a male in most of the games he appears in, his trophy in Brawl uses gender-neutral pronouns when referring to him.
    • The French version of Brawl refers to him as a "she", it is consistent with all the other French localizations of the character as Petey is known by the feminine name of "Flora" in France.
  • Much like Bowser and the Donkey Kong characters, rather than being voiced by Toru Minegishi with cartoonish voice clips, Petey's voice is comprised of monstrous roars in Brawl.
  • In the Mario series, Petey's neck is located behind the petals on his head, however in Brawl his neck appears in front of the petals. This was apparently an intentional design choice as it was carried over to Ultimate.