Piranha Plant (Smash Plus)

Piranha Plant is a playable character in Super Smash Brothers Plus for the Nintendo Switch Plus. Representing the Super Mario Bros universe, Piranha Plant is listed as fighter #9 in Smash's modified numbering system, and is classified as a Heavyweight fighter. It is hidden at the start of the game, but can be unlocked through random encounters in versus mode or by defeating Classic Mode with Yoshi.
Piranha Plant remains virtually unchanged from its appearance in Smash Ultimate. It is largely a typical heavyweight fighter, with slow movement speed on the ground and heavily affected by gravity. Still, its unique special attacks and somewhat janky movement options make it a foe to be reckoned with. Its diverse special moveset, ranging from the multi-lateral Ptooie projectile to the Super Armor granting Long-Stem Strike give it a variety of options in dealing with foes. Mastering all of them is key to making Piranha Plant a viable fighter. The Piranha Plant has two normal jumps and no additional movement options.
==Moveset==
===Basic Attacks===
*Neutral Jab- Piranha Plant performs two successive swipes with its leafy appendages, before launching into a rapid jab where it repeadtedly bites at opponents, before finishing with a final bite to launch them.
*Side Tilt- Piranha Plant performs a single bite with its mouth, however players can then press the attack button again to perform a quicker, stronger second bite.
*Up Tilt- Piranha Plant flails its head upward in a headbutt motion, swatting opponents above it.
*Down Tilt- Piranha Plant performs a quick swipe directly in front of itself with its leaf.
*Dash Attack- Piranha Plant performs a dropkick of sorts, using its pot as a blunt object to hit opponents. Despite the animation, it's not very strong overall.
*Grab & Pummel- Piranha Plant grabs opponents with its leaves, meaning it has a very short range to grab with. It will pummel by quickly biting opponents.
*Forward Throw- Piranha Plant will headbutt the opponent away, generally only a short distance except at very high percentages.
*Back Throw- Piranha Plant grabs the opponent with its mouth and then tosses it behind itself, its most powerful throw.
*Up Throw- Piranha Plant will toss opponents up in the air and then bite them to launch them straight upwards.
*Down Throw- Piranha Plant pins the opponent underneath its pot and then fires three fire balls out of its mouth at the opponent, before kicking it out from underneath itself.
*Neutral Air- Piranha Plant spins around rapidly with its leaves extended, hitting opponents multiple times.
*Forward Air- Piranha Plant lifts its pot up in a rising motion directly in front of itself.
*Back Air- Piranha Plant spins around and spits out a short range burst of fire directly behind it. It is its slowest aerial, but does the most amount of damage.
*Up Aerial- Piranha Plant stretches itself straight up and delivers as strong of a headbutt as it can above itself.
*Down Aerial- Piranha Plant flips in midair and smashes down to the ground with its pot directly downward. Sweetspots at the exact moment the pot hits the lowest point before it starts its downward descent.
===Smash Attacks===
*Forward Smash- Piranha Plant turns into a Prickly Piranha Plant and delivers a powerful headbutt directly in front of itself. In addition, if the attack is fully charged, it will add an additional small amount of fire damage at the end of the attack.
*Up Smash- Piranha Plant lunges upward and bites straight above itself. Able to kill opponents at midrange percentages, but only if both of the hits from the bite hitbox connect.
*Down Smash- Piranha Plant fires a small jet of fire out in front of itself and then directly behind itself in quick succession, with the attack in front doing more damage than behind.
===Special Moves===
*Neutral Special: Ptooie- Piranha Plant will spit up a metal spiky ball directly above itself, keeping it suspended in midair by blowing on it for as long as the special button is pressed. Letting go of it will cause it to fall back down, and the Piranha Plant eating it. However pressing the D-Pad left or right will cause the ball to go in that direction, with its final location coming on where it was when launched. A unique attack with a variety of uses.
*Side Special: Poison Breath- Piranha Plant will fire off a purple cloud of poison gas directly in front of itself. Opponents caught in the gas will suffer no knockback, but will take damage for as long as they are enveloped in the gas. Holding down the special button will charge the move for a short while, allowing it to be deployed anywhere on the field. Charging it will also cause the cloud to last longer and drift slightly across the field.
*Up Special: Piranhacopter- Piranha Plant spins its leaves around itself rapidly, rising upward like a propeller on a helicopter. The plant can be steered during this motion, and any opponent caught in the blades will take multiple hits of damage before being launched on the final hit.
*Down Special: Long-Stem Strike- Piranha Plant ducks down into its pot and charges energy, before extending itself straight outward to bite an opponent. While charging, Piranha Plant has Super Armor and cannot be launched. Players can also angle the pot into different directions to change the direction of the attack. If fully charged, it becomes a devastating strike, especially at distance.
*Final Smash: Petey Piranha- The Piranha Plant summons Petey Piranha, who follows the Plant around the stage in the background, swinging cages around on its leaves to trap opponents. Once opponents are trapped, Petey will breathe fire at them before slamming the cages down on the ground, launching those trapped within (and damaging anyone too close to the impact zone.)
===Miscellaneous===
*Entry Animation- Piranha Plant emerges from its pot/warp pipe with the familiar warp sound of the Mario games, ready for action.
*Idle Animation 1- Piranha Plant bites the air in front of itself twice in seeming disinterest.
*Idle Animation 2- Piranha Plant dozes off briefly before waking up and then rotating its head 360 degrees.
*Side Taunt- Piranha Plant rapidly bites the air around it multiple times in a menacing fashion.
*Up Taunt- Piranha Plant leans forward on its pot and smiles at the camera, a few flames sneaking out in between its teeth.
*Down Taunt- Piranha Plant spins around and then poses with a toothy grin.
*Victory Animation 1- Piranha Plant bites the air around it twice and then grins, pulling out a toothpick with its leaves and sticking it between its teeth.
*Victory Animation 2- Mario runs towards the Piranha Plant's pot and tries to jump over it, only to be bitten at and chased off by the victorious Plant.
*Victory Animation 3- The Piranha Plant drops down from the ceiling and poses with a smile.
==How to Unlock==
Piranha Plant can be unlocked in the game any of the following ways:
*Playing Versus matches until it randomly shows up as a "Challenger Approaching" fight. Defeat it to them unlock it.
*Defeat Classic Mode with Yoshi at starting difficulty 3.0 or higher.
*Unlock it in the Finale of World of Light by defeating it.
*Paying 1,000 gold in the Shop, where it can randomly appear (though rarely.)
Category:Super Smash Bros. Characters
Category:Super Smash Bros. (series)
Category:Smash Plus Characters