Petey piranha

**Petey Piranha** is an abnormally large mutant Piranha Plant with a ring of petals on his head. His first appearance is in *Super Mario Sunshine*, and since then has become a common, recurring boss in *Mario* titles, despite seemingly being destroyed after each encounter. He also consistently appears in sports games and spin-offs, and even featured as a playable character in several sports games. Petey Piranha was thought to be a loyal follower of Bowser, but this was undetermined until *Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam* showed Bowser directly giving him an order. It has been suggested by bios for *Mario Superstar Baseball* and *Mario Party: Star Rush* that he is the ruler of his kind, as well as by his Japanese name, **Boss Pakkun**, as "Pakkun Flower" is the Japanese name for the Piranha Plant. He has multiple special powers and abilities that set him apart from normal Piranha Plants, including spitting Goop, flying using his leaves, and attacking with vines.

Several other "Giant Piranha Plant" characters appear throughout the *Mario* series, many of which bear a resemblance to Petey, including the Mom Piranha from *Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga*, the Dino Piranha and Fiery Dino Piranha from *Super Mario Galaxy*, and the Peewee Piranha from *Super Mario Galaxy 2*. He also has a paper counterpart, who appears in *Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam.*

### Physical appearance

Petey Piranha is certainly recognizable as a Piranha Plant, but he differs starkly from a typical one. According to *Mario Superstar Baseball*, he got his looks from a mutation. Petey is characterized by a remarkably large head and a comparably small body. He has a round, protuberant belly and a large belly button, but it's only visible if his stomach is inflated with a great quantity of water. Additionally, he has leaf-like arms and stubby legs, both of which grant him mobility beyond his pipe-dwelling "cousins". He also has green lips, which are similar to the lips of the old Piranha Plants but now contrast the white lips of the new Piranha Plants. He wears red pants with white polka dots, matching the coloration of his head. His most distinguishing feature is a ring of yellow petals with orange rims around his head, resembling a crown or a mane. In his first appearance, these petals have an iridescent quality, becoming a vibrant, fiery orange or a shiny white (with pinkish rims) depending on the angle of the light, but this trait is no longer present beyond *Super Mario Sunshine*. Petey is also of a much greater size than normal Piranha Plants, easily standing six times Mario's height, though when depicted with a sprite or encountered in sports and spin-offs, he's smaller. *Mario Superstar Baseball* is the first game to portray Petey Piranha with a tongue, which was also seen in every game following. While his size varies between games, the official height chart shows Petey being 12'9" tall (3.9 m).

### Personality

Petey Piranha is a big, tall, and strong character with limited intelligence. He does, however, exhibit the ability to acknowledge his own clumsiness, such as when he slaps his face in humiliation once he is back on his feet after taking damage in *Super Mario Sunshine*. Petey also has a sense of humor, as shown when he skips daintily to home plate when achieving a home run in the baseball games. Often taking naps, he gets frustrated when someone suddenly wakes him up, a trait that is similar to other Piranha Plant enemies that attack when awoken. He is also known for being very hungry and appears to be omnivorous. Despite his low intellect, he frequently aims to destroy Mario; it may also be that he simply attacks anyone who gets in his way, or he is hungry and thinks Mario would be a good snack. Petey is not always aggressive, though, and has been shown to be passive in games like *Mario Power Tennis* and other sports games.

### Abilities

Petey Piranha has unique abilities that normal Piranha Plants cannot perform. His leaves, for example, double as wings, granting him the ability to fly. In *Super Mario Sunshine*, he whips up Tweesters with his leaves and headbutts the player if they come within range. These attacks normally cause no damage, though at times Mario may get knocked back far enough to lose health. Petey's main attack involves spitting out large quantities of brown Goop, which create Swoopin' Stus and occasionally small Piranha Plants. Mario is damaged if he is in the Goop too long and/or slips. This ability of Petey's is not exclusive to *Super Mario Sunshine* as he can still spit Goop in later appearances, making it somewhat of a trademark of his. Another one of Petey's main traits is his phenomenal physical strength that rivals or even surpasses that of Bowser. This is especially evident in sports games when comparing his stats to other characters, and in *Mario Power Tennis* the power of his swings causes all opponents (even larger ones like Bowser, Wiggler and Donkey Kong) to be knocked back a bit.

Also, in *Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time*, Petey can burrow into and out of sand without effort, freely summon wooden blocks, spit out Piranha Plant seeds that sprout and attack the players and in *Super Princess Peach*, he makes sound waves, shock waves and spits Nipper Plants.

When Petey Piranha hits the ball with his club in *Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour* it shoots across the course with a golden streak. When he's playing baseball, he catches and throws the ball with his mouth, but when he's batting he hits the ball with his leaf-like arm. His sweet spot is the tip of his arm.