Petey Piranha

**Tier** | TBA

## General

Petey Piranha is a large Piranha Plant like creature. He can fly by flapping his wings, and can also create tornadoes with them. He can also spit out goop from his mouth. Petey first appeared in Super Mario Sunshine as the first boss, and has sense become one of the most reoccurring bosses in the Mario games aside from Bowser. He is the second "surprise" character to be featured in Crusade, after Snivy.

## Changes from *Brawl* to *Crusade*

Petey was promoted to a playable character, whereas in Brawl he was a boss.

## Attributes

Petey Piranha is a heavy, large character. He can jump 5 times, and can float, like Peach. His up special does not induce helplessness, giving Petey an above average recovery. However, Petey doesn't have many reliable finishers. On the plus side, Petey can rack up damage easy with neutral special, which creates a pool of goop that damages anybody who steps in it and slows them down, except the Petey who created it. Petey's dash attack also goes over the edge, alowing for an aerial follow-up.

Petey has a good move to punish with his Side B, which brings his opponent to Petey, allowing for a free smash. His Usmash is probably the strongest in the game sweetspotted, possible to KO at extremely low percentages fully charged (0% for some characters).

Petey can perform lots of his moves while hovering, likie Tails or Peach. Though Petey's initial jump is short, Petey can perform fairly low-to-the-ground aerials and spit goop while hovering, making him hard to approach from the ground. Also, Petey's hover gives him better mobility than he can achieve on the ground, and combined with use of Goop Spit while hovering, can enhance his ability to control space. That said, Petey's space control and high damage comes at a price. Petey has few quick buttons to use in close encounters, leaving him susceptible to being overwhelmed by juggles or ground mixups. He is most comfortable being at a distance, or up-close on his own terms.

Overall, Petey is an unusual character with some glaring weaknesses in his up-close game that are ultimately offset by a great recovery, decent zoning game, and highly damaging attacks. He might struggle in select matchups, but he has what it takes to shut down many characters as long as he can keep them at bay.

## Petey Piranha's Normal Moves

**Combo**

* Petey smacks with his leaves, then spins around while moving forward.

**Side Tilt**

* A quick, slashing bite forward. Fairly decent range and moderate knockback, but a bit slow to startup.

**Up Tilt**

* Petey looks above him, and bites. This move is crucial in anti-airing. Although Petey doesn't have great juggle follow-up potential, this move can give him breathing room.

**Down Tilt**

* Petey closes his mouth. (Note that in his crouch, Petey buries himself underground, leaving his mouth exposed.) This move starts up and recovers quickly and deals fairly weak knockback horizontally. It's one of Petey's only quick short-ranged attacks.

**Dash Attack**

* Petey flies forward with his legs sticking forward. It's somewhat unsafe, but it stays active for a while, making it a good surprise attack if spaced well.

**Side Smash**

* Petey bites forward powerfully while lunging forward a bit. This Smash is slow, but it deals serious knockback at around a 40-degree trajectory. It's a good follow-up to Tornado.

**Up Smash**

* His most powerful Smash move, Petey leaps upward, biting. This is a great KO move even at lower percentages than most Smashes, but it's only useful for hitting foes above Petey.

**Down Smash**

* Petey spreads his arms, creating highly damaging piles of dirt on either side of him. Really slow on startup, but has decent range on both sides.

**Neutral Air**

* Petey flaps his wings, hitting multiple times. It stays active for a while, making it useful while hovering.

**Forward Air**

* Petey spins forward with his head in front. A good alternative to Neutral Air if you want a more forward-aimed multi-hit aerial.

**Up Air**

* Petey bites above him. Not particularly high on knockback, but a good juggle move.

**Back Air**

* Petey kicks behind him. This move has high knockback scaling, making it a surprisingly good finisher at 120% and above.

**Down Air**

* Petey bites downward. This is Petey's spike, and a fairly good one, since the hitbox is fairly large. It has to be spaced well since its startup isn't very fast.

**Forward Throw**

* Petey smacks forward with his arm.

**Up Throw**

* Petey jumps upward, throwing the opponent.

**Back Throw**

* Petey kickes behind him.

**Down Throw**

* Petey spins in place, damaging like a drill, sending his enemy behind himself. Combos directly into a Fair or FTilt.

**Ledge Attack**

* TBW

## Petey Piranha's Special Moves

 Side Special
 Up Special
 Down Special
 Final Smash

## Trivia

* Coincidentally, all of the bosses in Brawl that were promoted to playable characters were sprited by the same spriter.