Dino Piranha

From the Super Mario Wiki, the Mario encyclopedia

Not to be confused withPeewee Piranha.

This article is about the bosses in theSuper Mario Galaxy games. For the mission inGood Egg Galaxy, seeDino Piranha (mission).

Dino Piranha

Artwork fromSuper Mario Galaxy

First appearance

Super Mario Galaxy (2007)

Latest appearance

Super Mario Run (version 3.3.0, cameo) (2025)

Variant of

Piranha Plant

Relatives
Fire Piranha Plant

Notable members
Peewee Piranha

Dino Piranhas are giantPiranha Plants resemblingPetey Piranha with a dinosaur-like body that hatch from eggs. They appear as bosses inSuper Mario Galaxy andSuper Mario Galaxy 2. Every battle is started afterMario orLuigi crashes into their egg after being shot from aLaunch Star, causing them to hatch and chase after him. They are split between a normal purple type and a black, fiery type; the latter are distinguished asBlack Dino Piranha^[1]^[2] orDino Piranha (Black),^[3]^[4] thoughFiery Dino Piranha^[5]^[6] (taken fromthe mission title from the first game and sometimes written with a "the" at the beginning)^[7] has also been used. TheKing Kalientes andGobbleguts are similarly paired between a normal version and a fire-based blackened version. The Dino Piranhas share their boss theme withTarantox.

History[edit]

Super Mario series[edit]

Super Mario Galaxy[edit]

Dino Piranha[edit]

Mario using Dino Piranha's only weakness by spinning into it.

Dino Piranha's only weakness: the large ball on the end of its tail

Dino Piranhas debut inSuper Mario Galaxy and itsNintendo Switch port, where they share a battle theme with each other andTarantox. The basic one resides in theGood Egg Galaxy. The top of its egg becomes cracked when Mario crashes into it after being shot from a Launch Star on the preceding planet, thereby exposing its tail and legs. Dino Piranha then begins moving slowly around the planetoid from inside the egg, and when MarioStar Spins thelarge ball on the end of its tail, the shell breaks, revealing Dino Piranha, initiating the battle. Dino Piranha will then start to run around the planet attempting to attack Mario. Mario must run behind the Dino Piranha and spin its tail once again, causing it to hit itself a second time, which will make it angry. Its head will turn bright red like Petey Piranha's head and it will chase Mario even faster than before. To finally defeat it, Mario must get behind it and hit its tail two more times. After being hit a final time, it falls over, screams and disappears in a cloud of purple smoke, releasing aPower Star.

The player must fight this Dino Piranha twice in theGood Egg Galaxy. The second fight will only be available when aSpeedy Comet orbits the Good Egg Galaxy. This Dino Piranha also can be seen in the ending celebrating the universe being recreated in the castle gardens.

Black Dino Piranha[edit]

The black, fiery Dino Piranha hatches

The black Dino Piranha is fought in the final level of theMelty Molten Galaxy, itself the final standard world. In general, it moves much faster than its normal counterpart. The beginning of the battle is much like that of the previous Dino Piranha fight, with Mario landing on top of the egg, cracking the egg and waking the Dino Piranha. As Dino Piranha trots around, the bulb of the tail ignites and extinguishes in a steady rhythm, forcing Mario to wait until the tail is extinguished to attack and break the egg away.

Once it emerges from the egg, it spots Mario and chases him, as with the previous version. However, the bulb's fire still flickers on and off, still forcing Mario to wait until the tail is not on fire before striking.

After the first strike, Dino Piranha stomps in anger, and it continues chasing Mario, leaving a trail of fire behind its footsteps. After the second strike, it begins shooting fireballs out of its mouth, making it harder to maneuver around the planet to reach its tail, and the bulb's fire also flickers on and off in a faster pace. After Mario hits the tail a final time, it is defeated.

Super Mario Galaxy 2[edit]

Both Dino Piranhas, along withKing Kaliente,Major Burrows, andBouldergeist, reappear inSuper Mario Galaxy 2 in theBoss Blitz Galaxy in a reenactment of the respective original fight. Due to being located inWorld S, fighting the Dino Piranhas is completely optional for a normal run of the game. However, in a complete run, the first must be encountered four times (countingGreen Star missions) and the second twice. The standard Dino Piranha is the first boss to be encountered in the Boss Blitz Gallery, while the black one is the final one. Both act exactly the same as before, though heat effects have been added to the black one's planet. If Mario loses a life while fighting the Black one, he must fight Bouldergeist again due to the placement of theCheckpoint Flag. A different Dino Piranha calledPeewee Piranha appears in the first level of theSky Station Galaxy, thus acting as a successor to the original Dino Piranha's role in the previous game.

Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games[edit]

Dream Spacewalk from Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games (Wii)

Dino Piranha appears in the Dream Spacewalk event

Dino Piranha appears as an opponent during theDream Spacewalk event in theWii version ofMario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games. It resides on Peewee Piranha's planet from theSky Station Galaxy. The player's main objective is to pass through the rings provided by theLumas, then perform a Rolling Attack toward Dino Piranha. After taking several hits, Dino Piranha will spit fireballs at players (similar to the black ones in previous games), who must perform a Spin Attack to send them back at it. The players must execute these methods repeatedly to defeat Dino Piranha and complete the event.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate[edit]

InSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate, Dino Piranhas are mentioned briefly byViridi during thePalutena's Guidance dialogue forPiranha Plant.

Unused appearances[edit]

Dr. Mario World[edit]

Icon of Dino Piranha from Dr. Mario World

Unused artwork of a normal Dino Piranha inDr. Mario World.

A normal Dino Piranha was originally going to appear inDr. Mario World as an assistant, but it was removed from the game.^[8]

General information[edit]

Physical appearance[edit]

The first Dino Piranha shown in profile

The first Dino Piranha's head looks similar toPetey Piranha, despite the fact that the color of its head is purple with white spots when relaxed, as opposed to red with white spots. However, Dino Piranha's body is much different in comparison to Petey Piranha. Dino Piranha's body beneath the giantPiranha Plant head is that of a dinosaur's, (as would be expected given the name) with a green hue. Its tail has a brown club at the end which may be inspired by the club of a real lifeAnkylosaurus. When it first breaks out of its egg, its head is purple, but when enraged, it turns red with anger.

The second Dino Piranha has a red and black color scheme. It has a dark red body and a head that is black with dark red spots. Its petals are also similar to those of the normal one, but appear more singed, with small cracks along the edges. When on fire, the Dino Piranha's entire body becomes a glowing orange.