Not to be confused withPrickly Piranha Plant.

Spiny Piranha Plant
Artwork fromSuper Mario Galaxy
First appearance	Super Mario Galaxy (2007)
Latest appearance	Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2 (2025)
Variant of	Piranha Plant
Variants Prickly Piranha Plant
Relatives Piranha Creeper

Spiny Piranha Plants^[1] are largePiranha Plants inSuper Mario Galaxy andSuper Mario Galaxy 2. They have thorned stalks that damage the player character on contact, but their large heads can bestomped if grounded. Their heads are purple with white spots, contrasting them with the other Piranha Plants in these games.

Big Piranha Plants inSuper Mario 3D World andBig Poison Piranha Plants inSuper Mario Odyssey behave similarly to Spiny Piranha Plants.Piranha Creepers, introduced inSuper Mario 3D World, are similarly purple-headed and have thorns along their stems that damage the player character on contact.

History[edit]

Super Mario series[edit]

Super Mario Galaxy[edit]

Spiny Piranha Plants first appear as uncommon enemies inSuper Mario Galaxy and itsNintendo Switchport, with there being only four in the entire game. To attack, a Spiny Piranha Plant attempts to slam its head intoMario (orLuigi). It can be defeated by hitting it withrubbery bulbs, by stomping it after it has slammed its head on the ground, or by shooting it with afireball asFire Mario. Some Spiny Piranha Plants are necessary to be defeated in order to make aSproutle Vine grow so Mario can proceed. Shooting one with aStar Bit makes the Spiny Piranha Plant act immediately.

The first one is encountered optionally in theGood Egg Galaxy's first mission, "Dino Piranha," where it is surrounded by rubbery bulbs and acts as visual and functional foreshadowing to the mission's boss, theDino Piranha, another large purple Piranha Plant who is attacked with a rebounding ball—in its case, the end of its tail. Spiny Piranha Plants also appear in the Good Egg Galaxy's "Dino Piranha Speed Run," theBeach Bowl Galaxy's "Wall Jumping up Waterfalls," and theGusty Garden Galaxy's "Bunnies in the Wind."

Super Mario Galaxy 2[edit]

InSuper Mario Galaxy 2 and its Nintendo Switchport, Spiny Piranha Plants reappear with the same behavior and are even less common than before, with only two appearing: one inRightside Down Galaxy and another inThrowback Galaxy. The game also introduces a new variation called thePrickly Piranha Plant, which attacks in a similar way but is black and cannot be stomped due to the spikes on its head—a hit with a rubbery bulb is required to defeat it.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate[edit]

InSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate, Spiny Piranha Plants (just calledSpiny Piranhas) are mentioned briefly byViridi duringPalutena's Guidance dialogue forPiranha Plant.

Gallery[edit]

• 

  A Spiny Piranha Plant data render

• 

  Mario approaches a Spiny Piranha Plant in theGood Egg Galaxy.

• 

  Two Spiny Piranha Plants visible in theGusty Garden Galaxy

• 

  Mario near a Spiny Piranha Plant in theThrowback Galaxy

Naming[edit]

Internal names[edit]

Due to the Spiny Piranha Plant's filename being relative to that of normal Piranha Plants, it seems that in early development, this was intended to be the "normal" Piranha Plant while the ones that are normal in the final would have been a "small" variant; the specific nomenclature implies they would beNipper Plants.

Names in other languages[edit]

The contemporaneous name for each language is listed first. Subsequent names are listed in chronological order for each language, from oldest to newest, and have the media with which they are associated in the "Notes" column. Names exclusive to localizations of theSuper Mario Bros. Encyclopedia are not prioritized due toconcerns about circular reporting, and are only listed first for their respective languages if they are the only ones available.

References[edit]

• Piranha Plants
• Aliens
• Super Mario Galaxy enemies
• Super Mario Galaxy 2 enemies