Mario franchise strategy guide/Bosses/Petey Piranha

Petey Piranha (ボスパックン) is a fictional character in the Mario series, first appearing as the primary boss of Bianco Hills in Super Mario Sunshine. He has appeared as a boss in later games as well such as in Super Princess Peach, Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, and New Super Mario Bros., but also as a playable character in spin-off Mario games like Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour, Mario Kart: Double Dash!! and Mario Superstar Baseball. A drastically different Petey is found as a boss in Mario Pinball Land.

Name Origins and Piranha Hierarchy Status
In Japan, Petey Piranha is known as Boss Packun. This brings to the question Petey's status in the Piranha Plant hierarchy. Although Petey has powers beyond that of a regular Piranha Plant, similar to King Boo, he doesn't seem to have any powers over them. Unlike Boos, who specialize more in trickery and magic, Petey and the other Piranha Plants rely almost entirely on their physical abilities and their fireball-spitting powers. In theory, King Boo's magic can be reinforced with the power of other Boos and he is capable of reinforcing their powers too, whereas Petey's physical strength is not necessarily boosted through the use of any magical ability.

Characteristics
Petey appears to be a larger, much more powerful version of a Piranha Plant, a minor enemy dating back to the original Super Mario Bros. Whereas normal Piranha Plants usually grow from pipes, Petey seems to have grown his leaves and roots into foot-like and arm-like appendages. He can walk and even flutter about in the air. Furthermore, Petey sports a pair of white-spotted red briefs — a first for any Piranha Plant (Although Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time describes them as a diaper). Petey's head is framed with petals, which no other of his kind seem to have; these could possibly be construed as some form of a crown. Although Petey does not speak, he does make some disturbing growling, drooling and licking noises. (Petey's bio in Mario Superstar Baseball notes that his state is the result of mutation, one possibly caused by the Shroobs or Isle Delfino's pollution, not Bowser's magic.)

Petey seems fearsome, but he is not as bad as he seems. He often acts unintentionally comical during the fights against Mario. In Super Mario Sunshine, for example, Petey bloats up when Mario shoots water into his mouth, causing his large belly button to pop out of his stomach, exposing his weak point. In New Super Mario Bros., Petey slams into the floor and, if he misses Mario, slips on the ice and falls onto his back. In Mario Superstar Baseball when you score a Home Run using Petey, he actually skips from one base to the next. Finally, in Mario Power Tennis, when he wins a Cup, he jumps up and down in front of the other characters for a short amount of time. This causes the other characters to fall over, but then Petey (apparently not realizing his own strength) leans over to them, curious as to their predicament. Mario then hands him the trophy with a sportsman-like "congratulations" - in response, Petey takes the cup and mutters something (presumably his cup-winning speech) and leaps extra-high. The other characters cower, knowing what's coming. But it doesn't. They look up and Petey is happily flapping his wings, trophy in his mouth.

Petey frequently vomits out mud-like Earth Goop, a substance similar to that of Shadow Mario's Paintbrush, which can make the ground slippery and sometimes generate more goop-based monsters. When Mario defeats Petey, Petey turns into the goop and melts away.

Although Petey appears to be a mindless beast that only makes disgusting gurgling and vomiting noises, subtitles in Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour show that he is actually trying to communicate a coherent thought. He is also shown playing golf, baseball, tennis, and even driving a car, despite the considerable limitation of having no eyes. Here are the only known translations (Taken from his taunt and cheer subtitles in Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour):


 * Hruu! - Get on with it!
 * (Bite) - I will CRUSH you!
 * Woorg! - I will hunt you down, kill your wife, and devour your children!
 * (Gurgle) - You make me sick!
 * Smack! - Uh-oh! This don't look good!
 * Groot! - Better pay attention!
 * Gleert... - Hack that thing!
 * Flarg - Oh! You Just got served fool!!!
 * Broog - I'm going to school you and then have you go make me a sandwich fool!!!!!!
 * Blurt! - Don't whiff it, okay?
 * (Moan) - Timing is everything!

In Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, Luigi fights a mini-boss called a Piranha Bean that is almost identical to Petey, but is missing the ring of petals, and it is much smaller than Petey Piranha.

Subsequent appearances
Petey Piranha has reappeared in several games as a boss — a notable feat, in that many minor Mario characters have a tendency to disappear shortly after they debut. Petey appears as a boss in Mario Pinball Land, Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, Super Princess Peach and New Super Mario Bros., for example. Like former Mario villains Wario, Donkey Kong, King Boo and Birdo, Petey has also made a habit of appearing in other Mario franchises as a playable character. This makes Petey the second playable Piranha Plant character in a Mario game (Naval Pirahna was playable first, in the Yoshi game, Tetris Attack).

In Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time, Petey is a major boss. He is seemingly a pet or accomplice of the alien Shroob race and even swallowed Princess Peach and Kylie Koopa, but they were both spat out later. Petey's appearance in the past is surprising, as it shows that his history dates further back than just to Super Mario Sunshine. Unusually, it shows that he is capable of digging through sand and diving from platforms. Unlike his sports-title appearances, he doesn't seem depicted as a power-character (as most of his attacks are slightly more devious than those of Bowser, to name one character), although he retains his powers of flight. His goop powers do not come into play in this game, but he has a swallow attack and can spit what appear to be Piranha Plant seeds that swing from long cords at the brothers. Although some speculate he was brought to the Mushroom Kingdom by the Shroobs, this seems unlikely as he is obviously not destroyed by the baby tears (this is arguable, as the Shroobs themselves possibly weren't destroyed either), so it may merely be possible the Petey Piranha today is related to the Petey Piranha of the past. Apparently, back then, Petey Piranha wasn't aware of what Isle Delfino was, or his future propulsion into the cast of regulars.

In sports games, Petey frequently uses his large size and his bizarre digestive system to his advantage. He first showed up as an unlockable character in Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour, in which his large size made him the most powerful golfer in the game. In Mario Power Tennis, Petey's bulk served him well again, as he was one of the more powerful competitors. His special attack involved swallowing his racket, regurgitating it, and spitting it at the ball at a high speed. Finally, Petey had the ability to body-check other players in Mario Superstar Baseball, making him an effective character in close plays.

In Mario Pinball Land Petey has a longer neck (The most obvious difference), no feet, a drastically changed head shape, and the petals only exist on the top of his head, instead of completely circling it. This has led people to question whether this is a real "Petey" or just a large Piranha Plant posing as Petey for attention.

In Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, Petey was paired with King Boo. The two were formidable racers, in spite of Petey's lack of eyes. They had the ability to use any character's special item. Petey's personal kart is the "Piranha Pipes," a vehicle assembled out of the Piranha Plant's trademark green tubing. It's interesting to note that in the Dry Dry Desert course, a pit contains a giant green and purple Piranha Plant. It has an appearance similar to Petey and has green lips in a similar manner. If there is any relationship, it's not shown.

In Mario Hoops 3-on-3, Petey acts as the hoops in the Daisy Garden court. Dunks are only possible when he is asleep.

In a new trailer for Super Mario Galaxy, a large, dinosaur-like creature with arms and a head resembling Petey Piranha's own can be seen. It also appears to have a long, vine-like tail.