Piranha Pod
Lakitu about to throw a Piranha Pod.
A Lakitu with a Piranha Pod
First appearance New Super Mario Bros. U (2012)
Latest appearance Mario Party Superstars (2021)
Variant of Spiny Egg
Piranha Plant

Piranha Pods are a Piranha Plant version of Spiny Eggs. Like Spiny Eggs, they are thrown by Lakitus, but turn into a Piranha Plant upon landing, rather than a Spiny.

HistoryEdit

New Super Mario Bros. U / New Super Luigi U / New Super Mario Bros. U DeluxeEdit

 
A Piranha Pod's model from New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe

Piranha Pods make their debut appearance in New Super Mario Bros. U in the levels Blooming Lakitus, and in New Super Luigi U in the levels Spinning Sandstones and Beanstalk Jungle. Here, Piranha Pods are thrown by the Lakitus that occasionally show up in these levels where, after bouncing off the ground slightly, become a Piranha Plant that remains stationary on the ground. Piranha Pods can be defeated in the same ways a Spiny Egg can be defeated, including shooting a fireball at them with Fire Mario or touching them while invincible.

Super Smash Bros. UltimateEdit

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Viridi briefly mentions Piranha Pods during Palutena's Guidance dialogue for Piranha Plant.

Mario Party SuperstarsEdit

 
Lakitu holding a small Piranha Pod in Mario Party Superstars

Piranha Pods reappear on the Peach's Birthday Cake board in Mario Party Superstars, replacing the Strawberry Seeds from the original Mario Party, though they are still referred to as strawberries. In-game, the term is used liberally to refer to both the pod itself and the Piranha Plant that grows out of it, while a Play Nintendo article reserves "strawberry" for the Piranha Pods.[1] In the board, Piranha Pods can be bought from a Lakitu if a player lands on certain Event Spaces. They come in two sizes, small (costing 5 coins) and large (costing 30 coins). Small Piranha Pods grow into regular Piranha Plants, while large Piranha Pods grow into Big Piranha Plants.

Additional namesEdit

Internal namesEdit

Game File Name Meaning

New Super Mario Bros. U pakkun_tane Pakkun Tane Piranha Seed

Names in other languagesEdit

Language Name Meaning Notes
Japanese グーリンダイ[2]
Gūrindai
Based on a part of the name of the folktale character Jugemu
Chinese 刺刺球[?]
Cìcì Qiú
Spiky Ball; from「刺刺蛋」(Cìcì Dàn, Spiny Egg)
Dutch Piranha Pod[?] -
French (NOA) Gousse Piranha[?] Piranha Pod
French (NOE) Pic-Piranha[?] Pike-Piranha; from "Pic-Pic" (Spiny Egg)
German Piranha-Spross[?] Piranha Bud
Italian Bulbo di Pianta Piranha[?] Bulb of Piranha Plant
Korean 뻐끔볼[?]
Ppeokkeum Bol
Piranha Ball
Russian Пиранья-отпрыск[?]
Piran'ya-otprysk
Offspring Piranha
Spanish (NOA) Semilla Piraña[?] Piranha Seed
Spanish (NOE) Bulbo Planta Piraña[?] Piranha Plant Bulb

ReferencesEdit

  1. ^ Five boards, five tips. Play Nintendo. Retrieved November 24, 2021. (Archived November 24, 2021, 14:22:13 UTC via Wayback Machine.)
  2. ^ Sakai, Kazuya (Ambit), kikai, Akinori Sao, Junko Fukuda, Kunio Takayama, and Ko Nakahara (Shogakukan), editors (2015). "New Super Mario Bros. U" in『スーパーマリオブラザーズ百科: 任天堂公式ガイドブック』. Tokyo: Shogakukan (Japanese). ISBN 4-091065-69-4. Page 209.