Mom Piranha

Mom Piranha is a giant Piranha Plant boss that appears in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga and Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions. She first appears as a giant egg-like plant; once "hatched", the egg reveals a massive Piranha Plant with two vine-like tentacles for limbs extending from a leafy underside, and a large fragment of the egg remains on her head.

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Mom Piranha is mentioned briefly by Viridi during the Palutena's Guidance dialogue for Piranha Plant. She is referred to in the plural form, implying she is a species rather than a character.

History
Mom Piranha takes up residence in a large egg on the runway at the Beanbean International Airport. She and her offspring take root in the runway, preventing planes from landing or taking off; this also means Princess Peach, who is going to attend an important meeting with Queen Bean and Prince Peasley, is unable to land her plane. Lady Lima greets Mario and Luigi as they make their way to the runway of the airport, and explains that the Piranha Plants must be eliminated in order for Peach to land; when asked why repairs were not made to the runway, she claims that the Cackletta incident took priority.

While trying to clean up the mess, Mario and Luigi soon discover that merely defeating them in battle is not enough, since they come back after the brothers leave that section and come back. To get rid of them, Mario must drink water from one of the nearby fountains and spit it on the Piranha offspring (either by trying to use High Jump, Mini-Mario or Tickle technique on him while he is still filled); soaking each Piranha Plant causes it to swell up and turn a dull turquoise color. Luigi then has to shock the plants with his Thunderhand technique, destroying them completely.

Since the offspring are connected to Mom Piranha, the electricity surges through the roots of the Piranha Plants and into her egg, causing it to crack open, one bit at a time. When all the Piranha Plants are eliminated, the egg is destroyed completely and Mom Piranha is revealed; coming into contact with her begins the battle. Once Mom Piranha is defeated, she shrinks to a miniature size and is squished by Luigi sitting on her. Lady Lima congratulates the Bros. on their efforts in clearing the airport's runway, and Princess Peach's plane finally lands soon after.

Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
Mom Piranha starts the battle with two Piranha Plants in front of her, which are red in color along with the boss herself. Mom Piranha has two attacks; for her first, she closes in on the Bros. and sweeps her vine-like tentacles back and forth at them. The Bros. can dodge this attack by jumping; in the original game, they can jump at the same time to dodge safely. This attack can trip Mario or Luigi if either of them are hit. She can also create a powerful burst of energy and fire it over one of the Bros., who must deflect it with their hammer; the blast damages both of the Mario Bros. if it hits, and countering sends the blast back at Mom Piranha, damaging her.

Mom Piranha may use her turn to spawn a Piranha Plant instead of attacking if there is room for one; the Piranha Plant will be either red or blue. The Piranha Plants themselves attack as they normally do by shooting projectiles at Mario or Luigi, which are dodged by jumping; the red ones shoot fireballs, and the blue ones shoot electric balls. If the Bros. attack damage Mom Piranha when one or both of the Piranha Plants are present, they may immediately react by each shooting three projectiles at random angles and a more rapid rate; as a result, some of those projectiles will miss the Bros. completely. The Piranha Plants also heal Mom Piranha for 10 HP each if their color matches hers before each turn.

Mom Piranha can be jumped on normally unlike her offspring, but in return is resistant to jump-based attacks. Mom Piranha also shares the same weakness to Thunderhand attacks initially, while Firebrand heals her; she will change her color (and swap her weakness) if both of the Piranha Plants present are a different color from her. Defeating Mom Piranha also eliminates any Piranha Plants present as well; in the international versions of the original game, if Mom Piranha is defeated when she is blue, she gives out no coins.

Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions
Mom Piranha now uses Wiggler's voice clips from Super Mario Sunshine, much like Petey Piranha in Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam and the Big Piranha Plants above Peach's Castle in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey. In the original, changing her color turns the eggshell a significantly lighter yellow-pink color, along with her lips; in the remake, the eggshell on top of her head now remains the same color when she turns blue, and her lips in this palette are more yellow.

The battle is largely the same, though aside from the different stats, there are several minor changes; the remake makes the tentacle sweep attack somewhat slower, so the brother whose side the vine begins on must usually jump before the other. Countering the energy bubble damages any Piranha Plants present along with Mom Piranha. The Piranha Plants' counterattack reaction to Mom Piranha taking damage is reduced to a single normal attack that targets one of the brothers; their method of healing her is also changed, with the matching Piranha Plants spitting their projectiles towards Mom Piranha and restoring more HP. In addition, Mom Piranha gains the Fury status like most other bosses in the remake when she is reduced to half her HP or less, and begins attacking faster and more often each turn; her energy bubble attack in particular is fired at a lower arc, giving the target brother less time to hammer it back.

Names in other languages
Mama Piranha Uovo Piranha