Spiny Piranha Plant

The Spiny Piranha Plant is a purple variant of Piranha Plant first appearing in the game Super Mario Galaxy. They are bigger, purple Piranha Plants whose stems are covered in spikes. To attack, a Spiny Piranha Plant attempts to slam its head into Mario or Luigi. It can be defeated by hitting it with rubbery bulbs, by stomping it after it has slammed its head on the ground, or shooting it with a fireball as Fire Mario. Some are necessary to be defeated in order to make a Sproutle Vine grow so Mario (or Luigi) can proceed. Shooting one with a Star Bit makes the Spiny Piranha Plant act immediately. They appear in the Good Egg Galaxy, the Beach Bowl Galaxy, and the Gusty Garden Galaxy.

In Super Mario Galaxy 2, the Spiny Piranha Plant reappears with the same behavior. The game also introduces a new variation called the Prickly Piranha Plant, which attacks in a similar way, but is black and cannot be stomped due the spikes on its head. Spiny Piranha Plants appear in the Rightside Down Galaxy and the Throwback Galaxy.

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Spiny Piranha Plants (just called Spiny Piranhas) are mentioned briefly by Viridi during Palutena's Guidance dialogue for Piranha Plant.

The Piranha Creeper introduced in Super Mario 3D World has a similar appearance to the Spiny Piranha Plant.

Trivia

 * Due to its file name 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.