Panser

Pansers are enemies commonly found in Super Mario Bros. 2. Along with Pokeys, they are the only known hostile plant species in Subcon, although Pansers were created by Wart. There are three types of Pansers: red, pink, and either green or gray depending on location. The red version stays in one place and shoot two fireballs in the player's direction, the green/gray variant (both just green in the remakes) patrols an area and shoot fireballs straight up, and the most powerful, the pink (blue in the remakes), chases the player and shoots fireballs towards them. These enemies can only be defeated by throwing another enemy or an item, like a vegetable or Mushroom Block, at them.

They are much like the Volcano Plant introduced in Super Mario World and even share the same Japanese name, suggesting an intentional connection. However, Volcano Plants are never shown to be able to move. The Lava Lotus of Super Mario Bros. 3, the Pompon Flower of Super Mario Land, the Furafurawā from Donkey Kong on the Game Boy, and the Pollen Plant of Virtual Boy Wario Land are also similar.

No actual Panser is found outside of Super Mario Bros. 2, its remakes, and other related media. Nonetheless, in the racetrack titled Shy Guy Bazaar in Mario Kart 7 and Mario Kart Tour, many stalls (and even part of the track itself) are decorated with red carpets, all of which feature Panser sprites as motifs, along with Phantos and Cobrats.

In the NES version, they have black stems, but in the SNES version and other subsequent remakes, they have beige stems. The red ones are always depicted as having green stems in artwork.

Trivia

 * Excluding Wart, Pansers are the only enemy from Super Mario Bros. 2 to not appear in The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!.
 * Pansers likely get their name a combination of the word, a type of flower, and , a German tank, perhaps in reference to the plant's ability to throw fireballs.