A plant joins Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Didn’t see that coming.

In a totally unexpected move, a potted plant with a mouth has been confirmed to be coming to Super Smash Brothers Ultimate and will be available sometime in the months after the game’s release.

In the recent Nintendo Direct that took place on November 1st, Nintendo confirmed that the character will be available for free to those who purchase the game shortly after release OR pre-order it and follow a number of special steps to redeem a code via Nintendo’s online services. Everyone else who opts to buy the game later will have to purchase the character, so be sure to get in fast if you want to get this flowery friend for free.

A Pirhana plant is something almost no one asked for or expected as a Smash Bros character, despite its prominence as a Mario enemy. Peter Pirhana however, the larger, more humanoid friend of the Pirhana plant, is something that was requested at certain points and has made its way into several fanmade adaptations of Smash Bros including Super Smash Flash 2. Petey Pirhana does make an appearance here as well, for Pirhana Plant’s final smash: Capturing up to two characters in cages attached to each of its hands, the massive plant then hops around the background of the stage, dealing massive damage to all those trapped within.

The single trailer that has been shown of Pirhana plant so far gives quite a bit of detail and insight as to how the upcoming fighter will play. Check it out below:

As with many of the Smash character trailers, the most important details here are shown rather than told. One has to know what to look for if they want to catch a glimpse about what very well may make Pirhana plant a true terror on the battlefield of Smash.

For example, at 0:23 players can see the character’s backward dodge roll, which is absurdly fast by Smash Bros. standards – Quite possibly the fastest in the game, or very close to it. The following attacks are likely an uptilt – fairly unremarkable, a quick attack sending opponents slightly upwards – and a forward smash, which has some decent range.

All followed by a very vicious chomping taunt.

On the other hand, the dash attack on 0:38 looks like it might be one of the character’s weaker points: The attack has only a single hit, doesn’t travel very far, and leaves Pirhana plant on the ground after its ended, meaning the move would be very open to punishment by opponents if it were to miss or be blocked.

Most interesting, however, are the character’s special moves. The first shown, a poison cloud, appears to deal damage over time to an opponent standing in it while not dealing any kind of hitstun – The Marth player affected by it in 0:42 is currently in a stunned state, and any moves inflicting hitstun would break him out of that state, but the poison does not. This might be the character’s side special move, while the earlier seen spiked ball projectile is likely the character’s neutral special.

His up special is most likely the spin shown at 0:55, which the footage suggests has poor vertical distance but very good horizontal distance.

I skipped one here, and that’s because I’m saving the most interesting option for last.

At 0:52, an attack is shown off that is most likely the character’s down special. For this, the Piranha plant ducks down into his shell, making himself much smaller but also withstanding an attack from Wolf that would normally cause histun. This suggests the attack has a kind of property that allows it to ignore the short stun from other hitstun causing moves, allowing Pirhana to plow through attacks from other characters and keep moving.

But what’s even more interesting is what happens afterward. Pirhana plant rotates to the side and shoots out, extending forward a massive distance to hit wolf over half the length of the stage away.

And while this might just look like an attack with some kind of defensive property and a very long range, the interesting factor here is how the attack projects itself based on the direction that the pot is facing. From this footage, it’s unclear whether the pot rotates in a predictable fashion the longer its held down or whether it fell forward as a result of Pirhana’s forward momentum upon hitting the ground. If the latter is true, this may very well be one of the most interesting attacks the Smash Bros series has ever seen.