- Not to be confused with Fire Piranha Plant.
Venus Fire Traps (ファイアパックン Faia Pakkun?, Fire Piranha) are a variant of Piranha Plants which appear in several Mario games. They first appear in Super Mario Bros. 3.
Behavior[]
Venus Fire Traps behave similar to a standard Piranha Plant except they spit fireballs. Venus Fire Traps commonly emerge from Warp Pipes periodically, although some Venus Fire Traps are planted on the ground. Like Piranha Plants, Venus Fire Traps within pipes do not emerge if Mario, Luigi, or another playable character is standing either on or next to it. Venus Fire Traps can spit anywhere between one to three fireballs.
In the Super Mario series[]
Super Mario Bros. 3[]
A Venus Fire Trap as seen in Super Mario Bros. 3.
Venus Fire Traps are first encountered in World 1-1, during later portions. Like Piranha Plants, Venus Fire Traps have either a red head or a green head. In the original Nintendo Entertainment System version, the green ones have only a single pair of leaves whereas the red ones have two pairs. In the remakes, both types have two pairs of leaves. Some Venus Fire Traps emerge from upside-down Pipes. They act the same as other Venus Fire Traps, but like upside-down Piranha Plants, Venus Fire Traps still emerge from their Pipe even if Mario or Luigi are standing next to it.
In earlier levels, Venus Fire Traps spit only two fireballs. When Mario reaches World 2, Venus Fire Traps spit out two fireballs at a time. Venus Fire Traps then become less common until Mario reaches Pipe Land at which point they become very common. Venus Fire Traps can emerge either from Pipes or Quicksand. A Venus Fire Trap can be defeated with the effects of the Fire Flower, Super Leaf, Tanooki Suit, Hammer Suit, or the Starman. Defeating a Venus Fire Trap earns the player 100 points.
Super Mario World[]
Normal Venus Fire Traps don't appear in Super Mario World but a tropical variety called the Jumping Venus Fire Trap does. They leap and spit fireballs and are incredibly rare only appearing in three levels, Outrageous, Groovy, and Funky.
Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins[]
Venus Fire Traps return in Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins retaining their behavior from Super Mario Bros. 3. They once again appear as common enemies however, they now have spikes around them most likely to indicate that they cannot be jumped on despite not facing upward. Venus Fire Traps can be defeated with the effects of a Fire Flower in this game.
Super Mario 64/Super Mario 64 DS[]
A Venus Fire Trap from Super Mario 64
A Venus Fire Trap as seen in Super Mario 64 DS
Venus Fire Traps later appear in Super Mario 64 and Super Mario 64 DS. They can be found in Tiny-Huge Island and Bowser in the Sky. They attack by sprouting from the ground a spitting a fireball at Mario before retreating. A Venus Fire Trap can be defeated with either stomps, punches, or ground pounds. The Big Venus Fire Trap also makes it's debut in this game. In the remake, Yoshi can eat a Venus Fire Trap to earn a Coin. In this game, they are noticeably smaller than in other games.
Venus Fire Traps are rather rare enemies with only three normal-sized ones appearing in the whole game.
Super Princess Peach[]
Although normal Venus Fire Traps don't appear in Super Princess Peach a variety of Piranha Plant called the Glad P. Plant appears which behaves similarly to a Venus Fire Trap by shooting fireballs.
New Super Mario Bros.[]
A Idle Venus Fire Trap spitting a fireball.
A Piped Venus Fire Trap spitting a fireball.
Venus Fire Traps make a return in New Super Mario Bros. behaving as they did in Super Mario Bros. 3, they appear in World 2-6, World 3-B, World 5-Castle, and World 6-3. They can either emerge from pipes and spit 1-3 fireballs or they can be perched on the ground spitting a single fireball. Venus Fire Traps can be defeated with the effects of a Fire Flower, Blue Shell, Starman, or a Mega Mushroom. Venus Fire Traps are slightly less common in this game than in previous games.
In the beta files, it was shown that Venus Fire Traps could also spit 6 fireballs, a behavior which ended up being unused. There also exists an unused Big Venus Fire Trap which never appeared in any levels, the Big Venus Fire Traps would've behaved identically to the regular-sized Venus Fire Traps only larger.
New Super Mario Bros. Wii[]
A Venus Fire Trap spitting a fireball at Mario and Yoshi as seen in New Super Mario Bros. Wii.
In New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Venus Fire Traps return behaving as they did in New Super Mario Bros., in this game, they are present in World 1-3 the third course of World 2 World 2-3, and shoot fireballs which provide limited light in dark caves, they cannot be seen until they shoot the fireballs. They appear all throughout the course, but otherwise make limited appearances in the rest of the world. Venus Fire Traps also appear in World 3-4, World 9-1, World 9-4, and World 9-7. In this game, Venus Fire Traps are also capable of melting ice blocks and can be defeated with either a Fire Flower or Starman, the Ice Flower and Penguin Suit effects can freeze them. Yoshi can eat a Venus Fire Trap and use it's fireballs to plow through enemies up ahead, after 8 enemies are hit, 1-Ups will be earned.
The Big Venus Fire Trap makes a return in this game after being absent from New Super Mario Bros., they spit much larger fireballs.
Super Mario 3D Land / Super Mario 3D World / Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury[]
Although Venus Fire Traps don't appear in Super Mario 3D Land, Super Mario 3D World, and Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury a similar Piranha Plant called the Fire Piranha Plant does. They have a black and orange coloration and do not spit out fire until Mario is near it or use binoculars to look at it.
Super Mario 3D Land also introduces the Inky Piranha Plant which spits blobs of ink at the game's screen obscuring the view similar to the Blooper from Mario Kart.
New Super Mario Bros. 2[]
Two Venus Fire Traps near a Gold Ring in New Super Mario Bros. 2
Venus Fire Traps are back in New Super Mario Bros. 2 In this game, they are commonly found in caves in various levels of World 2, World 4, World Flower, World 5, and World 6. They behave as they did in the previous two New Super Mario Bros. games. They can spit anywhere from 1-3 fireballs as usual. Venus Fire Traps are among the enemies to be affected by the Gold Rings. They become Gold Venus Fire Traps. Gold Venus Fire Traps behave identically to a standard Venus Fire Trap but they provide bonus coins upon defeat and the Pipe they were in showers with coins upon defeat as well. Venus Fire Traps can be defeated with the effects of a Fire Flower, Gold Flower, Super Leaf, Starman, Invincibility Leaf, or a Mega Mushroom.
Big Venus Fire Traps also make a return in this game however unlike New Super Mario Bros. Wii, they now spit normal-sized fireballs rather than larger fireballs.
New Super Mario Bros. U/New Super Luigi U/New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe[]
Several Venus Fire Traps on ice as seen in New Super Mario Bros. U.
Venus Fire Traps also appear in New Super Mario Bros. U alongside New Super Luigi U and New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe. They behave as they did in past games and can spit 1-3 fireballs. Venus Fire Traps appear in several of the game's levels and are prominently featured in Piranha Plants On Ice. Venus Fire Traps have the ability to melt ice blocks with their fireballs. Venus Fire Traps can be defeated with the effects of a Fire Flower or Starman and can be frozen with the effects of an Ice Flower or Penguin Suit. Yoshi can once again eat a Venus Fire Trap and spit out a large fireball to plow through enemies with. Baby Yoshis can easily eat a Venus Fire Trap without any issue and Bubble Baby Yoshi can defeat it with bubbles.
The Big Venus Fire Trap also makes a return in these games, these games also introduce a new variety called the Venus Ice Trap which spit iceballs instead of fireballs.
Super Mario Maker/Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS/Super Mario Maker 2[]
A Venus Fire Trap from the Super Mario Bros. style of Super Mario Maker.
Venus Fire Traps appear in Super Mario Maker as well as its two sequels as placeable enemies that can be made by shaking a Piranha Plant. A Venus Fire Trap can be given a Super Mushroom to become a Big Venus Fire Trap or wings to become a Para-Venus Fire Trap. Venus Fire Traps behave as they did in the 2D platformers and can be defeated with the Fire Flower or Starman. They are also seen in all styles.
In the Super Mario 3D World style of Super Mario Maker 2, Venus Fire Traps are replaced with Fire Piranha Plants which behave slightly different.
Super Mario Odyssey[]
A Venus Fire Trap spitting a fireball in the Luncheon Kingdom in Super Mario Odyssey.
Venus Fire Traps return in Super Mario Odyssey where they can be found in the Lost Kingdom, Metro Kingdom, and the Luncheon Kingdom. They can be Captured and used to light unlit torches (to earn Power Moons and unlock hidden passageways) and kill enemies (however a Venus Fire Trap can only be captured after knocking a rock into it's mouth otherwise tossing Cappy at a Venus Fire Trap regularly will cause the Venus Fire Trap to swallow Cappy allowing Mario to kill it easily). Venus Fire Traps are rather useful in this sense. In any case if you need to defeat a Venus Fire Trap, stomping it should do it. Similar types of Piranha Plants called Poison Piranha Plants and Mega Poison Piranha Plants also appear, they spit blobs of Poison instead.
In the Paper Mario series[]
A Venus Fire Trap accompanied by two Shiny Paratroopas.
Venus Fire Traps also appear in Paper Mario: Sticker Star and Paper Mario: Color Splash under the name "Fire Piranha" in these games (due to possessing the behaviors of both Venus Fire Traps and standard Piranha Plants). They act like regular Piranha Plants but mainly also attacking by spitting fireballs or fiery gas at Mario. They are only fought on the levels Rugged Road and Rumble Volcano, in Paper Mario: Color Splash, they can be found in Redpepper Volcano. They are immune to stomps but hammers can be used instead.
In the Mario & Luigi series[]
Several Paper Venus Fire Traps from Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam
Venus Fire Traps appear in Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam once again under the name "Fire Piranha", in this game, they can be found in Gloomy Woods and attack by spitting small fireballs (which target Mario and Luigi) or large fireballs (which target Paper Mario. Paper variations are also found in Twinsy Tropics. Their attacks can be countered with the hammer or dodged with a jump. The fireballs can cause Burn.
In the Mario vs. Donkey Kong series[]
Two Venus Fire Traps from Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem!.
Venus Fire Traps during the Pipe Works boss in Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis.
In the Mario vs. Donkey Kong series, Venus Fire Traps can be found in the games, Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis, Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again!, Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem!, and Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars. In these games, they attack by spitting fireballs in a straight line that bounce of walls in a rebound fashion landing back in their mouths, a Venus Fire Trap can also spit it's fireball into another Venus Fire Traps mouth. A Venus Fire Trap's fireballs can be blocked by placing Pink Blocks or Girders in the way. In the earlier games, Venus Fire Traps are indestructible and cannot be defeated however in the later games in the series, Venus Fire Traps can be defeated with the Hammers.
In the Mario Kart series[]
The Venus Fire Traps as seen in Mario Circuit.
In Mario Kart DS, Venus Fire Traps are seen in Mario Circuit on the Pipes spitting fireballs at any racers that drive by. The Venus Fire Traps cannot be destroyed or stunned in this game. The fireballs the Venus Fire Traps spit bounce along the racetrack before disappearing, driving into one will spin the racer out.
Venus Fire Traps are also seen in Mario Kart Arcade GP DX and Mario Kart Arcade GP VR in some of the courses in the audience spitting fireballs in the air however, these fireballs aren't a hazard as they don't land on the track.
Gallery[]
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To view Venus Fire Trap's image gallery, click here.
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Trivia[]
- Their name is a play on the name of a real life carnivorous plant, the Venus Flytrap.
- Several Fire-Spitting Piranha Plants are also seen in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, and Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions however, due to also possessing the basic abilities of a standard Piranha Plant, these are actually considered normal Piranha Plants by the games and not Venus Fire Traps.
