Playable Characters: Captains (Main Characters) | Pikmin
Creatures: Pikmin 1 | Pikmin 2 | Pikmin 3 | Pikmin 4
Species whose families first debut in Pikmin.
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Piklopedia: Ampthituber Family
In General
- Amphibian Assault: The grown-up variants are this. Immediately lunging at you and trying to belly-flop onto you and your Pikmin on sight. Averted with the younger Wogpoles/Wolpoles however, who are completely harmless and instead try to flee from you on sight.
- Amphibian at Large: Adult Wollyhops are amphibians who are enormous compared to Pikmin, and can squash them with a single belly flop should they get the chance. The Masterhop is even more of this, being larger than the Pikmin's own Onion.
- Bizarre Alien Biology: Wollyhops feed by absorbing nutrients through their bellies, similar to how frogs will submerge themselves to drink. Hence, their belly flops.
- Belly Flop Crushing: They attack by launching themselves high in the air and landing on the much smaller Pikmin, instantly crushing them to death.
- Invisible Anatomy:
- Their mouths are completely invisible, and there's nothing in the behavior or animation to give away where they are. Oddly, the "Pikmin Adventure" sub-mode of Nintendo Land has a mouthed one as a boss (outright called the Large-Mouth Wollywog/Largemouth Wollyhop), but this is just an animatronic and isn't canon to the Pikmin games.
- Pikmin 4 implies, through the Chillyhops Piklopedia entry, that they absorb food through their stomachs, so they may straight up not have mouths at all.
- Scunthorpe Problem: Called "Wollyhops" in the British English versions of the games, due to "wog" being a racial slur in England and Australia. The North American English versions would have their names changed to these for parity, starting from the 2023 Nintendo Switch ports of the first two games as well as Pikmin 4.
- Set a Mook to Kill a Mook: It's possible to goad them into jumping on you while you're standing next to another enemy. If you dodge in time, the Wollyhop will land on the other enemy and crush them instead of you - and they can even do this to other Wollyhops.
Yellow Wollywog/Yellow Wollyhop
Appears In: Pikmin, Pikmin 2, Pikmin 3, Pikmin 4
The closest thing to frogs present on PNF-404, these enemies hop up above your armies and try to squash them. The yellow ones have tall bodies and live mostly above ground, though you can find them elsewhere too. Pikmin 4 also introduces a supersized variant called a Masterhop.
- Amphibian at Large: The Masterhop is truly gigantic, being so huge that its model can't even properly fit between the ground and an Onion.
- Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: These Yellow Wollyhops travel greater vertical distance, but less horizontal distance than their white counterparts. Their taller bodies reflect this difference by emphasizing verticality.
- Giant Mook: Pikmin 4 introduces the Masterhop, a Yellow Wollyhop that has increased in size due to a lack of natural predators, and lives longer as a result.
- Nerf: In Pikmin 3, where Yellow Wollyhops are the only adult family member present, they have much more hang-time in the air before flopping down and can be pinned to the ground consistently, making them a minor threat at worst especially because Rock Pikmin can't be crushed.
Wollywog/Wollyhop
Appears In: Pikmin, Pikmin 2, Pikmin 4
A nasty relative of the Yellow Wollyhop, these live exclusively underground. They're faster and more aggressive than their yellow counterparts, and have a flatter body.
- Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: These Wollyhops travel greater horizontal distance, but less vertical distance than their yellow counterparts. Their shorter bodies reflect this difference by emphasizing horizontality.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Often, all you can see of in the dark is the red of their eyes, and if you hear them jump, you only have seconds to recall your Pikmin before they get squished.
- Palette Swap: Played with. They have a different body structure from to the Yellow Wollyhops, being much shorter and with rounder bodies. They also travel greater horizontal distance but less vertical distance when they hop. However, aside from the changes this makes in hit detection and the underground Wollyhops being tougher than the yellow kind, the two enemies act very much the same — the change is still chiefly aesthetic.
- Underground Monkey: Literally, in regard to the underground part. In the games that feature them, they only appear underground, unlike the more vibrant Yellow Wollyhop encountered on the surface.
Wogpole/Wolpole
Appears In: Pikmin, Pikmin 2, Pikmin 3, Pikmin 4
The tadpoles to the Wollyhop's frog, these little ones won't hurt your Pikmin. They'll only run away. You can attack and kill them for more Pikmin or money, though they're pretty agile in water and will try their best to evade you. Ones stranded on land will hop around ineffectively.
- Cowardly Mooks: Unable to harm you in any way, they will flee as fast as they can when you or your Pikmin actually harm them.
- Harmless Enemy: Unlike their elders, these guys are completely harmless and have no way to directly harm your Pikmin.
- It's Raining Men: In a number of underground stages in 2, groups of Wolpoles will drop from the ceiling when you pass underneath them.
- Mini Mook: They're tadpole versions of Wollyhops. They can't attack, only swim away in a panic or flop uselessly on land.
- Scunthorpe Problem: Just like their adult forms, due to "wog" being a racial slur in England and Australia, they are called "Wolpoles" in the British English versions. Also like the adults, the North American English name is replaced with the British one starting with the 2023 Switch releases of the first two games and Pikmin 4.
Young Yellow Wollywog/Wollyhop
Appears In: Hey! Pikmin
An adolescent Wollyhop, fresh out of tadpole stage but still with a tail, not yet fully developed.
- Mini Mook: They are smaller Yellow Wollyhops, distinct from the Wolpoles in that these youthful creatures can jump and bellyflop just like the adults while still being able to swim in water.
Fiery Young Yellow Wollywog/Wollyhop
Appears In: Hey! Pikmin
A adolescent Yellow Wollyhop that evolved to survive in hot and flaming habitats. Its tadpole and adult version has not yet appeared in any game.
- Mini Mook: A smaller Fiery Yellow Wollyhop, whatever that might look like.
- Underground Monkey: An orange, flaming variant of the Young Yellow Wollyhop.
- Wreathed in Flames: It's on fire, so only Red Pikmin can attack it.
Chillyhop
Appears in: Pikmin 4
An icy Wollyhop variant that secretes an icy substance made from ammonium nitrate, urea, and water every time it lands, creating a pool of ice. Found in cold areas.
- An Ice Person: The addition of its endothermal secretions makes its attacks more hazardous, causing an Area of Effect in the form of a freezing puddle. This also allows it to store food for longer, as a natural form of refrigeration.
- Palette Swap: It's a blue Wollyhop.
- Scunthorpe Problem: Conscientiously defied. After changes were implemented to avoid the original problem, the Chillyhop has one name and one name only.
- Urine Trouble: The Chillyhop's icy secretions are partially made of urea, one of the components of urine.
Piklopedia: Arachnorb Family
In General
- Ambiguous Robots: Almost every type minus the Man-At-Legs can count. They're all stated to be, or at least treated like, natural creatures in the Piklopedia. Yet they frequently display traits that are very unusual for a natural animal, like emitting smoke, spurting out electricity through their legs, have their heads split open like party balls, make robotic-like noises, and are stated to be made of silicon and metal. The fact that this isn't the first time that Olimar and Louie, the characters that usually write the Piklopedia entires, have mistaken robotic creatures for natural ones example makes their status even more ambiguous.
- Bizarre Alien Biology: They have no visible orifices or sensory organs of any sort and, for some reason, the bodies of every family member except the Man-at-Legs will pop open like party balls to drop their spoils after defeat. Their exoskeletons are also noted to be made out of silicon, and their innards contain malleable heavy metals. They're even implied to be able to spin webs, as the Beady and Raging Long Legs can be found in areas with a spider web casting a shadow on the ground. The Man-At-Legs meanwhile has a yellow painted spiderweb on its floor, and the Groovy Long Legs visibly hangs from some webbing before it engages the player. Yet none of the Arachnorbs have any visibile silk spinnerets.
- Boss Room: They are usually fought in large, circular areas/rooms, though there are a couple of exceptions. If you see a spider web shadow being cast on the ground, chances are there's a Beady or Raging Long Legs waiting to jump down and ambush you.
- Breakout Family: One of Pikmin's most iconic enemy families outside of the Bulborbs and the Burrowing Snagret. Every game has featured at least one member and each entry introduces one or more species, with the Groovy Long Legs in particular being notable as one of the first new bosses revealed in Pikmin 4 and, upon release, one of its most memorable.
- Dynamic Entry: Aside from the Man-at-Legs, the only warning you get is their shadow as it rapidly approaches before suddenly landing half a second later.
- Four-Legged Insect: They're not based on literal insects, but the trope still applies. They're fairly openly based on spiders, but they've consistently only had four legs each instead of the eight limbs (ten counting the pedipalps) real spiders have.
- Giant Spider: As the name Arachnorb implies, they resemble colossal spiders (even on a human size scale, they'd still be bigger than any real spider) with perfectly round, orb-like bodies.
- Invisible Anatomy: Their bodies (with the exception of the heavily augmented Man-at-Legs') are perfectly round, smooth orbs with no visible organs or holes of any sort. How arachnorbs even eat, see or hear is anyone's guess.
- No Body Left Behind: Arachnorbs don't leave a corpse behind, instead disintegrating upon death.
- Shows Damage: After all of its hair is removed, the Shaggy Long Legs will visibly shake in pain as it keeps stomping around. The same is true for the Baldy Long Legs and the Groovy Long Legs once their health gets low enough.
- Slippery Skid: Olimar mentions that the Beady Long Legs secretes a waxy substance that makes it impossible for smaller creatures to climb its limbs. This is the main reason the Baldy Long Legs is treated as a different variant despite largely being the same. The Baldy Long Legs doesn't have this, thus allowing for its limbs to be climbed.
- The Spook: Because they instantly disintegrate after dying, Olimar notes that they're very difficult to study and thus very little is known about them.
- Squashed Flat: Aside from the Man-At-Legs, their primary method of killing Pikmin is to simply crush them under their large feet. Pikmin even become as thin as paper before they expire.
- Too Spicy for Yog-Sothoth: One of the only families of enemies that Louie consistently advises against eating, usually either because they're hazardous for consumption like the Beady Long Legs, or just plain unappetizing (such as the overpowering musk emitted by the Raging Long Legs or the smell of burnt plastic from the Groovy Long Legs). The only thing he recommends eating is the oil of the Man-at-Legs.
Beady Long Legs
Appears In: Pikmin, Pikmin 2
An enormous spider-like creature that towers over nearly everything else in the game. It stamps the ground using its four legs, so care is needed unless you want Pikmin tramped underfoot. Its abdomen is its weak point, but being so high up it's best tackled with yellow Pikmin. It resembles a spider, but it belongs to an entirely different family. Its body is coated in a metallic exoskeleton that crumbles to dust when it is killed, so it doesn't leave a corpse.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: It stops appearing after the second game, and is the only boss from the first game to not return in Pikmin 4 (although the very similar Baldy Long Legs does make an appearance).
- Degraded Boss: After the thirtieth day of Pikmin 2, a Beady Long Legs will spawn right near where the ship lands in the Perplexing Pool, respawning on later days if it's killed.
- Gameplay and Story Segregation: Olimar descrbies the Beady Long Legs as a "Pikmin devouring spider" in his log for the Key. But it can't eat Pikmin, nor does it ever try to.
Man-at-Legs
Click here to see its old appearance
Pseudoarachnia navaronia
Appears In: Pikmin 2, Pikmin 4
An enigmatic relative of the Arachorb family, this particular species fuses with machinery at some point in its lifecycle. Its feet are far too thin to squash Pikmin, but squashing is the least of your worries. When agitated enough, it will open up a compartment in its body to reveal a machine gun, which can easily pick off any Pikmin army almost instantly. You need to find a good place for cover if you want to survive the ordeal against such a formidable adversary.
- Artificial Limbs: One of its legs is mechanical.
- Body Horror: The compartment that contains its gun is covered in an orange goo, implicitly the remaining organic parts of the Man-at-Legs.
- The Bus Came Back: Returns in 4 after not appearing in 3.
- Cybernetics Eat Your Soul: It's implied that the poor spider is being controlled by the mechanical parts, not the other way around.
- Cyborg: It's a spider-like animal with multiple mechanical components, including metallic body armor, mechanical limbs, a number of pipe vents on its back and a laser gun on its underside. According to Olimar's notes, it starts out as a regular animal, but fuses with machinery as it matures.
- Dodge the Bullet: It's quite easy for the captains to avoid its bullets. The problem is they'll likely hit the Pikmin running behind them, which is why it's better to take cover so none of them get hit. This is easier to pull off in Pikmin 4, where the Pikmin can just ride on Oatchi so there's only one target the Man-at-Legs can shoot at, and Oatchi can easily outrun the bullets.
- Final Boss: Of Olimar's Shipwreck Tale in 4. No matter how you progress in the mode, the Man-at-Legs will always be the last boss Olimar fights to repair his S.S. Dolphin, since you need to have beaten all other boss monsters in the other zones to get to Hero's Hideaway and you need to beat the only other boss in the area, the Gildemander, to reach the Man-at-Legs in Hero's Hideaway.
- Gentle Giant: Olimar's notes suggest that the Man-at-Legs is actually a rather docile creature on its own, but its mechanical parts act separately from it and gun down anything they want dead.
- Meaningful Name: Their name is a pun of "Man-at-Arms". The first part of the scientific name also means "False Spider".
- More Dakka: It has a machine gun that fires explosive rounds on its underside, which is its main method of attack. Unlike most other enemies in Pikmin 2, which often rely on "Instant Death" Radius or slow-to-recharge ranged attacks, it can attack and kill Pikmin even if they're scattered and at a distance from it with a single attack action. An unaware player can easily suffer a Total Party Kill if they don't think to duck behind some cover or if they aren't experienced in circle-strafing.
- Shout-Out: Its scientific name is Pseudoarachnia navaronia, and it has a built-in machine gun. It's The Guns of Navarone.
- Spider Tank: Literally. It's a spider-like animal augmented into a cyborg tank on four spindly legs.
- Unwilling Roboticisation: It's potentially a victim of this, given that it doesn't appear to control its weaponry. Olimar's Piklopedia entry suggest that the machinery somehow took control of it as a form of symbiosis.
Raging Long Legs
Appears In: Pikmin 2
A giant relative of the Beady Long Legs. The Raging Long Legs is a purple and black spider-like creature with huge feet and a huge abdomen. It usually moves slower than the Beady Long Legs, but when agitated enough, it will go into a frenzy and crush any unfortunate Pikmin or Captain that happens to be underfoot. Luckily, it will calm down afterward, so you can proceed to attack it once again. It disintegrates once it is defeated, but it drops a treasure (or Mitites) from its abdomen.
- Damage-Sponge Boss: It has twice as much health as the second-place bosses/enemies (Pileated Snagret, Titan Dweevil, birthing Empress Bulblax, and Greater Spotted Jellyfloats).
- Enemy Mine: May force this. In one of the two-player versus stages (Angular Maze ver. 3, the one with the large circular arena in the center), this boss sometimes drops down in the middle of the arena, often forcing a temporary truce to eliminate it, especially since it stomps around on the path between the bases.
- Giant Foot of Stomping: It has massive feet and aims to flatten both the ground and your Pikmin with them.
- Giant Spider: Not only is it bigger on its own, being roughly the size of a soccer ball/football, its body parts are also wider.
- Mighty Glacier: Cripplingly so; it's got the largest feet of the Arachnorb family and theoretically could kill the most Pikmin with them, but it moves very slowly and predictably when outside of its rage mode. Even during the rage, it's slow enough that a small Pikmin group can be used to keep attacking it.
- Top-Heavy Guy: Its body plan is hard to describe, but the trope still qualifies. Its main body and feet are massive, but the legs themselves are stick thin.
Shaggy Long Legs
Shaggy Long Legs
"Tropical" Baldy Long Legs
Pseudoarachnia capillum (Shaggy Long Legs) / Pseudoarachnia calvitium (Baldy Long Legs) Appears In: Pikmin 3, Pikmin 4note
A mini-boss type enemy, the Shaggy Long Legs is a member of the Arachnorb family, and looks like a Beady Long Legs with long hair around its orb-like body. It comes in two varieties — a tropical one that has the same color scheme as the Raging Long Legs, and an arctic one that has white hair instead of black. When stripped of its hair, it reveals an odd red mouth-like line along its body, and become known by the name Baldy Long Legs.
- Artistic License – Biology: Baldy Long Legs are classified as a different species from the Shaggy Long Legs and have their own scientific name, despite just being de-haired Shaggy Long Legs. Olimar says this is because a Baldy Long Legs is unable to regrow the hair it had as a Shaggy Long Legs.
- Ascended Extra: Besides as the Clipped-Wing Angel form of Shaggy Long Legs, Baldy Long Legs in Pikmin 3 only appeared in Mission Mode and other side content. Pikmin 4 meanwhile doesn't feature any Shaggy Long Legs, with Baldy now appearing more frequently as overworld mini-bosses in the Primordial Thicket (and Blossoming Arcadia in Olimar's Shipwreck Tale), several Night missions, a late-game Dandori Battle, and even the Cavern for a King.
- Clipped-Wing Angel: It loses its protective hair once the hair on its joints are gone, at which point it's as simple as an average Beady Long Legs.
- Colossus Climb: Unlike previous Arachnorb enemies, the Pikmin can actually climb up this guy's legs, which is necessary to remove the hairs on its legs and render the main body bald.
- '80s Hair: The hair covering its body is punk rocker-esque, and is strong enough to protect it from damage until it falls off.
- Non-Malicious Monster: Olimar's notes on it mention that it largely remains docile up in high trees. They only jump down to scare off creatures invading its territory.
- Palette Swap: You can find two Shaggy Long Legs in normal gameplay, one in the Tropical Wilds and one in the Distant Tundra. The fur of the first has the same black-and-purple coloration as the Raging Long Legs, while the second has white hair instead. They're otherwise identical.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Is more or less the Beady Long Legs but with long hair that protects their bodies at first. Some are found already de-haired into Baldy Long Legs in Mission Mode, and work identically to their cousins from the start.
- There's also a gold colored one in the Deluxe edition with enlarged feet like the Raging Long Legs.
- Too Spicy for Yog-Sothoth: It's one of the few creatures that Louie calls inedible, and unlike the others he doesn't list funny side effects; all he writes is "CAUTION: DO NOT EAT!"
- Weaksauce Weakness: Despite Winged Pikmin's reduced attacking power, the Baldy Long Legs is completely helpless against them, since they can fly out of the way of their feet and fly directly back to the main bulb when dislodged, without needing any further input from the captains (this can't be done to a Shaggy Long Legs, since they still need to be made vulnerable first). This is necessary to clear Battle Enemies! mission 6, where you must leave your army of Winged Pikmin to whittle down a duo of them unattended while you focus on more captain-intensive tasks.
Groovy Long Legs
Appears In: Pikmin 4
A member of the Arachnorb family whose head resembles (or possibly is) a disco ball. It spends its time stomping around to its own groovy beat, becoming increasingly aggressive when you attack it, as well as releasing mind controlling spores that puts your Pikmin in a dance craze that will likely lead to their doom.- Background Music Override: Its unique theme plays in the Piklopedia, a trait that no other creature has.
- Beware the Silly Ones: Arguably the biggest contender for this trope in the franchise. It may be one of the most bizarre-looking enemies to date, but its ability to confuse Pikmin and then slaughter them en masse will quickly make those who go in unprepared realize that it is not to be underestimated.
- Boss Vulnerability: It will occasionaly rear up and slam down two of its legs on the ground to shake off Pikmin. If enough damage is dealt before it does this in its yellow or red states, it will stumble and cause itself to fall down, leaving its body vulnerable for a Rush attack.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: The spots of light on the core of its body tell how the Groovy Long Legs will act.
- Blue: Pacified/idle: In this state, it behaves almost identically to the Beady Long Legs.
- Yellow: Aggressive: In this state, it will actively chase the captain and stomp slightly faster. Pikmin affected by its gas will jump under it.
- Red: Enraged: in this state, it will begin rapidly stomping in place. Pikmin affected by its gas will circle around underneath it.
- Cyborg: Its insides are organic, but its outside isn't, and Louie notes they smell like burnt plastic, or possibly metal. It looks like it's covered in a layer of plastic with a bunch of wires dangling from its body, and it's evidently playing its own boss theme (stand underneath it before triggering the fight and you can hear the sound of a speaker being fiddled with.)
And unlike the Man-at-Legs, it isn't explained why it's like this. - Dance Battler: It stomps to the beat of its battle theme with a noticeable groove to its movements. It even starts the battle with a graceful headspin before settling on the ground.
- Extra Eyes: It has 19 of them, which are actually photoelectronic sensors it uses to locate prey. They also emit light in different colors, which indicates its mood.
- Our Monsters Are Weird: In a family of already weird spider-like creatures, this one takes the cake by essentially being a living disco ball that plays music and brainwashes its victims into an "Endless Dance" of death.
- Pre-Explosion Glow: Its spots flash through all of its colors, shining increasingly brightly before exploding with one final airhorn sound.
- Source Music: Its battle theme appears to be coming from the beast itself. It stomps to the beat, the music changes on its actions, and it goes haywire when it is beaten. It even seems to emit the airhorn sound you occasionally hear in the fight. Most notably, it's the only boss in the Piklopedia to have its theme play when it's active.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To the Raging Long Legs, being an Arachnorb that only appears once in the story and sports a larger body, wider feet, and a rage mode where it stomps rapidly. The main difference is the Groovy Long Legs' mind-control.
- Stupidity-Inducing Attack: When it begins shaking in place, it will release a gas that confuses Pikmin shortly after. This results in affected Pikmin jumping around underneath it when yellow, and circle around it when red. Combined with its erratic stomping, this can result in mass Pikmin casualties. The effect wears off upon death, or when it returns to its blue idle state.
- Turns Red: Literally. Though it's more of a pattern cycle than getting low on health. When its spots shine red, it begins stomping around very rapidly, not unlike the Raging Long Legs.
- Variable Mix: Depending on what color it emits, the music changes in accordance. It starts off with a slow, menacing electronic droning when blue, and escalates to a full blown rave (complete with air horns!) when it's red. It also has special themes for when it's vulnerable in its yellow and red states.
Piklopedia: Blowhog Family
In General
A family of porcine bugs with funnel shaped mouths. They specialize in breathing out a variety of elemental effects to bother your Pikmin.- Harmless Enemy: The Puffy Blowhog, Withering Blowhog, Icy Blowhog and Snowy Blowhog can't harm your Pikmin, as the former two spew air, while for the latter two, freezing is not a lethal element. They mostly exist to get in your workers way, or blow them into actual danger.
Fiery Blowhog
Appears In: Pikmin, Pikmin 2, Pikmin 3, Hey! Pikmin, Pikmin 4
A strange creature that resembles a tiny white pig and a red snout. This creature uses a special fuel that ignites on contact with air to literally breathe fire. It is best handled with Red Pikmin, but others will work in a pinch.
Fiery Blowhogs suffering from hormonal abnormalities are known to grow to irregularly titanic proportions, with the strength of their fire breath scaling up to match.
- Cast from Lifespan: The Titan Blowhog's fire is so hot that using it creates more stress on its inner organs, leading to a shortened lifespan.
- Giant Mook: Pikmin 4 introduces the Titan Blowhog, a Fiery Blowhog with gigantism and even hotter flames, though this comes with the downside of a reduced lifespan and an inability to reproduce, an issue not shared by its icy counterpart the Blizzarding Blowhog.
- Logical Weakness: Only showcased in the animated shorts, but Occupational Hazards shows you can completely neutralize a Fiery Blowhog by clogging its insides with something that isn't flammable, like mud.
- Playing with Fire: Their main attack consists of spraying a jet of highly flammable liquids out of their trunks like living flamethrowers.
- Vacuum Mouth: In Hey! Pikmin, it attempts to suck the Pikmin with its long snout. Luckily, there are bomb rocks nearby...
- Your Size May Vary: In Hey! Pikmin, the only Fiery Blowhog is much larger than the normal variety and serves as a boss. The new Fiery Blowlet enemy, despite its name, is actually the same size as the typical Blowhog.
Watery Blowhog
Appears In: Pikmin 2, Pikmin 3, Pikmin 4
A relatively new species, the Watery Blowhog is much like its fiery cousin except that it sprays "water" (actually unignited fluids) as a defense. It is handled in the exact same way as well.
- Canis Latinicus: Their species name is fairly transparently the word "loogie" with a pseudo-Latin ending.
- Making a Splash: Interestingly, it is not actual water being spewed, but instead unignited "lighter fluids" due to them lacking a dominant gene in the Fiery Blowhog that makes the end of the snout ignite the fluid. It is still treated as water in regard to Pikmin weaknesses and immunities.
- Palette Swap: They're identical to the fiery variant in every way except that the nostril tip is blue instead of red, and their use of water instead of fire.
- Unique Enemy: Only one Watery Blowhog exists in the main story of Pikmin 3, located inside the Formidable Oak, and it's not a real one, just a copy created by the Plasm Wraith.
Fiery Blowlet
Appears In: Hey! Pikmin
A baby Fiery Blowhog. Depending on their placement, they can either be an enemy to be defeated or an obstacle that requires careful timing to pass.
- Mini Mook: An infant Fiery Blowhog.
- Playing with Fire: They tend to stand still and spit out fireballs at equal intervals. One secret Blowlet can be found breathing a stream of fire like the adults do.
Snowy Blowhog
Appears In: Pikmin 4
An ice themed variant of the Blowhog family first encountered in Last-Frost Cavern. It breaths dry ice in order to freeze your Pikmin.
Certain Snowy Blowhog specimens that suffer from endocrine abnormalities grow into gigantic Blizzarding Blowhogs, with a more powerful ice breath and a longer lifespan.
- Bizarre Alien Biology: The Snowy Blowhog is mammalian yet has a body temperature below freezing.
- An Ice Person: Uses a cold sac inside its body to generate a stream of dry ice that can freeze your Pikmin.
- Giant Mook: The Blizzarding Blowhog is a variant of Snowy Blowhog with gigantism and stronger ice breath. Unlike the Titan Blowhog, its gigantism actually makes it live longer, and its dry ice producing organs have scaled up to match.
- Palette Swap: While more visually distinct, since its entire body and eyes are different colors, not just its lips, it looks precisely like the Fiery and Watery Blowhogs.
- Required Secondary Powers: A Snowy Blowhog's innards are covered in thick layers of fat in order to avoid getting frozen by their own ice breath.
Puffy Blowhog
Appears In: Pikmin, Pikmin 2, Pikmin 3, Pikmin 4
This creature may be a relative of the Fiery and Watery Blowhogs; however, it uses hydrogen to float in the air. It uses wind to blow leaves away to reveal bugs. It can be a nuisance to your Pikmin and blow them into danger, but it's harmless by itself.
- Airborne Mook: They spend most of their time up in the air, and need to be brought down with Yellow or Flying Pikmin to be properly fought.
- Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: Its bright blue and violet vertical stripes, magenta underbelly and orange eyelids make it stand out among the fauna of PNF-404, which have otherwise fairly subdued and natural colorations.
- Blow You Away: Literally. All it can do is blow your Pikmin away with gusts of air. It can't even directly kill them, but more often than not, they'll be placed in areas where they can blow them right into hazards or other enemies.
- Degraded Boss: As a result of its Mook Promotion in Pikmin 4, it also suffers from this trope as it appears in later areas and caves.
- Giant Flyer: They are bar none the largest non-boss enemy in the first game (they have competition in later games). Their size is intimidating, but again, they're more of an annoyance than a threat.
- Living Gasbag: They resemble a cross between a pig- or elephant-like creature and a party balloon; they float around thanks to their lightweight, inflated bodies, can blow air out of themselves as an attack, and deflate to a fraction of their former size when they die.
- Mook Promotion: In Pikmin 4, a Puffy Blowhog gets to be a boss in one of the early game caves.
- Unique Enemy: The only Puffy Blowhog in the story mode of Pikmin 3 is found early on in the Twilight River.
- No Body Left Behind: It quickly expels all the air out of its body upon dying. In the first two games, this causes them to deflate rapidly and shrink until they fly away or shrink into nothing, though they do occasionally drop a few spoils. In the third game onward, however, they do leave behind a much smaller, deflated corpse to harvest.
Icy Blowhog
Appears in: Pikmin 4
The icy version of the Puffy Blowhog.
- An Ice Person: One of its three lungs is dedicated to storing cold air, which it can breathe out in a frigid gust. Like the Snowy Blowhog, its icy breath is composed of condensed carbon dioxide.
- Palette Swap: It is a blue-tinted, yellow-eyed version of the Puffy Blowhog.
Withering Blowhog
Sus decrepitia
Appears In: Pikmin 2, Pikmin 4
This Blowhog doesn't seem very threatening, but the air it blows is laced with a chemical that de-flowers flowered Pikmin, making them slower, which can be dangerous when it is in a room with other enemies. Get rid of these guys as soon as possible.
- Airborne Mook: Like Puffy Blowhogs, they spend most of their time floating around, and you'll need to knock them down to ground level before you can get rid of them.
- Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: A bright red body with flashy yellow spots and a snout.
- Artificial Brilliance: Their sole ability is to deflower Pikmin. If they are under the effects of Ultra-Spicy Spray in Pikmin 4 (which makes them immune to being deflowered), the Withering Blowhog will deliberately back away from the Pikmin and not bother blowing air on them until the effect wears off.
- Blow You Away: Their winds are much weaker than the above variant. It is too weak to scatter your Pikmin at all, even. However, the winds contain hormones that will cause Flower and Bulb Pikmin to revert to Leaf Pikmin, making them quite a danger if not dealt with.
- Living Gasbag: Like the Puffy Blowhogs, these floaters look as much like living party balloons as they do like regular animals.
- Troll: They giggle if they successfully knock your team down, which makes killing them very satisfying.
Tusked Blowhog
Appears In: Pikmin 4
A more porcine-like member of the Blowhog family known for aggression. Despite its name, the Tusked Blowhog is categorized in a family separate from the other Blowhogs.
- Full-Boar Action: Is noticeably more porcine-like compared to the other Blowhogs, which Olimar posits is due to it closely resembling the primitive ancestor of the Fiery Blowhog, implying that it's a basal member of the genus, and it's hostile to your Pikmin.
- The Nose Knows: Uses its nose to search for its favorite food, mushrooms.
Piklopedia: Breadbug Family
In General
- Bandit Mook: They'll latch onto any unattended enemy bodies, pellets, or treasures and attempt to drag them to their dens. You can engage them in a tug of war, which will also inflict a lot of damage upon it should you win.
- Big Eater: They can also eat Pikmin if caught and dragged into their burrows.
- Damage-Sponge Boss: Breadbugs don't have much in the way of attacking power save for killing your Pikmin if they manage to drag them inside their den, but without engaging them in a tug of war they're very durable and can take a lot of punishment before going down due to having massive amounts of HP.
- Extreme Omnivore: They can eat anything — enemy corpses, pellets, and any sort of treasure. The Giant Breadbug has already eaten an eraser before you fight it, in fact.
- Goomba Stomp: The primary method of defeating them if a tug of war isn't feasible is to throw Pikmin directly on top of one. The Giant Breadbug requires ten regular Pikmin, or one Purple, to do the same.
- Harmless Enemy:
- Downplayed in 1 & 2, since even though they don't attack the Pikmin or captains directly, completely ignoring them, they can still be responsible for killing Pikmin if any are still holding on to the object or enemy corpse that it drags into its nest.
- Played straight in 4, where they no longer have nests to drag Pikmin into and instead hide objects and enemy corpses in patches of dirt and tall grass. While the Giant Breadbug gained a charge attack, it merely knocks Pikmin over and can't directly kill them.
- Nondescript, Nasty, Nutritious: Louie's notes state that they yield a lot of meat that's very nutritious, but it tastes so bland he doesn't see any culinary use beyond using it as filler for all-you-can-eat buffets.
- Roaming Enemy: Breadbugs emerge from their burrows at the start of the day or when the player enters a sublevel and afterwards roam actively around the payable area. They grab loose items if they find them on the ground and drag them back to their holes, and afterwards come back out to look for more.
Breadbug
Appears In: Pikmin, Pikmin 2, Pikmin 4
Vaguely resembling a bread roll, the Breadbug is a scavenger that competes with Pikmin. It patrols an area, searching for pellets, corpses, or other things to take to its burrow. Its body is impervious to most Pikmin assaults. While it isn't actively dangerous, if it grabs onto anything that Pikmin are carrying and they get dragged to its burrow, they aren't coming back. The best thing to do is to get Pikmin to drag it to the onion or pod, as it'll take major damage when the treasure is sucked up.
- Death of a Thousand Cuts: In the rare cases where you need to kill a Breadbug but there's nothing left to tug-of-war over, you can kill it very slowly by throwing Pikmin on it, but as this is a huge waste of time, it may be easier to just do other stuff and wait for enemies to respawn another day to restock corpses. You can also have Olimar punch it to death in the first game, though that takes up a lot more time due to how little damage Olimar's punches do.
- Dub Name Change: They're called Pan Modoki, "False Bread", in Japanese. Other dub names include Scaratax in French (from scarabée, "beetle"), Diebischer Saprophag in German ("Thieving Saprophage"), Saprofago Ladro in Italian ("Thieving Saprophage"), and Chinche Carroñero in Spanish ("Scavenger Bug").
- Monstrous Cannibalism: They'll eat anything, including the corpses of other Breadbugs.
- Shield-Bearing Mook: Swarming has no effect. Direct throws against their back can hurt them, but the more efficient way is to let them get dragged to your Onions/ship pod while clinging to a piece of food/treasure.
- Skippable Boss: In the first game, the Breadbug guards the Space Float, which is not one of the required ship parts. It's required to fight the Emperor Bulblax and get the best ending, though.
- Unique Enemy: The first game's only Breadbug wanders around the Forest Navel and won't respawn after it dies. Unlike other unique enemies, it isn't strong or dangerous enough to feasibly be called a mini-boss, though it has a unique defeat method.
Giant Breadbug
Appears In: Pikmin 2, Pikmin 4
Take a regular Breadbug, and enlarge it and make its body cube-shaped. Now you have a Giant Breadbug. It behaves exactly like other Breadbugs, but its size enables it to go after larger things. You'll have to win the tug-o-war with this beast a few times to bring it down.
- Hyperactive Metabolism: If it manages to drag something into its nest it'll fully heal any lost HP.
- King Mook: It's in appearance and behavior a gigantic version of its smaller kin, the only differences being its cuboid shape and its higher health.
- Took a Level in Badass: In 4 if you manage to damage it it will then charge at you and your Pikmin instead of passively ignoring you like in 2.
- Visual Pun: Its vaguely cubical shape is fairly clearly meant to evoke a loaf of table bread.
Crumbug
Appears In: Hey! Pikmin
A smaller Breadbug, cuboid in shape. Unlike the other Breadbugs, it will immediately try to eat the Pikmin without attempting to drag them back to its nest.
- Ambiguously Related: Is it a baby Breadbug? Who knows?
- Mini Mook: A smaller Breadbug that resembles a crouton.
- Punny Name: A small piece of bread is called a crumb, just as the Crumbug is a small Breadbug.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: They essentially replace Dwarf Bulborbs in Hey! Pikmin.
Piklopedia: Goolix Family
In General
- Attack Its Weak Point: The nucleus or nuclei are their weakpoints.
- For the Goolix, the smaller blue one can be swarmed, killing it slowly but easily. The larger beige one can only be damaged by direct throws, but deals heavy damage based on how far away it is from the blue core.
- The Foolix only has one nucleus, which has a flagellum-like tail. It needs to be made vulnerable by being yanked out of its protective goo.
- Blob Monster: The Goolix resembles a living puddle of water or transparent goo as much as it does anything else. The Foolix is similar, resembling a big puddle of nectar. While they are based on an amoeba, they're amorphous even by protozoan standards.
- Mega-Microbes: They look like a huge amoeba. While they may not be huge by human standards, given the scale the games operate at, they're still a lot bigger than any amoeba, and certainly plenty big as far as Olimar and the Pikmin are concerned.
Goolix
Binuclei siphonophorus
Appears In: Pikmin
A large amoeba-like creature with two nuclei suspended in its blue fluid body. Its main form of attack is to smother and drown Pikmin, but this doesn't work for blue ones. Damaging the nuclei seems to be most effective. It only appears on odd-numbered days after day 8 at the Impact site.
- Boss in Mook Clothing: Compared to the Mamuta (which is unable to hurt Pikmin and is pretty easy to beat, and gets turned into a recurring enemy in Pikmin 2), the Goolix is more of a proper mini-boss, having a lot of health and requiring a trick to make the fight go faster.
- Character Select Forcing: While most other enemies can at least be approached with other types of Pikmin, the Goolix outright requires Blues to fight it at all, with no way to mitigate it like with enemies such as Fiery Bulblax.
- Damage-Sponge Boss: Even if you have a group of one hundred Pikmin Attack Its Weak Point, it'll still likely take much of the day to beat unless you throw Pikmin onto the bigger orb. This has the chance to deflower Pikmin, though, and since it can't do anything to Blue Pikmin, many prefer the former method. Having Pikmin attack the smaller orb multiplies the damage inflicted by throwing Pikmin at the bigger orb, and if you make the Goolix spread itself out, hitting the large orb will slingshot it into the core for greater effect.
- Legacy Character: While the Goolix itself doesn't reappear in any form in the future titles, various other water-like enemies inspired by it do. Like the Foolix from Pikmin 4 or the Plasm Wraith's bubble form when chasing you from Pikmin 3.
- Unique Enemy: Like the Mamuta, the Goolix only spawns in The Impact Site after enough days have passed. It doesn't even appear in Challenge Mode.
Foolix
Appears In: Pikmin 4
A single-celled relative of the Goolix, the Foolix is an ambush predator that disguises itself as a drop of nectar before attacking its prey by lunging at them and trapping them in its gelatinous body. Its bumpy nucleus has a tail that sticks out of the body, allowing for Pikmin to pull it out of the protective cytoplasm layer and attack it before it reconverges.- Ambush Enemy: It diguises itself as a drop of nectar. It will attempt to engulf anything that approaches.
- Attack the Tail: Pulling on its tail with sufficient Pikmin will yank it out of its goo, opening it up to attacks. The goo will eventually reconverge, so make those hits count!
- Logical Weakness: It's a watery blob, so it can be frozen with Ice Pikmin.
- Meaningful Name: It's a Goolix that fools you.
Piklopedia: Grub-Dog Family (and Breadbug Imposters)
In General
Some of the most iconic enemies in the games, you will encounter these creatures in almost every area and sublevel you will visit. They are technically divided into two separate families: the big, dangerous bulborbs are part of the grub-dog family, while the dwarf bulborbs that hang around them are technically breadbugs that have adapted to mimic the bigger predators, and stick near them for protection.- Armless Biped: The only exceptions so far are the Water Dumples (which don't have any legs) and the Empress Bulblax (if you count the limbs as arms). All other Bulborbs, Bulborb relatives, and Bulborb mimics have no other limbs besides their two walking legs.
- Attack Its Weak Point: In Pikmin 3, they can be dealt extra damage by targeting their eyes.
- Bee People: In Pikmin 2, Olimar assumes that the Bulborbs follow a eusocial lifestyle after the discovery of the Empress Bulblax and the hordes of Bulborb Larvae it spawns.
- Big Eater: While several of the other enemies, especially in the third game, attack by eating, this family seems to be full of them. Grub-dogs and their mimics will swallow Pikmin after Pikmin as their only means of attack.
- Call a Smeerp a "Rabbit": Olimar thinks that the Bulborbs resemble his family's pet, Bulbie, which he calls a dog.
- Child Eater: In Olimar's notes for Albino Dwarf Bulborbs, he mentions that adult Bulborbs aren't shy about cannibalizing their young.
- Heavy Sleeper: Since Bulborbs are a nocturnal species, most of them start out sleeping and will only wake up when attacked, going back to sleep when they lose sight of the Pikmin. Fiery Bulblaxes also share this trait, but Whiptongue Bulborbs and Bulbears are always awake and patrolling.
- Gender Bender: According to Olimar's notes on the Empress Bulblax, male grub-dogs not actively involved in reproduction are known to spontaneously undergo natural sex changes and become female.
- Go for the Eye: In Pikmin 3, they gain a new weak spot — their stalked, exposed eyeballs. Having Pikmin swarm and viciously attack their unprotected eyes is a very good tactic for taking them down.
- I'm a Humanitarian: Adult Grub-dogs are stated to eat younger members of their own kind. A select few Breadbugs mimic the appearance of juvenile Grub-dogs to fool some adults into protecting them instead, and Albino Dwarf Bulborbs (the true juveniles of the family) only venture out at night since their pale coloration is difficult for the adults to see.
- Sleepy Enemy: Bulborbs are nocturnal and thus typically found laying down in the open and snoring away. If awoken, they will pursue you and your squad but return to their sleeping spots if you lose them. Sneaking up on them is complicated by the fact that they're usually found alongside dwarf bulborbs, which unlike them are diurnal and will wake the larger creature with their cries if startled.
- Underground Monkey: They have probably the most diverse taxonomic family in the franchise alongside the Pikmin and come in a great variety of subspecies and variants on the basic Bulborb theme — Hairy Bulborbs in cold areas, tougher and more alert Orange Bulborbs, Whiptongue Bulborbs with a larger attack range, Bulbears that are active during the day, Fiery Bulblaxes that deal fire damage in contact...
- Waddling Head: With their large heads and prominent snouts and stubby, relatively underdeveloped hind bodies, the Bulborbs, their mimics, and their relatives usually end up looking like autonomous heads mounted on a pair of stick-thin legs.
Bulborbs
Red Bulborb/Bulborb
Appears In: Pikmin, Pikmin 2, Pikmin 3, Pikmin 4, Hey! Pikmin
The most well-known and iconic enemy in the series, the Bulborb is the most typical member of the grub-dog family. It is basically a large head and mouth attached to a red with white-spotted abdomen all supported on two chicken legs. Apparently this form has made them quite successful, but has it met its match against the Pikmin guided by Olimar?
- The Cameo: They make a few cameos in the Super Smash Bros series: they appear to attack players when Olimar uses his Final Smash, End of Day, a giant one exists in the Distant Planet stage from Super Smash Bros. Brawl, they serve as enemies in the Smash Run mode of Super Smash Bros for Nintendo 3DS, and another Red Bulborb appears in the background of the Garden of Hope stage in Super Smash Bros for Wii U.
- Mama Bear: In Pikmin, a Dwarf Red Bulborb may squeal when threatened, waking up nearby adults to come to their aid. This behavior is notably odd in hindsight, as it is revealed in 4 that adult Bulborbs tend to eat their own young.
- Mascot Mook: The Red Bulborb is probably just as used in promotional material as the Pikmin themselves. Olimar's voyage log even calls them the most numerous species on the planet.
- Meaningful Rename: In Pikmin, they were simply Spotty Bulborbs. With the addition of several Palette Swap enemies, they were renamed to Red Bulborb. This rename is pointed out in-game, with Olimar stating that
researchers are divided over this issue into two separate camps. Pikmin 3 just calls them Bulborbs. - Your Size May Vary: A Red Bulborb appears as a stage hazard in the Distant Planet stage in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, where it is much closer in size to the Emperor Bulblax of Pikmin than to the Red Bulborbs in the main Pikmin games. Hey! Pikmin would feature another Bulborb of this size as its first boss fight. Pikmin 4 categorizes these larger ones as rare "Jumbo Bulborbs": they're bigger and stronger than the normal variety, but otherwise identical.
Hairy Bulborb
Appears In: Pikmin 2
The Hairy Bulborb is a bulborb that has adapted to colder climates by growing hair on its abdomen. Their behavior is similar to that of the Red Bulborb, in that it is usually sleeping until it is attacked. When attacked enough, its fur coat sheds, revealing a white hide with blue spots.
- Glass Cannon: A minor example. They are slightly more aggressive than Red Bulborbs, but also have slightly less health.
- Palette Swap: A bit of an odd example. As a default, they are not this, insomuch as their hairy coats set their character model apart from the regular Red Bulborbs. However, they become full palette swaps once they're attacked and their hair falls out. Without their coats, they're white Red Bulborbs with blue spots and brown snouts and legs.
- Shows Damage: They lose their hair when at half health.
- Underground Monkey: More literally than the other Grub-dog variants — they only appear underground, in the cave sublevels. Besides that, they're basically ice-themed Red Bulborbs.
Orange Bulborb
Appears In: Pikmin 2, Pikmin 3, Pikmin 4
The Orange Bulborb is much like the other members of the grub-dog family, but it seems to be a light sleeper. If it senses intruders, it will awaken quickly for a counter-attack. Thorough planning is needed when dealing with this particular species.
- Elite Mook: They're much tougher than the standard Red Bulborb. They have more health and move and attack much faster, and while other Bulborbs sleep until touched, the Orange Bulborb is more high-strung, and will wake up when you enter close proximity to it, regardless of whether you touch it or not.
- Nervous Wreck: Their bloodshot eyes, increased aggression, and alertness even when asleep all point to Orange Bulborbs being very high-strung, an idea reinforced by Olimar's notes.
- Palette Swap: Appearance-wise, they use the exact same model as Red Bulborbs, recolored to have dark brown snouts and legs, orange bodies, black spots and scleras, bright orange irises and vertically slit rather than round pupils.
Whiptongue Bulborb
Appears In: Pikmin 3, Pikmin 4
A new member to the Bulborb extended family, this anteater-based Bulborb uses its tongue to snare Pikmin and eat them.
- Fantastic Fauna Counterpart: It's essentially a Bulborb evolved to fill the niche of a miniature anteater.
- Multipurpose Tongue: It uses its tongue as a weapon, whipping it through your squad to grab Pikmin to eat.
- Overly-Long Tongue: Its tongue is long enough to even reach Pikmin that aren't ordered to attack it. Fully extended, it's more than twice as long as its body.
Eye-Stalk Bulbeel
Appears In: Hey! Pikmin
An aquatic Bulborb that evolved to be similar to an eel. They hide in underwater pits, with only their heads sticking out, before lunging and attempting to catch Olimar or his Pikmin in its maw.
- Giant Mook: It's 20 times taller than Olimar and four times as wide. We never see it fully, so we have no idea what its tail looks like or how tall it really is.
- Incredibly Durable Enemies: They can take quite a beating and it's very time-consuming to actually kill one. If you manage to, you're reward with a lot of Sparklium.
- Set a Mook to Kill a Mook: It attacks anything that's above it, including other enemies. If there's something you don't want to deal with, you can try luring it over to the Bulbeel.
Jumbo Bulborb
Appears In: Pikmin 4
A Jumbo sized Red Bulborb, achieving their great size due to a chromosomal abnormality. They're much more active than their smaller counterparts, either actively patroling their areas when awake or hiding in ambush in tall grass.- Ambushing Enemy: Some Jumbo Bulborbs lie in wait inside tall grass, waiting for you to get close. Their eyestalks tend to give them away, but it makes for an unnerving image when you spot them.
- Giant Mook: It's a Bulborb with polyploidy, which has given it gigantism, but at the cost of being unable to reach sexual maturity and breed. It differs from its smaller brethren by it never being seen asleep, and having a unique attack that involves them lunging at the Pikmin three times, allowing them to eat more Pikmin at a time.
Frosty Bulborb
Appears In: Pikmin 4
A Bulborb with large amounts of ice and frost covering its midsection. Contact with its ice will freeze small animals and it can regenerate its ice should it break off. This also means that it's immune to freezing itself.- An Ice Person: Can freeze small animals that make contact with its ice.
- Palette Swap: Similar to the Hairy Bulborb, the Frosty Bulborb looks like a blue, pink-snouted version of the regular Bulborb without their icy shell. Otherwise, the ice is the only thing that sets them apart.
- Required Secondary Powers: It intercellularly stores sugars, amino acids, and organic acids to maintain a plantlike resistance to freezing.
Dwarf Frosty Bulborb
Appears In: Pikmin 4
The juveniles of the Frosty Bulborbs, and not Breadbug impostors like most other Dwarfs. Like the adults, their skin promotes extracellular freezing, giving it an icy shell to use as armor. However, they take an entire night to regenerate their ice, requiring extended adult protection.
- Attack Its Weakpoint: Like all Dwarfs, landing a Pikmin on its back is a one-hit KO. Its icy armor, however, makes it so only Ice and Glow Pikmin are viable for the strategy.
- Mini Mook: Behaves as essentially a smaller version of the bigger Frosty Bulborb.
Breadbug Mimics
As a Whole
- Mimic Species: Dwarf Bulborbs aren't larval bulborbs, but Breadbug mimics who adapted to mimic the larger predators' appearance in order to avoid predation.
- Mini Mook: To their regular Bulborb counterparts, being physically identical to them in everything except their size (and in the Snow Bulborb's case, lack of hair). They're just as aggressive as full-sized Bulborbs, but also a lot weaker and easier to take down.
- Non-Indicative Name: They're not actually larval Bulborbs, they're species of Breadbug that are natural mimics. Despite this, in Pikmin, Dwarf Red Bulborbs can squeal to wake up larger nearby Red Bulborbs.
- One-Hit Kill: All Dwarf Bulborbs can be killed in one hit by a direct impact from above. Doubles as a Goomba Stomp. Later gets nerfed in Pikmin 4 in that some Dwarf Bulborb varieties can survive a single Pikmin stomp, though a second will finish them off.
- Palette Swap: Played straighter than with the full-sized Bulborbs. All three variants are simply recolors of the same model.
Dwarf Red Bulborb
Appears In: Pikmin, Pikmin 2, Pikmin 3, Pikmin 4
While this creature greatly resembles a miniature Red Bulborb, it isn't one. In fact, it isn't really a grub-dog at all. It is actually a Breadbug. It merely looks like a Bulborb to avoid predation. These guys are extremely easy to dispatch.
- The Goomba: The most basic and recognizable of the small enemies. Also the first enemy encountered in the first two games.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: Something about the large eyes and general size of the creature makes it kinda cute... until it starts chowing away at your Pikmin.
Snow Bulborb
Appears In: Pikmin 2
Just like the Red Bulborb has a Breadbug mimic, the Hairy Bulborb has its own. It looks a lot like one minus the hair and size. They are handled the exact same way as well.
- Odd Name Out: The other two dwarf Bulborbs' regular and scientific names are directly derived from their larger counterparts': their common names are simply the Red and Orange Bulborbs' with "Dwarf" tacked on, while the subspecies section of their scientific names — russus and orangium — are the same as their counterparts' species names. The Snow Bulborbs break this streak for unclear reasons — their names make sense, but they have nothing to do with the Hairy Bulborbs' common or scientific names.
- Underground Monkey: They are identical to the Dwarf Red Bulborb except for being colored like a hairless Hairy Bulborb, only appearing underground, and being slightly weaker but more aggressive.
Dwarf Orange Bulborb
Appears In: Pikmin 2, Pikmin 3, Pikmin 4
Yet another Breadbug mimic, this time of the Orange Bulborb. They may be tougher than the Dwarf Red Bulborb, but that isn't really saying much...
- Elite Mook: Tougher than your average Dwarf Red, and they tend to congregate around the Orange Bulborbs, which are also tougher than regular Red Bulborbs.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: They fill the same niche that Dwarf Bulbears filled in the first game. They are not as tough as they were, though Dwarf Bulbears got more difficult anyway.
Fiery Dwarf Bulblax
Appears In: Hey! Pikmin
A Breadbug mimic of the Fiery Bulblax. It's much less melted looking.
- Playing with Fire: It can spit fireballs that leave lingering flames where they land.
- Wreathed in Flames: It's on fire and it leaves a trail of fire wherever it walks.
Fireflap Bulborb
Appears In: Hey! Pikmin
A flying version of the Fiery Dwarf Bulblax with no legs.
- Airborne Mook: It flies around, occasionally divebombing closer.
- Death from Above: It drops fire from above and sometimes dives at you.
- Wreathed in Flames: It's on fire. Olimar notes that the flaming projectiles it drops is actually its shed skin. He wonders if it means to attack at all.
Bulbears
Spotty Bulbear
Appears In: Pikmin, Pikmin 2, Pikmin 3, Pikmin 4
You know how Bears Are Bad News, right? The same applies for this creature. It differs from the Red Bulborb by having a black abdomen with red spots and a differently shaped mouth. This particular grub-dog is far more active and patrols its territory for intruders and food. The worst thing about it is that, much like Wolverine, it can regenerate its health after it's been defeated, so do your best and get rid of the body as quickly as you can (Ultra-Bitter Sprays work best, though.)
- Artificial Stupidity: Thanks to their hyperaggressive AI making them beeline toward Pikmin on sight, it's easy to trick them into marching off ledges into bottomless pits on stages that feature them.
- Boss in Mook Clothing: Throughout all three games, Bulbears are something to be feared whenever a player comes across them:
- They're arguably at their easiest in the first game, where they and their children are merely tougher versions of Red Bulborbs and nothing more. Still, it's next to impossible to kill without casualties.
- In Pikmin 2, Bulbears take the contender for being the most dangerous enemy in the game. Unlike other Bulborbs, they actively patrol the areas they spawn in, meaning it is impossible to get the jump on them (and sneaking up isn't an option, since they can sense you from behind). They are also faster, more durable, and more vicious than the other Bulborbs. Their constant patrol also means that nowhere on the map is safe, since unlike almost every other enemy in the game, they have no set radius to stay in, and can easily wander over to any idle Pikmin or your group. They are almost always flanked by their children, and finally, even death isn't certain for them, as elaborated below.
- It's even more obvious in 3, where like the minibosses of Pikmin, there's only one in the entire game, and it's encountered in an out of the way area and gains a high resistance to bomb rocks unless you trick it into eating one. The only thing making it easier for players is that they no longer regenerate their health after death.
- Children in Tow: Unlike most examples, this is not an endearing trait at all. Dwarf Bulbears will follow any actively patrolling Bulbear that comes by, and they will actively assist their adult counterparts in trying to consume your Pikmin squads.
- Gag Lips: Their most notable feature are their large lips, which Dalmo finds both endearing and theorizes that they may help them feel their way around objects since they like all grubdogs lack arms.
- Healing Factor: In Pikmin, it recovers damage if not killed quickly enough (all enemies technically do this given enough time, but Bulbears begin regenerating almost immediately and regenerate fast). Once it's dead, it stays dead, if that is any saving grace.
- Reviving Enemy: When "killed" in Pikmin 2, they will begin to slowly heal. If their health bar fills back up all the way, they will stand right back up and resume devouring, even if they were being carried by Pikmin. The only way to ensure the destruction of a Bulbear is to make sure it's Deader than Dead: such as returning it to the onions or ship pod before it can revive itself, trick it into falling into a Bottomless Pit, or destroy it while it's petrified, shattering its corpse. Thankfully, this feature was removed in Pikmin 3.
- Roaming Enemy:
- In Pikmin 2, they're active wanderers able to access almost any part of the areas they are in. This was one of the reasons they’re so dangerous — a big part of gameplay consists of clearing areas to ensure a safe path back to the Onion for Pikmin carrying treasure and resources to follow safely without supervision, as well as knowing that enemies will turn up in the same spots and building strategies around that. Bulbears are able to turn up anywhere, however, including while you're fighting another enemy or in the path of a group of Pikmin carrying your finds back to camp.
- Downplayed in Pikmin 3. While the game's single Bulbear does wander around when you encounter it, it never strays past the cave it spawns in.
- Sleepy Enemy: In the first game, Spotty Bulbears are also found sleeping much like their Bulborb cousins, being woken up when approached or when a Dwarf Bulbear lets out a squeal. Later games drop this and instead have them roaming their areas.
- Super-Persistent Predator: Once they find you, they won't stop chasing you unless killed. This was removed in Pikmin 3: if you go somewhere where the Bulbear can't get to you, it will try to follow you for while, but it will eventually stomp its foot in frustration, de-aggro, and wander off.
- Unique Enemy: Pikmin 3 sticks the story's only Spotty Bulbear in a closed-off cave section of the Distant Tundra. While there is a piece of fruit nearby, it can be safely carried away by Winged Pikmin, so it only needs to be fought for its spoils and to complete the Piklopedia in Deluxe.
Dwarf Bulbear
Appears In: Pikmin, Pikmin 2, Pikmin 3, Pikmin 4
The Dwarf Bulbear is different from the other "Dwarf Bulborbs" by actually being a juvenile Bulbear. When an adult comes into its area, it will then actively follow them in hopes of a Pikmin meal.
- Elite Mook: The toughest of the Dwarf Bulborbs. Much like their parents, they also have no set radius they will adhere to, though unlike their parents, they will not actively wander.
- Mini Mook: To Spotty Bulbears, their adult counterparts, which they usually follow around. Following the pattern set by the Breadbug mimics, they're just as aggressive as their big versions, but a lot weaker.
Bulblaxes
Fiery Bulblax
Oculus volcanus
Appears In: Pikmin 2, Hey! Pikmin, Pikmin 4
The Fiery Bulblax is an unusual species in that it secretes a flammable wax. It seems content with sleeping while it is on fire, but using Pikmin other than red ones is suicidal... unless you can lure it into water.
- Body Horror: Its flames have heavily disfigured it. One of its eyes is noticeably larger than the other, and the whole creature looks like it's melting.
- Elite Mook: Of the adult Bulborbs, as it has healing abilities and is shrouded in fire, burning any non-Red Pikmin that attack it. It's also the only "Bulblax" to not be a boss in its own right.note
- Healing Factor: If not killed, it will eventually recover its lost health; killing it reasonably quickly is advised if you want one gone.
- Logical Weakness: If you can get it to go into the water, its flames will go out. This will allow non-Red Pikmin to attack it without burning to death, removing its main line of defense. It will reignite quickly once it leaves the water.
- No-Sell: Downplayed; while still vulnerable to them, it will not be doused if encased in stone by Ultra-Bitter Sprays, so Red Pikmin will still be the only ones who can attack it unless it walked into water first.
- Playing with Fire: As amusing as it might be to find a sleeping Bulborb that happens to be on fire, it is generating those flames on its own, and it is (mostly) fireproof.
- Sleepy Enemy: Much like regular bulborbs, they're found sleeping away in the open until disturbed by the player or their pikmin.
- Required Secondary Powers: Its cell structure has a spongy quality to it, allowing the heat its flames generate to be diffused before it reaches its internal organs, keeping the beasts insides from being cooked alive.
- Wreathed in Flames: It is constantly secreting burning wax, which leaves it shrouded in fire at all times. As such, only the fireproof Red Pikmin can harm this beast under normal circumstances.
Empress Bulblax
Appears In: Pikmin 2, Pikmin 4
A massive variety of grub-dog. In response to environmental changes, the abdomen of the largest female swells to enormous proportions and it may produce a seemingly unlimited number of young. It abandons the voracious appetite that is typical of grub-dogs, but is far from defenseless. When attacked, it will shake off and roll in its chamber, crushing anything that happens to be in her way. The first one is a cakewalk, but later ones can give you a bit of trouble because the larvae are dangerous.
- Baby Factory: It constantly gives birth to Bulborb Larvae during her fight.
- Collapsing Ceiling Boss: After her first encounter, her side-to-side rolling attack will, when she rams into the sides of her lair, cause boulders to fall down and crush anything they hit.
- Fantastic Fauna Counterpart: Take heavy inspiration from termite queens, from their Baby Factory behavior down to their design.
- Flunky Boss:
- The second and third ones encountered in 2 (one in the Frontier Cavern and another in the Hole of Heroes) continually give birth to Bulborb Larvae until they die.
- This also applies to its second fight in 4, but not as much in its third fight due to the limited space.
- Insect Queen: The queen of a colony of Bulborbs that's based on queen termites. It's a large, bloated Bulborb that attacks by rolling about and releasing Bulborb Larvae to devour your Pikmin.
- Lighter and Softer: Its death animation in the fourth game has it simply shrinking down and curling up with its whole body intact instead of exploding violently and leaving nothing but her head behind.
- Mother of a Thousand Young: It's the dominant female in the Bulborbs' social structure and constantly births swarms and swarms of ravenous larvae.
- Offing the Offspring: Has a tendency to crush and kill the larvae it produces while rolling about, not that it seems to care since it can just make more.
- Post-Defeat Explosion Chain: When it's killed, its body explodes into nothingness body segment by body segment, beginning at its rear end, until only its penultimate section and head are left, which can then be carried to the ship. The fourth game gives it a far less graphic animation where it instead simply shrinks down and curls up with its whole body intact.
- Rolling Attack: Its main attack consists of rolling from side to side crushing everything underfoot, although it doesn't seem to be too concerned with killing its own offspring in this fashion. The only ones capable of surviving this are Rock Pikmin unless there is a hard floor in the vicinity.
- Recurring Boss: While almost all the bosses are refought as minibosses in the Hole of Heroes, the Empress Bulblax is the only one to be the main boss of its own second cavern. It's also tougher on the rematch.
- Villain Protagonist: In one microgame in WarioWare Smooth Moves (which later returned in WarioWare Gold), you take control of an Empress Bulblax and must steamroll the Pikmin attacking you.
- Warm-Up Boss: The first Empress Bulblax you fight in both the 2nd and 4th games are not birthing, and as such is much easier than the ones faced later.
- Weaksauce Weakness: Rock Pikmin are completely invincible against it (the first time at least) since its only method of attacking is rolling around trying to crush Pikmin.
- Weaponized Offspring: After the first encounter with the Empress Bulbax in Pikmin 2, sequential encounters will have it lay Bulborb larvae throughout the battle to attack you.
Emperor/Sovereign Bulblax
Appears In: Pikmin, Pikmin 2, Hey! Pikmin, Pikmin 4
The largest species of grub-dog. The Emperor Bulblax hides in the ground, waiting for hapless critters to blunder into its territory. Unlike other grub-dogs, its massive stony hump is invulnerable to Pikmin attacks, so its face must be attacked to damage it. Unfortunately, it also has a huge purple tongue, which can slurp an army of Pikmin in a flash.
It is the Final Boss of the first game, but you encounter several immature specimens in the second game. The fourth game later explains that the larger Emperors are called Sovereign Bulblaxes, reaching massive size with advanced age.
- Degraded Boss: The first one found in the second game is about the same size as the Final Boss from the first game, but goes down much more quickly. Later, you encounter them in groups of up to three, and they're not much bigger than a normal Bulborb. Subverted in Pikmin 4, which reveals the smaller Emperor Bulbaxes are young ones; older ones, more properly called Sovereign Bulbaxes, are as big as the one in Pikmin 1.
- Fantastic Fauna Counterpart: Are essentially a Bulborb version of an African Bullfrog from real life. They're both large and plump, can leap into the air, are frequently found near watery areas, and use their short-ranged yet large tounge to gobble up prey.
- Feed It a Bomb: If it is in an area with bomb rocks in it (or bringing them with you in the 4th game), then defeating it is even easier since it will slurp them up as well. You practically need to do this to the one in the first game in order to kill it. Oddly, the ideal strategy is to let a Yellow Pikmin throw a bomb rock at the right time so that the explosive force knocks the Bulblax's tongue back into its face; this stuns it for much longer than just eating a bomb does.
- Final Boss: Of the first game. It holds the very last ship part needed to complete it.
- Final-Exam Boss: The only final boss of a Pikmin game where the fight itself averts this. While it's recommended to use Yellow Pikmin to Feed It a Bomb and stun it and Reds for the attack power, Blues don't really come into play unless you're low on the other colors.
- Ground Pound: It can jump and crush Pikmin under its weight when low on health. It can and will kill a lot of Pikmin this way if you're not careful. The Sovereign variant can perform a more powerful one that causes rocks to fall in caves.
- In a Single Bound: The Emperor Bulbax from the first game and the Sovereign Bulblaxes in 4 can perform massive leaps in an attempt to crush Pikmin.
- King Mook: To the Bulborb enemies in general. It's a titanic and far stronger version of them, and is named "emperor" to boot. The Sovereign Bulblax is in turn a King Mook to these King Mooks.
- Long-Lived: According to Pikmin 4's Piklopedia, it's not unusual for an Emperor Bulblax to live for at least a century, as their age can be measured through rings on their carapace.
- Made of Iron: In the first game, it has such high defense that merely throwing your Pikmin at it will do more damage to your own squad than to the creature. You need to Feed It a Bomb to open it up to a proper assault.
- Mighty Roar: When it takes enough damage, it unleashes a loud roar that causes all of your Pikmin to panic.
- Mythology Gag: The Sovereign Bulblax in Olimar's Shipwreck Tale that you fight in Serene Shores holds the exact same part as the original Emperor Bulblax of the first game, the Secret Safe.
- Ominous Pipe Organ: Its Leitmotif in the first game is a horror-esque piece with dramatic organ notes, overriding the normal area music.
- Overly-Long Tongue: It's long and wide. Luckily, this also means it can accidentally slurp up a bomb.
- Piñata Enemy: The Subterranean Swarm dungeon in Pikmin 4 ends with a Sovereign Bulblax. Once you 100% complete a dungeon, everything respawns forever, so you can keep skipping to the final floor, clobbering the Sovereign with Ice and Purple Pikmin, and collect 20 raw materials per "fight" and 3-7 Spicy Sprays.
- Pre-Final Boss: In 4, a Sovereign Bulblax is fought in the third-to-last floor of the final cave, with the penultimate floor serving as a rest floor before the Final Boss.
- Quicksand Sucks: Its death animation in the first game has it sinking completely into the sand pit covering the area while struggling futilely to get out.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Final boss of the first game and bears a rather appropriate eye color for that title. In Pikmin 2, their red eyes can be seen glowing from afar when encountered underground.
- Revision: In the first game and Hey! Pikmin, Emperor Bulblaxes are gigantic, while in 2 they are mostly far smaller besides the boss of Bulblax Kingdom. 4 explains that this is a feature of their aging process; when old enough, Emperor Bulblaxes can become Sovereign Bulblaxes the size of the bigger ones, while the younger, smaller ones are just normal Emperor Bulblaxes.
- Stronger with Age: Older Emperor Bulbaxes become enormous Sovereign ones.
- True Final Boss: It is entirely possible to clear Pikmin without ever encountering the Emperor Bulblax, thanks to some ship parts being optional. However, you'll need to face it to see the game's true ending.
- Your Size May Vary: The one in the first game is massive, as is the one in Hey! Pikmin. The ones in 2, however, are smaller; while the one that serves as the boss of the Bulblax Kingdom cave is fairly large, the ones you run into in later caves are fairly small, being only slightly larger than an adult Bulborb. Pikmin 4 reveals that the smaller ones are merely younger Emperor Bulblaxes, with the massive ones being the older Sovereign Bulblaxes.
Others
Bulbmin
Parasiticus pikminicus
Appears In: Pikmin 2
This creature appears to be a Bulborb, but with a leaf growing from its back. It is in fact a parasitic Pikmin known as a Bulbmin. This particular kind of Pikmin has sprouted in the back of a young Bulborb and has mostly taken over its nervous system. They are often followed by young Bulbmin, which you can claim as your own if you defeat the savage parent.
(For data on the Bulbmin that can be used as Pikmin, see the section on the Young Bulbmin under the Pikmin folder.)
- Canis Latinicus: Their scientific name is literally just "parasite Pikmin" with an "-icus" suffix at the end of each word.
- Children in Tow: If you encounter one with less than 100 Pikmin with you, it might have some young Bulbmin, which you can use when you've defeated it.
- Monstrous Cannibalism: They are Pikmin puppeteering Bulborbs. However, they cannot repress the hunger, and will eat other Pikmin.
- Puppeteer Parasite: The embedded Pikmin controls the Bulborbs, but it can't control the appetite of its host, which is implied to be why they're hostile to you.
- Roaming Enemy: Adult Bulbmin patrol the cave levels where they live along a preset route, usually with a cluster of younger Bulbmin following along.
- Token Evil Teammate: Of the Pikmin as a whole alongside the Mushroom Pikmin as they'll attack and eat their own bretheren, although it's implied that the appetite of the Bulborb host overrides the Pikmin's control. Their children are much friendlier, though.
Bulborb Larva
Appears In: Pikmin 2, Pikmin 4
Infant Bulborbs. These newborn grub-dogs are seen being birthed out of a Empress Bulblax, but these babies are far from defenseless. They can very easily decimate an army of Pikmin. Your best bet of dispatching them is to use your captains (though be careful, as their bite can be surprisingly damaging even to them). They don't leave a corpse behind, but sometimes they leave a puddle of nectar.
- Artistic License – Biology: In Pikmin 2, Olimar classifies them as their own species, Oculus bambinii. However, this goes against their being the larval stage of the other Bulborbs: if they are indeed Bulborb larvae, they logically belong to the same species as their parents. It makes no sense to classify an organism into one species as a juvenile and then into another species once it grows up. Notably, this isn't done with other larval creatures — Wogpoles are given the same scientific name as Yellow Wolliwogs, and Armored Cannon Larvae the same as Armored Cannon Beetles. When the larvae returned in Pikmin 4, their scientific name was changed to match the adults.
- Enfante Terrible: Don't let their stature fool you, these babies eat and crunch your Pikmin in a millisecond.
- Glass Cannon: One captain punch will destroy one of these, Rocket Fist or not. However, any Pikmin that is snagged by a Bulborb Larva will die instantly, with no "grace period" where you can kill the enemy to save the Pikmin, and their bite will take a good chunk out of the captains' health.
- No Body Left Behind: Unlike most enemies in the game, they don't leave a corpse to harvest, instead just melting away. Which is just as well, considering the sheer number of them that the Empress Bulblax produces.
- One-Hit-Point Wonder: They have so little health that any attack, including a captain's punch, will kill them instantly.
- Zerg Rush: The Empress Bulblax will keep popping them out as long as she lives. They are quite deadly in large numbers.
Albino Dwarf Bulborb
Appears In: Pikmin 4
A Bulborb Larva that has had its first molt, and the true juveniles of the Bulborb species that the Breadbug impostors mimic.
- Ambiguous Species: Olimar's notes mention that at this stage it's unclear which species these Bulborbs actually are based on physical appearance alone, as their distinguishing characteristics only appear with their second molt.
- Nocturnal Mooks: To avoid predation from adult Bulborbs, they spend the daytime buried underground and only come out at night, which is why they have never been seen up until Pikmin 4, which introduces night missions.
- Palette Swap: Of regular Dwarf Bulborbs. True to their name, they are pale with red bottoms. However, they also have slightly longer snouts, a subtle indication that they are true Grub-dogs instead of Breadbug mimics.
Water Dumple
Appears In: Pikmin, Pikmin 2, Pikmin 3, Pikmin 4
These strange fish-like things are a subspecies of the Bulborb that took up an aquatic lifestyle. They can be a great annoyance, and will eat Pikmin that aren't accounted for. Nobody likes the Dumple.
- Aquatic Mook: These distant relatives of Bulborbs live in water, but can also move onto land.
- Big Eater: One ancestral trait they retain from their Bulborb ancestors are their appetite.
- Eyeless Face: Played with. In regular play, their faces are completely eyeless, consisting of a bare, smooth dome sloping down to the mouth. During Night Expeditions however, they are shown to have the same Red Eyes, Take Warning aspect that the other PNF-404 wildlife gain, even though they have no eyes themselves.
- The Nose Knows: Dalmo mentions that Water Dumples rely primarily on their sense of smell due to their lack of eyes.
Long Water Dumple
Appears In: Hey! Pikmin
A large, eel-like version of the Water Dumple. It is the boss of the Verdant Waterfront region in Hey! Pikmin, and is fought underwater.
- Dishing Out Dirt: It attacks by spitting rocks at Olimar and the Pikmin.
- Glowing Eyes: The two glowing orbs at the end of its front feelers are actually its eyes.
- Shout-Out: Shares quite a few moves with Acro the Whale.
- Underwater Boss Battle: The Long Water Dumple is fought entirely underwater, therefore only blue Pikmin are used to fight it.
Piklopedia: Lithopod Family
In General
Beetle-like creatures and their larvae that attack by spitting rocks at you and your Pikmin.- Eat Dirt, Cheap: They feed on rocks with the help of their gut bacteria.
- Expy: Are essentially just beetle versions of the Octoroks from The Legend of Zelda series. Both being large creatures with beady eyes and large tubes for mouths that they use to spit rocks at their foes.
- Helpful Mook: The Armored and Decorated Larva are of the unintentional variety. Because you always know where they're going to fire and, in the Decorated Larva's case, the boulder it shoots can be directed, they can be very helpful for killing enemies you might not want to send Pikmin after. In some cave levels it's possible to clean out the entire area with them if you're clever enough.
- Set a Mook to Kill a Mook: You can very easily have their cannonball boulders kill off enemies you don't want to risk losing Pikmin against.
- Stomach of Holding: They seem to be able to produce an endless supply of rocks to spit at you.
Armored Cannon Beetle
Appears In: Pikmin
A huge black beetle whose main form of defense is to launch a boulder from its mouth. It seems impervious to assaults, but the key to defeating it is to throw a Pikmin into its breathing hole. If it gets clogged, it starts to suffocate and overheat, exposing its soft body to attacks from the back.
- Attack Its Weak Point: It can only be harmed by attacking its abdomen. This is normally kept covered by its hard elytra, meaning that the player must first clog its air intake with a Pikmin when the beetle sucks in air for an attack, causing it to overheat and forcing it open its elytra in order to cool itself down.
- Boss in Mook Clothing: It's not considered a proper boss, but both of them are protecting ship parts in some form and require a trick to defeat. The Armored Cannon Beetle in the Forest of Hope is one of the only pseudo-bosses that respawns (two of the Burrowing Snagrets can also return), since it doesn't hold onto a ship part.
- The Bus Came Back: Subverted. It seems to return in Pikmin 4 after being absent of every game since its debut, but it's actually been replaced by a similar-looking species called the Horned Cannon Beetle.
- Dishing Out Dirt: It fires out boulders at high speed. You have to clog its blowhole to make it exhausted.
- Endangered Species: Pikmin 4 states that the introduction of the Horned Cannon Beetle into it's habitat is threatening it with extinction. Not only will the horned variants attack and kill Armored Cannon Beelte Larvae due to their territoral nature, they're capable of breeding with their armored cousins, and the resulting hybrids are risking the Armored Cannon Beetle being pushed out of the gene pool altogether.
- Legacy Character: While the Armored Cannon Beetle itself is absent in most games past Pikmin, it gains a few different larval enemies that take its place.
- Skippable Boss: The one in the Forest of Hope only guards a ship part rather than holding it, so it's possible to distract it while other Pikmin carry the part back. The one in the Distant Spring is holding onto its part, so it must be killed.
- Tough Beetles: It's a huge (at least in comparison to Olimar and the Pikmin) beetle that shoots boulders the same size as itself is unfazed by all damage. That is, unless you clog its blowhole with a few Pikmin in the middle of its attack, causing it to overheat and leaving its abdomen weak point wide open.
- Violation of Common Sense: The beetle's overheating abdomen seems like it would be very dangerous to touch for anything but Red Pikmin, but Blues and Yellows are able to grip to it without any ill effects.
Armored Cannon Beetle Larva
Appears In: Pikmin 2, Pikmin 3, Pikmin 4
This is the larvae of the Armored Cannon Beetle. The adult form isn't really found in Pikmin 2, but its larval form is, which is a good thing, since it can only get its rock-digesting meta-bacteria from the parent. They can be found either roaming around the area or buried in one place. They shoot rocks as a form of defense against predators.
- Dishing Out Dirt: They launch comically large rocks from their bodies.
- Fast Tunnelling: They often (always in Pikmin 3) lurk underground and emerge to attack passing captains and Pikmin. Like other burrowing enemies in the game, this works far more like a fish breaching out of water than an animal digging their way out of solid ground.
- Retcon: It's called the Armored Cannon Larva in Pikmin 3.
- Sentry Gun: Some variants will remain half-buried in a tricky spot. These ones also have more health for some reason. Even worse, these versions are immune to the stunning effect of Purple Pikmin.
- Stomach of Holding: Some of these larvae can hold treasure, especially the mobile variety.
- Unique Enemy: Even though Arctic Cannon Larvae are a recurring threat in the Distant Tundra, the vanilla Armored Cannon Larva is found once guarding a hill in the Tropical Wilds, and only appears again in Mission Mode.
Decorated Cannon Beetle
Granitus decurum
Appears In: Pikmin 2
Despite being called a "Decorated Cannon Beetle", this is actually a larva, just like the Armored Cannon Beetle Larva above. This red grub is capable of shooting rocks that home in on captains, making them fairly dangerous for Pikmin, but you can use it to your advantage by clearing out other enemies with these homing boulders.
- Attack Its Weak Point: By means of its Misguided Missiles — nailing it in the face with its own rock does more damage to it than hitting its side, but this can be trickier since it may launch another rock, destroying the first one.
- Extra-ore-dinary: These variant's boulders are filled with magnetically-charged metallic ores.
- Fast Tunnelling: They often lurk underground and emerge to attack passing captains and Pikmin. Like other burrowing enemies in the game, this works far more like a fish breaching out of water than an animal digging their way out of solid ground.
- Misguided Missile: Due to the homing effect of their rocks, it's possible to clear out a room of enemies using one and then lure the rock around to hit the lithopod itself.
- Non-Indicative Name: This is a Palette Swap of the Armored Cannon Beetle Larva. Its adult form has never appeared in a Pikmin game yet. It's possible that through some adaptations, Decorated Cannon Beetles appeared to have devolved their adult forms in an extreme expression of neoteny, but that would contradict Olimar's notes implying that its the larval form of an Armored Cannon Beetle subspecies.
- Palette Swap: Physically speaking, it's a red recolor of the Armored Cannon Beetle Larva.
- Selective Magnetism: The boulders will home in on your spacesuit, but nothing else. The official explanation for this is that the rock is magnetized and homing in on the metal in your suit, but it will follow you and only you even in all-metal sections of the caves.
Arctic Cannon Larva
Appears In: Pikmin 3, Pikmin 4
The Arctic Cannon Larva is a member of the Lithopod family that, as their name would suggest, only appear in cold areas. Unlike its brothers, this guy fires giant snowballs at Pikmin instead of boulders.
- Fast Tunnelling: They lurk underground and emerge to attack passing captains and Pikmin. Like other burrowing enemies in the game, this works far more like a fish breaching out of water than an animal digging their way out of solid ground.
- Harmless Enemy: Unlike the other Cannon Larvae, their snowballs can't kill Pikmin. Instead, they carry them away until the snowball crashes into something, so they just serve as an annoyance.
- An Ice Person: They generate and spit snowballs instead of boulders as the result of a symbiotic relationship with internal bacteria creating ice compounds combined with pressurized internal fluids acting as a coolant.
- Palette Swap: It looks more or less identical to the Armored Cannon Beetle Larva, just with a pale green shell and a lavender underbelly.
- Underground Monkey: They are a cold-adapted variant of the Armored Cannon Larva, found in Pikmin 3's ice area — where Armored Cannon Larvae are absent — and spitting snowballs instead of boulders.
Firesnout Beetle
Appears in: Hey! Pikmin
A type of fire-breathing lithopod larva, a bit smaller than the Armored Cannon Beetle Larva.- Breath Weapon: They breathe out streams of fire. Since they primarily appear in stages centered around using Winged Pikmin, they act as stage hazards.
- One-Hit Kill: A single Pikmin is able to kill it. However, it's best to use Red Pikmin or wait until it stops breathing fire to attack it.
Horned Cannon Beetle
Appears in: Pikmin 4
A species of Lithopod hailing from another continent that resembles the Armored Cannon Beetle, and are more or less identical in terms of behaviour. They're so similar, in fact, that they can interbreed with the Armored variants, which is threatening the latter species with extinction via breeding out.
- Art Evolution: While it's not the original Armored Cannon Beetle, it can be easily mistaken for one and is more or less an updated design. The body has noticeable segmentation around the horn area and its leg joints, its feet now have three toes, and it has a pair of mandibles around its mouth to further make it clear it's a beetle.
- Introduced Species Calamity: While outwardly similar to the Armored Cannon Beetle, they are actually a non-native naturalized species from another continent, and are currently outcompeting the former species. While they can breed with their cousins, half of the eggs fail to hatch, and the surviving hybrids risk polluting their gene pool. It's also not unusual for adult Horned Cannon Beetles to kill Armored Cannon Beetle Larvae on sight due to their increased territoriality. These factors have all served to place the Armored Cannon Beetle at the brink of extinction by 4.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Take the place of the Armored Cannon Beetle from Pikmin 1.
Arctic Cannon Beetle
Appears in: Pikmin 4
The adult form of the Arctic Cannon Larva. Their blowholes close up once they reach maturity, requiring them to inhale through their mouths instead, and forcing them to always open up their backs to compensate.
- Attack Its Weak Point: Like its non-arctic relatives, its backside is its weak spot, protected by its elytra. Unlike them, it always opens it after inhaling, as it has to inhale through its mouth and needs to open its backside in order to ventilate excess air and avoid the risk of body inflation.
- Death from Above: The impact of its snowballs hitting a wall causes stalactites to fall from the ceiling.
- Harmless Enemy: Subverted compared to the juveniles. While they still attack by spitting out snowballs, their inhalation allows them to capture and eat Pikmin. The first you fight also causes stalactites to fall, potentially crushing Pikmin.
- Light Is Not Good: It sports a snowy-white exoskeleton but is just as dangerous as the other adult Cannon Beetles.
Piklopedia: Mamuta Family
In General
A family of bizarre-looking creatures with diametrically opposite relationships with plantlife.- Like Father, Unlike Son: The Mamutas are fully grown friendly beasts while the Smoky Proggs are underdeveloped aggressive creatures.
- Our Monsters Are Weird: It's dificult to tell what these creatures are. Mamutas are asymetrically shaped lumps covered in fur that appear to wear armbands, while Smoky Proggs are eldritch looking masses of green smog that kill anything they touch. And these two creatures are related to each other.
Mamuta
Appears In: Pikmin, Pikmin 2, Pikmin 4
Nobody knows what this thing is. It's quite bizarre-looking, but can be useful to you, as it can quickly turn your Pikmin into flower Pikmin. Just be careful not to let Olimar get smacked by them too.
- Art Evolution: Their updated designs for Pikmin 4 shows they are in fact covered in a layer of fuzz, and the markings around their arms that look like armbands are actual armbands.
- Gentle Giant: In the first and fourth games, these large, powerful creatures are content to stand by themselves and calmly watch you pass by, attacking you only if you do so first or if you pluck any Pikmin it has planted. The exception to this is Pikmin 2, where they are just as aggressive as any other creature you'll encounter.
- Gonk: Blank, unblinking eyes and a lumpy asymmetrical body.
- Helpful Mook: They will cultivate your Pikmin into Flower Pikmin for you.
- Smash Mook: Its main method of attack is smashing opponents into the ground with its stone arms. Played with however, as it only harms the captains. The Pikmin get buried into the ground and turned into flowered sprouts instead.
- Tastes Like Chicken: According to Louie they taste exactly like chicken. He also states that they're inedible.
- Unique Enemy: There's only two Mamutas in Pikmin; one in the main game that appears on even-numbered days past Day 9 in the Impact Site, and one in Challenge Mode's version of the Distant Spring. Similarly, there are only two in Pikmin 4, albeit both in the main game: one in Blossoming Arcadia, and another on Sublevel 1 of The Mud Pit. Averted in Pikmin 2, where it's a recurring enemy in caves.
Smoky Progg
Appears In: Pikmin, Pikmin 4
An extremely enigmatic animal. Encountering it in the first game is a bit difficult, since you'll need to get to a certain area before day 15, find its egg, and either touch it or damage it without destroying it. Once released, it will crawl towards your base camp, uproot Pikmin by simply roaring, and instantly kill them by smothering them in its poisonous fog. What kind of reward do you get from killing such a dangerous monster? A gold pearl that produces 100 Pikmin, probably to make up for the huge number you likely lost fighting it.
In 4, it returns as an enemy for certain night missions.
- Ascended Extra: In Pikmin 4 it reappears during some night missions and also as the midpoint boss of the Cavern for a King.
- Body Horror: Olimar's notes in Pikmin 4 mention that the Smoky Progg's body is constantly deteriorating.
- Boss in Mook Clothing: The Smoky Progg only exists in one area, has to be activated in a unique way, and is disproportionately powerful compared to anything else in the Distant Spring. Instead of a ship part, it drops the most lucrative Pikmin-producing item in the game. Pikmin 4 upgrades it to a proper boss.
- The Bus Came Back: After over 2 decades since its first appearance, it returns in Pikmin 4 during specific nighttime stages and as the midpoint boss of Cavern for a King.
- Company Cross References: In 4, it can attack by spitting out crimson fireballs that annihilate everything they touch. The game refers to this substance as Gloom.
- Compelling Voice: The nature depends on the game:
- In 1 its roars can make Pikmin uproot themselves, usually leading to the Pikmin's demise. Make sure you have no sprouts waiting to be plucked at the landing site, and account for any Pikmin that were snagged by a Swooping Snitchbug.
- In 4, the Progg's screech instead causes Pikmin to break out into panic.
- Dark Reprise: In 4, if you listen closely to its theme you can hear cues from the Distant Spring's music from 1 especially at around the one-minute mark. Fitting, since that's where this thing originates.
- Easy Level Trick: Want to fight the Smoky Progg with about 99% less stress? Lure it into a pile of Bomb-Rocks and watch the fireworks. This only works in the first game, but Bomb-Rocks are still the best way to deal with it in the fourth.
- Enemy to All Living Things: The Smoky Progg destroys and kills just about everything it touches, with nobody being able to survive its wrath.
- Eldritch Abomination: Double-literally, since it was supposed to hatch into a Mamuta before its egg was damaged, and since its technical name in the game guide roughly translates to "God of Pikmin". In 4, it's even worse, since it can now spit fireballs of Gloom to annihilate your Pikmin.
- Enfant Terrible: It's a creepy-cute larval Mamuta, but still one of the most destructive enemies in the franchise.
- Made of Evil: In Pikmin 4, the Smoky Progg has its own unique elemental hazard, named Gloom. It is immediately and wholly lethal to all Pikmin, including White Pikmin and Glow Pikmin.
- Musical Nod: Its Battle Theme Music in Pikmin 4 features tinkling piano and occasional stabs of a sound effect from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild that heralds the Blood Moon. Not only is it appropriately terrifying, it fits very well with the creature's new Gloom attacks.
- No Saving Throw: In Pikmin 4, most elemental hazards will essentially put a status on your Pikmin that can be cleared by whistling to save them. Not so with the Smoky Progg's Gloom attacks; Pikmin are immediately destroyed on contact with it.
- One-Hit Kill: The Smoky Progg's damage type is Gloom, which kills Pikmin the instant they touch it regardless of type.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Its only facial features in the first game are its glowing red eyes.
- Red Is Violent: Its eyes (and its Gloom attacks in 4) are blood-red, and it is defined by being hazardous to all forms of life.
- Skippable Boss: Not in the Cavern for a King in 4 or the Distant Spring in 1, but in night expeditions, you can smash the Mamuta eggs before the Proggs hatch to get large piles of glow pellets.
- Superboss: In the first game. It does not hold a ship piece, and disappears if you don't find it before day 15. It's also very dangerous, but gives you a colossal reward of 100 Pikmin if you successfully slay it.
- Super Spit: In 4, it can spit projectiles that create shockwaves of Gloom.
- Tragic Stillbirth: All Proggs are examples, but the Mamuta eggs in 4's nighttime excursions are thought to hatch into Proggs because the Glow Sap enzymes are siphoning key nutrients from them.
- Walking Wasteland: Pikmin will die instantly if they touch the foggy trail it leaves. In 4, even White Pikmin aren't immune to its poison, and it can permanently kill the otherwise Born-Again Immortality possessing Glow Pikmin. Somewhat justified in 4, since the Progg doesn't attack with any conventional poisons, but a corrosive fog called Gloom implied to be based on Glow Sap.
- Unique Enemy: The strongest and rarest of the singular enemies in Pikmin, only appearing before the halfway point of the 30-day limit, and it doesn't appear in Challenge Mode, either.
- Vocal Evolution: In the first game, the Smokey Progg had a low voice that rarely made itself known unless it was uprooting Pikmin or if its egg was destroyed before it could properly hatch. In Pikmin 4, the Progg instead has a much more horrifying high-pitched screech that is able to strike terror into Pikmin when it attacks.
Piklopedia: Mandiblard Family
In General
A family of small, grublike animals that appear as either low-level threats or minor annoyances.- Ambushing Enemy: Most Mandiblard varieties hide underground when at rest until captains or Pikmin walk above them, at which point the whole swarm comes burrowing out of the earth to attack.
- Fast Tunnelling: When you approach their hiding spot, they pop out of the ground like fish breaching out of water, and without leaving any hole or depression — or even disturbed grass — behind them.
- The Goomba: While some variants pose greater threats than others, they're all very weak, basic enemies largely incapable of doing significant harm to a large Pikmin squad or a captain, and easily dispatched by even a single well-aimed Pikmin. The biggest threat they pose is slowing down progress by degrading bridges and messing with carriers.
- Kill It with Water: They will drown very quickly when in bodies of water.
Female Sheargrub
Appears In: Pikmin, Pikmin 2, Pikmin 3, Pikmin 4
These tiny grub-like things are part of a family of insects that have lost their wings and legs and reverted to a grub-like state. The females are pink, and while they emerge from the ground when Pikmin approach, they can't do anything to them. They've specialized in feeding on the fluids of expired Pikmin.
- Bizarre Sexual Dimorphism: Female sheargrubs have much smaller jaws than the males, are a uniform pale pink instead of the males' more vivid colors and have black eyes instead of green. They are also much weaker and more harmless, and much less aggressive.
- Harmless Enemy: They are incapable of killing your Pikmin. However, they might gnaw on wooden bridges you've built, which can be a minor inconvenience.
Male Sheargrub
Appears In: Pikmin, Pikmin 2, Pikmin 3, Pikmin 4
The males behave in much the same way as female Sheargrubs, but they are far more active with their feeding habits and go after your army with large jaws. Large groups can overwhelm the creatures, but caution is still needed.
- Bizarre Sexual Dimorphism: Male sheargrubs are visually distinguishable from the females by their much longer jaws, vivid purple and bronze coloration and green eyes, in contrast to the female's pale colors and short, weak mandibles. They're also much tougher and heavily armored, and much more aggressive.
- Pintsized Powerhouse: In the first game, there was a glitch that made them invincible when eating a Pikmin, thereby preventing you from saving the Pikmin if they were snagged. This was fixed in Pikmin 2, making them only a minor threat.
Shearwig
Appears In: Pikmin, Pikmin 2, Pikmin 3, Pikmin 4
A relative of the Sheargrubs, Shearwigs are unique in that the males of this species retained their wings and are still able to fly for short distances. The females prefer to stay underground and are never really encountered. If it is hit with a well placed Pikmin, it will be killed instantly, especially if it's hit when it is flying.
- Airborne Mook: Unlike the other sheargrub variants, these can open their wings and take off when their health gets low.
- Bizarre Sexual Dimorphism: More so than regular sheargrubs, even. The males are aggressive predators, and can fly. The females are wingless, and spend their entire lives below ground.
- Elite Mook: It is the toughest kind of Sheargrub, with more health than other variants and the ability to fly.
- One-Hit Kill:
- If struck while flying in 1 and 2, they'll be killed instantly.
- Averted in the third game; they just take damage and fall down stunned.
- Unique Enemy: Only found in the Formidable Oak in Pikmin 3's story mode, but they at least appear in a group. Like the nearby Watery Blowhog, these are Plasm Wraith formations and not true Shearwigs.
Swarming Sheargrub
Appears In: Pikmin 3
Greenish and similar in appearance to female Sheargrubs, the Swarming Sheargrub won't directly attack your Pikmin, but will pile onto pieces of fruit you're attempting to carry. They crawl away in terror when attacked.
- Bandit Mook: They will gobble up any nectar they find. If they see fruit, carcasses or pellets, they will also pile onto them and make them difficult to carry away.
- Cowardly Mooks: They come in groups, usually seven or so. If one member of the group is attacked or killed, the rest will run for their lives. This is actually the main way they can harm Pikmin — they cannot actually hurt them themselves, but Pikmin will chase them when they run and get themselves lost.
- Harmless Enemy: They ignore your Pikmin, and will run away if you attack them. All they can do is gobble up nectar before you can get to it, and cling onto fruits to make them heavier and require more Pikmin to take back.
- Make My Monster Grow: A downplayed case. If a Swarming Sheargrub ingests nectar, it will grow in size, though it will still be harmless.
- Palette Swap: For all intents and purposes, they're physically identical to Female Sheargrubs except for being light green instead of pink.
- Roaming Enemy: Unlike their subterranean, ambushing relatives, they spend their time actively patrolling the game world, wandering around randomly until they come across nectar to drink or pellets, fruit, or corpses to pile on. This can prove a serious issue for the player, as sheargrub patrols can easily stumble into working Pikmin and either grind their work to a halt by piling onto the times that they're carrying or incite a fight and lead any number of Pikmin into getting hopelessly lost as they chase after fleeing Sheargrubs.
Speargrub
Appears In: Hey! Pikmin
Green Mandiblards covered with Spikes of Doom. They follow predetermined paths on the walls without consideration for either Olimar or the Pikmin, acting more like an obstacle than an enemy. Rock Pikmin are immune to their spikes and can briefly stun them, but they cannot be killed.
- Invincible Minor Minion: They are completely impervious to any damage and therefore cannot be killed.
- Unique Enemy: They only appear in the Crystal Tunnels level.
Sporegrub
Appears In: Hey! Pikmin
Tiny and, according to Olimar, mutant Shearwig that move on vines and try to poison Pikmin. Thay are also the only mandiblards with no visible mouthpieces of any sort.
- Poisonous Person: They attack by shrouding themselves in a tiny cloud of poison.
- Technicolor Toxin: They are bright pink and emit a purplish poison cloud when attacking.
Shearblug
Appears In: Hey! Pikmin
Amphibious Mandiblards which can curl up like pillbugs before charging forward as a defense mechanism. They also have retractable spikes they extend when rolling around.
- Fantastic Fauna Counterpart: It's remarkably similar to the pillbug, sans retractable spikes.
- Rolling Attack: When threatened, they curl up, extend their Spikes of Doom and charge forward.
Queen Shearwig
Appears In: Hey! Pikmin
A huge flying Shearwig that appears as the boss of the Leafswirl Lagoon. It acts as the commander of a large group of Shearwigs that it uses to attack Olimar.
- Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: The markings on her mandibles are highly reminiscent of a drill, fitting her drilling Spin Attack.
- Flunky Boss: The Queen Shearwig has a never-ending supply of Shearwigs it will gladly use to attack Olimar and his Pikmin.
- Insect Queen: Although they technically are different species, it is the commander of a troop of Shearwigs.
- Mirror Boss: Of sorts: just like Olimar has his own army of Pikmin under his command, the Queen Shearwig controls a swarm of flying Shearwigs and sends them to attack Olimar just like he does. This similarity of fighting styles is also acknowledged in Olimar's Log.
- Pink Is Feminine: This insect queen is coloured bright pink.
- Spin Attack: While it mostly stays out of the frontline, content with commanding its army of Shearwigs, it occasionally attacks by spinning around and charging foward, using its sizeable mandibles as a drill.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To the Scornet Maestro from Pikmin 3. Both are large insects that lead an army smaller bugs and act as MirrorBosses to Olimar and his Pikmin, attacking via their suboordinates in swarms.
- Synchronized Swarming: It commands its Shearwigs, who attack in small coordinated formations.
Mama Sheargrub
Appears in: Pikmin 4
A mature Female Sheargrub. While most Sheargrubs molt as they grow, these ones are neotenous, meaning they resemble the juvenile variants despite their massive size. Said size allows them to crush whatever gets in their way.
- Baby Factory: In a manner similar to Empress Bulblax, they exist to poop out babies, albeit they're all regular-sized Sheargrubs. However, this is only relevant in their Piklopedia notes, as they are not a Mook Maker in-game.
- Belly Flop Crushing: It sometimes hops around when attacked, which can crush Pikmin caught underneath.
- The Ghost: The Mama Sheargrubs we see are neotenous, meaning they resemble the young sheergrubs despite being mature. What a regular, non-neotenus Mama Sheargrub looks like is not shown.
- Giant Mook: The Mama Sheargrub is a Female Sheargrub that never molted and instead just grew gigantic over time. Despite their neoteny, they are capable of breeding, though their babies are only regular sized Sheargrubs. Their size makes them avert being a Harmless Enemy, as they are now able to crush Pikmin.
- Older Than They Look: They have a neotenous appearance, but are very much capable of mating and reproducing.
- Took a Level in Badass: By growing to an enormous size, this specimen goes from being a completely harmless Female Sheargrub to being capable of crushing Pikmin with its hops.
Piklopedia: Pilli genus (Flint Beetle, Glint Beetle and Flint Bug Families)
In General
- Art Evolution: The whole species gets an update to their design in Pikmin 4, giving their bodies a more turtle-shell shape and noticeable mouths.
- Four-Legged Insect: All of them only have four legs, with the exception of the Iridescent Flint Beetle in Pikmin 3.
- Helpful Mook: Most of them are harmless to your Pikmin and they can be attacked for useful items.
- Invincible Minor Minion: None of them can be killed, they'll just dig underground after they've been hit enough.
- Metal Slime: They drop a lot of useful items if they're hit, but if they aren't holding something important like treasure, they'll permanently disappear if they're not hit in time.
- Rule of Three: They'll flee underground after they've been hit three times.
- Taxonomic Term Confusion: Iridescent Flint Beetles, Iridescent Glint Beetles and Doodlebugs are considered part of three distinct families, respectively the flint beetles, glint beetles and flint bugs. Despite this, they're also referred to as members of the same genus, Pilli (P. envelopens, P. auricus and P. flatularum, respectively). Taxonomically, this doesn't make any sense — species are group into genuses and genuses into families, which means that all members of a genus must be part of the same family. Notably, however, the Japanese dub describes the Iridescent Flint Beetle and Doodlebug as being part of the same family.
Iridescent Flint Beetle
Striped Subspecies
Click here to see the Spotted Subspecies
Click here to see its original appearance
Pilli envelopens
Appears In: Pikmin, Pikmin 2, Pikmin 3, Pikmin 4
This beetle has a dark green shell which has a nice sheen to it. Apparently Pikmin are drawn to it and try to attack it, but the only way to get anything from it is to throw them onto its back. If you're lucky, it might cough up some nectar, pellets, or other things that it was saving to eat. Sometimes you may get some Ultra-Spicy Spray out of the deal too.
- Four-Legged Insect: In Pikmin 1, 2, and 4, it has just four legs despite being a fairly typical insect otherwise. Averted in Pikmin 3, where the spotted subspecies has six jointed legs.
- You Don't Look Like You: The third game makes a bit of a change to its appearance. In the first two games, it's a blocky, vaguely rectangular striped green beetle with small white eyestalks, yellow eyes and four red, splayed legs. In 3, it becomes round, with a body that's thickened in the middle and flattened at the edges, six blue legs held folded underneath its body, blue eyestalks and purple eyes. It also gains a more complex coloration of blue spots on a bright green shell, as well as a pair of long, whisker-like antennae. The Piklopedia in Deluxe subverts this by noting that they are in fact a subspecies of the Flint Beetle.
- Your Size May Vary: It's slightly smaller in the second game.
Iridescent Glint Beetle
Click here to see its old appearance
Pilli auricus
Appears In: Pikmin 2, Pikmin 4
The Flint Beetle's gold-plated cousin. These guys run around in the same manner once they are disturbed, but they generally have better rewards, such as treasure, nectar blobs, or Ultra-Spicy Sprays.
- Gold Makes Everything Shiny: Of the various minerals the Glint Beetle consumes, gold is excreted around its chitin to form a sparkling gold coating. This signifies that it drops better and more desirable rewards than the Flint Beetle does.
- Metal Slime: An even rarer variant of the Flint Beetle, with appropriately larger rewards. Note that treasure-bearing Glint Beetles will not disappear, so you can take your time getting them.
Stony Flint Beetle
Appears In: Hey! Pikmin
A metallic Flint Beetle that pushes nearby iron blocks. It can only be defeated if enough Pikmin push against the block its moving until it's forced against a wall or a ledge. In that case, it will fly away.
- Four-Legged Insect: It has bigger hind legs than the other Flint Beetles, to help it push around its iron blocks.
- Invincible Minor Minion: It can't be damaged and will flee if forced into a hazard.
- Pushy Mooks: It doesn't damage Pikmin directly, only focused on pushing its iron block. However, it can push its block into walls, crushing any Pikmin in between.
- Unique Enemy: Exclusively appears in Peculiar Rockfall.
Doodlebug
Click here to see its old appearance
Pilli flatularum
Appears In: Pikmin 2, Pikmin 4
The Flint Beetle's smellier cousin. This particular kind of Flint Beetle also drops some rewards when hit on its back. However, it also leaves behind a cloud of toxic gases (which are actually the creature's flatulence rather than any specialized stink-glands). It's best tackled with White Pikmin. Hit it enough and it drops Ultra-Bitter Spray.
- Fartillery: Its only form of attack is to release a cloud of poison gas... which turns out to be its own flatulence, which is apparently so noxious as to be actually poisonous.
- Gasshole: It flatulates with every move it makes, and this can poison your Pikmin.
- Helpful Mook: Subverted, unlike its relatives. While it's not actively malicious and it does drop rewards, its flatuence is poisonous.
- Invincible Minor Minion: Like its relatives, it can't be killed and just flees underground after a while. Played more straight than its relatives as this one can harm your Pikmin, counting it as more of a minion.
- Metal Slime: Ironically, it gives better rewards than the Glint Beetles, in exchange for being slightly dangerous.
- Non-Malicious Monster: Olimar notes that it isn't releasing its toxic gas as a defense mechanism, but rather it's merely just farting.
- The Pig-Pen: Even when not farting, there's flies buzzing around it and it has a grungy-looking appearance.
- Poison Mushroom: It's an unusual living example. It looks similar to its Metal Slime relatives, but leaves small clouds of poison lying around as you follow it. Notably, though, the prize the Doodlebug gives out is better than its brothers'.
- Poisonous Person: Unlike its brothers, this beetle has toxic flatulence that can easily suffocate nearby Pikmin.
- Toilet Humor: The Doodlebug's only attack is farting out noxious gas.
Piklopedia: Scarpanid Family
In General
- Bizarre Alien Locomotion: Snitchbugs lost both their wings and all but two of their legs at some point in their evolutionary history. As a result, they have adapted to flying by rapidly beating their branching antennae.
Swooping Snitchbug
Appears In: Pikmin, Pikmin 2, Pikmin 3, Pikmin 4
A bug that flies by using its antennas due to losing its original wings during its evolution. As the same suggests, it swoops down onto Pikmin groups and snatches two at a time. After a while, it gets bored with them and throws them to the ground, replanting them. This behavior is only mildly annoying, so you should repay it with swift death. In Pikmin 3, they gain the Bumbling Snitchbug's ability to capture captains.
- Airborne Mook: They fly around most of the time, only swooping to ground level to abduct Pikmin.
- Bandit Mook: They steal Pikmin right out of your group and plant them somewhere else, leaving your squad slightly hurt until you retrieve the lost members.
- Clasp Your Hands If You Deceive: They adopt the pose as part of their Idle Animation.
- Composite Character: In Pikmin 3, they have picked up their big brothers' habit of grabbing Captains as well as Pikmin.
- Sticky Fingers: Their tendency to steal and replant Pikmin currently baffles Olimar, who is tempted to simply chalk it up to kleptomania inherent in the species. They could also be trying to lethally slam the Pikmin on the ground in order to eat them, which may be an effective strategy on other, smaller bugs, but against the plantlike Pikmin, the result is an Epic Fail every single time.
Bumbling Snitchbug
Scarpanica doofenia
Appears In: Pikmin 2
The bigger brother of the Swooping Snitchbug. Instead of Pikmin, it prefers to go after leaders. You need to just wiggle the control stick to get out of its grip or you'll be damaged, but only a bumbling idiot would get caught in the first place, right?
- Airborne Mook: Like Swooping Snitchbugs, they're airborne more often than not, unless they're strafing your group to make off with your captain.
- Canis Latinicus: Their species name is a pseudo-latinization of "doofus", referencing how only a bumbling fool would get caught by one of them.
- Clasp Your Hands If You Deceive: Just like their brethren, this is their idle animation.
- Hypocritical Humor: Olimar's notes will talk about only idiots being caught by it, even if you let Olimar himself be caught hundreds of times.
- Not the Fall That Kills You…: If they manage to throw a captain to the ground, it is going to hurt. He'll be fine if he breaks free himself or is released due to the Snitchbug getting its ass kicked by his buddy's Pikmin, though.
- Sticky Fingers: Unlike the Swooping Snitchbug, these scarpanids will steal captains. It is named as such because only a bumbling idiot of a captain would allow himself to be so easily pilfered.
Coppeller
Appears In: Hey! Pikmin
Small insects that fly in holding various items, like Sparklium and treasure. If you can fell them, you can retrieve their loots. Otherwise, they'll fly away and you'll miss your chance.
- Four-Legged Insect: Instead of arms, it has four inward-curing legs to hold their items. Weirdly, the Spiny Coppeller has six legs.
- Helpful Mook: Subverted. They have Collision Damage but otherwise won't actively try to attack you, and drop various helpful items.
Spiny Coppeller
Appears In: Hey! Pikmin
A spikier, more dangerous varient of the Coppeller. They are stage obstacles and you can only avoid them.
- Invincible Minor Mook: They can't be killed and any contact with Pikmin results in Impaled with Extreme Prejudice.
- Underground Monkey: A less friendly, purple Coppeller.
Muggonfly
Appears In: Hey! Pikmin
A big Coppeller with a long, root-like tail that it uses to carry food.
- Invincible Minor Mook: They can't be killed and won't react to Pikmin being thrown at it.
- Helpful Mook: Of the "Genuinely Gentle" varient. It's incapable of harming you and bursting open its food pouches will reward you with useful items.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Olimar has a minor one in his notes, wondering if he's robbing the Muggonfly of the food it needs for its children, which makes him think of his own children.
- Unique Enemy: Only one appears in the whole game, in Olimar's Madcap Ride.
Piklopedia: Sporovid Family
In General
- Mushroom Man: Sporovids are fungi that become ambulatory and more animal-like in their fruiting stage, becoming wiggling, Armless Biped mushroom creatures.
- Canis Latinicus: A lot of their scientific names are this. Like their moldy minions, whose second part of their scientific names is literally just "elastic host" but with the "is" and "us" suffix added at their ends.
Puffstool
Appears In: Pikmin, Pikmin 4
A bizarre walking mushroom-like creature considered an Ambulofungi. It appears to be rather silly, but looks can be deceiving: It constantly produces spores which have the unique property of turning your own Pikmin against you by brainwashing them and turning them into "mushroom" Pikmin — purple Pikmin who bear mushrooms instead of leaves or flowers. Luckily, this is only temporary, but it's still a situation you want to avoid.
- Arch-Enemy: The Piklopedia describes it and Pikmin as mortal enemies. It has evolved a special mind-controling spore that works only on Pikmin, all for the purpose of using them as its own loyal army to defend it and secure its nutrition.
- Armless Biped: Its only limbs are a pair of small, stubby legs.
- Boss in Mook Clothing: Like the other pseudo-bosses of the first game, there's only a single Puffstool to be found and it carries a ship part, so it doesn't respawn after death. It also has the unique ability to take control of your Pikmin, but otherwise can't hurt them very well.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: It's spores turn Pikmin into loyal Puffmin (or just brainwashes them without transforming them in 4) that protect it and do its bidding.
- The Bus Came Back: After over 2 decades since its debut, it returns to the series in Pikmin 4 within one of the last areas of the game.
- Festering Fungus: Its spores infect and infest any Pikmin unfortunate enough to breathe them in, turning them into zombie-like Mushroom Pikmin under the Puffstool's control.
- Harmless Enemy: A bit of an odd example. It can't directly harm either the captains nor the Pikmin — what it can do is release clouds of spores that will brainwash Pikmin and turn them into "mushroom" Pikmin under its control, with which it will then attack the player and the still-loyal Pikmin. This, however, relies enitrely on Pikmin being present — it's possible to seek a Puffstool out with only a captain and punch it to death. This will take a long time, because a captain's punching attack doesn't deal a lot of damage, but the Puffstool will have no way of fighting back or retaliating.
- Not-So-Harmless Villain: It looks docile and silly, and tends to trip over its feet when it waddles around. It can't even directly attack. However, the spores it releases are quite dangerous if you don't call your Pikmin away.... Also, its corpse can crush dozens of your Pikmin at once thanks to a glitch.
- Smashing Survival: The best way to have Pikmin under the Puffstool's control let go of you is to wiggle the control stick and mash buttons.
- Unique Enemy:
- It's a special boss-like enemy that doesn't respawn after being killed in 1, since it holds one of the Forest Navel's ship parts. Challenge Mode features two in its version of The Distant Spring.
- It retains this attribute in 4, only appearing once in the Primordial Thicket, holding a treasure this time instead of a ship part.
- The Virus: Any Pikmin exposed to its spores will become zombie-like and obey the Puffstool.
- Zero-Effort Boss: It's a timesink, but Olimar can slowly punch the Puffstool to death by himself if you have three in-game hours to spare. The Puffstool in turn cannot damage Olimar at all and is too slow to run away.
Puffstalk
Appears In: Hey! Pikmin
A cowardly member of the Sporovid family that hides itself in burrows, popping out from time to time. It likes to collect energy-rich objects.- Harmless Enemy: Incapable of harming you or your Pikmin, and would rather hide from them.
- Mole Monster: It pops in and out of its burrows, requiring you to attack it where it pops out.
Toxstool
Appears In: Pikmin 4
A greenish blue subspecies of the Puffstool that traded its ability to Mind Control Pikmin for the ability to reanimate the dead. It's neither fungus or animal but a mix of the two, making it an Ambulofungus.- Fantastic Fauna Counterpart: Well, flora rather than fauna, but it's essentially a waddling cordyceps fungus.
- Hive Queen: Of any of its Moldy minions, corpses animated by its spores that are compelled to obey it. Also a bit of an Insect Queen, as the spores are potential Toxstools.
- Necromancer: Its spores can reanimate creatures that died in its territory and is responsible for the Moldy series of enemies.
- Not Using the "Z" Word: The Slooches and Dwarf Bulborbs it infects have the prefix "Moldy" instead of "Zombie" or "Infected."
- Palette Swap: A cyan Puffstool.
- Poisonous Person: As its name implies, the Toxstools spores are highly poisonous.
- Puppeteer Parasite: Its spores animate dead Bulborbs and Slooches as zombified protectors and spreaders, and it's explicit that if they're allowed to fully devour their host, the spore colonies will develop into juvenile Toxstools.
- Raising the Steaks: It can revive Dwarf Bulborbs (and their Breadbug imposters) and Slooches after they're killed, turning them into greenish-blue zombies controlled by its spores. Louie has no problem with eating them in spite of this provided that the proper steps are taken to make them safe for consumption.
- Unique Enemy: Much like the Puffstool, it is only encountered once in a single area, in this case being the first sublevel of Cavern for a King.
Moldy Dwarf Bulborb
Appears In: Pikmin 4
A zombified version of a Dwarf Bulborb (specified to be a young bulborb) that sports a back teaming with Toxstool spores.- Attack Its Weakpoint: Like all Dwarf Bulborbs, its back is its weakspot. Unlike them, the mass of fungus on its back makes it inadvisable to throw anything other than White Pikmin on them, and even then they're the tankiest of the Dwarves.
- No-Sell: The White Pikmin's poison has no effect on it.
- Poisonous Person: Attacking from the back will cause it to emit poison gas, meaning White Pikmin, front attacks, or Oatchi's Rush are necessary to kill a Moldy Dwarf Bulborb.
- The Undead: They are specifically corpses of Bulborbs that have been reanimated from the spores on its back.
Moldy Slooch
Appears In: Pikmin 4
A zombified version of the Pyroclastic Slooch that also sports a back teaming with Toxstool spores. Tropes regarding its living counterpart can be found here.- Attack Its Weakpoint: Throwing White Pikmin at the fungal mass on its back deals great damage to the Slooch.
- No-Sell: It's completely unharmed by White Pikmin's poison.
- The Undead: They are specifically corpses of Sloochs that have been reanimated from the spores on its back.
- The Virus: Its function as an ambulatory fungal-culture is to spread the Toxstool's range and habitat until its body ceases to function. While not the source of the parasitic spores, it is a hazardous vector.
Piklopedia: Snavian Family
In General
- Ambushing Enemy: Snagrets hide underground and emerge to attack. They stay beneath the surface by default, with nothing to mark their presence, until they're triggered into bursting into the open when Pikmin or captains walk past.
- Attack Its Weakpoint: Their heads are the only vulnerable part of their bodies. Attacking their torsos is useless, so either throw Pikmin at their heads or take advantage of their heads getting stuck on surfacing to swarm them.
- Beak Attack: They use their beaks to scoop up multiple Pikmin at once and eat them.
- Fast Tunnelling: Like the other burrowing creatures in the games, their digging is extremely rapid — they can dive below the ground or emerge on the surface in a second or so — leaves no hole or depression, and doesn't seem to displace any soil.
- The Ghost: Their Snarrow relatives, which are mentioned and stated to resemble them but are never seen.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: They're chimeras of snake and bird, with a single bird's foot at the end of its body and the head of a bird.
Burrowing Snagret
Appears In: Pikmin, Pikmin 2, Pikmin 3, Pikmin 4
A bizarre hybrid that ambushes small bugs as they crawl above ground. It has the head of an egret and the neck of a snake, giving the creature its name. The most common boss in the game, they can be dangerous if you aren't careful, but they are easily dispatched with preparation. No one has really seen the entire creature, but Olimar claims that it can be told apart from the Burrowing Snarrow by the presence or absence of wing or tail markings (which is moot since you never really encounter a Snarrow in any of the games).
- Boss in Mook Clothing: In the first game, where a group of three appear in the Forest of Hope and one carries a ship part. It gets promoted to full boss status in the second game.
- Degraded Boss: In Pikmin 2, after its initial appearance as the boss of the White Flower Garden, the Snagret Hole is filled with them as minibosses, sometimes two at one time. In the third game, it's just a miniboss. It returns to boss status by the time of Pikmin 4 however.
- Mama Bear: They actively protect their Downy Snagret chicks against threats- the one encountered in the Blossoming Arcadia has several of them.
- Mascot Mook: One of Pikmin's most iconic enemy species, even selected as an Assist Trophy in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
- Post-Defeat Explosion Chain:
- In the first game, after a Burrowing Snagret is defeated, its head explodes in a burst of feathers and the rest of its snakelike body is destroyed in a series of smaller explosions. The second game has it happen in reverse, with the body exploding in stages and leaving the head behind.
- Averted in the post-2 games where the Snagret has a full body to harvest.
- Shows Damage: In Pikmin 3 and 4, it loses the feathers on its head as it takes damage, becoming bald by the time it's dead.
- Tactical Suicide Boss: Sometimes it goes for a larger peck and gets its beak stuck in the ground.
- The Reveal: In the third game, you finally get to see the whole Snagret- it turns out it has only one foot.
- Unique Enemy: The Burrowing Snagret is the only mini-boss in Pikmin 3 to appear only one time in story mode (there are two Bugeyed Crawmads and Shaggy Long Legs), blocking a shortcut in the Twilight River.
- Weaksauce Weakness: It has no way to hurt Winged Pikmin, so a group of them can defeat it in Pikmin 3 easily despite having less power.
Pileated Snagret
Appears In: Pikmin 2
A large and majestic variety of Snagret that is capable of hunting below the ground and above it. It doesn't remain rooted to an area like the Burrowing Snagret, but it can hop about on its single large foot. It has poor eyesight for a bird, so to compensate, it also has thermal sensors in its beak that are often found in snakes. It is very dangerous without preparation.
- Armless Biped: More like an Armless Uniped. It hops around on one foot and has no arms. Pikmin 3 reveals that regular Snagrets also have one foot once uprooted.
- Continuity Nod: While they don't appear outside of Pikmin 2, the Burrowing Snagret's corpse in 3 and the Downy Snagrets in 4 clearly uses their body plan as a reference point for what they look like above ground.
- King Mook: Tougher version of a boss enemy, no less. Not only can it jump around to snag meals, but you have less time to deal damage before it hops back into the ground.
- Post-Defeat Explosion Chain: On dying, it's launched into the air while its body quickly disintegrates from its foot to its neck.
Downy Snagret
Appears in: Pikmin 4
A juvenile Burrowing Snagret. They don't burrow, so they hop around aboveground. Rest assured, though, that there are adults lurking around.
- Armless Biped: Technically more of a Uniped, as they move around with only one foot and lack arms.
- Chest Monster: Breaking an egg may sometimes yield a Downy Snagret rather than nectar.
- Cub Cues Protective Parent: Where there are Downy Snagrets, their burrowing adults aren't far behind.
- Imprinting: Discussed in its Piklopedia entry, in which it's mentioned that they follow around anything that resembles a Burrowing Snagret, but since the members of the Rescue Corps don't match the description of a tall and blue giant bird, they're only seen as food.
- Mini Mook: Juvenile versions of the larger Burrowing Snagret.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: It looks like a chicken chick with a stubby little snake body. Almost makes you feel bad for having to kill them.
