Nectar

Artwork of Pikmin drinking nectar in Pikmin.

Nectar (大地のエキス^?, lit.: "Earth extract") is a substance that increases the maturity of Pikmin, usually to the flower stage. It comes in the form of large drops of liquid that Pikmin can drink. It works quite differently in the main series and in Pikmin Bloom.

In the main series

Usage

A screenshot of a drop of nectar in Pikmin 2.

Any leaf or bud Pikmin that pass by a drop of nectar on the ground will crouch down and begin to slurp it for roughly two seconds, regardless of whether it is idle or has been directed to it. At the end of the slurp, it will jump up and the leaf or bud on its head will turn into a flower.

In Pikmin and Pikmin 2, a single drop of nectar can be shared by any number of Pikmin, but as soon as one Pikmin starts to drink it, the drop will shrink until it disappears when the first Pikmin is done. This means that only Pikmin which start drinking the nectar within this time window will be flowered. The time window is quite strict in Pikmin, but lasts longer in Pikmin 2. The most effective way to get a large number of Pikmin drinking the same nectar drop is by swarming them in a tight group.

In Pikmin 3, a single drop of nectar can flower 10 Pikmin. When a single Pikmin drinks from a drop of nectar, it will drink one tenth of the drop. Thus it is not possible for an entire large squad to be flowered from a single drop, but is it also not possible to waste a drop on a single Pikmin.

In Pikmin 4, same as Pikmin 3, nectar can only flower 10 Pikmin. Oatchi can also drink nectar, which will heal him or increase his maximum health if it is already full, similarly to the effects of a Scrummy Bone. The Sunsquish and the Foolix can disguise themselves as nectar drops. Nectar drops out in the overworld will stay there until the end of the day, even if the player enters caves.

Obtaining

There are numerous places where nectar can be found. Most of these sources will produce a single drop of nectar most of the time, but can sometimes produce more.

• Nectar weed patches
• Piles of rubble
•  Honeywisps
•  Eggs
•  Iridescent Flint Beetles
•  Iridescent Glint Beetles
• Yellow Unmarked Spectralids
•  Yellow Spectralids
• Nectarous Dandelflies
•  Mitites
• Bulborb Larvae
•  Phosbat pods
• Petrified or Frozen enemies
•  Ujadani

Prima Guide notes

"This golden liquid causes immature Pikmin to instantly blossom. Pikmin move much faster once they've matured, so try to make use of any nectar you find."

Pikmin 2 Japanese website notes

Text

“この星では、色んな場所で「大地のエキス」を発見できる。特に生物の体内からは、多かれ少なかれこのエキスが検出される。この星の生態系はこのエキスの循環を基本として成り立っているのだ。ちなみに「ペレット」とは大地のエキスの濃縮したものであり、特に栄養価の高い物質なのである。”

Translation

“On this planet, "nectar" can be found in many places. This essence is detected to a greater or lesser extent in the bodies of living organisms in particular. The ecosystem of this planet is based on the circulation of this essence. Incidentally, “pellets” are a concentrated form of the nectar, and are a particularly nutritious substance.”

Glitch

Main article: Floating nectar.

In Pikmin Bloom

Nectar is a key item in Pikmin Bloom. It takes the form of small translucent balls that can be fed to Pikmin individually; feeding Pikmin nectar is the main way to get petals. Nectar is obtained by collecting fruits, completing weekly challenges, and occasionally by leveling up. There are many types of nectar, and each type has a limit on how many balls of it can be stored; this limit is 200 by default but can be increased with in-app purchases.

Feeding nectar

Feeding yellow rose nectar to a group of Pikmin.

Nectar can be fed to Pikmin in the garden screen. In this screen, a large ball of nectar appears at the bottom, and swiping up from it throws a small ball towards the Pikmin. Pikmin run towards the ball and whichever one picks it up gets to drink it, blooming in the process (unless a leaf Pikmin drinks a basic Nectar, which only buds it). If no Pikmin picks it up after a few seconds, it will disappear and return to the player's supply. Alternatively, nectar can be fed directly to Pikmin by holding down on the large ball and dragging the finger around the screen to give small balls to whatever Pikmin the finger passes over. This process works the same way for any type of nectar. The player can also double tap a Pikmin to focus on them, and while in this state only the Pikmin that is focused on will be fed nectar.

When a Pikmin is bloomed into the flower stage with any nectar type, its flower will glow. Tapping on the glowing flower will add petals of that color and type to the player's petal supply, making using nectar the main way of getting petals. Feeding a Pikmin also raises that Pikmin's friendship. A Pikmin cannot be fed nectar again until the glowing flower is tapped and stops glowing. If a Pikmin is fed six times within two hours, its flower will disappear after being tapped, and the Pikmin will be unable to be fed until its leaf regrows.

Nectar types

There are many types of nectar in this game, and each one blooms a different type of flower on a Pikmin's head. Different nectar types are distinguished by flower species and color. The following table displays all the nectar types (except for Special Nectar):

	White	Yellow	Red	Blue
Basic
Pansy
Rose
Poinsettia		N/A		N/A
Camellia		N/A		N/A
Plum blossom				N/A
Cherry blossom		N/A	N/A	N/A
Tulip
Carnation
Hydrangea		N/A
Lily				N/A
Sunflower	N/A		N/A	N/A
Spider Lily				N/A
Cosmos				N/A
Cyclamen		N/A
Daffodil			N/A	N/A
Windflower
Baby Blue Eyes	N/A	N/A	N/A
Calla Lily
Frangipani				N/A
Hibiscus				N/A
Dianthus		N/A
Gentian		N/A
Chrysanthemums
Helleborus
Cattleya
Hyacinth
Sweet Pea
Lily of the Valley		N/A		N/A
Peony
Water Lily
Morning Glory
Bougainvillea
Dahlia
Clematis

Basic nectar

Basic nectar comes in four colors: white (regular), yellow, red, and blue (in that order of rarity). Regular nectar produces white flowers and does not bloom leaf Pikmin straight to the flower stage, instead blooming them from leaf to bud and bud to flower in two steps. Yellow, red, and blue nectars produce flowers of those colors respectively, and bloom Pikmin straight to the flower stage.

Seasonal flower species

There are other species of flowers in Pikmin Bloom, which are rarer, and each of them has corresponding types of nectar. These nectar types take the appearance of a transparent orb containing an icon of the type of flower it will produce. When fed to a Pikmin, these will bloom that Pikmin straight to the flower stage, like colored nectar, and the flower atop the Pikmin's head will be the type of flower that the nectar represented instead of the standard Chaenostoma cordatum.

Special nectar

Special nectar.

There is also an extremely rare type of nectar, called special nectar, displayed as a faceted translucent magenta heart shape. Feeding it to a Pikmin raises its friendship by either 1 red heart or a quarter of a gold heart regardless of when the nectar is given, much more than the small fraction of a heart other nectar types increase it by. It will also cause whatever color of flower previously on the Pikmin to bloom into a basic flower of the same color.

In Pikmin Adventure

Nectar spread all over the ground in Pikmin Adventure.

Nectar makes an appearance in Nintendo Land's attraction Pikmin Adventure. Nectar is a common item that can be found inside "?" blocks, and appears as leftovers from destroyed enemies. Every three blobs, a player will level up. It takes level 5 to get a bud, and level 10 to get a flower. Players will also drop a few drops of nectar when hurt.

If the player isn't doing very well on a specific stage, the game will eventually spawn an Assist Block near the starting point. Once this block is broken, a large drop of nectar appears that, when collected, instantly evolves all players to level 50 plus 2 extra nectar. In timed missions, it also gives an extra minute.

Monita's notes

"Nectar is a condensed, highly nutritional food source that has been scientifically proven to encourage a Pikmin's growth. Also, it looks delicious."

Gallery

• 

  A Purple Pikmin at full bloom after drinking nectar.

• 

  Nectar on the ground in Pikmin 3.

• 

  A Nectarous Dandelfly from Pikmin 3.

• 

  A Honeywisp from Pikmin. Notice how its nectar is not carried in an egg, unlike all other games.

• 

  The data file explaining nectar.

• 

  A screenshot of an early version of Pikmin showing a blue drop of nectar.

Trivia

• Swarming Sheargrubs can also drink nectar, and will grow bigger if they do.
• Some early trailers for Pikmin depict nectar as blue. Internally, nectar in Pikmin is called water, suggesting that originally, nectar was meant to be droplets of water early in development. It was likely changed to prevent confusion between the hazard and the droplets.
• There is a pre-made WarioWare: D.I.Y. microgame called Pikmin. In the game, the throwing cursor moves back and forth. When the player taps the screen, Olimar will throw a Red Pikmin to the cursor. It must land on the rock where nectar is in order to win the game. If the player misses, the Pikmin will land in the pond and drown.
• In Pikmin 2, if the first Pikmin that drinks nectar is a Bulbmin, the cutscene will trigger but the sound of a normal Pikmin will play. Since Bulbmin have a different voice, this is likely a mistake.
• In Pikmin 3, if a leaf Pikmin drinks nectar, it back flips in happiness, but if a bud Pikmin drinks nectar, it will stretch its arms out and shake them.
• In a check in conversation in Pikmin 3, Brittany reveals that she tasted nectar, and describes it as bitter.
• Dalmo's notes on the Honeywisp state that nectar can be “in the form of an egg yolk, sap, or honey”, giving the first hint to what nectar actually is.

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning	Notes
Japanese	大地のエキス? Daichi no ekisu	Earth extract
Chinese (traditional)	大地精華	Essence of the Earth
Chinese (simplified)	大地精华	Essence of the Earth
Dutch	Nectar	Nectar	Name taken from official websites
French	Nectar	Nectar
German	Nektar	Nectar
Italian	Nettare	Nectar
Korean	대지의 정수 Daegiui jeongsu	Marrow of Earth
Portuguese (NoE)	Néctar	Nectar	Names taken from official websites
Spanish	Néctar	Nectar
Russian	Нектар Nektar	Nectar	Name taken from official websites

See also

• Maturity
• Ultra-spicy spray – In Pikmin 3, this spray also instantly blooms Pikmin, much like nectar
• Ultra-bitter spray – In Pikmin 2 the Ultra Bitter Spray petrifies enemies making them unable to move and once the enemy is defeated it will drop more Ultra Bitter Spray, Ultra Spicy Spray, or nectar.
• Ice Pikmin – In Pikmin 4 Ice Pikmin are able to freeze enemies and similar to the Ultra Bitter Spray, once defeated it will drop nectar and Ultra Spicy Spray.
• Ice Blast – Same as Ice Pikmin.