Glitches in Hey! Pikmin

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This is a collection of glitches possible in Hey! Pikmin.

Please read the glitch notes before attempting any of these glitches or before adding your own.

Out-of-bounds

Back-and-Forth Road

Reproducibility	Consequences	Demonstration
Medium	Harmless	YouTube video

• Effects: Sends Captain Olimar to a high ledge he shouldn't be able to reach, in Back and Forth Road.
• Prerequisites: None.
• How to: First, go on top of the iron block under the slope, and walk right next to the slope. Then, repeatedly throw Pikmin into the bottom right corner, as fast as you can. Right after doing that for a while, try using the jetpack and move to the right. With luck, you will fly up the top of the slope.
• Notes: None.
• Possible explanation: None.

Gameplay

Black screen lock

Reproducibility	Consequences
High	Harmful

• Effects: Makes the game get stuck in a black screen. Only the music will play.
• Prerequisites: Have never received the S.S. Dolphin II's speech about all your Pikmin having died, in this saved game. Have Lights in the Darkness unlocked.
• How to: In Lights in the Darkness, make your way up to the Bloominous Stemples that have Electripedes moving around above them. Activate an Electripede, stand on the Stemple that opened, along with your Pikmin and wait for the Electripede to stop producing electricity. You will fall along with your Pikmin, the ship will start the speech about how all Pikmin died, but will get interrupted by the fade-out caused by Olimar falling into the pit. The game will then enter a locked state.
• Notes: The only way out of this is by closing the console, or closing the game via the Home Menu.
• Possible explanation: None.

Olimar's Madcap Ride stick clip

Reproducibility	Consequences	Demonstration
High	Harmful	Discord video

• Effects: Causes a Pikmin to clip through a stick platform and land on an Adult Centipare as it dives into poison, which usually results in the Pikmin's death.
• Prerequisites: Have Olimar's Madcap Ride unlocked.
• How to: In Olimar's Madcap Ride, reach the segment where the 4 Coppellers (1 empty-handed, 1 with a Red Pikmin, 2 with red Sparklium seeds) fly in a circle. Be sure to have at least 8 Pikmin, as you'll need to be able to carry the Tempting Vision treasure. Stand at the head of the Adult Centipare and wait for the Hydroe bramble to go down behind you and throw 8 Pikmin onto the Tempting Vision. Wait for the Pikmin to land on the stick platform with Olimar below where it will land, and the glitch will have occurred.
• Notes: This can be very aggravating if you are trying to complete the stage with no Pikmin deaths, as it is likely the Pikmin will die upon performing this glitch.
• Possible explanation: None.

Pikmin falling through Secret Spot

Reproducibility	Consequences
High	Harmless

• Effects: Causes Pikmin to fall through the floor in Secret Spots.
• Prerequisites: Have Secret Spot 6 unlocked.
• How to: Follow the steps needed to obtain the pellet or treasure, but never remove the Pikmin that are hanging on to the pulley system. As the Pikmin that are carrying the treasure move, position Olimar where they will land, to the left of the lifted rock. When they land on Olimar, a few of them will go through the floor and end up inside the chamber where the rock was.
• Notes: This can also happen in other Secret Spots too, where the Pikmin may go through a wall at the edge of the stage, and fall to their death (as proven by their death cry). Pikmin that die in this manner do not affect anything.
• Possible explanation: None.

Walking animation lock

Reproducibility	Consequences	Demonstration
Medium	Harmful	YouTube video

• Effects: Causes Olimar to stay stuck walking in place.
• Prerequisites: Have an uncollected treasure.
• How to: Touch the treasure at the exact same moment as the Pikmin begin to lift it.
• Notes: You can still use the pause menu to leave this state.
• Possible explanation: None.

Misc.

Delayed eating

Reproducibility	Consequences
High	Harmless

• Effects: Makes a Pikmin get chomped, but continue to live and act like normal, until its death happens a split-second later.
• Prerequisites: Have Secret Spot 3 unlocked, which means having an amiibo and the ability to scan it.
• How to: On Secret Spot 3, throw a Red Pikmin at the rightmost part of the Bouncy Mushroom you can reach on the right wall. The Pikmin will go from there to the large mushroom on the left wall, and as it makes its way to the large horizontal mushroom, it will pass under the Mockiwi's beak. The Mockiwi will perform its chomping animation, but the Pikmin will continue on its path like normal. It will hit the horizontal mushroom, and bounce on the Mockiwi's head, causing damage. At around this time is also when the Mockiwi's eating animation finishes, so the Pikmin dies.
• Notes: None.
• Possible explanation: None.

Falling whistle glitch

Reproducibility	Consequences
High	Harmful

• Effects: Makes Captain Olimar float in mid-air during a cutscene, before eventually dropping to the ground, losing one bar of health, and respawning.
• Prerequisites: Have not seen the cutscene where you whistle the Rock Pikmin hiding in a bush in Crystal Tunnels.
• How to: On Crystal Tunnels, go to the section where the Grown-Up Cell is, but do not whistle the Rock Pikmin hiding behind the bush. Go up to the treasure, collect it, and go near the edge to the left of it. Then, walk off and whistle at the same time. This will cause Olimar to fall down whilst the small cutscene is triggered. When the cutscene is over and the camera zooms out, the glitch will take place.
• Notes: This can also be done in the demo.
• Possible explanation: None.

High Bouncy Mushroom jump

Demonstration of the glitch.

Reproducibility	Consequences
High	Harmless

• Effects: Makes Pikmin jump on a Bouncy Mushroom higher than normal during a Secret Spot collection cutscene.
• Prerequisites: Have Secret Spot 9 unlocked, which means having an amiibo and the ability to scan it.
• How to: Enter Secret Spot 9 and follow the puzzle until you're ready to collect the pellet or amiibo treasure. Instead of going towards it and grabbing it, break the sand block near the object, if you haven't already, and throw Pikmin at the very tip of the platform that it is on. The Pikmin should walk up to the object and grab it from the rightmost point possible. Now you can go grab it. When you do, the Pikmin hanging on to it will let go, run off the platform, run to the Bouncy Mushroom, and jump higher than normal. All this is happening while the collection cutscene is taking place, and the game won't advance to the celebration cutscene until the Pikmin land.
• Notes: This may be difficult to do with the Yellow Pikmin, but should be simple with the other two.
• Possible explanation: None.

Sliding Pikmin stuck

Reproducibility	Consequences
High	Harmless

• Effects: Makes Pikmin get temporarily stuck in the falling animation.
• Prerequisites: None.
• How to: On Crystal Tunnels, go down the starting shaft, and head left, just before the shaft with slope crystals. Stand on the straight floor right before the drop, and look at the blue gems in the ground. Stand on top of the largest one, such that there's around one Olimar-width between you and the edge to the left. Notice the first slope crystal in the fall, wedged on the right side of the wall – it's consisted of one large crystal and a very small overhang crystal on top of the big one. Now, hold a Pikmin, aim the crosshair at the tip of the small overhang crystal, and release. The Pikmin should bounce on some crystals on the way, and eventually get stuck on the vertical wall of the same big crystal. The Pikmin will eventually get out, but slightly different positioning and throws can make the Pikmin hang on for more or less time.
• Notes: This can also be done in the demo.
• Possible explanation: None.

Sudden rainbow rocks

Reproducibility	Consequences	Demonstration
High	Helpful	YouTube video

• Effects: Suddenly gives the player some rainbow rocks despite the rocks already going off-screen uncollected.
• Prerequisites: Have the Sparkling Labyrinth Sparklium Springs area available to enter.
• How to: Enter the Sparklium Springs at the Sparkling Labyrinth. Collect all of the clocks that appear. At the end of the challenge, when the large bubble with several rainbow rocks comes falling down, position Olimar in the center of the stage. Wait as the bubble drops down, and the moment that the bubble's center crosses Olimar's center, start throwing Pikmin as quickly as possible at his feet. This will wear down the bubble's health, without bursting it, and the bubble and its contents will continue flying down. The timing is not very strict, but judging Olimar's and the bubble's centers has a high change of success. When the challenge's time is over, a loud sound will play, and a sparkling effect will appear near Olimar, signifying that you've suddenly collected a few of the rainbow rocks inside, all at once. The rocks will be successfully added to the total.
• Notes: None.
• Possible explanation: None.

Terrain cut-in

Demonstration of the glitch.

Reproducibility	Consequences
High	Harmless

• Effects: Shows the terrain cut off, and popping in or out.
• Prerequisites: None.
• How to: Go to Scorched Earth. Open up the way to the Deluxe Something-or-Other and climb down the vine that leads to it. Then, climb the vine back up and keep an eye out on the top-right of the top screen. The terrain on that part of the screen extends up a fair bit, but midway through climbing, you should see it cut off from the top, for a bit. As you move on the vine, you'll see more or less be cut off, until it all pops into view when you climb high enough.
• Notes: None.
• Possible explanation: None.

Elongated Crushblat lowered

Reproducibility	Consequences	Demonstration
Unknown	Unknown	YouTube video

• Effects: Causes the player to be on the top screen, and the Elongated Crushblat to walk on the section below the one it should.
• Prerequisites: Unknown.
• How to: Unknown.
• Notes: None.
• Possible explanation: None.

Minor

Red Pikmin underwater in Pollution Pool.

Gameplay

• Pikmin that are hanging on to a vine cannot drown. This can be seen, for instance, in Pollution Pool. After getting the first four Red Pikmin, and crossing the first set of Seeding Dandelions, gather the Pikmin and climb into the vine nearby, lowering yourself into the water. The Pikmin will follow Captain Olimar and go underwater, without any adverse effect. They can stay there forever, but if you let go of the vine, they will instantly start drowning.

Aesthetic

• If the floor level changes while Captain Olimar is climbing up a ledge, he will perform the animation higher or lower than the ledge proper. This can be reproduced easily at the start of Drenchnozzle Den, by holding to the right against the wall while the first jet of water is rising up.
• Activating a cutscene right before Olimar sounds his whistle will cause the glow on his antenna to stay indefinitely, or until his whistle is blown again.

Hard to reproduce

There is no known way to reproduce any of the following glitches, but they're included here for completion's sake.

• It is possible for some Pikmin to get stuck, for unknown reasons.
• It is possible for a Yellow Pikmin to get stuck upside-down.

Other

See: Crash#Hey! Pikmin

See: Mistake#Hey! Pikmin

See: Out of bounds#Hey! Pikmin

See also

• Unused content in Hey! Pikmin