Armored Cannon Beetle

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An Armored Cannon Beetle with a group of Pikmin. This is one of the preview images of the game.

Armored Cannon Beetle

Granitus chukkulinae

The Armored Cannon Beetle is the mature stage of an Armored Cannon Beetle Larva. The beetle was first discovered during Olimar's first visit to the Pikmin planet. During his second voyage, only the larval stage was present. It is a large, metallic black beetle with a rounded thick shell of armor and a blowhole resting above its head. It attacks by inhaling through the blowhole and subsequently firing a rolling rock from its mouth, which will crush any of its smaller prey, such as Pikmin. The only way it can be defeated is by clogging the blowhole during air intake (Pikmin, and presumabley other small creatures, are impervious to harm when inhaled), which effectively sufficates the beetle. This asphyxiation causes the beetles interal temperature to rise dramatically, and in response the beetle will expose his burning thorax underneath the armor to vent. The exposed thorax leaves the beetle extremely vunerable to attack. However, the Beetle will quickly unclog its blowhole, shield its backside, and continue its attack after excess heat has been drained.

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An Armored Cannon Beetle about to fire a rock at Olimar and his Pikmin.

This creature is only found during Olimar's first visit in The Forest of Hope, where one is guarding the Radiation Canopy, and The Distant Spring, where one has ingested the Bowsprit.