Careening Dirigibug

Careening Dirigibug
Appears in	Pikmin 2
Scientific name	Flotillium circusmaximus
Family	Dirigibug
Areas	None
Caves	Subterranean Complex, Submerged Castle, Cavern of Chaos, Hole of Heroes, Dream Den
Challenge Mode stages	Abduction Den, Sniper Room
2-Player Battle stages	Hostile Territory
Attacks	Drops bomb-rocks

The Careening Dirigibug (サクレウラメ^?, lit.: "Backfiring Explosion") is an unusual insectoid enemy in Pikmin 2. It's a legless creature that slowly drifts through the air by utilizing colorful, balloon-like air sacs attached to what can be considered its head. When leaders or Pikmin approach, it will produce a bomb rock from its mouth and attempt to throw it down near them. The bomb rocks thrown by the Careening Dirigibug are not player-exclusive and can damage nearby enemies and hazards. It is found solely underground, in caves, Challenge Mode areas, and the Hostile Territory in 2-Player Battle.

Stats

Weight	Max. carriers	Seeds	Value	Health	Regen.
3	6	8	× 4	1500	No

Notes

Olimar's notes

“This creature floats effortlessly through the air using gas-filled balloons. Both its appearance and its nature are antagonistic. And it is the only variant of its species in this ecosystem. It may be best to consider the possibility that it somehow wandered into this ecosystem from an entirely alien one. Positive proof does not exist at this point, but that is how the creature is currently classified.”

Louie's notes

“Pull off the balloonlike air sacs, mince the meaty abdomen, and shape it into small cakes. Pan-sear the cakes until crusted, but be careful not to overcook the delicate meat. When ready to serve, garnish the plate with the vibrant air sacs. Even the most discerning dinner guest will be dazzled by the colorful presentation!”

Behavior

Careening Dirigibugs are always found in caves. They start off slowly drifting around in wide arcs at a similar height to Swooping Snitchbugs. However, when approached by a Pikmin or leader, a Dirigibug will produce a bomb rock from its mouth in about two seconds. It will then try to approach the Pikmin or leader, and once close enough it will stop to throw the bomb rock on the ground, activating the bomb rock's timer. The bomb can kill Pikmin, damage leaders and enemies, and defeat hazards, but it does not seem to hurt the Dirigibug if it is high enough in the air. However, the bomb rock can still damage the creature if the latter is grounded. If the Pikmin or leader exits the Dirigibug's territory while it has a bomb, it will continue to hold it for roughly twenty five seconds, until just dropping it anywhere.

Strategy

The following article or section contains guides. The strategies shown are just suggestions.

Careening Dirigibugs can be defeated in the same manner as Scarpanids and other flying enemies: rapidly throw Pikmin onto it while in the air, then swarm it when it falls. Like members of the Scarpanid family, the Careening Dirigibug can shake off Pikmin up to four times before dropping, but a Purple Pikmin will ground them immediately. Approach the creature from behind if possible, and use ultra-bitter spray if it is carrying a bomb-rock.

Unless it's petrified, the creature will throw its bomb a random distance in front of it when attacked. Should the bomb land too close to the Dirigibug, it is safest to back off and attack after the bomb has exploded. With speed you can accomplish this before the Dirigibug can produce a new bomb.

Careening Dirigibugs are useful in that they can take out other enemies. You can lure it into throwing a bomb-rock in front of you and the enemies, and then run off.

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl

The Careening Dirigibug appears as a trophy in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

	Description: “A dangerous, offensive-minded creature. It uses balloons to keep it afloat as it flies through the air and drops bomb-rocks on ground-bound prey. These bomb-rocks sometimes turn out to be duds, but since the slightest stimulus can set these things off, the ultimate care should be taken with them. Pikmin 2”
How to obtain: Random appearance.		Type: Fighter Related

Glitches

This article or section needs to be cleaned up, either its format or general style. Notes: Move to the glitches article when they're good, but first, confirm them.

• There is a rare glitch where one can be seen floating without balloons.
• In some dungeons like the Hole of Heroes, a Careening Dirigibug can throw a bomb rock over a barrier when trying to kill Pikmin on the other side. On the first floor of the Cavern of Chaos, some can get caught in the pipes.
• One glitch that can occur with the Careening Dirigibug involves invisible bombs. A leader may activate a bomb while the Dirigibug is still holding it, which will cause it to explode while the creature is still holding the bomb. The Careening Dirigibug continues the "holding" animation, even when there is no bomb there. It will eventually perform the throwing animation without the bomb.
• In this creature's Piklopedia entry, petrifying it just as it breaks free from another spray makes it possible to freeze it and its bomb-rock separately.

Technical information

Pikmin 2 technical information (?)
Internal name			bombsarai
Global properties (List)
ID	Japanese comment	Property	Value
s000	friction(not used)	Friction	0.5
s001	wallReflection	Unknown (wall bounce speed multiplier?)	0.5
s002	faceDirAdjust	Unknown	0.25
s003	accel	Acceleration	0.1
s004	bounceFactor	Unknown (bounce when it hits the ground?)	0.3
fp00	ライフ	HP	1500
fp01	マップとの当り	Unknown (related to slopes)	20
fp02	ダメージスケールXZ	Horizontal damage scale	0.2
fp03	ダメージスケールY	Vertical damage scale	0.2
fp04	ダメージフレーム	Damage scale duration	0.35
fp05	質量	Unknown (weight?)	0.01
fp06	速度	Move speed	60
fp08	回転速度率	Rotation acceleration	0.1
fp09	テリトリー	Territory radius	200
fp10	ホーム範囲	"Home" radius	100
fp11	プライベート距離	"Private" radius	50
fp12	視界距離	Sight radius	200
fp13	視界角度	FOV	180
fp14	探索距離	Unknown (exploration radius?)	200
fp15	探索角度	Unknown (exploration angle?)	120
fp16	振り払い率	Successful shake rate	1
fp17	振り払い力	Shake knockback	80
fp18	振り払いダメージ	Shake damage	1
fp19	振り払い範囲	Shake range	120
fp20	攻撃可能範囲	Unknown (shock attack max range?)	100
fp21	攻撃可能角度	Unknown (shock attack max angle?)	45
fp22	攻撃ヒット範囲	Unknown (attack hit range?)	50
fp23	攻撃ヒット角度	Unknown (attack hit angle?)	15
fp24	攻撃力	Attack damage	10
fp25	視界高	Unknown (height visibility?)	50
fp26	探索高	Unknown (exploration height?)	50
fp27	ライフの高さ	HP wheel height	50
fp28	回転最大速度	Rotation speed	2
fp29	警戒時間	Unknown (warning time?)	15
fp30	警戒ライフ	Unknown	100
fp31	ライフ回復率	Regeneration rate	0
fp32	LOD半径	Off-camera radius	80
fp33	マップとのあたりポリゴンの選定	Collision processing radius	30
fp34	ピクミンとのあたり	Pikmin damage radius	20
fp35	石化時間	Petrification duration	1
fp36	ヒップドロップダメージ	Purple Pikmin drop damage	50
fp37	地震気絶確立	Purple Pikmin stun chance	0.3 (30%)
fp38	地震気絶時間	Purple Pikmin stun time	5
ip01	振り払い打撃Ａ	Shake mode 1 – hit count	3
ip02	振り払い張付１	Shake mode 1 – Pikmin requirement	3
ip03	振り払い打撃Ｂ	Shake mode 2 – hit count	8
ip04	振り払い張付２	Shake mode 2 – Pikmin requirement	5
ip05	振り払い打撃Ｃ	Shake mode 3 – hit count	15
ip06	振り払い張付３	Shake mode 3 – Pikmin requirement	10
ip07	振り払い打撃Ｄ	Shake mode 4 – hit count	30
Specific properties
ID	Japanese comment	Property	Value
fp01	飛行高さ	Unknown (hover height?)	70
fp03	状態遷移高さ	Unknown	50
fp10	上下の揺れ速度	Unknown	2.5
fp11	上下の揺れ幅	Unknown	20
fp21	上昇係数(0)	Unknown	1.5
fp22	上昇係数(5)	Unknown	1
fp31	振払確率(1)	Unknown	0.2
fp32	振払確率(5)	Unknown	0.8
fp40	もがき時間	Unknown (time it spends struggling on the ground?)	0.8

Other information

• Size: Body length: 47mm, as per the e-card
• Pikmin 2 Piklopedia number: #33

Naming

Careening in a chiefly North American sense means moving "in an uncontrolled way in a specified direction", which the Dirigibug performs to some degree. "Dirigibug" is a combination of "dirigible", referring to how the creature stays afloat using large balloon-like sacs, and the word "bug". In Japan, it is known as サクレウラメ^?, which could be translated as "Backfiring Explosion": さくれ^? means "explosion" and うらめ^? means "backfire". The reason for this name is unknown, since the explosions never backfire on the enemy.

Its scientific name is Flotillium circusmaximus. Flotillium is similar to the English word "float" and circusmaximus is a combination of "circus" and "maximus". This might be referring to how the creature's colorful balloons make it look like something out of a circus, but it could also be a possible reference to the ancient Circus Maximus in Rome. Its internal name is bombsarai, which is a combination of "bomb" and "sarai", with the latter being the internal name for the Swooping Snitchbug.

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	サクレウラメ? Sakure Urame	Backfiring Explosion
French	Flotteur Explosif	Explosive Floater
German	torkelnder Bomber	Staggering Bomber
Italian	Dirigibaco	Dirigibug

Gallery

• 

  A Careening Dirigibug in the Piklopedia.

• 

  Another screenshot of the creature in the Piklopedia.

• 

  A Careening Dirigibug without a bomb rock.

• Careening Dirigibug Corpse.png

  The corpse of the Careening Dirigibug.

• 

  Artwork of a Careening Dirigibug. Notice its balloons are slightly different colors than ones in-game.

• 

  The creature's e-card, #37 (14^th yellow card).

• 

  The Brazilian Treehopper, a real world insect that bears a striking resemblance to the Dirigibug.

Trivia

• The Super Smash Bros. Brawl trophy description details that Careening Dirigibugs occasionally throw dud bomb-rocks, which is not true in Pikmin 2. This could be referring to the inactive bomb-rocks usually found near the creatures, an earlier version of Pikmin 2 that had this behavior, or it could just be a mistake. A glitch does exist where bomb-rocks stay stuck and never explode, but it is unlikely that this is what the trophy was referring to.
• Every sublevel has a limit on how many bomb-rocks it can have. If a Careening Dirigibug's bomb rocks are petrified such that they stay active as the creature creates more, it will fail to spit out a new one once the limit has been reached.
• The Careening Dirigibugs bear a strange resemblance to the Eosapiens from the documentary "Alien Planet", and also from Wayne Barlowe's book, Expedition. Both these creatures float using gas-filled sacks on their heads, effectively hunt down their targets, and also have generally similar body shapes.
• It is odd that Louie details the balloon-like air sacks in his notes, because the air sacks all burst upon defeat.

See also

• Bomb rock
• Gatling Groink