Bumbling Snitchbug

Bumbling Snitchbug
Appears in	Pikmin 2
Scientific name	Scarpanica doofenia
Family	Scarpanid
Areas	None
Caves	Subterranean Complex, Frontier Cavern, Shower Room, Cavern of Chaos, Hole of Heroes, Dream Den
Challenge Mode stages	The Giant's Bath, Abduction Den
2-Player Battle stages	None
Attacks	Kidnaps and throws leaders to the ground

The Bumbling Snitchbug (トテツチホカシ^?, lit.: "Picking Up and Dumping on the Ground Creature") is a creature found in Pikmin 2. Bumbling Snitchbugs closely resemble Swooping Snitchbugs in appearance, though they possess more body mass, make a different buzzing sound, and do not have as distinct a head. The two types also behave similarly towards small grounded creatures, but instead of targeting Pikmin specifically, these lumbering bug prefers to attack leaders, snatching them and tossing them to the ground. Leaders that the enemy has managed to take hold of will dismiss their army, but are able to struggle to free themselves if  /  / is twirled. Alternately, one could have the second leader throw Yellow Pikmin to combat a kidnapping Snitchbug.

Weighing these beasts down will cause them to crash into the ground, where they are easily overwhelmed by the player's Pikmin forces. When carrying a leader, Bumbling Snitchbugs fly higher than usual. These creatures are only harmful in areas with many enemies, where one might catch the player off guard, allowing for the disbanded Pikmin to be eaten. This, however, can easily be prevented by switching to the other leader and calling the Pikmin to resume battle. If a Snitchbug manages to capture both leaders, then the player is in a tough spot, and must break free quickly, or have idle Pikmin suffer.

Stats

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

Notes

Olimar's notes

“This is a variety of snitchbug. Its most interesting characteristic is that it likes to snitch leaders. Yet barring wanton carelessness or incompetence, leaders are not easily captured. Any leader caught by this creature is clearly an idiot, which is why this creature is also known as the exposing snitchbug. There are several known varieties of snitchbugs, but research has stagnated despite it being such an interesting species.”

Louie's notes

“Remove the wings and discard the remainder of the beast. Enjoy the luxurious, wafer-thin wings with fine water-dumple caviar.”

Pikmin 2 Nintendo Player's Guide

“One of two types of Snitchbugs, the Bumbling variety focuses on capturing your pilots. If it manages to hold on, eventually it will throw its victim (or victims) to the ground and cause serious damage. Shake free using the Control Stick and A Button, or switch control to the other pilot and attack with Pikmin.”

Behavior

The Bumbling Snitchbug is always found deep within caves. It behaves similarly to the Swooping Snitchbug in its movements, hovering a considerable distance above the ground, and flying over a relatively large area when left undisturbed. When approached, its one method of attack is to swoop down and snatch the approaching leader(s), in turn disbanding any Pikmin they had with them. It will carry its prize around for a while before throwing it harshly to the ground, briefly stunning the leader. The leader can, however, escape early.

When attacked, the Bumbling Snitchbug falls straight to the ground and proceeds to flail on its back until it can lift itself up again. At this point, the creature is completely vulnerable to more attacks. If only a few Pikmin are on the creature as it flies, it will not be taken to the ground, but rather it will defend itself with a quick shake.

Strategy

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

On its own, the Bumbling Snitchbug poses no real threat. Just avoid its occasional swoop and then proceed to toss yellow Pikmin onto it in order to ground it where you can defeat it quickly by swarming with a large army. If no yellows are available, any other kind of Pikmin will work, however you must wait for the creature to lower itself or swoop down to ground entirely before attacking.

The Bumbling Snitchbug becomes a pest when it is found with other dangerous creatures. If it is able to capture one of your leaders, all the Pikmin following him will be disbanded and made very vulnerable to attacks from the enemies that can actually kill. The simplest strategy is to just stay moving as you fight the other creatures; just avoiding the Snitchbug's attacks will allow for you to fight the other creatures, eliminating all real danger, and then you can proceed to safely take out the Snitchbug. Trying specifically to avoid its attacks, however, may place you in some bad positions, especially in tighter caves, so this strategy can be dangerous and requires skill. A safer but more time-consuming strategy is to lure the Snitchbug away from the crowd (this is usually easy considering it will stalk its target for a considerable distance before giving up) and take it out when it poses no threat, then move on to the larger group.

For skilled players, the most effective strategy is probably to just keep the Snitchbug incapacitate by frequently tossing some Pikmin onto it, forcing it to the ground over and over. The Snitchbug will shake frequently when attacked, so you also must be ready to whistle your Pikmin back, or have the surrounding enemies under control such that they are unable to reach the briefly vulnerable Pikmin. This strategy requires that you are able to switch targets frequently in battle, and that you have full control over all Pikmin, so it can be difficult to pull this off without death, especially in larger battles.

The above strategies discuss how to avoid the Bumbling Snitchbug entirely in battle, however, in the case that one does manage to capture one of the leaders, you should quickly switch to the other one to round up any disbanded Pikmin. Therefore, it is important to have both leaders present during a fight. Though you can make it away with little to no damage from the Bumbling Snitchbug grabbing just one leader, it is important to still avoid or prevent its attacks because if it manages to grab both leaders, nothing can be done to help the Pikmin left below until you break free.

Technical information

Pikmin 2 technical information (?)
Internal name			demon
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)	17.5
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	0.25
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	80
fp08	回転速度率	Rotation acceleration	0.1
fp09	テリトリー	Territory radius	300
fp10	ホーム範囲	"Home" radius	200
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	90
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?)	70
fp21	攻撃可能角度	Unknown (shock attack max angle?)	15
fp22	攻撃ヒット範囲	Unknown (attack hit range?)	70
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	10
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	60
fp33	マップとのあたりポリゴンの選定	Collision processing radius	35
fp34	ピクミンとのあたり	Pikmin damage radius	15
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	通常飛行高さ	Normal flight height	85
fp02	掴み飛行高さ	Flight height while holding	120
fp03	状態遷移高さ	Unknown	50
fp04	通常移動速度	Normal movement speed	100
fp05	掴み移動速度	Movement speed while holding captain	75
fp06	ウェイト時間	Duration it idles while patrolling	3
fp11	上昇係数(0)	Unknown	1.5
fp12	上昇係数(5)	Unknown	1
fp21	振払確率(1)	Chance pikmin are thrown off instead of taking it down	0.3
fp22	振払確率(5)	Unknown	0.85
fp23	もがき時間	Unknown	1
fp31	ハント下降係数	Determines how far it descends while swooping	0.3
fp32	ハント後減衰率	Unknown	0.95
fp41	Fall Meck 速度	Unknown	300

Other information

• Size: Body length: 35mm, as per the e-card
• Pikmin 2 Piklopedia number: #32

Naming

See more: Scarpanid family#Naming.

• Common name: Bumbling Snitchbug. To distinguish it from the Swooping Snitchbug, the first word in this enemy's name is "Bumbling", which means "doing something in a clumsy way", relating to its more disorganized way of moving. "Bumbling" also means "making a buzzing noise similar to a bee". Bumblebees are known for having large hairs, which make them appear bigger than regular bees; perhaps this influenced the name of the Bumbling Snitchbug, given that it is larger than the Swooping Snitchbug.
• Japanese nickname: トテツチホカシ^?. It comes from a corruption of 取る^? (lit.: "pick up"), 土^? (lit.: "dirt") and ほかす^? (lit.: "dump").
• Japanese name: トテツチホカシムシ^?, lit.: "Picking Up and Dumping on the Ground Bug".
• Scientific name: Scarpanica doofenia. Doofenia may be derived from "doofus".
• Internal names: Internally, it is called demon, although the reason for this is not known.
• Prerelease: None.

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning	Notes
Japanese	トテツチホカシ? Tote Tsuchi Hokashi	Picking Up and Dumping on the Ground Creature	From a corruption of 取る? (lit.: "pick up"), 土? (lit.: "dirt") and ほかす? (lit.: "dump").
French	Piquépille Empoté	Bumbling Snitchbug
German	Lahmer Klaukäfer	Sluggish Snitchbug
Italian	Dittero maldestro	Bumbling Snitchbug
Spanish (NoA)	Moscardón usurpador	Usurper bumblebee

Gallery

• 

  Official artwork of the Bumbling Snitchbug.

• 

  Alternate scan of the Bumbling Snitchbug's artwork.

• 

  A Bumbling Snitchbug in the Piklopedia.

• 

  A Bumbling Snitchbug having caught Captain Olimar.

• 

  A Bumbling Snitchbug that has been forced down to the ground.

• 

  A Bumbling Snitchbug's corpse.

• 

  The Piklopedia icon of the Bumbling Snitchbug in the Nintendo Switch version of Pikmin 2.

• 

  The Bumbling Snitchbug's e-card, #36 (14^th blue card).

Trivia

• The Bumbling Snitchbug's design may possibly a reference to stereotypical Japanese cat burglars.^{[source needed]} The hands look like gloves and the abdomen resembles the typical green bag the burglars always carry around. They share this inspiration with Tac from Kirby Super Star.
• Along with Swooping Snitchbugs, idle Bumbling Snitchbugs rub their hands together, similar to flies.

See also

• Swooping Snitchbug
• Antenna Beetle
• Leader