Glitches in Pikmin 4

This is a collection of glitches possible in Pikmin 4.

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

Main

Wayward Moon duplication

Reproducibility	Consequences	Versions	Demonstration
High	Helpful	1.0.1 only (fixed in 1.0.2)	YouTube video

• Effects: Allows a collected Wayward Moon to respawn, making it possible to earn more Sparklium from it and increase the completion tracker over 100%.
• Prerequisites: Have access to Cavern for a King and have collected the Wayward Moon on sublevel 10 of the cave.
• How to: On sublevel 10 of Cavern for a King, allow the Smoky Progg to hatch, wait one minute, then use Rewind Time to go back to after the boss was activated. It will once again be carrying the Wayward Moon, and will drop it when defeated.
• Notes: Increasing the completion tracker over 100% with this glitch will also trigger completion-related cutscenes. The Treasure Catalog will count the extras in the "Found/Total" field, but there will be no extras in the diorama for the Spring Crop Series.
• Possible explanation: None.

Rush out-of-bounds

Reproducibility	Consequences	Other demonstrations
Low	Helpful	Discord video

• Effects: Allows you to escape the intended play area.
• Prerequisites: Be able to ride Oatchi.
• How to: By standing on the very edge of a ledge while riding Oatchi, he will tilt as if he is standing on a sloped surface. By aiming up the incline and using rush, Oatchi will launch a distance into the air as he runs forwards. This can clear some otherwise impassable walls.
• Notes: None.
• Possible explanation: None.

Gameplay

Broken Go Here

Reproducibility	Consequences	Demonstration
Low	Harmful	Reddit post

• Effects: Makes the "Go Here" function unusable.
• Prerequisites: Have Oatchi's Command skill at level 2 or higher (have "Go Here" unlocked).
• How to: Use Oatchi's rush while facing a wall, then open the radar the second he collides with the wall. The "Go Here" function should now become unusable, and placing your cursor at a location on the map will only bring up the "Face This Way" option. This will persist throughout the entirety of the stage, whether you are playing as Oatchi or the player character.
• Notes: This currently has only been observed in Dandori Challenges, in which the only way to restore the "Go Here" function is to completely exit the challenge. Restarting the stage will not fix the glitch. Additionally, while this glitch is fairly hard to reproduce, multiple Dandori Challenge strategies involve performing "Go Here" right after ramming Oatchi into a wall to knock down an object as to save time, so the glitch does end up happening by accident.
• Possible explanation: None.

Flying Oatchi

Reproducibility	Consequences	Demonstration	Other demonstrations
Medium	Depends	YouTube video	YouTube video

• Effects: Makes Oatchi move quickly and erratically, and even fly around.
• Prerequisites: Have learned swallow.
• How to: Position Oatchi under an object that will fall when enough Pikmin are on it to knock it free. As the object is falling, press to swallow it.
• Notes: Oatchi can also do this and become tiny, but the method is not known. In this tiny state, any Pikmin that jump on his back will also be tiny. The player's leader can also have this happen to them, though when dismounting Oatchi. The method to this is also not known.
• Possible explanation: None.

Item duplication

Reproducibility	Consequences	Demonstration	Other demonstrations
Medium	Helpful	Twitter video	1, 2, 3

• Effects: Makes it so the player can hold a duplicate of the pack item they had.
• Prerequisites: Have a stock of only one of the item to duplicate. Assign a shortcut button to that item.
• How to: Select the item you want to duplicate from your pack. Immediately after you use it, press its shortcut button. You will be holding a duplicate of that item, while the real last item you had in your pack will have been used. This is easiest to reproduce with the lightning shock, since the shortcut can be timed with the press of the button instead of its release, as is the case with something like a bomb rock.
• Notes: This duplicate can only be held in your hands and used, and cannot be put into the pack. However, if this is used on an item that can be retrieved after being used, like a thrown pikpik carrot or mine, you can put that one back in your pack while still holding a duplicate ready to use. In addition, for something like a bomb rock, it can be thrown into a Candypop Bud – the bud will take it in and shortly after spit it back out, at which point it can be collected as a genuine item. Because the duplicate is not really recognized by the HUD, the game will say that you have as many as the Pikmin type or object type that was before on the HUD, even though this is only a visual quirk.
• Possible explanation: None.

Leader jump glitch

Reproducibility	Consequences	Demonstration
High	Helpful	YouTube video

• Effects: Makes the player character jump on top of a short wall.
• Prerequisites: Be able to ride Oatchi.
• How to: Position Oatchi on the opposite side of a short wall and leave him idling there. Position the leader on the opposite side of the wall. When the prompt to ride Oatchi appears, press the button. The leader should perform a jump in Oatchi's direction to get on him, but if the wall is low enough they will jump on top of the wall instead.
• Notes: None.
• Possible explanation: None.

Oatchi boosting

Reproducibility	Consequences	Demonstration
High	Helpful	Reddit

• Effects: Makes the player character go flying, either vertically or horizontaly.
• Prerequisites: Have Oatchi and a source for big knockback (bomb-rocks works best)
• How to: Have the player be next to a sloped wall and have Oatchi a small distance from the wall. Then have Oatchi take knockback into the player.
• Notes: This can also be done with Moss instead of Oatchi, and any ship part or treasure instead of the player.
• Possible explanation: None.

Pikmin-related

Pikmin duplication (Candypop Bud)

Reproducibility	Consequences	Other demonstrations
Medium	Helpful	Discord video

• Effects: Allows you to clone Pikmin, as well as go over the 100 Pikmin limit.
• Prerequisites: Be in a cave sublevel with a Candypop Bud in it, and have Pikmin of that same type.
• How to: Throw 5 Pikmin of the Candypop Bud's type into it. It will spit out the 5 seeds back and open up again to allow more Pikmin. During this opening sequence, throw more Pikmin at it. Eventually, some of them will be considered inside the Candypop Bud and ready for conversion, while in reality they actually slid off the flower and are in the sublevel with you. As a result, when the Candypop Bud spits out more seeds, it will include some extras because of the Pikmin it thinks it managed to take in. By repeating this over and over, the extras will eventually pile up and can break the Pikmin limit. This glitch is easiest to perform with Purple Pikmin.
• Notes: Only 120 Pikmin will follow you/hop on Oatchi at a time. While performing the glitch the inverse can also happen, in that Pikmin that successfully went inside the Candypop Bud won't be accounted for, meaning you can lose Pikmin if your timing is off.
• Possible explanation: None.

Pikmin duplication (Onion)

Reproducibility	Consequences	Other demonstrations
High	Helpful	Reddit post

• Effects: Allows you to get infinite Pikmin.
• Prerequisites: Have unlocked the type of Onion that you want the type of Pikmin to be duplicated, have saved Dalmo, Schnauz, or Puddle, is in the Rescue Command Post, and have not collected all pellets in the area.
• How to: Open a cave menu but do not enter the cave. Talk to Dalmo, Schnauz, or Puddle to unload the area and go back afterward. Finally, bring a pellet to the Onion. The Onion will produce 4 seeds for each pellet if done correctly.
• Notes: The types of Pikmin with the sprouts will not be produced if not put into the Onion. If you haven't unlocked the Purple Onion yet, you can take out 100 Purple Pikmin and wait. This trick can also be used to get infinite raw materials by talking to François.
• Possible explanation: None.

Winged Pikmin crystal nodule glitch

Reproducibility	Consequences	Other demonstrations
High	Harmful	Discord video

• Effects: Makes Winged Pikmin fly off without stopping. Also randomly makes a crystal nodule break for no reason.
• Prerequisites: None.
• How to: Throw or charge a few Winged Pikmin at a crystal nodule. If you use too many, the crystal might break by itself. Some of the Pikmin will hover above the obstacle, and some will fly off in whatever direction they were moving at a random moment. When the crystal breaks, those Pikmin will return to being idle like normal, but they may be too far out of bounds to be easily accessed.
• Notes: None.
• Possible explanation: None.

Aesthetic

Small object spit out

Reproducibility	Consequences	Other demonstrations
Low	Harmless	Discord image

• Effects: Makes an object appear smaller than normal.
• Prerequisites: Have Oatchi learn swallow.
• How to: Let Oatchi carry an object, like an enemy corpse, and then get hit by an Arctic Cannon Beetle's snowball just as he's spitting it out. The animation will be interrupted and the object will stay at a small size.
• Notes: None.
• Possible explanation: None.

Minor

Gameplay

• Oatchi can rush against something to make nearby Pikmin sprouts pop out of the ground. However, if he rushes against a Candypop Bud right after it ejects seeds, the seeds will be "plucked" in mid-air. This is the fastest way to pluck Pikmin from a Candypop Bud.
• Rarely, Pikmin can get in odd positions while trying to carry something, and may need a few seconds before they start moving. After a while they'll instantly snap into the right orientation and position.
• It is possible for a Glow Pikmin to go partially underground when ordered to charge. The Pikmin will pop out when the player gets near.
• If, in the gameplay options, the horizontal rotation of the camera is inverted, holding and walking will cause the camera to rotate to be in front of the player instead of behind. This may be due to the inversion option inverting all movement of the camera, instead of specifically rotation with .
• If an object that's suspended in mid-air with a web is weighed down with Pikmin and is about to get free, and a cutscene begins during, the object will stay suspended in mid-air with no way to retrieve it.
• When ordering Oatchi to carry one of the Skitter Leaf carcasses from the group of 8 in Secluded Courtyard sublevel 1, he will try to go through the narrow opening on the railing and get temporarily stuck in an odd position.
• By moving the Buddy Display and immediately dropping it, then returning to it on a later day, it will be impossible to carry the treasure.. Version 1.0.2 fixes this problem.
• If there's a medium-sized object on the hill near the paper bag near the Engulfed Castle, the current base is Blossoming Dunes, and Oatchi carries the object without swallowing it, he will climb the slope.
• If you stand in front of certain thin walls in caves, idle Glow Pikmin can teleport into the wall and get stuck temporarily.

Aesthetic

• By going to the Piklopedia, selecting an enemy that is active at night, leaving the Piklopedia, then going to the Treasure Catalog, the treasures will be displayed at night. Pressing to toggle to day will reload the scene and show night still. Pressing again will change to day as expected, however.
• In the Piklopedia, if the player sees Olimar's or Louie's notes, chooses to engage, and then backs out, the game will return to the notes page, show the notes from the character in question, highlight their button accordingly, but the small triangle that makes the notes pop out from out of the character button will be on Dalmo instead. Selecting another character's notes will fix it.
• If the player highlights any treasure of the Ultra-Hyper-Technology Series in the Piklopedia and swaps to the page that shows where it was first seen and what series it belongs to, the series name is large enough to overlap with the "Series:" label.
• The tracks of the music that plays in the Treasure Catalog sometimes desync.
• If the player completes the Trial Of The Sage Leaf stage Gimmick Gambit without lowering the gates by using the "Gimmickier Gambit" skip, there is a chance that the victory screen will just show a gray square and show 00:00 as the time remaining.
• If the player character helps a Winged Pikmin carry a 1 weight object, like a 1 pellet, the player will perform a "hanging on" animation but with the object at their waist and their arms upward hanging on to nothing. This happens whether the pellet is carried on the floor (the leader grabs first) or the pellet is carried in the air (Winged Pikmin carries first).
• If a Flighty Joustmite is stabbing the floor when the night ends in a night expedition, it will walk away in mid-air.
• If the cutscene for a leader or Oatchi being knocked out takes place while the Ancient Sirehound's flame rings are on the field, they will turn invisible after the cutscene, though still active.
• If a Pikmin the player haven't seen yet is on Oatchi once the cutscene starts, it will be in the air once the cutscene starts.
• For unknown reasons, the music tracks in the Treasure Catalog can become desynced. It is possible this could happen for other pieces of music, but none have been found.

Hard to reproduce

• Hitting a Smoky Progg with a glowmob just as it is about to drop down from a ledge might make it fall through the floor and die when it touches the pit.
• It is possible for Louie to say a text string ID instead of a proper topic of conversation when talked to.
• By walking up against a wall of a short ledge and throwing a mine such that the leader is between the wall and mine when it lands, it's possible for the leader to walk up the ledge.
• It is possible for Oatchi's mouth to stay closed while he's barking after receiving a command.
• By opening the Survey Drone and charging it is possible to keep sliding forward if the game is unpaused within the Survey Drone. In this state, the leader bounces around when they hit walls.
• It is possible for Oatchi to go out of bounds when going through a tunnel. In this state, the player can take control of him and move out of bounds.
• It is possible for the standby Pikmin HUD elements to be misaligned.
• It is possible for some created Glow Pikmin to be invisible in the Piklopedia.
• When talking to Dalmo and getting him to give the player their reward for finding 75 creatures, it is possible for Dalmo to repeat the process when talked to again, and then afterwards softlock the game. The same can happen with the reward for finding all creatures, but instead of softlocking, he constantly gives the player the reward every time they are talked to, and do not open the Piklopedia.
• Winged Pikmin that are carrying the White Onion can get snagged on a Mammoth Snootwhacker's carcass and drag it around in the air.
• If Oatchi is carrying a large treasure and the Waterwraith rolls against it, Oatchi might get crushed even if he is quite far away.
• It is possible for Tusked Blowhog corpses to spring very high in the air when the Pikmin begin carrying it.
• It is possible for a Red Pikmin to be in the squad, but not be recognized in the standby HUD icons, and to not be able to be thrown.
• It is possible for the game to suddenly declare a Pikmin extinction for no reason.
• It is possible for a carried treasure to suddenly be beamed into the S.S. Beagle despite not being close to it.
• It is possible for the screen to flash some elements in strong colors for a few frames.
• If a Pikmin idles near a Yellow Spectralids carcass that is on top of a defeated Pellet Posy, they can teleport up to it and then fail to carry it while slanted at an odd angle.
• When rewinding and plucking some sprouts afterwards, it is possible for the player to have one extra Pikmin, even reaching 101 Pikmin when the limit is 100.
• It is possible for the player's squad of Pikmin to line up for no apparent reason.
• It is possible for a Giant Breadbug to attach to an object to carry it, but be offset by a large distance.
• It is possible for the player character and Oatchi to continuously pluck Purple Pikmin that came out of a Candypop Bud without stopping. This continuously adds Pikmin to the squad.
• It is possible for a Winged Pikmin to stay in the cowering state when it comes out of hiding. In this state, it follows the leader by walking, and when it stops walking, it goes back to ducking. They return to normal after hiding again.
• If Oatchi is told to carry something while another Pikmin carrying an object is in the way, he may attach to the object wrong and start moving erratically for a while.
• If a Yellow Wollyhop tries to jump, hits its head on a treasure being carried by Winged Pikmin, and gets hit by a Purple Pikmin's pound, it may freeze and start moving in a straight line, ignoring gravity.
• When a Yellow Wollyhop carcass is carried, it is possible for it to suddenly croak and instantly become upright.
• If Oatchi gets up from being knocked down at the same time he's caught by a snowball from an Arctic Cannon Larva, he may get pushed into the wall and go out of bounds.
• If a Bogswallow dies just as it starts sucking, the sound may continue to play forever.
• It's possible for a dead Whiptongue Bulborb to stay upright in its walking animation as it is being carried, and then stay upright without walking while being beamed in to the Onion.
• If Oatchi touches the Foolix just as it is about to grow from being a small puddle, he may become stuck in place, unable to be controlled, but also immune to being caught by the Foolix.
• Sometimes, when defeating the Man-At-Legs in Cavern for a King, one of the Bright Swords will clip through the hill in the middle of the cavern, rendering it unobtainable until the sublevel is restarted.
• During a night expedition, if you have Oatchi eat a glow pellet and switch players while doing so, you can cause Oatchi to freeze in a fixed position acting like a solid object.
• Sometimes, all objects on screen will flash white.

See also

• Unused content in Pikmin 4