Submerged Castle

Submerged Castle
Location	Perplexing Pool
Sublevels	5
Treasures	13
Hazards	class="navbox mw-collapsible autocollapse navbox-light" style="background-color: #eee;"	Hazards
Fire Water Electricity Poison Ice Battle Sunset Crush Stab Explosion
Other hazards

|-

|-

|} The Submerged Castle is usually the second-to-last cave discovered in the Perplexing Pool in Pikmin 2 and is arguably one of the hardest caves in the game. It is also submerged in water, so it is only accessible to Blue Pikmin; even if one manages to get a non-Blue Pikmin to come with them as they enter the cave (which can be done by utilizing the Blue Pikmin to throw the other Pikmin as they drown), they still will not be allowed to enter. It has been programmed into the game that they cannot enter the cave in any way, making it pointless to attempt. All types of hazards are found here, though there are Bulbmin to be found as well. In order for the Captains to gain forty Bulbmin, they must bring a maximum of 60 Blue Pikmin into the cave.

The Waterwraith (the boss of this cave) appears on every level, making it crucial that the Captains complete the cave's sublevels quickly. For them to get to the cave, they need to defeat many Yellow Wollywogs and tear down the black gate near the Glutton's Kitchen. After the gate is torn down, one needs to defeat two Hermit Crawmads, Water Dumples, and a Withering Blowhog. The cave's entrance is surrounded by undrainable water. The Waterwraith appears after 5 minutes (300 seconds) of exploring a sublevel. This is not the case on the final floor where it is instead triggered by the player walking into its arena.

The Submerged Castle has a dreary music track unique to the cave. This music is very similar to the music that played in the "Cave of the Past", the final dungeon in another of Nintendo's popular games, EarthBound. Both of the bosses in these caves were supernatural beings with somewhat unintelligible forms and seeming invulnerability.

Treasures

• Bug Bait
• Diet Doomer
• Pastry Wheel
• Comfort Cookie
• Confection Hoop
• Chocolate Cushion
• Compelling Cookie
• Activity Arouser (NTSC)/Pondering Emblem (PAL)
• Succulent Mattress
• Pale Passion
• Drone Supplies (NTSC)/Open Archive (PAL)
• Proton AA
• Professional Noisemaker

Enemies

• Anode Beetles
• Anode Dweevils
• Bulbmin
• Careening Dirigibugs
• Dwarf Orange Bulborbs
• Fiery Blowhogs
• Fiery Bulblaxs
• Fiery Dweevils
• Iridescent Glint Beetles
• Mitites
• Volatile Dweevils
• Withering Blowhogs
• Wollywogs
• BOSS: Waterwraith

Music

• Submerged Castle
• The Waterwraith Appears
• The Waterwraith is Coming
• Boss Battle
• The Waterwraith's Pathetic Escape

Strategy

On Sublevels 1-4, the Waterwraith appears after five minutes of being in the level. A few key points to remember about the Waterwraith are:

1. The Waterwraith steams around the level on two stone rollers, which crushes and kills Pikmin in the way, but also defeats most, if not all, enemies and disables traps.
2. The Waterwraith does not go into small corners or spaces, making it safe to hide. 
3. The best way for the Captains to deal with it is for them to quickly snag all of the treasures and leave the sublevel before he appears. The Leaders must ignore enemies when possible and avoid bringing back their carcasses.
4. The Waterwraith is deadly to the Captain's Pikmin, so they must stay out of its way. If they are careless, they could lose every one of their Pikmin.
5. It follows the active Captain. However, they can use this to their advantage, much like fighting the Ranging Bloyster.
6. There is NO WAY to harm the Waterwraith before Sublevel 5, so don't bother trying. 
7. The Captains must quickly collect as many treasures as they can. If they forget to get a treasure, they can always go back and get it later.

Sublevel 1

This sublevel contains many fire hazards that your captains must avoid/defeat when first entering. Your captains can collect three treasures (Bug Bait, Diet Doomer, and Pastry Wheel) on this floor. When they defeat a Fiery Bulblax in the water, the Bug Bait appears. Your captains must search for the other two treasures, the Diet Doomer and the Pastry Wheel. After that, you can move on to the second Sublevel. There is also a geyser on this floor, allowing you to escape after having found all treasures, which is very convenient.

Sublevel 2

This area contains Careening Dirigibugs, Fiery Dweevils, and Bulbmin. You must focus on looking for an entrance of a pipe and walk inside it to avoid the Waterwraith. Your captain must then take the pipe to a slide-like passageway, where you go down quickly and fall out of the pipe, landing near the Chocolate Cushion.

Afterwards, you must focus on finding the Bulbmin. The parent can be defeated by getting close and throwing Pikmin onto its back. The Mother Bulbmin gets a few mouthfuls of Pikmin if you attempt to swarm it with your Pikmin. Once they see their leader is dead, the smaller Bulbmin panic and begin running around; your current leader must blow their whistle to gain control of them. The game decides the amount of Bulbmin at the beginning of the sublevel depending on the amount of Pikmin. Occasionally though, the player can possibly find an Ivory Candypop Bud on this sublevel and get White Pikmin. However, throwing a White Pikmin at the Waterwraith does not have a different effect than any other non-purple Pikmin. A checkered chocolate cookie known as the Comfort Cookie then comes out of the parent Bulbmin once defeated. The final treasure, a Confection Hoop can be found on a ledge guarded by some Dwarf Orange Bulborbs. Your captains can get there by walking to the opposite side and throw some Pikmin up to collect the treasure and defeat the Bulborbs. The exit is sealed, so you use Pikmin to smash the rock and open the cave to the next sublevel. Getting the treasure back to the Research Pod takes you effort because of the Waterwraith always coming down a small isle that is required to walk through. Quickly calling Pikmin to the side of the isle can avoid them being crushed. Then your captains can get the treasure back to their pod and advance to the next sublevel.

Sublevel 3

This level contains electrical hazards which you must avoid. Swarming the electricity generators the very second they turn off can be dangerous but it is possible. It is safer to use Bulbmin instead of swarming them. You must kill the Withering Blowhog as it holds the Activity Arouser. Anode Dweevils only require Bulbmin to be thrown on them, as Bulbmin are immune to all hazards. You must must defeat the Wollywog the same way as defeating a Yellow Wollywog.

For your captain to full complete this sublevel, they must collect the two treasures Succulent Mattress and the Compelling Cookie and take them back to the Research Pod. These treasures can be anywhere, usually behind a gate. The Waterwraith likely has appeared by this time so you must break the exit if it appeared. It is also covered in rocks.

There is an additional Ivory Candypop Bud in one of the alcoves on this floor, but it is best ignored as the White Pikmin have a harder time following the rest of their group throughout the next sublevel's bothersome puddles.

Note: you must not swarm electric generators when treasure is about to reach the ship. you may be paused while the ship identifies the treasure, but the genetator won't, causing a lot of your Pikmin to get shocked.

Sublevel 4

This floor is difficult due to the Bomb Rocks and Volatile Dweevils that fall from the ceiling, and the Careening Digiribugs. Your captains must first focus on getting the Drone Supplies and the Proton AA. There is an Iridescent Glint Beetle running around the place. You must throw a Pikmin at it to make it to drop the Pale Passion. In order for you to make the path safer for their Pikmin, they must quickly run through the area with a single captain and detonate all the Bomb Rocks and Volatile Dweevils. Then, your captains must finish by breaking the hole and diving on down to the Final Floor. It is also possible for the Waterwraith to get stuck in one of the corners of this sublevel. Though, the Waterwraith still follows your captains to the next sublevel once they leave.

the layout for sublevel 5

Sublevel 5 (Final Floor)

The Waterwraith appears in the arena after entering. However, it appears in the arena by itself if you wait too long. Your captains should have plenty of Bulbmin by this point. They must start out by smashing the three gates in the starting area and use their Bulbmin to produce ten or more Purple Pikmin from the two Violet Candypop Buds. You must then smash the three eggs and use the nectar to give your Pikmin flowers. Your pikmin must then smash the final black gate that blocks access to the boss arena.

Final Floor Battle

First, you will need Purple Pikmin to harm it. The Purple Pikmin must stun the Waterwraith and make it scared, indicated by it turning solid and purple in coloration. Also, it is recommended that you change the Bulbmin into Purple Pikmin as Bulbmin cannot be brought outside of the cave. The Waterwraith starts out by falling and lifting its front steamroller. Then, your captains must get to the side of it as it lifts it and once it drops it, you must throw a Purple Pikmin at it. Then, the Waterwraith will turn purple. When it's purple, your Pikmin can damage it; if it doesn't become purple, then the captain must call the Pikmin back and wait for their chance to throw more Purples at it. You must rapidly throw Pikmin at its purple body when the Waterwraith is solidified. Soon, the Waterwraith roars a few times and turns clear again, sending all your Pikmin that were on it flying. The Waterwraith roars again and smashes rocks and rolls around if the Pikmin don't hit again fast enough. Your captains must gather their Pikmin when the Waterwraith does so. When the Waterwraith is scared, throw Purple Pikmin onto it super-fast, then if you have any Bulbmin left, throw them on as well; this will make it easy to defeat its first form.

You must avoid being squished with the rock rollers, for they will crush your captains, and the Pikmin. After repeating several times, the Waterwraith's health circle falls to zero and runs away from your captains. They can see the rock rollers shatter and go away. Your captain must then chase the Waterwraith until it bends down and starts panting. Your captains and Pikmin cannot be harmed by it, so you can unleash all of the Pikmin on it. The Waterwraith still shakes a lot, but it is still incapable of hurting the Pikmin. This is the only boss that a captain can damage. If you wait too long, the Waterwraith will start running some more. When the Waterwraith runs out of health this time, it tilts its body and bubbles start popping out. After it does that, the Waterwraith shatters into many bubbles, being fully vaporized.

Once defeated, the Waterwraith drops a Professional Noisemaker which gives you a device called the Pluckaphone, which allows them to pluck Pikmin sprouts from the ground just by whistling at them.

Alternative Strategies

If you are having problems collecting all the treasures in each sublevel before the Waterwraith appears, reset the game until the treasure locations for at least one is favorable. Collect one treasure from each sublevel as you go down, and defeat the boss, then re-enter the cave and collect the remaining treasures in a similar fashion - the Waterwraith will appear on both trips, though. This is only recommended if you are finding the normal route too challenging.

Also, you can simply visit the Submerged Castle multiple times collecting as much treasure as you can before the Waterwraith appears, and then continue on to the next level, until you have everything, thus finishing with minimal interactions with the Waterwraith.

Trivia

• The cavern contains thirteen treasures, a famously unlucky number; this appears to be intended to reflect the cave's nature, and especially that of its boss.
• If an external cheat is used to make all Pikmin types immune to drowning and the player tries to enter the Submerged Castle with them, the game will outright deny the player from entering, stating that only Blue Pikmin may enter.
• The Submerged Castle was originally going to be called "The Submarine Castle."
• In the game's data, you can find that the "timer" until the Waterwraith falls from the sky on the final floor is 15 seconds, but normally the Waterwraith never falls until you enter the center of the arena on the final floor.

Gallery

This page is currently pending deletion. Reason: split into P2 and P4 varieties Discuss your opinion on the talk page.

#REDIRECT Template:P2 caves