Hocotate ship
"Treasure! Treasure! Treasure! Money! Money! Money!" – The ship
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- "Ship" redirects here. For other uses, see ship (disambiguation).
The Hocotate ship (usually called simply the ship) refers to Olimar's new rocket in Pikmin 2. Unlike the S.S. Dolphin, the Hocotate ship is capable of speech, (replacing most of Olimar's in-game speech), and takes on the role of giving advice throughout the game. Olimar makes his opinion of its personality being pompous and quirky known in his notes. Once the President's debt is repaid, the ship is upgraded in appearance. The ship is presumably destroyed by the Quaggled Mireclops in Pikmin 3.
Capabilities
The Hocotate ship can store Pikmin and treasures, and will house both White Pikmin and Purple Pikmin once they are found. Unlike the Dolphin, the captains cannot check how many treasures have been collected using it, nor can they restore their suit's damage meter. Standing in the green light and pressing A / 
before Purple Pikmin have been found does nothing. The ship has two cockpits, and is capable of deep space communication, sending a report each night to Hocotate and receiving mail. To do this it must be in orbit around PNF-404. The ship can dispatch a Research Pod for traveling underground.
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 The ship once the debt has been repaid, shown here in the Perplexing Pool. |
Research Pod
When the captains go underground, the ship dispatches its nose cone, known as the Research Pod, and sends it down to support them. Anything that the Pikmin pick up will be carried to the Pod and stored in its hull until the player exits the cavern. On leaving a cave via a geyser, the treasure worth of these is added to the total.
If the player chooses to leave by selecting the option in the pause menu, the Pod will dispose of all treasures and creatures that were collected and return to the surface with the captains and Pikmin. This will happen automatically if all Pikmin die or both captains suffer too much damage, and cannot be stopped without resetting the game. The discarded treasures will be returned to the sublevels they were found in.
After the player pays off the debt and the ship is upgraded, a scratching noise can sometimes be heard when near the equally-upgraded research pod.
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File:Research Pod.jpg The Research Pod after the debt has been paid. |
Sales Pitch
When one complete "series" of treasures has been collected, the ship's Sales Pitches become available. This is an advertisement for the treasure as if it were a product.
Example (Superstick Textile):
"The latest must-have item for all ship emergency-repair kits, this miracle fabric is a lifesaver! Its adhesive power is so great, once it's applied, it can never be removed... Not even surgically!"
Pikmin 3
In Pikmin 3, the ship makes a small appearance in the Garden of Hope, just outside where the Quaggled Mireclops is fought. It is out-of-bounds, but it can be reached by throwing captains on a split log, then throwing a captain onto the ledge. It is heavily damaged and stuck to the ground. The Koppaite leaders assume that this was the Quaggled Mireclops' doing. In a nearby Data File, Olimar mentions that the ship was once a top-of-the-line product, but he hates it anyway because it insulted his piloting.
In other games
Pikmin Adventure
In the Nintendo Land attraction Pikmin Adventure, the ship is the goal point in every level.
Monita's Notes
"This is the ship that Olimar piloted during his legendary employment at Hocotate Freight. This one doesn't actually speak, though, which is probably best for everyone."
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
The ship also appears in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. During the beginning of a match, Olimar enters the stage in the ship and jumps out to pluck three Pikmin. When Olimar uses his Final Smash, "End of Day", he hops in the ship while Bulborbs cause damage to his opponents. Olimar then crashes down back on the stage, sometimes further harming his opponents. In the Subspace Emissary, Olimar's ship is seen along with a number of other airborne vehicles in the attempt to enter Subspace as well as the beginning of the level Outside the Ruins. In the Great Maze section of the Emissary, it appears in the background as part of the level's scenery. The ship also appears as a trophy and a sticker.
- Trophy description
"A battered old spaceship used when Hocotate Freight first opened. Its appraisal gauge analyzed garbage Olimar brought home and found it to be valuable. With his new ship sold off to pay company debts, Louie and Olimar flew this one back to the Pikmin world to find more treasure. The ship's removable research pod accompanied the adventurers when they ventured underground."
To obtain the ship's trophy, it must be collected in a certain cube in the Subspace Emissary level Outside the Ancient Ruins.
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS
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The ship appears as an item in Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Wii U. However, it is not the real ship, but rather a bomb disguised as it. When placed on the ground, it lifts off after a delay, and then drops unexpectedly, causing it to explode and damage anybody but the launcher. The ship also returns in Olimar's Final Smash.
Super Mario Galaxy
Super Mario Galaxy has two planets shaped very similarly to the the Hocotate ship, one located in the Space Junk Galaxy and the other in the Ghostly Galaxy (the latter cannot be accessed). It is likewise a red, rusted color.
Naming
The ship itself is only given an official name after Pikmin 2, and even then, only on the American version of the game. Olimar's log's first entry has him refer to the vessel as "Hocotate ship".[1] In Pikmin 2 and in the European version of Pikmin 3, the crew members only address the rocket using references instead of a proper noun, such as "the ship"[2], "my ship"[3] or "our ship"[4]. On the pause menu in Pikmin 2, the numbers of stored White and Purple Pikmin are listed in a section called "Rocket". Fans mostly call the ship "Hocotate ship", "Hocotate Freight ship", or "the ship", depending on the game, the version, and their own preferences.
In Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Wii U, the ship is made into an item, but is called "Hocotate Bomb" instead. This is naturally just the name of the item itself, and not the ship in the Pikmin games. The ship is also identified as "Dolphin 1" in the prototype version of Pikmin 2's script.[5] Similarly, its internal name in Super Smash Bros. Brawl's files is "Dolfin".
Gallery
The ship.
- Ship 2.jpg
The Angel seen on the ship's side.
See also
References
- ^ “Curse that Hocotate ship. It may once have been a top-of-the-line vessel, but it's now an insult to my piloting. I can't wait to pay off that debt and get back in my beloved S.S. Dolphin. But that means I need to find something really valuable before I return home...” – Olimar on his log in the American version of Pikmin 3
- ^ “This sumptuous nugget may look delicious, but internal scans indicate a parasitic infestation! The ship can't stand to even look at these pests, let alone store them. But I had to put my foot down on this one.” – Olimar's Journal on the Insect Condo
- ^ “My ship can't analyze taste, so I've taken that burden upon myself. It's a rough job, but it's up to the captain to step up and volunteer for the most grueling duties. Mmm... Tastes... Good. I could eat this treat endlessly. I'd better test that hypothesis...” – Olimar's Journal on the Diet Doomer
- ^ “This dubious morsel doesn't look like it would be very agreeable with my innards. However, I bet Louie would try a bite. His appetite is insatiable...and he's always cooking up tasty meals! I'm glad that on this expedition, our ship's reactor can power our life-support systems indefinitely. This will give us all the time we need to thoroughly examine all of the treasure we recover. I don't care if the president wants us to hurry. I've had enough of his hassling! I think I'll move more slowly just to cause him indigestion.” – Olimar's Journal on the Toxic Toadstool
- ^ “According to my research, this is an acoustic-interference motherboard. I should install this on the Dolphin 1. It might shut him up for a while. Then again, if it learned to override the hardware, it could become more annoying than ever!” – Olimar's Notes on the Network Mainbrain, in a prototype version of Pikmin 2, from The Cutting Room Floor
