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Enemy

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A Red Bulborb and a Dwarf Red Bulborb together, two of the most iconic enemies in the series.

The Pikmin encounter a multitude of enemies on PNF-404. With few exceptions, these are both predators and prey, and they have varied characteristics and appearances. Defeating enemies constitutes a major part of gameplay in all Pikmin games.

Enemies have varied attacks, and some take advantage of hazards to cause damage to Pikmin who are not immune to them. Offensively, enemies either eat Pikmin or hurt them with attacks, both melee and projectile-based, and with effects that range from pushing the Pikmin off to outright killing them. A few enemies are incapable of directly killing Pikmin.

Killed enemies may drop pellets, which can be brought to an Onion to exchange for Pikmin seeds. Defeated enemies that leave a corpse can also be returned to an Onion, the Research Pod, or the SPERO, being exchanged for Pokos in the case of the latter two. An enemy under the effect of an ultra-bitter spray will vanish when its health drops to zero; nectars or sprays then have a chance of dropping instead.

Some enemies contain important items like ship parts, treasures, or fruits, which they drop when defeated; these will still be dropped even if the creature was petrified. Most downed enemies will also safely release any Pikmin in their grasp, regardless of any apparently fatal damage caused when the Pikmin was trapped (like the Cloaking Burrow-nit's impalement). This allows otherwise doomed Pikmin to be saved.

It is unconfirmed how the enemies are named, but it is known in most games that Olimar names them, as he bases the Bulborb's name after his dog, Bulbie. Pikmin 3 is more confusing, however, since the names of enemies are only seen through locking-on. It is possible the Koppaites name them immediately after they see each enemy, but its more likely the lock-on is just for the player and is not what the Koppaites actually see. For repeating enemies, it could be the Kopad has the names Olimar created stored inside it, like in the Insect Condo's case.[1]

Bosses

Main article: Boss.

Boss enemies are tougher than standard enemies, but also rarer. They usually have to be defeated to obtain a plot-critical object.

Behavior

Most enemies roam around in a specific location of the area, leaving only to chase after or run away from Pikmin or leaders. Some enemies are quite dedicated to their initial spots, returning to them after wandering too far, while others, like the Spotty Bulbear in Pikmin 2, will patrol a certain area and can even chase the player all the way to the Onions. The locations in which enemies can be found sometimes depend on their nature. For instance, the fur-coated Hairy Bulborbs are better suited to cold environments, and as such, are commonly found in ice-themed caves.

Enemies are normally killed by Pikmin attacks, which becomes easier the more Pikmin are attacking. They can also inadvertently kill themselves by ingesting White Pikmin, falling off pits, or rarely, by coming into contact with certain hazards. They can even be killed by some of the attacks of other enemies, such as the Armored Cannon Larva's rocks, or the Yellow Wollywog's stomp in Pikmin 3.

As threats to Pikmin, enemies can attack in a variety of ways, the most common one being eating them. They can also crush them, kill them with a hazard they're vulnerable to, and knock them out with an explosion, among other methods. For some of these attacks, there is a cap on the number of Pikmin that can be affected by it. For instance, in Pikmin, a Red Bulborb may only grab and eat three Pikmin at most with a single bite, but in Pikmin 2, five can fall prey to the same bite. The exception to this is the enemies in Hey! Pikmin, which more often than not, kill Pikmin and damage Olimar by simply touching them.

Interactions

For the most part, every enemy is its own entity, interacting only with the Pikmin and leaders. Some enemies, however, have passive or active interactions with the environment, other enemies, or miscellaneous objects.

Environment interactions

Cooperation

A large Bulbmin surrounded by its young.
Bulbmin interact amongst themselves in the form of the young following an adult.

Some creatures keep a bond with others. To maximize the chances of survival, some enemies can be seen next to others, normally of their own species, and oftentimes interacting with them when a fight for survival is taking place. Dwarf Red Bulborbs, Dwarf Bulbears, etc. are often found next to larger enemies of the same species or of the species they are mimicking. When under attack in Pikmin, they may scream in order to wake up their larger allies.

Other creatures choose to follow a leader, normally of their own family. An example is the Bulbmin, who lose all sense of control should their leader perish, the Scornets, who obey the command of the Scornet Maestro, and the Shearwig, which can be found under the control of a Queen Shearwig, and are otherwise independent.

Hostility

Hostility between enemies is non-existent, but cases of enemies damaging each other are not. Some enemies may, if inadvertently, hurt others. This normally happens when they try to kill Pikmin or leaders. Not many enemy attacks are made to hurt others, but the following are:

  • The Empress Bulblax can kill its young by rolling into them.
  • A Gatling Groink can damage other enemies with its shots (including other Groinks), but not itself.
  • Most lithopods with boulders can harm other enemies or even the launcher itself.
  • The Raging Long Legs and Baldy Long Legs can stomp on and kill other enemies, particularly on the Angle Maze and Tropical Forest, respectively.
  • In Pikmin 3, Yellow Wollywogs can kill or injure other enemies if they land on them.
  • In Pikmin 3, Skutterchucks can harm and kill other enemies if their crystal nodules land on them. They can even kill themselves.
  • The Man-at-Legs can hurt other enemies with its gun. This is impossible to see without hacks, since the creature never appears alongside other enemies.

As a gameplay element

In the games, enemy locations are relatively evenly spread, in order to maximize the balance between exploration and combat, as to not overwhelm the player. More important locations, however, are generally covered by stronger enemies, requiring the player to excel in combat skill if they are to obtain the rewards that lie behind them. Analogously, easier enemies are encountered closer to the landing sites and the first floors of caves.

Enemies that are killed do not reappear until the leaders leave, regardless of leaving a corpse. Some enemies do, however, respawn after an in-game day has passed, or after a cave is entered and exited, although others might require the passing of some full days before returning. In addition, some only appear in specific days, as is the case with the Goolix and the Mamuta on The Impact Site. Besides respawning, some enemies can actually revive after they've been considered dead, and a few have a natural health regeneration mechanic.

Intelligence-wise, enemies have a very simplistic artificial intelligence system. Some bosses are hard-coded to perform more specific actions and reply to more specific events, but for the most part, enemies can recognize the presence of a Pikmin, when to attack, when to shake Pikmin off, when to return to their home spot, and not much else. On top of that, their path recognition systems are non-existent: when they want to reach a spot, they head directly towards it, with no regard to any walls or obstacles. Most of the time, there are no obstacles in the way (or if there are, they can be slid through), but otherwise, this can lead to them getting stuck behind them, endlessly walking in place.

Enemies also do not take walls into account for their vision, chasing, or animations. They can see prey through walls, they will walk into them if their target is on the other side, and if they are close enough to attack, they can reach Pikmin and leaders through the wall; this is especially notable for enemies with long reach, like the Cloaking Burrow-nit. Regardless, the Hermit Crawmad has the ability to climb up walls, as demonstrated in tile sublevels with pools, such as sublevel one of The Giant's Bath.

These simplicities, however, are required to minimize the development costs and the processor usage, given that more complex path recognition systems could end up lowering the game's framerate. Another trick to minimize processor usage is to simply not render or recognize any enemy that lies beyond the camera's reach. These tricks allow the game to run smoothly without severely compromising the game and the enemies' livelihood.

List of enemies

The following is a list of enemies in the Pikmin series. Names in bold belong to enemies that are considered bosses. You may also browse the available categories on Pikipedia, with the top one being Enemies.

In Pikmin


See also: [[::Category:Pikmin 1 enemies|Pikmin enemies category]].

In Pikmin 2


See also: [[::Category:Pikmin 2 enemies|Pikmin 2 enemies category]] and Piklopedia (Pikmin 2).

In Pikmin 3


See also: [[::Category:Pikmin 3 enemies|Pikmin 3 enemies category]] and Piklopedia (Pikmin 3 Deluxe).

In Hey! Pikmin

See also: [[::Category:Hey! Pikmin enemies|Hey! Pikmin enemies category]] and Hey! Pikmin logs.

In "Pikmin 4"

In-game encyclopedias

Screenshot of the Piklopedia.
Screenshot of the Piklopedia.
Main articles: Enemy reel, Piklopedia (Pikmin 2), Piklopedia (Pikmin 3 Deluxe), Indigenous Life (Exploration Notes), and Hey! Pikmin logs.

The enemy reel is a special movie at the end of Pikmin. It showcases short clips featuring all enemies in the game, accompanied by a minor description of each.

The Piklopedia is a catalog of creatures in Pikmin 2 and Pikmin 3 Deluxe. Each entry shows the creature in action and some notes on it by the leaders, as well as some statistics. The Piklopedia in Pikmin 2 also allows the player to interact with the enemies, by throwing Pikpik carrots, using a free camera mode.

The Indigenous Life Exploration Notes are a series of data files containing a few tips about how some of the more common enemies work, especially bosses. They also have a stylized drawing of the situation they describe.

The logs in Hey! Pikmin are similar to the Piklopedia, but do not allow direct interaction with the creatures, and only contain Olimar's notes.

Enemies that reappear

To do: Verify these enemies and the number of each.
Care to do so?

In Pikmin 2's above-ground areas, most enemies take a few days to respawn, but some will do so after entering and exciting a cave. Some of these enemies hold treasures, and if the enemy has been killed but its treasure has not been retrieved, it will ingest the object again when it reappears.

Valley of Repose
Awakening Wood
Perplexing Pool
Wistful Wild

Trivia

Names in other languages

Language Name Meaning Notes
Flag of France French Ennemi Enemy
Flag of Portugal Portuguese (NoE) Inimigo Enemy Translation taken from the Pikmin instruction manual.

See also

References

  1. ^ “That smell! I can't tear my nose away from that smell! I'd dive right in and start eating, but something about this name the computer supplied makes me just a touch suspicious about what's going on inside this thing...” – Brittany in Brittany's notes on the Insect Condo
  2. ^ YouTube video explaining what does and doesn't trigger the Hocotate ship's corpse complaint cutscene
  3. ^ “When the sun sets we are forced to retreat to the skies, but I do so wonder what happens on the ground at night. If the creatures on the surface are nocturnal, things probably get pretty dangerous. Fallen animals and wayward Pikmin must get gobbled up in no time. I'm so glad the Drake is operational...” – Alph in a Voyage Log entry
Enemies
Pikmin Armored Cannon Beetle • Beady Long Legs • Breadbug • Burrowing Snagret • Dwarf Bulbear • Dwarf Bulborb • Emperor Bulblax • Female Sheargrub • Fiery Blowhog • Goolix • Honeywisp • Iridescent Flint Beetle • Male Sheargrub • Mamuta • Pearly Clamclamp • Pellet Posy • Puffstool • Puffy Blowhog • Shearwig • Smoky Progg • Spotty Bulbear • Spotty Bulborb • Swooping Snitchbug • Water Dumple • Wolpole • Wollyhop • Yellow Wollyhop
Pikmin 2 Anode Beetle • Anode Dweevil • Antenna Beetle • Armored Cannon Beetle Larva • Beady Long Legs • Breadbug • Bulbmin • Bulborb Larva • Bumbling Snitchbug • Burrowing Snagret • Careening Dirigibug • Cloaking Burrow-nit • Creeping Chrysanthemum • Decorated Cannon Beetle • Doodlebug • Dwarf Bulbear • Dwarf Orange Bulborb • Dwarf Red Bulborb • Emperor Bulblax • Empress Bulblax • Female Sheargrub • Fiery Blowhog • Fiery Bulblax • Fiery Dweevil • Gatling Groink • Giant Breadbug • Greater Spotted Jellyfloat • Hairy Bulborb • Hermit Crawmad • Honeywisp • Hydro Dweevil • Iridescent Flint Beetle • Iridescent Glint Beetle • Lesser Spotted Jellyfloat • Male Sheargrub • Mamuta • Man-at-Legs • Mitite • Munge Dweevil • Orange Bulborb • Pellet Posy • Pileated Snagret • Puffy Blowhog • Raging Long Legs • Ranging Bloyster • Ravenous Whiskerpillar • Red Bulborb • Segmented Crawbster • Shearwig • Skitter Leaf • Snow Bulborb • Spotty Bulbear • Swooping Snitchbug • Titan Dweevil • Toady Bloyster • Ujadani • Unmarked Spectralids • Volatile Dweevil • Water Dumple  • Waterwraith • Watery Blowhog • Withering Blowhog • Wolpole • Wollyhop • Yellow Wollyhop
Pikmin 3 Arachnode • Arctic Cannon Larva • Armored Cannon Larva • Armored Mawdad • Baldy Long Legs • Bearded Amprat • Bug-Eyed Crawmad • Bulborb • Burrowing Snagret • Calcified Crushblat • Desiccated Skitter Leaf • Dwarf Bulbear • Dwarf Bulborb • Dwarf Orange Bulborb • Female Sheargrub • Fiery Blowhog • Flighty Joustmite • Hermit Crawmad • Iridescent Flint Beetle • Joustmite • Male Sheargrub • Medusal Slurker • Mysterious Life-Form • Nectarous Dandelfly • Orange Bulborb • Peckish Aristocrab • Pellet Posy • Phosbat • Phosbat Pod • Plasm Wraith • Puckering Blinnow • Puffy Blowhog • Pyroclasmic Slooch • Quaggled Mireclops • Red Spectralids • Sandbelching Meerslug • Scornet • Scornet Maestro • Shaggy Long Legs • Shearwig • Skeeterskate • Skitter Leaf • Skutterchuck • Spotty Bulbear • Sputtlefish • Swarming Sheargrub • Swooping Snitchbug • Toady Bloyster • Vehemoth Phosbat • Waddlepus • Water Dumple • Watery Blowhog • Whiptongue Bulborb • White Spectralids • Wolpole • Yellow Spectralids • Yellow Wollyhop
Pikmin 4 Bulborb • Bulborb Larva • Dwarf Bulborb • Female Sheargrub • Fiery Blowhog • Honeywisp • Iridescent Flint Beetle • Male Sheargrub • Pellet Posy • Porquillion • Scorchcake • Shearwig • Snowy Blowhog • Tusked Blowhog • White Spectralids • Wolpole
Hey! Pikmin Adult Centipare • Armurk • Berserk Leech Hydroe • Blubbug • Bulborb • Centipare • Clicking Slurker • Coppeller • Crammed Wraith • Crested Mockiwi • Crumbug • Crystalline Crushblat • Electric Cottonade • Electric Spectralid • Electripede • Elongated Crushblat • Emperor Bulblax • Eye-Stalker Bulbeel • Fiery Dwarf Bulblax • Fiery Blowhog • Fiery Blowlet • Fiery Young Yellow Wollywog • Fireflap Bulborb • Fireflinger Groink • Firesnout Beetle • Flatterchuck • Flying Spotted Jellyfloat • Grabbit • Large Splurchin • Leech Hydroe • Long Water Dumple • Luring Slurker • Male Sheargrub • Mockiwi • Muggonfly • Puckering Blinnow • Puffstalk • Puffy Blubbug • Queen Shearwig • Red Bubblimp • Seedbagger • Shearblug • Shearwig • Shooting Spiner (Female) • Shooting Spiner (Male) • Skutterchuck • Sparrowhead • Speargrub • Spiny Coppeller • Sporegrub • Spornet • Starnacle • Stony Flint Beetle • Stuffed Bellbloom • Swooping Snitchbug • Widemouthed Anode Beetle • Yellow Spectralids • Yellow Wollyhop • White Spectralids • Young Yellow Wollywog
Hazards
Fire Water Electricity Poison Ice
Fire Water Electricity Poison Ice
Enemy Sunset Crush Stab Explosion
Battle Sunset Crush Stab Explosion
Other hazards
Pikmin
Types Red Pikmin • Yellow Pikmin • Blue Pikmin • Purple Pikmin • White Pikmin
Rock Pikmin • Winged Pikmin • Ice Pikmin • Bulbmin • Glow Pikmin
Biology Candypop Bud • Idle • Maturity • Onion • Flarlic • Pellet
Pikmin extinction • Trip • Sprout • Seedling • Soul • Squad
Abilities Carry • Dig • Dodge • Fight • Hide
Controls Charge • Dismiss • Swarm • Pluck • Throw • Whistle
Other Decor Pikmin • Leafling • Mushroom Pikmin • Pikpik carrot
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