Smoky Progg
| Smoky Progg | |
|---|---|
| |
| Appears in | N/A |
| Scientific name | Unknown |
| Family | Unknown |
| Areas | The Distant Spring |
| Attacks | Suffocates Pikmin, uproots sprouts |
The Smoky Progg is a hidden boss found only in the first Pikmin game, and is possibly one of the toughest. The only way to encounter it is to go into The Distant Spring area before day 15. It resides in the massive lake area, on a later useless mound of small islands. These, interestingly enough, appear to be an imprint in the ground left by a plastic bottle. However, it would have to be an enormous bottle, as the Progg itself is nearly as big as a bottle (noticable by viewing the one submerged in the Forest Navel). The Progg resides in an egg and if you touch the egg by any means, even with Olimar, it will break out. If you crowd the egg with a lot of Pikmin, you can easily defeat the Progg, but you won't get anything from it. The Progg, (when released from the egg), is a dark green and black creature, that sports glowing white eyes. The Progg also emits gases that are poisons to Pikmin. It can also uproot Pikmin sprouts. The Smoky Progg will follow you back to the landing site, so it's necessary to kill it. It has an incredibly high defense, so it takes a while to kill.
However, when killed it drops a small sphere, which, if carried to an Onion, will make 100 Pikmin seeds. Olimar's belief that it is a malformed Mamuta larva is most likely based upon the fact that both creatures effect Pikmin on a different end of the same spectrum; the Mamuta plants the Pikmin, (which enables them to become flower Pikmin), while the Progg uproots Pikmin and thereafter kills them. It could be possible that the Progg decomposes killed Pikmin and ingests them. However, Pikmin disappear without entering the Progg body; also, the Progg doesn't show any slowdown in speed, so this process would have to occur quickly. As the Mamuta doesn't feed on Pikmin, it is doubtful that its larval form would.
THEORY regarding Smoky Progg and Mamuta Connection
The idea that the Smoky Progg is the larval stage of a Mamuta is not so far-fetched. Take a number of examples from both the game and terrestrial biology: The Smoky Progg resembles and behaves like an insect that is familiar and common, the caterpillar. The Progg as much as the caterpillar, moves slowly and precisely in its search for food—no movement is wasted in its quest, to provide maximum efficiency of energy conservation. The terran caterpillar has but one goal, to acquire as much energy as possible for its metamorphosis into its Imago form, which is the butterfly. Likewise, the excess energy gathered by the Progg’s consumption of Pikmin could take the form of the golden sphere that remains after its death. Think of the golden sphere (lets call it the Pearl) as an enormous battery, similar to a tank of nectar, that the Pikmin can metabolize into hundreds of sprouts. However, to the Progg, the Pearl it the key to its adult form, for once it has converted enough spare energy and the Pearl has become too large to move around efficiently with, the Progg seeks the method for entering its adult stage. Here is where the Progg’s biology diverges from the terran caterpillar. As the caterpillar must expend the energy it has gathered to change into a butterfly, the Progg is not so limited—it finds the nearest Bitterwort Berry plant and it consumes enough to calcify into its adult form, its unique alien biology is able to safely metabolize the bitter chemicals so that the rock-like properties become a part of its biochemistry. As the berries provide all the energy for the transformation, the Pearl keeps its energy topped off through the entire process. When the change is finished, the Mamuta emerges, ready to begin its adult duties. As the Mamuta has enough energy to live to pass on its genes (it has no mouth and absorption of water though its pores might be enough for it to live), now comes the phenomenon of sexual dibehavioralism (I made that word up but it suits my purposes). As there seems to be no outward physical indication of a difference between male and female Mamutas, we must assume from their inherent behavior what their gender is. The male (like many terran males) is the more aggressive one; he spends his time in active search for a mate, and pounding food (Pikimin) into the ground. The female waits patiently, not consuming any unnecessary energy waiting for a mate. Once a couple finds each other, some courtship ritual may ensue, and the female is fertilized. The male, having spent his energy mating, planting, and moving, dies and crumbles into smaller stones. The female, not having spent her energy, is tasked with laying the eggs and spreading them out to other places. Once done, she dies as well, and the eggs that have been laid will hatch when they are ready. Once the infant Proggs are born, they seek out the pheromones of the flower Pikmin their fathers have planted for them and feed on them, thus propagating the cycle of life of the Mamuta.
Strategies to Defeat the Smoky Progg
Large masses of Pikmin are not recommended to fight it; it is best to use a small number of reds. Around 20 should work well; swarming is utterly useless and will only result in all your pikmin dying. Wait until it uses the uprooting move, and then throw the reds onto its face. After the reds are shaken off, repeat the process. The only way to hurt it is to throw Pikmin onto its large head. Any Pikmin left walking in its trail will succumb to the poison. Occasionally, it will chase you around and not give up until your Pikmin die or you get far enough away, at which point it will forget it ever happened and you can attack it again.
Note: If you look at it from the back, you can see the small sphere it drops suspended inside of it. This is believed by some to be its heart.
Egg Glitch
In a rare case, if you walk up to the egg as Olimar with no Pikmin, circle the egg and press A to try to attack it, the egg won't take any damage, yet if you go back to an onion to get your blue Pikmin and return to the cluster of islands, the egg will be gone. The only way to reset the egg is to reset your game. Going to sunset and continuing to the next day will not bring the egg back.