Skutterchuck

Skutterchuck
	File:P4 Skutterchuck.png
Appears in	Pikmin 3, Pikmin 4, Hey! Pikmin
Scientific name	Hierodeciderit crystallosum; Crystallosum securilis (EU version of Pikmin 3 Deluxe)
Family	Heavil
Areas	Garden of Hope, Tropical Wilds, Formidable Oak, Blossoming Arcadia (Olimar's Shipwreck Tale), Hero's Hideaway, Springpetal Cave
Caves	Plunder Palace, Cradle of the Beast
Mission Mode Collect Treasure! stages	Tropical Forest, Shaded Garden, The Rustyard, Clockwork Chasm
Mission Mode Battle Enemies! stages	Twilight Hollow, Twilight River Remix, Fortress of Festivity, The Rustyard, Clockwork Chasm
Side Story days	Flower Garden, Team Monster Hunt, Channel Gone Dry, Looking for Louie, Another Part Found
Dandori Challenge stages	Toggle Training
Dandori Battle stages	None
Bingo Battle stages	Stagnant Sea, Twisted Cavern
Attacks	Chuck crystal nodules, Chuck Bomb Rocks

The Skutterchuck (エボシトバシ^?, lit.: "Eboshi Launcher") is an insect-like enemy first encountered in Pikmin 3, and found again in Pikmin 4 and Hey! Pikmin. The creature has a black wafer-like body with an orange underside. It has a habit of picking up certain objects (like crystal nodules and Pikmin), similar to Dweevils. It uses its odd shape to scoop them up and carry them around, and also for throwing its load at an approaching enemy.

In Hey! Pikmin, it is slightly smaller and is brown. It simply walks forward, and when it passes through certain crystals, it will pick up a crystal nodule if it's not holding one already. It can also now crawl under and on the sides of platforms, as well as above. Because they can crawl on the ceiling, they drop their crystals rather than throwing them when the player or their Pikmin are nearby.

Stats

To do: find out its health in Hey! Pikmin by looking into the game files.
Care to do so?

Game	Weight	Max. carriers	Seeds	Value	Health	Regen.
(?)	3	6 (normally)	3	× 5 × 5	300	No
	3	6	3	× 3	300	No
	N/A	N/A	N/A	× 0		No

Notes

Alph's comments

US version

“Structural flaw: back
Weight: 3

It carries a heavy crystal on its back to throw at enemies, and I knew going in that we would probably need Rock Pikmin to break it. I worried that doing so would cause dangerous shards to explode outward, but fortunately, my imagination proved to be deadlier than reality. A missed design opportunity, if you ask me.”

European version

“Structural flaw: back
Weight: 3

It carries a heavy crystal on its back to throw at enemies, and I knew going in that we would probably need Rock Pikmin to break it. I worried that doing so would cause dangerous shards to explode outwards, but fortunately, my imagination proved to be deadlier than reality. A missed design opportunity, if you ask me.”

Brittany's comments

“All that strength, and the best it can do with it is carry around some big crystals. A better idea would be carrying my stuff. If I could tame— Wait. It would throw my stuff all over, wouldn't it? Never mind.”

Charlie's comments

“They're like walking catapults, the way they hoist those crystals and launch them as if they were mere pebbles. A crafty adversary might lure them into launching the stones at each other, or themselves. An adversary like me!”

Louie's comments

“An acquired taste, but really quite addictive once you get used to it. No special preparation necessary.”

Olimar's comments

US version

“Skutterchuck
Hierodeciderit crystallosum
Heavil family

Its main offensive strategy is to launch the crystal it carries on its back. Otherwise, it's completely defenseless. In most circumstances, it's a peaceful herbivore whose diet consists primarily of moss. When in danger, however, it wastes no time defending its territory by breaking small rocks and hurling them at the threat. In order to ensure it has a steady supply of rocks with which to defend itself, it shares its habitat with calcified crushblat larvae, so it can make use of the shells they cast off each night.”

European version

“Skutterchuck
Hierodeciderit crystallosum
Heavil family

Its main offensive strategy is to launch the crystal it carries on its back. Otherwise, it's completely defenceless. In most circumstances, it's a peaceful herbivore whose diet consists primarily of moss. When in danger, however, it wastes no time defending its territory by breaking small rocks and hurling them at the threat. In order to ensure it has a steady supply of rocks with which to defend itself, it shares its habitat with calcified crushblat larvae, so it can make use of the shells they cast off each night.”

Hey! Pikmin logs

“Its main offensive maneuver is to throw the crystal on its back. Without that crystal, it is defenseless. I've hypothesized that the males carry rocks and the females carry crystals... but I don't have any evidence to back that theory up.”

Dalmo's Notes

“Watching it move around on the very tips of its tippy-toes is like watching a ballet. If you offer to be a dance partner for this little spiky-toed sweetie, it will leap high in the sky. I bet this agile creature will have no trouble sticking the landing!”

Pikmin 3 Prima Guide

“Skutterchucks attack by launching crystal projectiles from their backs. When you encounter a Skutterchuck, use one Rock Pikmin to shatter the Crystal Nodules, then toss another Rock Pikmin onto the creature's exposed back.”

Pikmin Garden

Text

“黒光りする平べったい虫で、小石などを飛ばしてくる。触角と足の繊毛が発達し、暗い場所でも周囲の状況を把握できる。小石を確保するため、他の原生生物と共生することもある。

特徴その1 ものを乗せる

背中がくぼんでいて、小石などを乗せられる。その姿が烏帽子を被っているようにも見える。

(Image text: ゆるいU字型にくぼんでいる)

特徴その2 ものを飛ばす

外敵から身を守るため、背中に乗せているものを飛ばして攻撃する。

(Image text: 自分より重いものも飛ばすことができる)”

Translation

“A shiny black, flat bug that launches pebbles and other objects. It has well developed antennae and cilia on its legs, which allow it to sense its surroundings even in dark places. In order to secure pebbles, it coexists with other primitive creatures.

Feature #1: Carrying objects

Its back is concave, and it can carry pebbles and other objects on it. It looks like it is wearing an eboshi.

(Image text: "It has a gentle U-shaped depression")

Feature #2: Launching objects

In order to defend itself from enemies, it attacks by launching objects it carries on its back.

(Image text: "It can launch objects heavier than itself")”

Behavior

The Skutterchuck is mainly passive, but when a leader or group of Pikmin gets close, it will try to attack. It attacks by picking up and throwing crystal nodules at its targets. It will also use its crystals as cover when being attacked, with the only Pikmin type that can break through being Rock Pikmin. When not attacking, Skutterchucks wander around in a small area, searching for nearby crystal nodules and picking them up if they have none, or fold in their thin legs and lie dormant on the ground with their crystal as protection and camouflage.

If a Skutterchuck has no crystals to pick up, it will pick up and throw Pikmin into the air instead. If a Rock Pikmin is thrown at it and breaks its crystal, the Skutterchuck will quickly scurry away.

In Pikmin 4, they may also pick up and throw bomb rocks should there be any on the ground.

Strategy

The following article or section contains guides.
The strategies shown are just suggestions.

A single Rock Pikmin is enough to destroy the crystal if it is thrown onto it. The Skutterchuck will flinch, and another thrown directly afterward onto the now bare Skutterchuck will kill it in one hit. The second throw should come quickly after the first one, as if there's too much of a delay, the creature will flee before the second Rock Pikmin hits it.

Other Pikmin types can also be used to attack the underside of the creature. The Skutterchuck may shake them off and attempt to throw rocks onto them, but it rarely hits on time. This method takes a bit longer, and destroying all crystals with Rock Pikmin before killing the enemies leaves the Skutterchuck helpless.

In Pikmin 4 skutterchucks now take 3 direct Rock Pikmin hits to be defeated, totalling 4 hits including the one required to break the crystal. This makes the use of throwing Rock Pikmin somewhat ineffective compared to how it was in Pikmin 3. Instead, the player can charge the Rock Pikmin at the Skutterchuck, as Rock Pikmin now deal 4 times the amount they used to while charged. This, combined with the relatively low health of the Skutterchuck means this beast can be immediately and safely defeated with 8 or more Rock Pikmin.

Alternatively, Purple Pikmin can defeat a nearby Skutterchuck in one throw with its shockwave. Beware that this will not work if the Pikmin is thrown on top of the crystal. A levelled up rush from Oatchi can also immediately defeat this beast.

It is possible to take advantage of the Skutterchuck's attack, as if the player positions a leader near another enemy, the Skutterchuck will throw its crystal at the leader, killing or damaging the other enemy in the process. Unlike other enemies that use weapons like the Careening Dirigibug in Pikmin 2, the Skutterchuck is not immune to the crystal nodules it throws, so this can be used to kill other Skutterchucks if they are in the area, or even the Skutterchuck that launched the nodule.

Technical information

Pikmin 3 technical information (?)
Internal name	`iwakko`
HP	300
Rock Pikmin throw hits to kill	1
White Pikmin ingestions to kill	0
Bomb rock explosions to kill	1
Bomb rock ingestions to kill	0
Number of direct hits on top to kill	0
Damage to leaders	10
Territory radius	200
Mission Mode value	5

Other information

Pikmin 4 Piklopedia number: #51

Naming

See more: Heavil family#Naming.

Common name: Skutterchuck. It is a combination of "skutter", which is similar to "skitter", which in turn means "to run around quickly", and "chuck", referring to how it tosses rocks.
Japanese nickname: エボシトバシ^?. エボシ^? is a black-lacquered headgear (made of silk, cloth or paper) originally worn by court nobles in ancient Japan and トバシ^? is from the verb 飛ばす^? which can mean "to fire", "to hurl", or "to launch". This refers to how Skutterchucks hold crystal nodules on their heads like hats, and launch them to attack.
Japanese name: ハラビロコハジキ^?, lit.: "Wide-bellied small flicker".
Scientific name: Hierodeciderit crystallosum (US); Crystallosum securilis (Europe). Crystallosum comes from crystallos, Latin for "crystal". The former name is also used in the Pikmin Garden website's Piklopedia.
Internal names: In Pikmin 3, it is internally known as iwakko. In Hey! Pikmin, its internal name is eboshi. 岩っ子^? means "stone child" and 烏帽子^? means "noble's headgear". Similar to all enemy internal names in Hey! Pikmin, it is a Romanization of the Japanese name, although it doesn't have the second word. Its generator name is enemy_hat_throw, a literal translation of its Japanese nickname.
Prerelease: None.

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning	Notes
Japanese	エボシトバシ^? Eboshi Tobashi	Eboshi Launcher
Chinese (traditional)	投石蟲 Tóushí Chóng	Rockthrowing Bug
Chinese (simplified)	投石虫 Tóushí Chóng	Rockthrowing Bug
Dutch	Smijtmijt	Flingmite
French	Lancetok	Throweef	The name is a portmanteau of "lance" (throw) and "étoc" (reef)
German	Schleuderkrabbler	Catapult Crawler
Italian	Lanciaquarzo	Throwequartz	The name is a compound of "lanciare" (to throw) and "quarzo" (quartz)
Korean	구체투수벌레 Guche-Tusu-Beolle	Orb Thrower Beetle
Portuguese	Besouro-atirador	Thrower beetle
Spanish	Insecto noducristal	Noducrystal insect	"Noducristal" is a portmanteau of "nódulo" (nodule) and "cristal" (crystal)

Gallery

Pikmin 3

Artwork of the Skutterchuck from Pikmin 3.
A Skutterchuck in the Tropical Forest.
Close-up of a Skutterchuck.
A Skutterchuck in the rain.
A Skutterchuck without a crystal nodule on its back.
A defeated Skutterchuck.
A Skutterchuck being scanned in an early version.

Pikmin 4

The Skutterchuck's Piklopedia icon.
Renders of the Skutterchuck, from the Japanese Pikmin Garden website.
Renders of a Skutterchuck throwing a crystal, from the Japanese Pikmin Garden website.
Three defeated Skutterchucks in the Piklopedia.
A Skutterchuck chucking a crystal.
A Skutterchuck chucking a Bomb rock.
A Skutterchuck being defeated.
A Skutterchuck in Plunder Palace chucking Yellow Pikmin.
A Skutterchuck in Cradle of the Beast chucking Purple Pikmin despite their weight.
Four Skutterchucks surrounded a Flarlic in Blossoming Arcadia.
Two Skutterchucks, one holding a crystal, the other a Bomb rock.