Health
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Health (also known as Hit Points or Health Points, and usually shortened to HP) is a common mechanic in games, used to represent how close a living entity is to dying. In general terms, the higher something's health is, the farther away it is from dying. When its health reaches 0, it dies.
In the Pikmin games, health is represented with a colored wheel on the HUD. It is mostly used to keep track of how close an enemy is to dying. A list of enemy health points can be found on the corresponding enemy's page, or on the Piklopedia page.
Leaders
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The health of leaders is represented on the bottom-left corner of the screen. It differs slightly from normal HP-wheels in that it lacks a black circle behind the main pie chart, and it beeps whenever it's below 50%. Whenever a leader gets hit with a light attack, they will be knocked back slightly, their suit will emit sparks, and their health will drop a bit, depending on the attack. If a leader's hit by a strong attack, they'll be thrown to the ground, be unable to move for a second or two, and their health will drop considerably, again, depending on the attack.
In Pikmin, if Captain Olimar loses all his health, a cutscene will play with him falling down, in black and white, then he'll appear next to the ship, go in, and take off, leaving all Pikmin on the field behind. This automatically ends the day. It's possible to heal to full health by investigating the S.S. Dolphin, which is done by pressing A near the colored lights emitted by the ship.
In Pikmin 2, if a leader loses all his health, the Research Pod will take him, and the other leader will continue on his own. If both leaders lose all their health, the day ends, as it does when Olimar falls in Pikmin. The same rule applies to caves, but the cave is immediately left, all salvaged treasures are lost, all Pikmin in the cave are left behind, and hence, count as deaths, and the day is instantly over afterwards. If only one leader is knocked out inside a cave, he will be lying prostrate in front of the ship even after leaving the cave. This cannot be changed unless the day ends or is reset. The only way to heal the health of a leader that is not knocked out is to enter or leave a cave. In Challenge Mode, if any leader dies, the challenge is over, and in 2-Player Battle, if a player's leader dies, the other player wins. There are two glitches in Pikmin 2 related to a leader losing all of his health: one glitch has the fallen leader remain on the level, but invisible, while another one allows the leader to remain on the ground instead of being beamed up by the Research Pod.
Pikmin
It is currently unknown if Pikmin have health points. When hurt in combat, they can lose their flower or bud, and revert to a leaf. Once they're a leaf Pikmin, they will not suffer adverse effects from being hurt, aside from the knockback and temporary incapacitation that occurs regardless of the Pikmin's maturity. Normally, enemies have attacks that kill Pikmin right away, which makes it even harder to figure out if they do have health points or not.
There are some attacks that alternately hurt or kill Pikmin, such as a Gatling Groink's shots. It is unknown what decides whether a Pikmin should live or die.
Enemies
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As an enemy gets hit by Pikmin attacks (or leader punches, explosions, etc.), its health drops. Generally, enemies show no signs of weakeness when they are low on health. Once an enemy is dead, it will either leave its dead body, which can be carried to an Onion, or it'll drop some spoils. Any damage caused to an enemy will not carry over onto the next day.
Some enemies have non-standard behavior regarding their health points:
- Hairy Bulborbs lose their hair when they reach half their health points.
- Iridescent Flint and Glint Beetles, and Doodlebugs do not have health points, but the spoils they drop depend on the number of times the insect's been hit.
- Shearwigs start flying when their health drops to half.
- Ravenous Whiskerpillars do not actually die, as they can be seen squirming when Pikmin carry their "corpse".
- The Waterwraith enters a second stage once its rollers are destroyed.
- The Emperor Bulblax in Pikmin uses a new attack when it loses half its health points: jumping high into the air, and in Pikmin 2, when it reaches a quarter of its health, it will roar loudly, which can unearth Mitites, scare Pikmin, and alert other Emperor Bulblaxes.
- The Titan Dweevil only has health points for the creature itself once it loses all the treasures it's carrying. Until then, each treasure has its own health points (without an HP-wheel), and once it reaches 0, it is detached from the Titan Dweevil.
Regeneration
Some of the larger enemies in the Pikmin games have the ability to slowly regenerate after being hit. In most cases, this is simply to encourage the player to kill an enemy when it's attacked, and to not retreat, or else its health might be recovered on the next battle, and all the hard work will be lost.
However, some enemies use this regeneration as a mechanic, as is the case with Shearwigs: these insects regenerate at a very fast pace while flying; the strategy being to attack them while they're airborne for an instant death. Another exceptional case are Breadbugs and Giant Breadbugs, who, in Pikmin 2, instantly regenerate all of their health when they bring an item into their nest.
The following is a list of all enemies that can regenerate. For more information on the regeneration speed of an enemy, please read the corresponding creature's page and check the technical information section.
| Pikmin | Pikmin 2 | |
|---|---|---|
Revival
In Pikmin 2, two types of enemies are known to revive after they've been killed: the Spotty Bulbears and the Gatling Groinks. Once their health points reach 0, a moderately slow process of revival occurs, where the enemy's health is filled up. The creature remains dead throughout this process, but once its health is full, two minutes later, it will be brought back to life.
This mechanic encourages the player to dispose of the creature, by bringing it to an Onion or the Research Pod, before it continues attacking their Pikmin. If the enemy is killed while petrified, it will not leave a corpse, and hence, cannot revive. Finally, the only other way to ensure an enemy does not revive is to have it fall off the floor of a cave, if possible.