Enemy

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

Enemies (原生生物^?, lit.: "Primitive Creature") are creatures that, in general, pose a hazard to Pikmin. There are many types of enemies in the Pikmin series, with varying appearances, behaviors, and levels of hostility. Combat against 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 KopPad has the names Olimar created stored inside it, like in the Insect Condo's case.^[1]

List of enemies

The following is a list of enemies in the Pikmin series. Names in bold belong to enemies that are considered bosses or mini-bosses. The enemy categories on Pikipedia can also be browsed, with the main one being Enemies.

In Pikmin

In Pikmin 2

See also: Pikmin 2 enemies category and Piklopedia (Pikmin 2).

In Pikmin 3

See also: Pikmin 3 enemies category and Piklopedia (Pikmin 3 Deluxe).

In Pikmin 4

Various new and returning enemies have been shown in trailers.

Returning enemies

The following returning enemies can be spotted in the demo, trailers, gameplay videos, and screenshots shown so far:

The following enemies can be seen in the Piklopedia in the overview trailer:

In addition, the Japanese "Pikmin Garden" website^[2] features artwork and renders of several more enemies:

An Empress Bulblax rolling over some Pikmin. Bulborb Larvae can also be seen.
The Empress Bulblax under attack.
The Empress Bulblax seen from behind.
A Fiery Blowhog attacking Red Pikmin.
Pikmin 4 Joustmites Buried.png

Two Joustmites, buried.
Several Mitites, seen underground with the player character.

Downy Snagret

An enemy known as a Downy Snagret^[3] resembling an infant Burrowing Snagret can be seen at one point in the February 2023 trailer, and is present in the key art. They hop around on their one leg, and look around and chirp when idling.

Two Downy Snagrets hopping around.

Unknown arachnorb-like enemy

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An unknown arachnorb-like enemy can be seen at one point in the February 2023 trailer. Its head is black and resembles a disco ball, with several circular lights dotted throughout. Its legs appear to be covered by tightly-wrapped strands of a dark unknown material, which dangle from the upper segments of its legs. The bottom half of two of its legs are bare, exposing an ivory bony endoskeleton of some kind underneath. Several holes can be seen on the interior of its bottommost joints.

At the start it appears to be hanging from the ceiling, with the spots on its head glowing a cyan color. After being attacked by several Yellow Pikmin, it drops down onto the floor with a thud that shoves away Pikmin, the leader, and Oatchi. Right afterwards it spins on its head as its legs come down. When attacking, the lights on its body turn yellow and it stomps around, crushing Pikmin with its large feet. Many Pikmin can be seen underneath it when the lights are yellow, unable to do much other than jump in place with some pink smoke coming out of their heads. This status effect is similar in appearance to poison, or the dust that the Vehemoth Phosbat sprays which causes the Pikmin to panic, but it is unknown if this is the result of the arachnorb enemy itself or another hazard.

The creature stomping around.

Unknown Mockiwi-like enemy

An unknown Mockiwi-like enemy with a trumpet-shaped beak can be seen at one point in the February 2023 trailer. The top of its head and back of its body are a dim yellow color, while the bottom of the head and the stomach are white. They have small wings on each side of their body, and two small paws with white legs and red toes. Their sclerae are black, their irises are white, and their pupils are black. Their most prominent feature is the trumpet-shaped magenta beak. The fact that it looks like a Mockiwi, has a yellow torso, a dark-colored face, and a long snout makes it resemble an unused enemy in Hey! Pikmin known only as "Peromakky".

Pikmin 4 Trumpet Bird Enemy.png

The creature looking around.

Unknown Chrysanthemum-like enemy

An unknown green creature with eyestalks disguised as flowers, similar to the Creeping Chrysanthemum, is seen in a scrolling ribbon of pictures on the official Japanese website.^[4] It has a large mouth and round cheeks. It seems to use its spiked tongue to attack and create significant saliva (possibly being a water hazard). Given its plant-like appearance, it likely will camouflage with its surroundings in an attempt to surprise nearby prey, just as the Creeping Chrysanthemum does. It could also be part of the Quaggled Mireclops’s family given the bright red tongue.

The enemy near the player's squad.
The full body of the enemy, seen in the Piklopedia.

Unknown fish-like enemy

An unknown fish-like enemy with small bumps on its head can be seen swimming in an underwater area in the June 2023 Nintendo Direct trailer.

Unkown brown fish enemy Pikmin 4.png

The fish-like enemy.

Unknown elephant-like enemy

An unknown enemy covered in a type of armor with a long trunk can be seen in the house area in the June 2023 Nintendo Direct trailer. It somewhat resembles members of the blowhog family.

Unknown green elephant enemy.png

The elephant-like enemy.

Unknown Dweevil

A light blue Dweevil can be seen in a kitchen in the June 2023 Nintendo Direct trailer. It has a similar color to Ice Pikmin, suggesting that it may attack with ice.

The Dweevil.

Unknown Dwarf Bulborb enemy

An enemy resembling a Dwarf Bulborb, but with the white abdomen of a Bulborb Larva, can be seen at nighttime in the June 2023 Nintendo Direct trailer. According to the Pikmin Garden's Piklopedia,^[5] it is a Bulborb in a life stage between the Bulborb Larva and the adult Bulborb, and its Japanese nickname is コチャッピーモドキ^? (lit.: "Pseudo Small Chappy").

The Dwarf Bulborb-like enemy.

Unknown scorpion-like enemy

A large unknown enemy resembling a scorpion, with a flower-like tail, is seen battling the player character in the June 2023 Nintendo Direct trailer. It may be a boss, as it is fought alone in an arena-like location. Its head somewhat resembles that of a Widemouthed Anode Beetle.

Unknown red scorpion enemy Pikmin 4.png

The scorpion-like enemy.

Unknown icy moth-like enemy

A large moth-like enemy, possessing the ability to shoot out a blast of freezing wind with its wings, is seen battling the player character in the June 2023 Nintendo Direct trailer.

The ice moth enemy.

Porquillion

Main article: Porquillion.

The Porquillion is an enemy with a large bulbous back filled with spikes.

The enemy as seen in the demo.

Giant Yellow Wollywog

An abnormally large Yellow Wollywog can be briefly seen in what appears to be a water table or a pet shop terrarium. Although it looks identical to the Yellow Wollywog, it is extremely large, being just as 5 times as tall as a Pikmin when members of the species are usually twice as tall as a Pikmin, and this massive size allows it to actually depress sand that it lands on, forming new pools. It is unclear if this size difference makes it of a different species compared to Yellow Wollywogs, or they are still considered the same species.

The giant Wollywog.

Snowy Blowhog

Main article: Snowy Blowhog.

The Snowy Blowhog is a grounded Blowhog that can shoot an icy mist that can freeze Pikmin.

The blowhog shooting its mist.
The blowhog from the front.

Unknown slug-like enemy

A pair of slug-like enemies can be seen in the overview trailer.

The slug-like enemy.

Unknown icy Bulborb enemy

One of the screenshots at the end of the game's demo appears to show a light blue Bulborb covered in ice crystals. Dwarf variants of said bulborbs also exist.

Tusked Blowhog

Main article: Tusked Blowhog.

The Tusked Blowhog is a species in the new "Tusked Blowhog" family, which resembles a Fiery Blowhog except for its yellow eyes, visible mouth, and prominent tusks. It does not blow out of its snout like other Blowhogs, instead preferring to charge into Pikmin, similar to Oatchi's Rush attack. It will then try to eat any Pikmin it has knocked over.

Scorchcake

Main article: Scorchcake.

The Scorchcake has a short cylindrical rocky body and a pair of blue eyes on stalks. Its main attack is flipping over, crushing Pikmin underneath its hard body, revealing its burning underbelly.

A Scorchcake seen in the demo.

Unknown Goolix-like enemy

An enemy resembling the Goolix appears in footage on the Japanese website. It appears to be fought by pulling on a tongue-like tendril until it bursts. You can freeze the goo with Ice Pikmin, and then charge into it with Oatchi to burst the goo.

P4 Goolix Enemy.png

The Goolix-like enemy.
P4 Goolix Burst.png

The enemy after bursting.

In Hey! Pikmin

See also: Hey! Pikmin enemies category and Hey! Pikmin logs.

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. While Pikmin has little distinction between bosses and regular enemies, Pikmin 2 has 12 clearly-defined bosses that are found at the end of caves, Pikmin 3 has 6 very clearly-defined bosses that each hold the item that allows access to the next section of the story, and Hey! Pikmin has 9 very clearly-defined bosses fought at the end of sectors.

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 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

In Pikmin 3, most enemies will be unable to detect Pikmin and leaders if they are hiding under tall plants.
In Pikmin 2, if an Emperor Bulblax gets close to a bomb-rock, it will eat it without needing to be coaxed into doing so.
The fire on a Fiery Bulblax or a Pyroclasmic Slooch's back will be put out should it go into water. Both creatures reignite once they leave the water.
If a member of the Mandiblard family touches water, it will steadily lose health, and if it is near a wooden bridge and not in pursuit, it will begin deconstructing it.
Wogpoles and Puckering Blinnows will start flailing around if they're on dry land, but they are able to swim freely if they're underwater.
In Pikmin 3, the Swarming Sheargrub will drink any nectar that it comes across, which will make it grow in size.

Cooperation

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 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.
The Waterwraith instantly kills any enemies it rolls over.
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 1 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.

In-game encyclopedias

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 exiting 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

Fiery Bulblax

Awakening Wood

Unmarked Spectralids x8 (four on a Margaret, four on a nearby Figwort)
Female Sheargrubs (before day 11)

Perplexing Pool

Toady Bloyster
Skitter Leaves (near the Citadel of Spiders entrance and the black bramble gate leading to the Submerged Castle)

Wistful Wild

Orange Bulborb (the one that usually holds a treasure)
Creeping Chrysanthemum (the one that usually holds a treasure)

Trivia

When the player first delivers an enemy to the Research Pod, a cutscene plays with the Hocotate ship complaining that it's not a treasure, although it's still good for some Pokos. However, if an enemy of this species has already been delivered to an Onion before on the current playthrough, the Research Pod will just accept the enemy like normal without a cutscene. The cutscene can later be played by delivering a new species of enemy that has never been delivered to an Onion.^[6]
It is implied by Alph that enemy corpses disappear after some amount of days because larger enemies eat them.^[7] If this is true, there must be unknown nocturnal enemies capable of consuming creatures up to the size of the Sandbelching Meerslug, as even it disappears after some time.
There are 15 enemies that have been present in all 3 main Pikmin games: the Burrowing Snagret, Bulborb, Dwarf Bulbear, Dwarf Bulborb, Female Sheargrub, Fiery Blowhog, Iridescent Flint Beetle, Male Sheargrub, Puffy Blowhog, Shearwig, Spotty Bulbear, Swooping Snitchbug, Water Dumple, Wogpole, and Yellow Wollywog.
- Including Hey! Pikmin, only 5 enemies have been present in all the games: the Bulborb, Fiery Blowhog, Male Sheargrub, Swooping Snitchbug, and Yellow Wollywog. (There have been 6 enemies in all games if one includes the Shearwig.)
3 enemies have had different names between games. The Armored Cannon Beetle Larva was renamed to the Armored Cannon Larva in Pikmin 3, the Spotty Bulborb was renamed to the Red Bulborb in Pikmin 2 and again to the Bulborb in Pikmin 3, and the Dwarf Bulborb was renamed to the Dwarf Red Bulborb in Pikmin 2 and back to the Dwarf Bulborb in Pikmin 3.

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning	Notes
Japanese	原生生物^? Gensei Seibutsu	Primitive Creature
Chinese (traditional)	原生生物
Chinese (simplified)	原生生物
French	Ennemi Créature primitive	Enemy Primitive creature
German	einheimische Kreatur	Native creature
Italian	Creatura indigena	Native Creature
Korean	원주생물
Portuguese (NoE)	Inimigo	Enemy	Translation taken from the Pikmin instruction manual.
Spanish (NoA)	Enemigo Bestia autóctona	Enemy Native beast

References

^ “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
^ Japanese "Pikmin Garden" website on Nintendo, retrieved on June 21^st, 2023
^ Fools for Fuzz on Pikmin comic, retrieved on June 27^th, 2023
^ official Japanese Pikmin 4 website on Nintendo, retrieved on June 7^th, 2023
^ Japanese "Pikmin Garden" website Piklopedia on Nintendo, retrieved on June 22^nd, 2023
^ YouTube video explaining what does and doesn't trigger the Hocotate ship's corpse complaint cutscene
^ “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

[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] Japanese "Pikmin Garden" website on Nintendo, retrieved on June 21^st, 2023

[3] Fools for Fuzz on Pikmin comic, retrieved on June 27^th, 2023

[4] Japanese Pikmin 4 website on Nintendo, retrieved on June 7^th, 2023

[5] Japanese "Pikmin Garden" website Piklopedia on Nintendo, retrieved on June 22^nd, 2023

[6] YouTube video explaining what does and doesn't trigger the Hocotate ship's corpse complaint cutscene

[7] “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

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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