"Treasure! Treasure! Treasure! Money! Money! Money!" — The Ship
The Hocotate ship (usually called simply the ship) refers to Olimar's new rocket in Pikmin 2. Unlike the S.S. Dolphin, the Hocotate ship is capable of speech, (replacing most of Olimar's in game speech), and takes on the role of giving advice throughout the game. Olimar makes his opinion of its personality being pompous and quirky known in his notes. Once the President's debt is repaid, the ship is upgraded in appearance.
Capabilities
The Hocotate ship can store Pikmin and treasures, and, after those types have been found, it'll house both White Pikmin and Purple Pikmin. Unlike the Dolphin, the Captains cannot check how many treasures have been collected using it nor can they restore their suit's damage meter. Standing in the green light and pressing A / 
before Purple Pikmin have been found does nothing. The ship has two cockpits, and is capable of deep space communication, sending a report each night to Hocotate and receiving mail. To do this it must be in orbit around the Pikmin Planet. The ship can dispatch a Research Pod for traveling underground.
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 The ship once the debt has been repaid, shown here in the Perplexing Pool. |
Research Pod
When underground in caves, the Hocotate Ship dispatches its nose cone, known as the Research Pod, and sends it down to support Olimar and Louie/the President on their underground expedition. Anything that the Pikmin pick up will be carried to the Pod and stored in its hull until the player exits the cavern. On leaving a cave via a geyser, the treasure worth of these is added to the total.
If the player chooses to leave by selecting the option in the pause menu, the Pod will dispose of all treasures and creatures that were collected and return to the surface with the captains and Pikmin. This also happens automatically if all Pikmin die or both captains suffer too much damage, and cannot be stopped without resetting the game. The discarded treasures will be returned to the sublevels they were found in.
After the player pays off the debt and the ship is upgraded, a scratching noise can sometimes be heard when near the equally-upgraded research pod.
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File:Research Pod.jpg The Research Pod after the debt has been paid. |
Sales Pitch
When one complete "series" of treasures has been collected, the ship's Sales Pitches become available. This is an advertisement for the treasure as if it were a product.
Example:
- Superstick Textile
- The latest must-have item for all ship emergency-repair kits, this miracle fabric is a lifesaver! Its adhesive power is so great, once it's applied, it can never be removed... not even surgically!
Cameo appearances
Super Mario Galaxy has two planets shaped very similarly to the the Hocotate ship, one located in the Space Junk Galaxy and the other in the Ghostly Galaxy (the latter of which cannot be accessed). It is likewise a red, rusted color.
The ship also appears in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. During the beginning of a match, Olimar enters the stage in the ship and jumps out to pluck three Pikmin. When Olimar uses his Final Smash, "End of Day", he hops in the Ship while Bulborbs cause damage to his opponents. Olimar then crashes down back on the stage, sometimes further harming his opponents. In the Subspace Emissary, Olimar's ship is seen along with a number of other airborne vehicles in the attempt to enter Subspace as well as the beginning of the level Outside the Ruins. In the Great Maze section of the Emissary, it appears in the background as part of the level's scenery. The ship also appears as a trophy and a sticker.
In Pikmin 3, the ship makes a small appearance in the Garden of Hope, just outside where the Quaggled Mireclops is fought. The ship can be seen out-of-bounds and is inaccessible but can be reached by throwing captains on a split log then throwing a captain onto the ledge. It is heavily damaged and stuck in the ground. The Koppaite leaders assume that this was the Quaggled Mireclops' doing. In a nearby Data File, Olimar mentions that the ship was once a top-of-the-line product, but he hates it anyway because it insulted his piloting. Wether or not Olimar's piloting led to the crash remains unknown. It should also be noted that in Louie's transmission after you lift the dam in twilight river, he refers to the ship as the S.S. Dolphin
A "life-size" model appears in Animal Cross: New Leaf and can be collected from a fortune cookie. Oddly, it is named "S.S. Dolphin".
Brawl Trophy Description
"A battered old spaceship used when Hocotate Freight first opened. Its appraisal gauge analyzed garbage Olimar brought home and found it to be valuable. With his new ship sold off to pay company debts, Louie and Olimar flew this one back to the Pikmin world to find more treasure. The ship's removable research pod accompanied the adventurers when they ventured underground."
To obtain the Ship's trophy, it must be collected in a certain cube in the Subspace Emissary level Outside the Ancient Ruins.
The Ship.
- Ship 2.jpg
The Angel seen on the Ship's side.
Trivia
- Although the rocket doesn't have an official name, it is identified as "Dolphin 1" in the prototype version of the game's script.[1] Similarly, its internal name in Super Smash Bros. Brawl's files is "Dolfin".