Winged Pikmin

Winged Pikmin
Resistance	Ground attacks
Attack strength	Below average on ground, above average in air
Mobility	Constantly in flight
Throw	Average
Digging speed	Unknown
Carrying capacity	1

Winged Pikmin are a Pikmin species that first appears in Pikmin 3; they were revealed in a Nintendo Direct broadcast on 17th April 2013 as the eighth Pikmin type. They are pink with large blue eyes, their bodies are striped in darker pink, and they have indigo flowers like rock Pikmin. They are needed to defeat the boss of Twilight River, the Scornet Maestro.

Winged Pikmin are the fourth Pikmin type in Pikmin 3, and are discovered in the Twilight River. Along the river is an area where an Arachnode web can be found, and destroying said obstacle frees the pink Onion from its grasp. After doing so, it released a single winged Pikmin seed, allowing more of Pikmin to be propagated. As with other Onions, it merges with the main Onion at the end of the day.

Abilities

File:PinkPellets.jpg

Winged Pikmin carrying some pink Pellets over water.

As their name implies, Winged Pikmin are capable of flight, and are naturally airborne. Winged Pikmin can also carry objects into the air, enabling them to take shortcuts, but they carry objects slower than other Pikmin types. Winged Pikmin behave differently when they carry objects alongside other Pikmin.

Winged Pikmin are small and fast, allowing them to keep up with the captains at a steady pace. Due to their constant airborne status, they can follow captains even if they're walking in an area inaccessible to most Pikmin types, such as a small pond or other body of water. There are a few disadvantages to their airborne status, however. They cannot instantly take down a Pellet Posy when tossed onto its pellet, and if their leader is underwater they cannot be thrown.

Carrying properties

Main article: Carrying#Winged Pikmin.

Because winged Pikmin carrying are in constant flight, they have unique carrying properties that differ from the other Pikmin types.

When carrying an object, Winged Pikmin will fly with it through the air, making it difficult to call them back with the ground whistle. Instead, they must be called by holding  /  / , which will summon a cylindrical beam of light that will call the winged Pikmin, or by simpling whistling while aiming at the object they are carrying. As stated, winged Pikmin are capable of flying over obstacles, but are considerably slow whilst carrying. This can cause traffic in groups of Pikmin trying to return spoils to base, as winged Pikmin slowly carrying an object in the front of the line will cause the rest of the Pikmin to get held up behind them.

If multiple types of Pikmin are carrying something that a Winged Pikmin is also carrying, the Winged Pikmin will carry it closer to the ground and will not fly with it. However, if the number of winged Pikmin carrying is the number of winged Pikmin require to lift the object, they will lift the object into the air; causing any ground-based Pikmin trying to carry the object to cling on for a few seconds before falling off. For example, a Bulborb needs 10 Pikmin at the minimum to carry. Up to 20 grounded Pikmin can carry the object, and up to 9 winged Pikmin can carry it while keeping the object on the ground. If a 10th winged Pikmin is added, the object will be lifted into the air, and any grounded Pikmin will soon fall off.

Due to this behavior, and combined with the fact that idle Pikmin are prone to assisting nearby Pikmin who are carrying an item, Idle winged Pikmin are known to "steal" spoils from other types of Pikmin by unintentionally snatching them away from the other Pikmin as they try to fly with it, causing the player to accidentally sprout mass loads of winged Pikmin.

Gallery

• WingPikIntro.jpg

  Finding the first winged Pikmin.

• WingedFlying.jpg

  A group of winged Pikmin flying over a body of water.

• PinkPikminFight.jpg

  Winged Pikmin fighting a Swooping Snitchbug under the direction of a captain.