Mistake

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At times, when making a game, development members may commit a mistake. Most of the time, these errors are detected by the quality assurance team, whose job is to play-test the game in search for such mistakes, so that they can be corrected. However, it's possible for some errors to go by undetected, meaning the final game is released with them still in it. For the most part, these aren't enough to affect gameplay or the game's story. In popular culture, they are also known as goofs. In the Pikmin series, there are cases of typos, grammatical errors, glitches, and inconsistencies.

For the sake of completion, debatable mistakes will be included on the article as well. Unless otherwise confirmed, every mistake listed here is speculative, and could in fact be purposefully made by the developers.

Pikmin

Glitches

See: Glitches in Pikmin

Carrying oversights

See: Carrying oversights in Pikmin

Leftovers

At points, leftovers from previous versions of a game may make their way into the final product in some form. This generates a minor inconsistency in the game mechanics, locations or objects, given that what's presented is different from what happens in the actual game.

Early enemy reel information

The Goolix on The Forest Navel.

Main article: Enemy reel discrepancies.

Some of the enemy reel's footage was recorded in an earlier – or at least different – version of Pikmin, and one can tell because several of the objects cannot be found in those locations in the final game. One of the most noteworthy examples would be the Goolix appearing on The Forest Navel, despite never being encountered there during gameplay. In addition, the fact that all names are sorted alphabetically, besides the Swooping Snitchbug's, gives a hint on what the creature's name was intended to be initially – possibly something beginning with "Flying".

Pellet carrying on the instruction manual

On the instruction manual, the page that describes the Onions and pellets contains an image of three Pikmin carrying a 1 pellet. In the actual game, this is not possible – only up to two Pikmin may carry a 1 pellet at the same time. It is, however, possible that this is the result of a reported glitch.

The Forest Navel geyser

The geyser at the south of The Forest Navel. It has no real purpose.

At the south of The Forest Navel, there is a geyser on the platform where the Gravity Jumper can be found. This geyser merely shoots Olimar upward considerably high, and makes him land on the pond at the southwest. Because this does not aid the player in any way, and because there is a detailed path leading up specifically to the geyser, it is possible that this is the leftover of a previous version of the area, where that geyser actually had a purpose.

Written mistakes

• Page 23 of the English instruction manual details how it is possible to slow down a Spotty Bulborb by holding onto its feet with Pikmin. "Holding" is spelled as "holdung", however; a trivial mistake to make on a QWERTY keyboard, given that the U and the I keys are quite close to one another.
• Andy Becraft was one of the engineers on Nintendo of America's debugging team, and is credited on Pikmin's credits sequence. In the New Play Control! version, however, his name is incorrectly written as "Beaucraft".
• If the player opens an Onion's menu and attempts to take out more Pikmin than the amount in the Onion, the message "There are no blues Pikmin to take out." appears. The correct message, "There are no blue Pikmin to take out.", has been added to the New Play Control version.

Pikmin 2

Glitches

See: Glitches in Pikmin 2

Carrying oversights

See: Carrying oversights in Pikmin 2

General oversights

The white background of the President's image was mistakingly left between his hair's curl.

• When entering the first sublevel of a cave, the game will automatically switch from Louie to Olimar, and from Olimar to the President. The reason for this is unknown, but given its pointless nature, and the fact that it was removed for New Play Control! Pikmin 2, it is likely that this was not intended behavior.
• When entering a cave or sublevel in, the first leader to jump will always grunt like Olimar, and the second will always grunt like Louie. This is true regardless of the leaders that are actually on the party and the order at which they jump in, but if the second leader is fallen, only the first leader's grunt will play (still with Olimar's voice).
• The entries for the Ravenous Whiskerpillar and the Volatile Dweevil on the Piklopedia point out that the creatures have an associated Poko value of 1 and 0, respectively. These values provide no useful information to the player, given that Ravenous Whiskerpillars cannot appear underground, and Volatile Dweevils cannot be retrieved to the research pod. It is possible that they could at an earlier point in development, and that this value is a remnant of that time; other moot values, such as the Poko count of a Pellet Posy are displayed as "----", further confusing matters.
• Pikmin carrying an object while under the effects of an ultra-spicy spray will keep carrying the object at the same speed if the spray's boost ends while they're still carrying it.
• When the Justice Alloy is collected, the Hocotate ship claims that getting bitten or stepped on will produce less pain. In reality, all damage suffered is reduced, not just from those two sources.
• The ship does not distinguish between a partial Pikmin extinction in the previous day and one in a cave, so if the player loses all Pikmin of one type by use of Candypop Buds and goes to the surface, the ship will state that there was a Pikmin extinction "yesterday".
• Olimar's journal on The Key has him describe the Beady Long Legs as a "Pikmin-devouring spider", despite the fact that the Beady Long Legs is one of the few enemies that does not eat Pikmin in any way.
• Louie's notes on some enemies make references to bodies or body parts that Louie couldn't possibly have collected for cooking, due to the fact that they are shown to disappear upon death, in-game. Examples include the Beady Long Legs, which vanishes into dust, and the balloon-like sacs of the Careening Dirigibug, which pop upon defeat.
• Buried Armored Cannon Beetle Larvae cannot be stunned with Purple Pikmin, although the game files specify that the enemy should have the same stun properties as the free-walking counterpart, which can be stunned.
• On the title screen's "Spring" theme, Anode Dweevils can be seen running around the tree trunk. These dweevils have their feelers colored yellow, whereas the ones in game have red feelers.
• On the cutscene that plays when the player clears the debt, the ship announces the return to Hocotate and the camera shifts to the sky, where a faint image of The President is seen. This image was likely cropped from an image with a white background, as it becomes clear that the area of the image between the President's curly hair was not cropped out: it remains white.

Written mistakes

• It is possible to tell that the treasures exclusive to the European version of Pikmin 2 received less quality control, as quite a few typos managed to make their way into their English descriptions. This was not intended, as proven by the fact that most of the descriptions in the New Play Control! Pikmin 2 variants have been fixed.
• The Empty space container is the only treasure in Pikmin 2 not to have its name in title case, like all other treasures.
• One of the advisories for 2-Player Battle says that the player can hold up to four roulette spins. This is technically correct, but misleading, as the player can actually store five powers – the four queued spins plus the current power on standby.

Biological classifications inconsistencies

Biological classification in the Pikmin games matches that of the real world, with the following exceptions:

• The scientific name for the Empress Bulblax (Oculus matriarcha) and the Bulborb Larva (Oculus bambinii) have a different species, even though the latter is offspring of the former and should have the same scientific name.
• Although the Iridescent Flint Beetle, the Iridescent Glint Beetle, and the Doodlebug are in different families, they are listed under the same genus. This is inaccurate to real world taxonomy because family is located above genus on the classification tree, so every member of a genus must share the same family.

Infernal Vegetable

The Infernal Vegetable is a treasure in Pikmin 2, and is actually a real world bell pepper. Bell peppers are not vegetables, contrary to what is stated by both Olimar and the ship, but are in fact fruits. They can be considered vegetables for culinary purposes, but are botanically a fruit; this is actually a common misconception.

The same does not happen for the Love Nugget, a real world tomato, in which Olimar's journal explains that it is both a fruit and a vegetable.

Pikmin 3

Glitches

See: Glitches in Pikmin 3

Carrying oversights

See: Carrying oversights in Pikmin 3

General oversights

• The unreleased Secret File has Louie mention that he is a crew member of the S.S. Dolphin. This is incorrect, as Louie never boarded the S.S. Dolphin. Instead, he is a member of the Hocotate ship.
• On some of the Secret Files, Olimar looks to his left to find Louie in danger. Physically, it is not possible for Olimar to see Louie on his left from their positions, in some of the videos. A list of these mistakes can be found here.
• In the US version of Pikmin 3, if the player uses the check-in function on the day they unlock the Distant Tundra, Alph and Britanny will talk about the data file they found, but while Brittany says “If you think it means that they don't eat meat, then...yes.”, Alph's icon will be the one displayed.

• GlitchDrakeConversation.jpeg

  Alph's icon during Brittany's line.

Written mistakes

• Until Pikmin 3, Louie was always known by that name. In that game, he is still given the name Louie, but when under attack by an enemy in Mission Mode, he refers to himself as "Louis" . It is currently not known if Louis is his real name and Louie is a nickname, or if this is the result of a mistranslation or typo.
• At a few times during the course of Pikmin 3, characters may say the expression "now I think of it", when referring to something they have realized. The most common expression is actually "now that I think of it", leaving the existence of this version a mystery. There is no official stance on the fact that "now I think of it" is inept for these situations, so whether this is an alternate, but valid wording, or actually a mistake is up for debate.
• One of Alph's voyage logs in the European version has him mention the Captain's sleeping nightmares. In it, he writes "the Captain cried out "Elizabeth!" several times while his was sleeping." The "his" in the sentence should be a "he".
• On some of the Secret Files, the S.S. Dolphin's name is written as such, but in others, it is written with the European Pikmin 3 spelling, "SS Dolphin".
• When locking-on to an enemy, its name appears in singular. Members of the flitterbie family have their name appear in plural, however. It is unknown if this was intentional, or the result of a mistake.

Cross-game

Hocotate culture inconsistencies

The UV Lamp is a form of light bulb, even though Olimar claims that that technology is unknown to Hocotatians.

There are some inconsistencies regarding the kind of materials and objects Hocotatians have and do not have in their home planet. At the very least, these constitute as mysteries, given that it is not know how comparable the objects and elements in Hocotate are to their real world counterparts.

• According to Olimar's journal for Child of the Earth, Hocotatians do not know about potatoes. However, Louie's notes for the Emperor Bulblax suggest cooking the beast with potatoes and carrots.
• Olimar's journal on the Lustrous Element states that gold is unknown to Hocotatians. However, it is clear that gold is quite normal to the people of Hocotate, judging from the following facts:
  • The ship appears golden after repaying the debt in Pikmin 2.
  • Golden pikpik carrots are in fact golden.
  • Olimar's Log in Pikmin 3 mentions gold several times, referring to the final boss' look.
• According to Olimar's description of the Stellar Orb, the technology used for a light bulb is "totally unknown" to the people of Hocotate. This description was exaggerated, given that Hocotatians are familiar to the likes of light bulbs, given the UV Lamp's existence.

Oxygen

Oxygen is known to be poisonous to Hocotatians. There are times, however, where Hocotatians are known to interact with oxygen gas with no adverse effects.

• On Louie's notes, he mentions several plants and vegetables on his cooking recipes, although most of these ingredients need to be cultivated with oxygen. It could, however, be the case that Louie is referring to using the treasures obtained on PNF-404 as the ingredients.

Burrowing Snagret's body

Although several in-game sources claim the Burrowing Snagret's body is lined in scales, the enemy reel entry for the creature states that the creature is actually covered in feathers. This could be referring to the feathers on its head, if not for the fact that it addresses blue feathers specifically.

Non-canon mistakes

This article or section features debatable canonical information. The content here is yet to be confirmed to be canon, but features non-canonical aspects.

The following mistakes are directly related to the Pikmin franchise, but happen outside of the main Pikmin canon games. In addition to these mistakes, some of the Pikmin series' trophies also have other flaws that are not related to the Pikmin canon. A list of such mistakes can be found here for Brawl and here for Smash 4.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl trophies

• Captain Olimar's main trophy is about his appearance as a fighter, which is actually a dual trophy for Olimar and Pikmin. The description starts off by calling the duo of Olimar and the Pikmin force "veteran spacefarers". The Pikmin have never traveled through space, meaning this title should only be applied to Olimar.
• The trophy for the Red Bulborb omits Pikmin from the list of relevant games, hence incorrectly claiming that the creature debuted in Pikmin 2. In reality, the only part of the trophy's subject that did debut in Pikmin 2 is solely the name of the creature, "Red Bulborb"; this enemy was known as "Spotty Bulborb" in Pikmin.
• The Careening Dirigibug's trophy states that these enemies have a chance of dropping a dud bomb-rock. However, in the games, no bomb-rocks are ever dud, outside of a rare glitch.
• The pellet trophy states that pellets can be "harvested from pellet grass and flowers". It is not elaborated what either of these two sources mean, either in Brawl or any Pikmin game, but it can only be assumed the flowers are actually the Pellet Posies. However, there are no grasses that can contain pellets in any Pikmin game. The only grasses that can provide anything similar are nectar weed, which contain raw nectar, not the crystallized pellets. The Japanese name for the Pellet Posies, ペレット草^? does translate to "Pellet Grass", but the fact that there's a distinction between the "flowers" and the "grass" indicates it is a mistake nonetheless.
• The Burrowing Snagret's trophy points out that nobody ever saw its tail. However, Olimar's notes on the creature finish with a statement in which Olimar compares the Burrowing Snagret and the Burrowing Snarrow's tails and wing markings, implying that Olimar – or someone else – has seen its tail at least once.

Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Wii U trophies

• The End of Day trophy on the European version of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U states that Olimar jumps aboard the S.S. Dolphin. In reality, the spaceship Olimar uses in his Final Smash is the Hocotate ship.
• The Hocotate Bomb is an explosive miniature item shaped like the Hocotate ship. Its trophy description states that it appears in Pikmin and Pikmin 2. Not only does the item itself not appear in any canon Pikmin game, the Hocotate ship also makes its debut in Pikmin 2, being absent from Pikmin altogether.
• The trophy for the Iridescent Flint Beetle in the European version of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U advises players to flip the creature onto its back with a Purple Pikmin, and then sending other Pikmin to strike. Although using Purple Pikmin is a good strategy due to their homing properties, the creature will not stay on its back, nor will charging at it with other Pikmin be beneficial. The trophy's tactic is valid for the Anode Beetle, however.
• The Burrowing Snagret's trophy in either region of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U omits Pikmin 2 from the list of games, instead listing Pikmin and Pikmin 3. Although this does not make the list incorrect, it is likely an oversight, given that other subjects that appear in all three games list Pikmin and Pikmin 2 (the first appearances, omitting Pikmin 3 as a result), in addition to the fact that this enemy is more common in Pikmin 2 than in Pikmin 3.
• Again on the Burrowing Snagret's trophy, the description on the US region of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U claims that it belongs to the "avian" family. In reality, the creature belongs to the snavian family.

Other

• In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, there is a sticker based on the Pellet Posy, featuring a red-pellet Pellet Posy. However, its name is "Red Pellet Flower", tying in with a previously noted partial mistake in the pellet trophy (see the Super Smash Bros. Brawl trophies section above).

See also

• Glitches
• Unused content
• Easter eggs