Pikmin (game)
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Vegetation

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Some clovers, one of the many plants in PNF-404.
"Flower" redirects here. For the flower atop a Pikmin's head, see Chaenostoma cordatum and maturity.
This article is about vegetation in the canon games. For vegetation in Pikmin Adventure, see Pikmin Adventure vegetation.

PNF-404 is covered in all sorts of vegetation in addition to its animal wildlife. This includes an assortment of plants and fungi. Gameplay-wise, these can either be static background or area geometry elements, or they can be game objects that react to the world around them. For the most part, plants and fungi serve only an aesthetic purpose, but in some instances, they can directly contribute to the gameplay. With the Piklopedia in Pikmin 2, some plants and fungi were given a bit of importance inside the game itself, but because the explorers are not specialists in plant and fungus lifeforms familiar to humans, they mistakingly categorize things like LED lights as plants. In addition, Captain Olimar refers to Pikmin as being "both plant and animal".[1]

Vegetation as game objects

As stated above, some forms of vegetation are game objects, much like the leaders or the Pikmin. They are dotted about the terrain, and most of them have minimal impact on the gameplay, serving only for decoration; at most, they gently sway when brushed against. However, while some plants and fungi may be decorative in and of themselves, upon touching them they may release some helpful enemies hiding within, like Unmarked Spectralids, Honeywisps or Iridescent Flint Beetles. Others can also act as hiding spots from predators. Finally, there is a small handful of plant and fungus objects that have an important role as a gameplay mechanic.

Piklopedia

Main article: Piklopedia.

The Piklopedia is an in-game feature in Pikmin 2. When the leaders interact with enemies and vegetation, a record about the entity is created on the Piklopedia. In order for the player to complete the Piklopedia, they must touch at least one specimen of every recognizable plant and fungus in the game.

Interestingly, in New Play Control! Pikmin and New Play Control! Pikmin 2, Yellow Pikmin thrown from a plant will reach a higher distance. This does not apply to the GameCube versions.

Gameplay mechanics

Some forms of vegetation in PNF-404 are actually helpful or obstructive to the leaders and their Pikmin, and serve as important gameplay mechanics – some must be interacted with to complete the game.

  • Pellet Posy Pellet Posies have a single pellet on top of their stem. When the plant is taken down, it releases the pellet inside, which can be brought to an Onion. This provides a safe way of increase Pikmin population without having to interact with enemies or their corpses.
  • Burgeoning Spiderwort Burgeoning Spiderworts contain berries that, when delivered to the Hocotate ship or S.S. Drake, can be used to brew sprays. These plants can generate several berries throughout the day, making them a good origin of sprays; they do, however, need some upkeep in order to remain a healthy and reliable source.
  • Burgeoning Spiderwort mold Burgeoning Spiderwort molds in Pikmin 2 suffocate Burgeoning Spiderworts and any Pellet Posies within their radii, rendering the plants inaccessible until the central molds are destroyed.
  • Nectar weed is a type of grass that, when pulled out, has a chance of releasing a drop of nectar. Pikmin can be told to weed out these blades of grass in order to obtain the nectar within.
  • Spotcap Spotcaps are often simply destructible scenery, but sometimes they can block a pathway or even contain Data Files.
  • Kingcap Kingcaps always appear in dense collections of Spotcaps, blocking a path until Pikmin destroy it.
  • Lily pad Lily pads float on the surface of rivers, and allow leaders and Pikmin to ride them to new sections of the area.

Treasures as vegetation

In Pikmin 2, the leaders attribute a high value to some otherwise mundane plants and fungi. These forms of vegetation have been upgraded from mere decorative objects to important treasures that the player must collect in order to complete the game. The following is a list of series whose treasures do not act as regular in-game vegetation:

Enemies as vegetation

Some enemies in the Pikmin world take advantage of the unassuming characteristics of flora and fungi in order to disguise themselves as common vegetation. This can be either a defensive or offensive mechanism, in that the disguise could serve as a way to hide from predators, or as a means for an ambush. In addition, some enemies also seem to be part plant or part fungus, much like the Pikmin are part plant themselves. A list of enemies with these plant and fungus connections is as follows:

Vegetation as terrain

The terrain in PNF-404 consists of all sorts of surfaces. Given the series' highlights of nature, a large part of the terrain Pikmin and leaders walk on is made up of flora or fungi. This can range from grass to tree trunks. These different terrains count simply for decoration, as they have no impact on the gameplay, other than providing different footstep sounds when leaders walk on top of them.

Vegetation as background

In order to give the areas some physical context, the out-of-bounds sections of the terrain are filled with plants and fungi. At times, it is even in much larger amounts than what can be found in the area's in-bound terrain; the reason for this is to stop the gameplay section of the area to be too cluttered. The outside of maps can consist of normal vegetation gameplay objects, dedicated models (e.g. trees, leaves, or unique flowers), or, in the case of the first two games, a wall with a texture of assorted vegetation, like mossy stones or trees.

List of identified vegetation

The following is a list of identified plants and fungi in the Pikmin games. This list refers only to vegetation that is given an actual name or recognition inside the games or other canonical content. Only Pikmin 2 actually names most of these, with the Piklopedia. You may also browse the categories available on Pikipedia, with the top one being Vegetation.

Pikmin


See also: [[::Category:Pikmin 1 vegetation|Pikmin vegetation category]].

Pikmin 2


See also: [[::Category:Pikmin 2 vegetation|Pikmin 2 vegetation category]].

Pikmin 3


See also: [[::Category:Pikmin 3 vegetation|Pikmin 3 vegetation category]].

"Hey! Pikmin"

Pikmin Adventure

Plants and fungi in Pikmin Adventure are once again decorative and hardly interactive, but there are Nintendo Land Plaza statues for each of them. These are unlocked using Nintendo Land Coins.

See: Pikmin Adventure plants

List of unidentified vegetation

The leaf texture used in Pikmin 2's Challenge Mode menu. (Used on Pikipedia in the {{stub}} template.)

This article is a stub. You can help Pikipedia by expanding it.

There are forms of vegetation that are not given a name or any sort of importance inside the games themselves. However, their species can still be known by examining how they look and act, compared to plants and fungi in the real world. Some vegetation, however, cannot be identified at all, either because they do not resemble any real world plant, or because the resemblances are too weak to reach conclusive proof. The names given on this list are the real world names.

Brown mushrooms

Brown mushrooms appear in Pikmin 3, and they grow on trees. This type of mushroom must not be confused with another brown mushroom that can only be found on the ground. Unlike the latter, it's not possible to interact with it.

Common poppy

There is a red flower in Pikmin 3 which resembles a common poppy.

Creeping burhead

These flowers appear in the Garden of Hope in Pikmin 3.

Eaten leaves

In the background of Tropical Wilds in Pikmin 3, it's possible to see leaves that seem to have been eaten by something.

Epipremnum aureum

This tropical plant appears in Pikmin 3.

Euphorbia

Euphorbiae are flowers appearing in Pikmin 3.

Fern

Ferns are large plants which appear in Pikmin, Pikmin 2, and Pikmin 3, and more precisely, in two colors: brown or green.

Forget-me-not

Forget-me-nots only appear in Pikmin 3 in the Beastly Caverns stage of Mission Mode and the Shaded Terrace stage of Bingo Battle. They are popular garden flowers, only acting as decoration to the garden themes of these two areas.

French marigolds

Tagetes patula, also called French marigolds, appear in the Garden of Hope in Pikmin 3, on the room with the Astringent Clump.

Fuzzy leaves

In Pikmin, and more precisely in The Impact Site, it's possible to see strange leaves. Due to the lack of details, it can't be matched with a real plant.

Gerbera

In Pikmin 3, it's possible to find flowers very similar to gerberas.

Glebionis coronaria

Glebionis coronaria, or chrysanthemum coronarium, are yellow flowers found in Pikmin 3. Although they're similar to Dandelions, they are smaller.

Hedera Helix

Hedera helix, or common ivy, is a rampant and clinging plant often found on walls. It is possible to see this kind of plant in Pikmin 3.

Holly

Some holly can be seen in the Distant Tundra in Pikmin 3 .

Inonotus ispidus

Inonotus ispidus is a mushroom growing on trees. It appears in Pikmin 3 in autumnal areas such as Twilight River or Twilight Hollow.

Ligularia clivorum

This yellow flower appears in the background of The Final Trial in Pikmin and the Garden of Hope in Pikmin 3.

Monstera Deliciosa

Also called splitleaf philodendron, this tropical plant used for interior decoration appears in Pikmin 3, and more precisely in the following areas: Tropical Wilds, Tropical Forest and Tropical Forest Remix.

Morning-glory

These flowers appear in Pikmin 3 and more precisely in the Forgotten Cove.

Pansy

Pansies are flowers which appear in Pikmin 3. Depending on the current day, their color can change.

Peltate leaf

Several large flat leaves appear in the background of the Perplexing Pool, serving no other purpose than decoration. The leaves' stems connect at the bottom, characteristic mainly to tropical plants. Its species name would probably be peltata.

Pine needle

Although it is not confirmed, there are needles in Pikmin 3 which seem to be pine needles.

Plant with pink flowers

In Pikmin 3, there is an unknown plant that can be found in The Rustyard. It has little pink flowers with clearly visible brown roots, and leaves.

Red mushroom/leaf

This article or section needs to be cleaned up, either its format or general style.
Notes: Are they the same thing then or not?

There is an unknown red object that appears in all Pikmin games. It is either a red-leafed plant or a red mushroom. It is quite common in Pikmin, appearing in every area. In Pikmin 2, this same red-leafed plant only appears in the Valley of Repose near the landing area, covered in snow. In Pikmin 3 the plant becomes a trio of mushrooms found only in the Tropical Wilds; they make a unique sound when disturbed. The red-leafed plant from Pikmin and Pikmin 2 could be based on heuchera micrantha whereas the new mushroom's look could be based on mycena haematopus. In Pikmin 2, they belong to the area's geometry, but in Pikmin, it is its own object, called chidome, which could be short for チドメグサ属?. That is the name given to the Hydrocotyle genus (also known as "water pennyworts"), which are plants with long stems that live near water.

Salvia nemorosa

This plant is made of little purple flowers. They can be seen in Pikmin 3.

Seaweed-like plant

In Pikmin, there is an unknown plant that can be found in The Distant Spring, and more precisely in the water. It is supposed to be some sort of seaweed.

Shasta daisy

The shasta daisies only appear in Pikmin 3. They only act as decoration, though a White Spectralid will normally land on a group near the landing site in the Garden of Hope.

Spiked grass

Spiked grass appears in grouped tufts in Pikmin, as decoration for The Forest Navel's landing site. They also appear in Pikmin 2 and Pikmin 3 on the Twilight River.

Sprout

Ambiguous two-leafed sprouts appear in patches in Pikmin 3, acting as hiding spots. The Distant Tundra also features patches of brown dried sprouts.

Succulent

The Formidable Oak in Pikmin 3 features numerous different variants of cacti and succulent plants. These include haworthia attenuata, stout barrel cacti, aeonium succulents, and large columnar cacti in the distance. The Formidable Oak also houses some more ambiguous but unique flora, including inflorescences of pink wildflowers, sprouts and tufts of dry grasses, and even some tiny lichens in the center of the arena area. Most of these succulents and some of the flower types are also used in the Thirsty Desert and its remix in Mission Mode.

Tree

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You can help Pikipedia by uploading some images.

Nearly every area of every game (excluding The Forest Navel) contains trees, though most of the time they go unnoticed. Their main effect on gameplay is providing dynamic shadows that make the look of the environment more realistic and interesting. Trees can be seen in most of the backgrounds of the first two games' areas, but the textures depicting them are simple and looped, and often obscured by distance fog. In Pikmin 3, the entire skybox is rendered, and one can see full trees surrounding the area using the KopPad's camera.

Trifolium alexandrinum

A trifolium alexandrinum (also known as Egyptian clover) is a plant used as a fodder. It appears in Pikmin 3. This is actually a flower of a Clover. In Pikmin 3, this flower may appear or not, depending on the current day.

Tulip

These only appear in Pikmin 3, and with different colors from normal (such as pink or yellow).

Clinopodium gracile

トウバナ (Clinopodium gracile) is made of several little leaves. It appears in the following areas:

Vine

An ivy-like vine appears in the Tropical Forest in Pikmin 3, creeping along the edge of a raised platform and wall until twirling into a curled slide. Leaders and Pikmin can slide down this vine to get from the raised platform to the lower ground quickly, but not vice versa. Several vines are also used for scenery.

Weed

A prototype of Pikmin 3 contained an unused patch of weed-like plants.

White mushroom

In Pikmin 3, it's possible to find a white mushroom in autumnal areas.

Yellow wood sorrel

Yellow wood sorrels only appear in Pikmin 3. They only act as decoration, though one patch near the landing site in the Garden of Hope hides an Iridescent Flint Beetle.

See also

References

  1. ^ What exactly are these Pikmin? One could classify them as both plant and animal. – Captain Olimar in his voyage log