Burrowing Snagret

The Burrowing Snagret is a boss in the, it has low health for a boss but it often appears in groups. It appears to be a combination of a bird and a snake, and is a member of the Snavian family. It remains underground for the majority of the time, surfacing only when approached by Pikmin or a leader. In the first two games, it has a chance of struggling to fully emerge for a few seconds before attacking. When above ground, it attempts to eat Pikmin one by one until it is sufficiently damaged, at which point it burrows back underground. In Pikmin 3 it can also stab its beak into the ground to eat a leader and then regurgitate them – if the attack misses, its beak will get stuck in the ground and its head will be vulnerable to attack. In, fledgling versions called Downy Snagrets can be found.

When killed in Pikmin, Burrowing Snagrets explode into 7 random 1 pellets and a 5 pellet; in Pikmin 2, a dead Burrowing Snagret leaves behind its head to be returned to an Onion or the Research Pod. In Pikmin 3, the Snagret's entire body comes out of the ground to be salvaged, revealing a foot much like the one on a Pileated Snagret.

Locations
In, 3 Burrowing Snagrets are found in the same area of The Forest of Hope, one of which contains the Geiger Counter. One is also found in The Final Trial in Challenge Mode.

In, a Burrowing Snagret is the main boss of the White Flower Garden, found on sublevel 5 (this one contains the Five-man Napsack), and many are encountered throughout the Snagret Hole; one is even guarding the entrance in the Awakening Wood, where the three in Pikmin are located. Another is on sublevel 4 of the Hole of Heroes, and yet another guards the Pink Menace in the Valley of Repose. Burrowing Snagrets are the most common boss-class enemies in Pikmin 2, having eight different in-game occurrences outside of Challenge Mode.

In, there is a Burrowing Snagret in the Twilight River, holding the Insect Condo. There are also Burrowing Snagrets in Mission Mode levels, including Silver Lake, Tropical Wilds Remix, Garden of Hope Remix (which contains 4 of them), Twilight River Remix, and Shaded Garden Remix. In the Side Stories, 1 can be found in Looking for Louie. In Bingo Battle, 1 can be found in layout C of Arid Metropolis, and 2 can be found in layout B of Parched Brook.

In, a Burrowing Snagret is present in the Blossoming Arcadia, where it holds the Brush of Wisdom. Another one is present in the same area in Olimar's Shipwreck Tale, but in a different section and instead holding an Extraordinary Bolt.

Strategy


In Pikmin, they are extremely hard to beat without losing Pikmin if thrown at the head, as they have very high health and are quite large. Its striking speed will also allow it to eat some Pikmin and burrow back into the ground before any significant damage is done. When trying to defeat it in the first game, the best strategy is to throw Red Pikmin at its head while it's emerging from the ground as fast as you can, then whistling in your Pikmin right before it shakes them off to prevent them being eaten. Another effective, but risky way is to swarm the head in hopes of making the Burrowing Snagret retreat underground. Try to run directly to the Snagret closest to the ledge on the side of the ship to avoid the other two Snagrets and collect the Geiger Counter more easily.

In Pikmin 2, defeating one is an easier task because of its lower health; even so, it remains a good idea to use Purple Pikmin. It is easy to take advantage of the fact that sometimes, the beast will not fully emerge from the ground, getting stuck for some time. It is best to attack the Snagret then, as it is possible to defeat it without losing any Pikmin. With quick and accurate throwing, however, this is not necessary to secure the battle. Throw many Pikmin at its head as soon as possible and the Snagret should die before managing to swallow any of the Pikmin that it may have snatched up from the ground. In Pikmin 2, attacks to the body will only cause 10% normal damage. Statistically, both in Pikmin and Pikmin 2, every time the creature emerges it has a 40% chance of getting stuck. That said, a Burrowing Snagret will never get stuck the first time of the day that it unburrows, in Pikmin.

In the first two games, if it burrows back underground without swallowing Pikmin it has caught, these Pikmin will die. In the first game, it was the root of many glitches involving the counter.

In Pikmin 3, the health is even lower, and Winged Pikmin can be charged directly onto its head to defeat it quickly, especially under the effects of an ultra-spicy spray. The boss can only eat Pikmin on the ground. It is helpful to stay away from its beak, as if it eats a leader, it can take a while to get all your Pikmin back into your squad.

It is not possible to defeat the Burrowing Snagret with leaders alone.

In Pikmin 4, it has the same health as 3, but comes out of the ground much slower. The Snagrets head will take a moment to shake its head a bit and then it will come out of the ground. An easy way to beat it is to simply use Oatchi to rush and attach all of your pikmin on its head to deal massive damage (if you don't want to use Oatchi or can't, then you can charge instead). This will either kill it immediately or cause it to immediately retreat underground. Without Oatchi, the Snagret can be beaten the same way as it would be in 3.

Burrowing Snarrow
The Burrowing Snarrow is a creature that is referred to only twice in the Pikmin series, but never seen. The first of these mentions is in the enemy reel at the end of Pikmin, while the second is in Olimar's notes on the Burrowing Snagret in Pikmin 2 Piklopedia.

In the Super Smash Bros. series
The Burrowing Snagret appears as a trophy in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Assist Trophy
The Burrowing Snagret appears in as an Assist Trophy, in its Pikmin 3 design. When summoned, it will emerge from the floor (even go-through platforms) near an opponent, and will idle for a second before unleashing three quick stabs towards the opponent. It can peck at the ground or the air. It will then bury back down and reemerge elsewhere, repeating the process. Like other Assist Trophies, it can be KO'd if it takes enough damage. It makes the Burrowing Snagret death sound from Pikmin when it emerges, and also when it is KO'd.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Spirit
The Burrowing Snagret also appears in as a Primary Spirit. It can be obtained by fighting a Charizard in the Spirit Board, buying it from the Shop or by being Summoned. It lowers the fighter's speed.

Trivia

 * The Burrowing Snagret can be seen in a pre-release video of Pikmin, where it appears to have a light or white body. This most likely originates from its Japanese name which means "White-tailed snake crow".
 * The Burrowing Snagret aboveground in the Awakening Wood has been reported to sometimes spawn with only 750 health. The cause of this is unknown.
 * In the Super Smash Bros. series, the Burrowing Snagret trophies contain a few mistakes.
 * The Brawl trophy states that no one has ever seen a Burrowing Snagret's tail before. However, Olimar states in the Piklopedia that the Burrowing Snagret and Snarrow can both be distinguished by the markings on their tails, implying that Olimar has seen its full body, or at least its tail. Pikmin 3 further confuses the matter by showing that the Snarget has no tail, as seen by defeating it.
 * The Super Smash Bros. for Wii U trophy erroneously omits Pikmin 2 from the list of games. The Pikmin trophies in Smash 4 always list the first two games, except for this one. In addition, the Snagret is more common in Pikmin 2 compared to Pikmin 3, especially considering it appears the most in the second game's story mode, and only once in the third game's. This makes the Pikmin 2 omission a mystery.
 * In the US version of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, the description claims that the creature belongs to the "avian" family, instead of the snavian family.
 * The Burrowing Snagret is the most commonly fought boss in the first 3 games, as it can be fought 4 times in the first game, 9 times in the second game, and 10 times in the third game. In Pikmin 4, it is fought 5 times, beat out by the Emperor Bulblax at 6.
 * If one only counts story mode, then this title is lost in Pikmin 3, as it is only encountered once. It is also fought in the Side Stories mode once.
 * The enemy reel mistakenly states that its body is lined with feathers.
 * This mistake is not present in the Japanese version, where the method given for distinguishing the Burrowing Snagret from the Burrowing Snarrow is the same that would later be described in the Piklopedia.
 * In Pikmin 2, this enemy and the Pileated Snagret shake the least when damaged, meaning their model stretches the least amount of all enemies.
 * It is the only boss that appears in every mainline Pikmin game.
 * In Pikmin 2, when the creature dies, its body shrinks while the head remains the same size. With the closest zoom settings, it is possible to see its small body in-game. The same happens with the Pileated Snagret, Toady Bloyster, and Ranging Bloyster.
 * The Burrowing Snagret lays eggs, as seen in Pikmin 4 where Downy Snagrets can be found inside nectar eggs, and to a lesser extent, the nest on sublevel 5 of the White Flower Garden, and the eggs found there.