Puffy Blowhog

The Puffy Blowhog is an enemy in all four main Pikmin games. It floats gently in the air, and when it finds Pikmin or leaders, it blows them away with a strong gust of air. Before blowing air, it first needs to stop and inhale.

In Pikmin, this creature knocks down Olimar and blows away Pikmin, causing their flowers to wilt. In Pikmin 2, withering breath is instead caused by the Withering Blowhog, and the Puffy Blowhog instead simply knocks them back, and for a shorter distance. Purple Pikmin are immune to the wind, and collecting the Rush Boots makes the leaders immune too. Regardless of game, their strong gusts can knock Pikmin into hazards or other dangers.

It floats high in the air, but low enough for thrown Pikmin to reach, however. It can shake Pikmin off, though if overwhelmed and weighed down, it'll be brought to the ground, and be vulnerable to attacks for a few seconds. It will then attempt to go back into the air, but if it has too many Pikmin on it, will not succeed. In Pikmin 3, it can instantly inflate when it crashes on the ground, throwing off latched Pikmin. It also drops a corpse in Pikmin 3, after it deflates itself from defeat.

In the first game, it appears in The Distant Spring, usually near water and other enemies, making it much more dangerous, as there is an abundance of hazards for it to blow Pikmin into. Puffy Blowhogs are only rarely seen within a few caves in Pikmin 2, as well as the multiplayer stage Carpet Plain. In Pikmin 3, the Puffy Blowhog only appears in Story Mode once in the Twilight River area, as well as in the Battle Enemies! version of Fortress of Festivity.

Appearance
The Puffy Blowhog is a large creature, resembling a half-inflated balloon. It has a cyan and pink body, with purple stripes, two small flipper-like appendages on the sides, and several harmless spikes on the back. It also has four blowholes on either side. In Pikmin, Pikmin 2, and Pikmin 4 a flash of light periodically blazes through the creature's body.

In Pikmin, the Puffy Blowhog is slightly larger than that in Pikmin 2. In Pikmin 3, it looks noticeably more balloon-like than its previous appearances: its body is slightly translucent, and appears stretched by the air inside of it. Its corpse looks like a completely deflated balloon, much smaller than the living creature. Its eyes also seem to have changed, due to its pupils being larger and the sclera not as noticeable compared to the previous games. In Pikmin 4, the creature is less translucent and has smaller pupils, matching its appearance in the first two games.

Areas

 * The Distant Spring

Challenge Mode

 * The Distant Spring

Caves

 * Sublevel 3 of Glutton's Kitchen
 * Sublevel 7 of the Cavern of Chaos
 * Sublevel 3 of the Hole of Heroes
 * Sublevel 7 of the Dream Den

Challenge Mode

 * Sublevel 2 of the Novice Training
 * Sublevel 1 and 2 of the Cave of Snarls

2-Player Battle

 * Carpet Plain

Areas

 * Twilight River

Mission Mode

 * Twilight Hollow (Collect Treasures)
 * Fortress of Festivity (Battle Enemies)

Side Stories

 * Team Monster Hunt

Caves

 * Sublevel 4 of the Drafty Gallery
 * Sublevel 5 of the Plunder Palace
 * Sublevel 3 of the Ultimate Testing Range
 * Sublevel 1 of the Cradle of the Beast

Night Expedition

 * Sunwashed Plateau
 * Blossoming Dunes

Dandori

 * Aerial Incinerator

Olimar's Shipwreck Tale

 * Sun-Speckled Terrace

Strategy


Due to their speed when flying away, these enemies are hard to combat. It is possible to throw Pikmin at it while it is moving, but hard. Instead, lure it into attacking, and while it is busy inhaling air, quickly get under it and bombard it with Pikmin. If you threw enough of them, it will eventually fall. Swarm or charge it, and it should be dead in a few seconds. If there are other enemies nearby and you can afford to leave a distraction, keep the Puffy Blowhog busy while you clear out the other enemies, so that the fight with the flying beast will be easier.

In Pikmin, it moves in the air much faster, making a head-on ambush nearly impossible unless the enemy is cornered. If it does blow Pikmin away, they can fly incredible distances, so check the radar to see if any non-Blue Pikmin have landed in the water, and if not, continue the assault.

In Pikmin 2, Purple Pikmin are immune to the knockback of the Puffy Blowhog, as are leaders if the Repugnant Appendage has been collected. With both, the Puffy Blowhog becomes harmless. A single Purple Pikmin is enough to make it fall. Its breath is also less effective, and cannot wither Pikmin flowers. It is found only in caves, often with many gates, so it can be a problem to hit when it is behind one. Use Purple Pikmin to take down the wall it guards, then move in for an assault.

In Pikmin 3, Winged Pikmin can be used to swarm it in mid-air and defeat it easily, but otherwise, the strategies from the first two games work well. Seeing as they cannot make Pikmin flowers or buds wilt, leaving a group of Winged Pikmin to take care of it is normally a good idea, as the Pikmin do not need a leader to throw them in order to attack. Rock Pikmin can also drain the enemy's health rather quickly. Because it inflates when it lands on the ground, it is advised to whistle your Pikmin to you when you see that the creature is starting to fall; it will not push away Pikmin if there are none attacking it. Then, proceed to charge like normal.

In Pikmin 4, the creature's much less aggressive with shaking off Pikmin, and will behave as it does in the first two games, laying on the ground for a moment before attempting to go back into the air. It also can blow Pikmin farther than in the previous two appearances, but nowhere near as far as it could in Pikmin. Despite withering being caused by almost everything in this game, even panic, its breath still cannot wither Pikmin flowers.

Glitch
When battling it in either Pikmin or Pikmin 2, there may be times when a Puffy Blowhog that is falling due to Pikmin weight will land on a border or ledge of some sort, or even on top of another enemy. The Puffy Blowhog will then be unable to reach the programmed "ground", and will stay on the obstacle and repeat its struggling animation infinitely. In The Distant Spring, the stone pathways around the UV Lamp may cause this glitch to occur, and it can also happen on the walls of sublevels in various caves in Pikmin 2, wherever Puffy Blowhogs are found. In Pikmin 3, it will merely slide off walls or use them as a ramp to get back up.

Trivia

 * A defeated Puffy Blowhog in Pikmin will start deflating and then spin around on its pitch axis. Normally, it does this in a standard pose, and so, it spins around vertically, parallel to walls. However, if the player is able to kill it in the middle of its falling state, by weighing it with Pikmin at low health, it will play a unique animation, where it first turns sideways and then deflates, effectively making it spin horizontally, parallel to the floor.
 * The Piklopedia states that the Puffy Blowhog eats insects it finds under grass and leaves. This behavior is never shown in-game.
 * When a Puffy Blowhog is stunned by a Purple Pikmin in Pikmin 2 it will not create particles indicating being stunned unlike other enemies.
 * In the Japanese version of Pikmin 3 Deluxe, Olimar's comments on the Puffy Blowhog are altered to remove a mention of the sash of color that periodically flows through the creature's body, as well as the description of its defeat animation as escaping. These changes are not reflected in the English translation.