Moving walkway



Moving walkways are tools in and. They are silver conveyor belts that constantly move in a certain direction, and their direction can be switched by activating a switch. Objects on top of one are carried along the belt until they reach static land or fall off, sometimes into the pit. In Pikmin 3, they are found only in the Mission Mode stage Clockwork Chasm, while in Pikmin 4 they are found in several caves.

Some belts are faster than others, and although leaders and Pikmin are fast enough to cross against the slower ones, faster ones may make it impossible to go against the flow other than by Oatchi's rush. Regardless of speed, Pikmin will only carry objects with the flow. The direction of all belts in the stage can be reversed if a leader or Pikmin is thrown onto a conveyor switch.

The conveyor belts in Clockwork Chasm are used as the stage's main gimmick; so much so that the leaders and a blob of nectar begin on top of one on the Collect Treasure! mission, which carries them to the main platform. They mostly provide a strategy element to the stage, since players have to plan out their usual routine, but also have to coordinate when and where the conveyor belts must be switched, to help Pikmin move quicker or open up paths. In this stage, there are 22 belts in the Collect Treasure! mission, and 18 in the Battle Enemies! mission.

Conveyor switch
Located throughout the stage are conveyor switches that are used to reverse the flow of all of the conveyor belts. The device is simply a platform with two round buttons facing upward – one blue and one yellow. One of the buttons will be depressed and the other will be popped out upward. Leaders or Pikmin can be thrown on top of the button that is popped out in order to press it, which will not only revert the flow of all conveyor belts, but also pop out the other button. All conveyor switches are synchronized, so flipping the buttons on one will flip the buttons on all the switches in the stage. The button that is pressed down will emit a light of its color, and the small lights that line all the conveyor belts in the stage will also glow in that color.

Trivia

 * Conveyor switches are the only objects that can be locked-on that are exclusive to Mission Mode, and conveyor belts only appear here too. Every other interactable object from Mission Mode appears at least once in Story Mode.
 * Pikmin sprouts will not be carried by conveyor belts. This can be seen in the Battle Enemies! variant of the stage, since there is a Swooping Snitchbug flying above a conveyor belt.