Libra

The Libra is a ship part for the S.S. Dolphin in Pikmin and Olimar's Shipwreck Tale in. It was given to Olimar by his daughter, and is named after the. The Libra is similar to the Sagittarius and is identical in appearance, except that the Sagittarius is bigger. It also resembles the Essence of Despair from Pikmin 2.

Though mandatory in both games, its function remains entirely unknown. After being collected, the Libra is installed on the ship's hull, port at cockpit level (to the left of Captain Olimar when he's seated).

In Pikmin
All three types of Pikmin are needed to retrieve it. The path toward it can only be accessed by breaking down the black gate near the large body of water. The path is littered with fire geysers. A bridge has to be built to reach the floating island of land next to this path. At least 15 Yellow Pikmin must be thrown onto the first plateau of the island. A geyser for Olimar must also be activated by Blue Pikmin to reach the area where the Yellows were thrown. The Yellows can then be thrown again to reach the Libra. It should be noted that Pikmin usually get deflowered when carrying the Libra off the ledge. This can be avoided by calling them just before they reach the edge, letting the part slide down by itself, or by simply looking away by repositioning the camera. Red Pikmin should then be used to carry the part over the fire geysers, but it is also possible to do this with Blues and Yellows if timing is right.

It is possible to obtain the ship part using only Red Pikmin. By dismissing around fifty Red Pikmin close to the geyser, it can actually be activated, little by little. Afterwards, by using long throws, it is possible to get the Pikmin up the ledges, and use them to reach the Libra. Alternatively, one can get a pellet close to the railing wall thanks to a chasing Shearwig, and then lie down between the wall and pellet to appear on top of the railing, and from there, walk up to the Libra and push it down by lying down near it.

In Pikmin 4
The Libra is in an enclosed corridor near the moat protecting a lone Puffy Blowhog. Go to the north side and use either Moss' rush or a bomb rock to break the jars at the entrance. Enter and the Libra will be in plain sight.

Glitch
There is a rather notorious glitch involving the Libra in Pikmin. The part may bounce and fall into the abyss when pulled from the ledge it is positioned on. It may not reappear in any way on the file, though sometimes it may reappear in a random location. Should this happen to the player on the GameCube version of the game, they should reset the game immediately, as it cannot be completed without this part; however, it is possible to retry by returning to a previous day in the New Play Control! version.

Trivia

 * Like the Sagittarius, the Libra is named after.
 * In Greek mythology, Libra is the goddess of truth and balance.
 * Even though the Libra and the Sagittarius are the same size when shown on the S.S. Dolphin, their sizes before being retrieved are different, and the Libra takes only 15 Pikmin to carry and the Sagittarius takes 20. In Olimar's Shipwreck Tale, both the Libra and the Sagittarius have a weight of only 5.