Hocotate ship

The Hocotate ship (usually called simply the ship) refers to Hocotate Freight's company ship in Pikmin 2. It is an old ship, being part of Hocotate Freight since its very beginnings. Unlike the S.S. Dolphin, the Hocotate ship is capable of speech, replacing most of Olimar's in-game speech, and takes on the role of giving advice throughout the game. Olimar makes his opinion of its personality being pompous and quirky known in his journal. It sports two cockpits and a detachable pod, where its speaker is located.

History
This old Hocotate Freight ship was used when Hocotate Freight first opened.. The ship has some visible dirt and rust damage on its hull, indicating it has been in use for quite some time; Olimar even talks about how it has many holes all over it. Olimar also mentions it once used to be a "top-of-the-line vessel", hinting that the Hocotate ship's design was mass-produced, before being taken off the market. According to the Japanese website for Pikmin 2, the ship retired a few years before the events of the game took place. It wasn't sold due to it appearing to be nothing but junk, but it actually surpasses the capabilities of recent ships due to years of experience.

When Olimar returns from the Distant Planet, his ship is sold off, and the Hocotate Ship declares a souvenir Olimar brought back to be highly valuable. The President sends Olimar and Louie back to the planet to get more treasure, using the Ship as transportation. The Ship guides them throughout their journey, making use of Olimar's voyage log from the previous game according to the Japanese Website, although it seems not all the data could be recovered. The ship also uses various junk the President sent with his employees to create the Exploration Kit. After the debt is paid off, it gains a golden hull and is seemingly given a tune up, as it produces less noise when nearby.

In Pikmin 3, the ship makes a small appearance in the Garden of Hope, just outside where the Quaggled Mireclops is fought. It is out-of-bounds, but it can be reached by throwing leaders on a split log, then throwing a leader onto the ledge. It is heavily damaged, stuck to the ground, and missing its golden paint job. The Koppaite leaders assume that this was the Quaggled Mireclops' doing. In a nearby data file, Olimar mentions that the ship was once a top-of-the-line product, but he now dislikes it. The reason for that is a bit vague, since the data file changes between regions. In the US version, he claims the ship is an insult to his piloting, but in the European version, claims the ship actively criticizes his piloting skills.

After Olimar is rescued by the Koppaites, he is soon sent back to PNF-404 to recover the Hocotate Ship alongside Louie. They find it in the Garden of Hope, and begin collecting its scattered parts. These parts include the Main Engine, Chronos Reactor, Repair-type Bolt, Analog Computer, and Nova Blaster. After the repairs, Olimar and Louie return to Hocotate, the Pikmin watching the Hocotate Ship fly away.

The Ship is not seen or mentioned directly in Pikmin 4, although Schnauz recites various sales pitches from Pikmin 2, and says he has heard the pitch for the Cupid's Grenade somewhere before. It is said that a popular treasure naming AI was co-authored by a famous treasure appraiser, likely being Schnauz. Schnauz also says the Citrus Lump's shape reminds him of a colleague, and as Olimar says it resembles the President's head in PIkmin 2, it can be inferred that Schnauz and the President authored the Hocotate Ship's naming AI together.

Personality
The Hocotate ship is highly greedy and quirky. Sometimes, it makes up lies about treasures in its sales pitches, solely to entice buyers to make money. The Hocotate ship also has an extreme hatred for bugs, which Olimar mentions multiple times in his notes. The Ship seems show mild intrigue in PNF-404, telling Olimar to document the White Pikmin for "future generations", and becoming entranced by the wild Blue Pikmin.

The Hocotate ship also laments how it is a machine that cannot do any organic bodily functions and that it lacks friends. Regardless, the ship will often attempt to criticize Olimar on failing to do his duty properly, such as calling him when he has not attempted to use Louie on day 3 or pointing out flaws in his argument that the Universal Com is actually a monitor.

Capabilities
The Hocotate ship can store Pikmin and treasures, and will house both White Pikmin and Purple Pikmin once they are found. Unlike the S.S. Dolphin, the leaders cannot check how many treasures have been collected using it, nor can they restore their suit's damage meter, though it is stated in Olimar's notes for the Toxic Toadstool that the ship's reactor can power Olimar's and Louie's life support systems indefinitely, explaining the lack of a 30-day-timelimit that was present in the previous game. Standing in the green light and pressing before Purple Pikmin have been found does nothing. The ship has two cockpits, and is capable of deep space communication, sending a report each night to Hocotate and receiving mail. To do this it must be in orbit around PNF-404. The ship can dispatch a Research Pod for traveling underground.

Research Pod
When the leaders go into a cave, the ship dispatches its nose cone, known as the Research Pod, and sends it down to support them. Anything that the Pikmin pick up will be carried to the Pod and stored in its hull until the player leaves the cave. On leaving a cave via a geyser, the treasure worth of these is added to the total.

If the player chooses to leave by selecting the option in the pause menu, the Pod will dispose all treasures and creatures that were collected and return to the surface with the leaders and Pikmin. This will happen automatically if all Pikmin on the sublevel die or both leaders are down, and cannot be stopped without resetting the game. The discarded treasures will be returned to the sublevels they were found in.

After the player pays off the debt and the ship is upgraded, a scratching noise can sometimes be heard when near the equally-upgraded research pod.

Sales pitch
When one complete "series" of treasures has been collected, the ship's sales pitches become available. This is an advertisement for the treasure as if it were a product.

Example (Superstick Textile):

Pikmin Adventure
In the Nintendo Land attraction Pikmin Adventure, the ship is the goal point in every level. In the plaza, there is a statue of it called The Ship.

Monita's Notes
🇺🇸:

🇪🇺:

Super Smash Bros. Brawl
The ship appears in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. During the beginning of a match, Olimar enters the stage in the ship and jumps out to pluck three Pikmin. When Olimar uses his Final Smash, "End of Day", he hops in the ship while Bulborbs cause damage to his opponents. Olimar then crashes down back on the stage, sometimes further harming his opponents. In the Subspace Emissary, the ship appears in the "Outside the Ancient Ruins" stage, stuck in the background, indicating how Olimar got to the island. It somehow got off the island by itself, as Olimar is seen piloting the ship alongside a number of other airborne vehicles while entering Subspace. In the Great Maze section of the Emissary, it appears in the background as part of the level's scenery, although this ship is an illusion created by Tabuu. The ship also appears as a trophy and a sticker.

Trophy information:

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate


The ship retains most of its Brawl appearances in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, excluding the sticker and Subspace Emissary.

In addition, it appears in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U and as an item as well. However, it is not the real ship, but rather a bomb disguised as it. When placed on the ground, it lifts off after a delay, and then drops unexpectedly, causing it to explode and damage anybody but the launcher.

Trophy information on the 3DS:

Trophy information on the Wii U:

Super Mario Galaxy
Super Mario Galaxy has two planets shaped very similarly to the the Hocotate ship, one located in the Space Junk Galaxy and the other in the Ghostly Galaxy (the latter cannot be accessed). It is likewise a red, rusted color.

Official name and naming errors
The official name of this ship is quite the conundrum. While simply called "the ship", "my ship", "our ship" or "the Hocotate ship" in the English versions of and, in the Japanese games the ship is in fact referred to as "S.S. Dolphin first model". Since the original S.S. Dolphin and this ship  both have "Dolphin" in their Japanese name, a number of errors arise. Possibly attributed to different translators unfamiliar with Pikmin or simple oversights, the Hocotate ship is sometimes called "the S.S. Dolphin" when it should be "the Hocotate ship" or "the ship".

For example, in the Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U trophy, it's stated that Olimar boards "the S.S. Dolphin" for his Final Smash, however he is in fact boarding the Hocotate ship.

An interesting possible oversight is found in Pikmin 3: in the Secret Files Olimar states that he is the captain of the S.S. Dolphin – normally players would assume that he is talking about the original S.S. Dolphin from the first game, however knowing this information it becomes apparent that he could in fact be talking about this ship. This explains why in Louie's secret file he presents himself as a crew member of the S.S. Dolphin. It makes more sense to assume that Olimar is talking about being captain of the Dolphin he is currently piloting and not the one that was sold and is no longer his, and for Louie to consider himself a crew member of the only Dolphin he has boarded. However if this is true, Pikmin 3 would be the first time the Hocotate ship is referred to as "S.S. Dolphin" by the characters, mainly Olimar.

There are other times when the ship is referred to in Pikmin 2, but none of those end up giving it a proper name. In the manual, it is referred to as "the old ship", "your ship", "the ship", etc. In the pause menu in Pikmin 2, the numbers of stored White and Purple Pikmin are listed in a section called "Rocket". In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, a non-canon game, the trophy for the rocket calls it "Hocotate Ship", although the "S" is uppercase.

Other names given include:
 * Hocotate Freight ship: Mentioned in the intro cutscene for Olimar's Comeback.
 * In the Italian version of Pikmin 3 Deluxe, the ship is referred as "The Dolphin Prototype" in Olimar's Comeback, reflecting it's Japanese name.

Because of how hard it is to know the ship's canon name, most fans call the ship "Hocotate ship", "Hocotate Freight ship", or "the ship", depending on the game, the version, and their own preferences.

Internal and prototype names
The ship is identified as "Dolphin 1" in the prototype version of Pikmin 2 script. Similarly, its internal name in Super Smash Bros. Brawl files is. The internal name inside Pikmin 2 and Pikmin 3 files is.

Other names
As a sticker in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the vessel is referred to as "Olimar and Louie's Ship". In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, the ship is made into an item, but is called "Hocotate Bomb" instead. This is naturally just the name of the item itself, and not the ship in the Pikmin games.

Names in other languages
Research Pod

Trivia

 * The trophy in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U lists Pikmin as one of the games the ship appeared in, which is incorrect – it made its debut in Pikmin 2.
 * The co-pilot's cockpit in the golden version of the ship has a sofa and a television for the President. This can be barely seen by manipulating the camera. That said, its screen pulsates between a dark shade and a strong cyan, but this effect cannot be seen from the glass due to the way the game is rendered. By moving the camera inside, for instance, with an emulator, one can see the pulsating effect in action.
 * In Occupational Hazards, the Research Pod does not use its speaking noises from Pikmin 2, but rather uses the same speaking noises that the S.S. Drake does.
 * In Louie's Dark Secret, Louie pilots the Hocotate ship when tasked with delivering the golden pikpik carrots. The cutscene may not be entirely truthful, however.
 * Three of the Hocotate ship's parts are worth a combined in The Ship Restored.