Perplexing Pool

The Perplexing Pool is the third area in, set in a sandy wetland. It contains four caves and seven overground treasures worth a total of in the US version and  in the European version. It is unlocked by retrieving the Geographic Projection from the Awakening Wood. Yellow Pikmin are discovered in this area. Its terrain is based on The Distant Spring from.

The Perplexing Pool slowly becomes more dangerous as days pass: More enemies will appear, and ultimately, a Beady Long Legs and a Spotty Bulbear will spawn after the thirty-first day. Completing the area before this point is recommended.

Layout
The Perplexing Pool is a complex area, with a wide variety of terrain types. Parts of the area are like a beach, while others are grassy and there are circular wooden structures around the area. It is the most aquatic area in Pikmin 2 with multiple lakes spread across its length and two of the caves being submerged, making Blue Pikmin a necessity. Its layout has a close resemblance to The Distant Spring of the first game, though it does have some changes. At one point, Olimar points out how much the area has changed since his last visit, indicating that it actually is the Distant Spring. There is a big concrete area where there were only small islands and water in the original, there is no water in the middle of the area, the Shower Room is where the Massage Machine originally was, the Submerged Castle is where the Chronos Reactor was, most of the gates are gone and there are a trio of Burgeoning Spiderworts in the area – a pair in the middle of the area and a lone one in the water.

Yellow Pikmin
In Pikmin 2, Yellow Pikmin are discovered in this area. The player must navigate around the stumps and use the scales to get to higher elevation. Alternately, if they are skilled enough, they can throw their Pikmin onto the ledge near the bridge to the right of the large stumps, then carefully guide them to building the bridge. Any Pikmin that fall in the water can be easily whistled back. The Fiery Blowhog in the way can be bypassed. Then, the player must fight a Fiery Bulblax with Red Pikmin. After killing the Fiery Bulblax, White Pikmin must break down a bramble gate with poison pipes inside. The Yellow Pikmin are on the other side of this gate.

Caves

 * Citadel of Spiders
 * Glutton's Kitchen
 * Shower Room
 * Submerged Castle

Tools

 * &times; 2

Others

 * &times; 9 (3 fall from the sky only on day 4 near Beady Long Legs's location, 3 appear between Citadel of Spiders and the Yellow Pikmin spot on days 11-30, and the other 3 are always by Glutton's Kitchen)
 * Rubble &times; 2

Piklopedia and Treasure Hoard
The Piklopedia and Treasure Hoard version of this area, which can be accessed by placing the ship's icon on top of the area and entering the archives, is similar to the in-game Perplexing Pool, but with the critical difference of having a large, round, open arena as the landing site, instead of a rectangular closed-off room. That circular region is also surrounded by an irregular beach of sand, surrounded by scrap metal. The following differences can also be noted:


 * There is a crack to the southwest of the landing site, indicating the presence of a clog.
 * There is a large metal tube protruding off the ground in the water, to the southeast of the landing site, instead of two plastic tubes.
 * The sand plot near the Chronos Reactor from The Distant Spring is present, and the nearby block with a Golden Candypop Bud, also from The Distant Spring is also present, but sunken into the ground.
 * In-game, there's a square dead-end to the right of the Submerged Castle's entrance that has a stone block on one of its walls. This block is absent on the Piklopedia version.
 * Part of the original landing site from The Distant Spring is present, but it's mostly covered up by sand, except for part of the Red Onion's original spot.
 * The tree in the Yellow Pikmin discovery site is not present.
 * The stone block buried to the northwest of the landing site is not present.
 * The wooden structures near the Glutton's Kitchen's entrance and the Optical Illustration are not present.
 * The large stone ramps at the north that provide a one-way access from the lake are absent on the Piklopedia version.
 * The ground at the western river and the center of the area is at the same level, so it is possible to walk from one to the other at will. In the in-game area, the center's terrain is higher.
 * In-game, there is a gap to the northeast of the landing site that requires a bridge to cross. It is absent in the Piklopedia variant.
 * In-game, there is a flat stump found to the west of the Glutton's Kitchen entrance. The stump is cut much higher in the Piklopedia version.
 * The stone structures that have the Gherkin Gate on top of it have a jut from the The Distant Spring present, the left ramp is wider, and the spot where Pikmin could be thrown to collect the treasure is more rectangular.
 * The structure that previously had the Repair-type Bolt in the The Distant Spring lacks the second sand ramp leading out of the water and the walls preventing Pikmin from exiting the wall's top from the left side.
 * The pillar that had the ship part itself is not smaller in this version, so the mapping around that pillar isn't skewed as a result.
 * A leaf present in the background is also placed over the pillar, instead of being further from it.
 * Most of the trunks at the north of the landing site don't have walls, or have lower walls than in-game.
 * The inaccessible area to the south of the Shower Room entrance is a lot more detailed than shown in-game.
 * The moss texture used on the stone structures in the area is much cleaner than shown in-game.
 * The shadow projection used in the area is overall much darker than shown in-game.

Trivia

 * The section of the map where Yellow Pikmin are first found has three circles of dappled light on the ground, tinted red, yellow, and blue. This section was originally the landing site of the map as seen in an early trailer and the Onions would respectively be located on the same spots as these circles.
 * The Perplexing Pool was originally going to be called "The Perplexing Spring".
 * While walking through the area, bear cicadas, nii-nii cicadas, and calls can be heard. In the evening, they are replaced with.
 * If the Perplexing Pool is visited on the fourth day - the earliest possible day it can be unlocked - a trio of eggs can be seen falling from the sky if a Leader or Pikmin wander near the Beady Long Legs's spawn point. This is the only case in the overworld where an object (other than the aforementioned Beady Long Legs) can fall from the sky, since all other objects that fall do so in caves. If one opens the game files to look at the definition that creates those eggs, they can find a comment reading.