Pellet

A pellet is a crystallized chunk of nectar that contains vitamins and other nutrition. Pellets are used to produce Pikmin, by bringing them to the Onion, and are the main source of seeds at the start of the games, as large creatures require many Pikmin to kill safely.

Pellets come in a variety of sizes, and each one produces a different amount of Pikmin. An Arabic numeral can be seen atop each one, reflecting its weight. Pellets with the numbers 1, 5, 8, 10, and 20 exist. If the color of the pellet matches the color of the Onion it is brought to, that same number of Pikmin is produced (the exception being the number 1, which creates two Pikmin). If not, only half that number, rounded up, will appear.

They are found on the top of Pellet Posies, and sometimes on the ground. Certain creatures of PNF-404 also leave pellets as spoils at times; they have presumably eaten pellets, which could indicate the possibility that the same creatures are herbivores, if not omnivores.

Sizes

 * 1 pellet: The most common size of pellet and the only kind found on Pellet Posies in Pikmin. If they are brought to the same colored Onion, they produce 2 Pikmin, if not, they produce just 1 Pikmin.


 * 5 pellet: A fairly rare pellet; these are found on the ground or dropped by enemies in Pikmin, but pellet-bearing Pellet Posies debuted with this pellet in Pikmin 2. If they are brought to the same colored Onion, they produce 5 Pikmin, if not, they produce only 3 Pikmin. The Pellet Posies for this plant are only found in the Valley of Repose in Pikmin 2, but are more common in the other games. They can be found in some fixed places in Pikmin 3, but two of them grow atop the defeated Quaggled Mireclops.


 * 8 pellet: These pellets are exclusive to and are the only kind present in that game. They are obtained as a reward for completing Secret Spots from the area selection screen, and automatically add 8 Pikmin of the corresponding type to Pikmin Park.


 * 10 pellet: These are even rarer, as these are only in significant places in Pikmin, and only four reappearing Pellet Posies with pellets of weight 10 are found in Pikmin 2: three in the Awakening Wood, and one in the Valley of Repose. If they are brought to the same colored Onion, they produce 10 Pikmin, if not, they produce 5 Pikmin in Pikmin and Pikmin 2, or 6 in Pikmin 3. They are also dropped by the Toady Bloyster and the Spotty Bulbear (day 30) in the Perplexing Pool. Finally, it is also dropped by the Fiery Bulblax in the Valley of Repose – the one that holds the Temporal Mechanism – after its treasure has been salvaged. In Pikmin 3, a 10 Pellet Posy is located on the Tropical Wilds, next to the Pyroclasmic Slooches and the Lesser Mock Bottom; it is always red. On the same area, one is found near the Swooping Snitchbug. A blue 10 pellet can also be found on Twilight River, in a pond in the cave with three Juicy Gaggles. There is also a winged 10 pellet on Twilight River, near the Burrowing Snagret. Finally, on The Rustyard (Battle Enemies! version), a rock 10 pellet can be found near a Toady Bloyster.


 * 20 pellet: The rarest of all, these are very large and very difficult to find; in Pikmin 2, there is actually a Pellet Posy for this pellet that regrows, located near the Snagret Hole in the Awakening Wood, which bears the only 20 pellet in the game. In Pikmin, a yellow 20 pellet is found on top of a tree stump, where only Yellow Pikmin can reach it, in The Forest of Hope. There are also 20 pellets of all 3 colors lying around in the back area where the Pearly Clamclamps are at The Impact Site. There are many 20 pellets lying around everywhere throughout Challenge Mode as well. 50 Pikmin maximum can carry a 20 pellet, instead of the normal of exactly twice its weight. If they are brought to the same colored Onion, they produce 20 Pikmin; if not, they produce 10 Pikmin. These pellet types are absent from Pikmin 3 and Pikmin 4.

Stats
The following chart lists information about the different sizes of pellet.

is unused by the game, and contains outdated data about how objects are carried. This file specifies that 1 pellets can be carried by 3 Pikmin at most.
 * In the page that details the Onions and pellets in Pikmin's instruction manual, there is a picture of three Blue Pikmin carrying a 1 pellet, with the carrying numbers confirming this.
 * On the enemy reel's Breadbug clip, a Breadbug can be seen trying to carry away a yellow 1 pellet, but is overpowered by some Pikmin tugging on the other side. It is very hard to see how many Pikmin are holding on to the pellet, both because they can't be seen from the angle the clip was shot at, and because there are no carrying numbers. But when the Breadbug is beamed up by the Onion, three Pikmin can be seen behind it. It is unknown if all three of these were grabbing the pellet, or if some were idling.

That said, there have been reports of a rare glitch that allows a trio of grounded carriers to handle a single pellet. This glitch is currently unconfirmed, and the documented steps to reproduce it include having a Pikmin attack the top of a Pellet Posy while two others attack it from the bottom, timing it so the top Pikmin knocks down the pellet at the same time as the plant gets knocked out by the grounded Pikmin. So far, there has been no evidence of this glitch being executed.

Besides the first Pikmin game on the GameCube, the Pikmin AR Card in AR Games is also related to this phenomenon, since it has a pose with three Pikmin carrying a 1 pellet. Though the Pikmin look like the ones from, they don't exactly come from any particular game. In addition, in Pikmin 3, if a varied group of Pikmin is told to charge at a 1 pellet, some Winged Pikmin may lift it while grounded Pikmin are holding it, and the grounded Pikmin will stay latched on for some seconds. Because of the unique carrying mechanics with Winged Pikmin, this can technically make the number of carriers 3 or even 4.

In the Super Smash Bros. series
Pellets appear as items and trophies in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, and just as a trophy in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. As items, they are only available on the Distant Planet stage, where they can be gathered from Pellet Posies that appear on the stage, and be grabbed and then chucked at other fighters or into Onions.

Stickers for a blue pellet and a yellow pellet also exist in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Brawl trophy
The "pellet flowers" referred to in the description are Pellet Posies, yet "pellet grass" is not mentioned in Pikmin or Pikmin 2, making it a mistake on the description writer's part. This could refer to nectar weed, which does not contain pellets, but rather, raw nectar. Flukeweed were introduced to the Pikmin series after Brawl, but these plants often drops pellets and resemble grass. Finally, it could be referring to the Japanese name,, which does translate to "Pellet Grass", but the fact that there's a distinction in the sentence between the "flowers" and the "grass" does not support this.

Trivia

 * If one gets a pellet off a high ledge, it can flip over and show the reverse of whatever number the pellet had on it. This is only true for the first two games.
 * It was revealed through a trailer of an earlier version of Pikmin that all enemies that died would turn into pellets with a small sparkle of blue light, meaning that enemy corpses may have not been an idea at the time. A 40 pellet could also be seen in this trailer.
 * The idea of enemies turning into pellets upon death would later be used in Pikmin 4 during Night expeditions, albeit with glow pellets rather than regular pellets.
 * In Pikmin, pellets that fall from a height (normally while being carried) make a "spring" sound, same as the Gravity Jumper.
 * If a non-Winged Pikmin tries to take a winged pellet from near the winged Onion, they will be unable to return home, and behave the exact same way as if an obstacle in their way needs clearing. This is to prevent players from accidentally taking away pellets that are useful to help grow a Winged Pikmin army, and stops being true on the day after the winged Onion merges with the Master Onion.
 * According to director Shigefumi Hino, the reason enemies drop pellets when they die is because the pellets formed naturally in their stomach from what they ate.

Names in other languages
 pellet

'Hey! Pikmin'