Alph

Alph is one of the three leaders in Pikmin 3. He visits PNF-404 along with Brittany and Charlie in search of food to remedy the famine afflicting their home planet of Koppai. Alph serves as the engineer of the ship, the S.S. Drake, which his grandfather, also named Drake, designed. He is very bright and positive in character, and greatly respects Captain Charlie.

Appearance
He wears a white spacesuit with a cerulean blue lapel, has cerulean blue-colored hair similar to Captain Olimar's in shape, an average sized nose, freckles on his cheeks and pointy ears. His wide, round eyes are always open, much like when other characters such as Olimar or Louie are surprised. He is by far the shortest of all the playable leaders, and likely the youngest as well. Like the other crew members, he wears a bulky space suit with a transparent helmet and an antenna. His gloves and boots are the same shade of cerulean blue as his hair, as is the light atop the antenna.

Personality
Alph is kind, positive and gentle, as he shows genuine concern over the safety and well-being of every Pikmin and crew member. Based off his interactions with Brittany, he may be rather absentminded. Alph is also very interested in technological devices; on a related note, he is intelligent and a very capable engineer who configures objects found on PNF-404 for the crew to use on their quest for food. In the different regional versions of the game, Alph's personality remains largely intact, barring some particular lines of dialogue.

Biography
Alph is the second youngest of his siblings, being older than one brother, and younger than twelve brothers and one sister. He grew up with his grandfather, an engineer named Drake. He learned a lot from him, and his time spent with him is what led Alph towards being an engineer. He also is known to write, and the other Koppaites seem to have read some of his poems.

When the crew first attempts to land on PNF-404, they encounter difficulties and all three members are ejected from the S.S. Drake. They all crash-land in different areas. Alph happens to fall into the Tropical Wilds, the same area in which the Drake also landed with its auto-pilot. With the help of some local Pikmin, he builds a bridge and is able to reunite with his KopPad and the Drake. It is then up to him to rescue his coworkers by flying to the other areas with the Drake. Alph also seems a little talkative, as he gives the most Notes at the end of each day. In Pikmin 4, there is a castaway named Yorke who is also Dr. Drake's grandson and is implied to be Alph's eldest brother.

In Super Smash Bros for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U
Alph appears as an alternate character alongside Captain Olimar in. Due to being a palette swap character instead of a wholly separate fighter, he is in no way different from Olimar apart from appearance and name. The game does, however, make other subtle distinctions, such as the voice clips for the announcer, and the alias on the Boxing Ring stage. Like Olimar, Alph has three alternate colored costumes of his own; in Alph's case, his alternate costumes are based on Charlie, Brittany, and Olimar himself. Alph also has a trophy of himself in both versions of the game.


 * 3DS trophy:


 * Wii U trophy:

Pikmin 3 official Japanese website bio

 * Text:
 * Translation:

Pikmin 3 Deluxe official Japanese website bio

 * Text:
 * Translation:

Pikmin Garden bio
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Translation

Naming
Alph is short for "Alpha", the term used for the letter A in the phonetic alphabet. This makes sense as Charlie is also used for letter C in the military alphabet; the initial of his name is also the same letter of his prototype name ("Character A"), just like Charlie and Brittany.

Alph is given the pet name "Alphie" by Brittany on multiple occasions in the US version.

Trivia

 * Alph was the only character playable in the E3 2012 Pikmin 3 demo. In the demo, he had a very basic model with no elaborate facial features, but retained his blue spacesuit.
 * According to Brittany's fruit notes, Alph is allergic to the Heroine's Tear (a mango), and the Scaly Custard (an avocado). However, this does not change the way the juice is distributed and consumed by the characters. According to a talk conversation, Alph is also allergic to some other plants.
 * Alph has 12 older brothers, an older sister, and a younger brother. In Pikmin 4, it is heavily implied that Yorke is his eldest brother.