Peckish Aristocrab

Peckish Aristocrab
Appears in	Pikmin 3
Scientific name	Brachyurices esurio
Family	Onionshell
Areas	Tropical Wilds, Garden of Hope
Mission Mode Collect Treasure! stages	None
Mission Mode Battle Enemies! stages	Shaded Garden, Tropical Wilds Remix, The Rustyard, Forgotten Cove
Side Story days	Creature Hunting, Team Monster Hunt
Bingo Battle stages	Sandbox Kingdom
Attacks	Eat Pikmin, shoot bubbles

The Peckish Aristocrab (カニタマ^?, lit.: "Onion Crab") is a crab-like enemy in Pikmin 3. Its overall appearance resembles a green and purple bulb of garlic with 4 legs coming from underneath, and two claws on each of its sides, one of them being extremely small, while the other is much larger with transparent pincers. It has two round yellow spots on its cheeks, which look like eyes, while its real eyes rest on stalks that protrude out from the top of its head. It has a large mouth with a serrated lower jaw and long purple tongue. The creature mainly rests in a motionless position, clacking its large pincers, but can detect Pikmin's presence from afar, and it will quickly scuttle sideways onto the player's path when they enter the area, circling them in order to get in their way.

This creature can react to the Pikmin in many ways, because there are two different ways it can defend itself, and two different ways it can kill Pikmin. When Pikmin are thrown at it, the creature is capable of maneuvering its massive claw to shield itself from the thrown Pikmin. It can also defend itself by blowing bubbles at the Pikmin, which can trap them inside, making them float around for a long period of time until the bubble pops. This can trap leaders as well. It attacks by grasping multiple Pikmin with its claw and dropping them into its gaping mouth. It can also stab the ground with its claw to attack.

Stats

Weight	Max. carriers	Seeds	Value	Health
8	16 (normally)	15	× 100 × 100	1500

Notes

Alph's comments

“Structural flaw: weak hide
Weight: 8

It had the right idea, coating its enormous claw in a crystal shell, but we have Rock Pikmin for that. Once you break the claw, it's not so bad. You have to be careful not to drown, though, since you'll usually meet one near water. It's got extensible legs to thwart a Pikmin charge, so I find that throwing Pikmin is more effective. That also works for freeing anyone trapped in one of its bubbles.”

Brittany's comments

“There's something so familiar about this thing...oh! It was the Hocotatian onion I studied in my research days. Now THAT was a dangerous plant. One little incision and I couldn't stop crying for hours!”

Charlie's comments

“Everybody knows that rock is supposed to defeat scissors. So how come my steely fists don't do anything against this thing's claws? Sure, it barfed up a few bubbles when I hit it, but all that accomplished was trapping me inside!”

Louie's comments

“Great for hot pot! Remove the shell and cook legs in the hot broth. When they turn nice and red, pull them out and slather in liver paste before eating!”

Olimar's comments

US version

“Peckish Aristocrab
Brachyurices esurio
Onionshell family

Its unnaturally large claw is used for catching prey, for self-defense, and most surprisingly, for its mating call. Most aspects of the crab's life revolve around it, which may explain why the crab becomes fearful and docile when the claw is damaged. It would also account for the claw's remarkable regenerative capabilities, which can restore it completely in a single night. It is also known to blow bubbles when under attack, but this is a result of it venting from the wrong discharge valve when under extreme stress.”

European version

“Peckish Aristocrab
Brachyurices esurio
Onionshell family

Its unnaturally large claw is used for catching prey, for self-defence, and most surprisingly, for its mating call. Most aspects of the crab's life revolve around it, which may explain why the crab becomes fearful and docile when the claw is damaged. It would also account for the claw's remarkable regenerative capabilities, which can restore it completely in a single night. It is also known to blow bubbles when under attack, but this is a result of it venting from the wrong discharge valve when under extreme stress.”

Pikmin 3 website

“Found near water, this creature will grab Pikmin with pincers. It can also blow bubbles that temporarily trap small prey.”

Pikmin 3 Prima Guide

“The Peckish Aristocrab is a fairly large amphibious creature. Like the Waddlepus, this enemy uses bubbles to capture nearby attackers. In addition to this defensive ability, the Peckish Aristocrab uses its large claw to snatch up multiple enemies during a single attack.

Peckish Aristocrabs are able to dodge most charge attacks, so its best to throw your Pikmin directly onto this enemy. To keep your squad safe from this enemy's attacks, you can either use Rock Pikmin to break a Peckish Aristocrab's claw, or you can flank the creature and attack from behind. Peckish Aristocrabs have difficulty turning, but they can move from side to side very quickly.”

Locations

Story mode

Tropical Wilds × 1
Garden of Hope × 1

Mission Mode

Shaded Garden (Battle enemies!) × 2
Tropical Wilds Remix (Battle enemies!) × 1
Forgotten Cove (Battle enemies!) × 1
The Rustyard (Battle enemies!) × 1

Strategy

The following article or section contains guides.
The strategies shown are just suggestions.

Rock Pikmin are capable of breaking the Peckish Aristocrab's larger claw, since it is very crystal-like in appearance; it is more durable than a nodule, but hitting the claw with Rock Pikmin causes small pieces to fly off. Eventually, the claw will break, rendering the Aristocrab unable to snatch Pikmin, its only means of defense being blowing bubbles and shaking off attacking Pikmin from there on out. Should the Aristrocrab grab onto any Pikmin, throwing Rock Pikmin at its claw should be enough to release its grip on them.

An effective strategy is to have the Aristocrab eat a bomb rock. To pull this off, simply have the creature snatch a Pikmin carrying the bomb rock. The Pikmin will break free, and the Aristocrab will eat the explosive instead. When it does, it will be killed instantly, causing its eyes and legs to shrivel away and its claw to explode into crystalline shards, leaving only the body for salvaging.

Throwing bomb rocks at the creature is also a possibility, but it is much less effective than having it eat one, as though the claw will break, the creature will only lose about half of its health. Additionally, it can be challenging to actually hit with an explosion, as the Aristocrab sidesteps very quickly and can escape from a bomb rock's blast radius.

There's also a trick to break its claw and deplete some of its health. If there is a Yellow Wollywog in the area, lure it into jumping on the Aristocrab. It will immediately break its claw and make it lose a third its health. The same will happen with with an Armored Cannon Larva's rocks, as can be seen on the Sandbox Kingdom.

Another strategy is to quickly get behind it and bombard it with Rock Pikmin, which can kill it in only a few seconds. Due to the Aristocrab's high awareness and quick movements, however, this strategy can be difficult to execute effectively.

Technical information

Pikmin 3 technical information (?)
Internal name	`kanitama`
HP	1500
Rock Pikmin throw hits to kill	30
White Pikmin ingestions to kill	5
Bomb rock explosions to kill	3
Bomb rock ingestions to kill	1
Number of direct hits on top to kill	0
Damage to leaders	10
Territory radius	500
Mission Mode value	100

In the Super Smash Bros. series

In Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the Peckish Aristocrab appears as a stage hazard on the Garden of Hope stage. Here, it quickly runs across the arena, and destroys any pots and climbing sticks in its path. Any fighter that touches it will be launched away. If the bridge in the middle is destroyed, the creature will fall in the chasm the bridge was covering. It can come from either end of the stage, and a few bubbles come out from where it will appear.

In Wii U, this enemy appears as a collectible trophy. In Ultimate, it appears as a primary spirit.

	US description: “This crab-like life form from Pikmin 3 traps Pikmin in its bubbles. When it appears in the Garden of Hope stage, it creates a path of destruction from one end of the stage to the other, but if the central bridge isn't there, it'll just fall right down. You can tell where it'll appear from by the telltale appearance of bubbles, so watch out! Appears in: Pikmin 3 (08/2013)”
	EU description: “This crab-like life form from Pikmin 3 traps Pikmin in its bubbles. When it appears in the Garden of Hope stage, it creates a path of destruction from one end of the stage to the other, but if the central bridge isn't there, it'll just fall right down. You can tell where it'll appear from by the telltale appearance of bubbles, so watch out! Related Games Pikmin 3 (07/2013)”
How to obtain: Random appearance.		Type: Stage	Trophy Box: 61. Distant Planet & Indigenous Creatures

Naming

Common name: Peckish Aristocrab. "Peckish" is a posh term for "hungry", and "Aristocrab" is a portmanteau of "aristocrat", meaning "an elegant, noble person", and "crab".
Japanese nickname: カニタマ^?. Its Japanese nickname カニタマ^? is derived from "カニ^?" (crab) and "タマネギ^?" (onion). There is also a Chinese dish with fried egg and crab called "kanitama".
Japanese name: ネギボウズガニ^?, lit.: "Onion Flower Head Crab".
Scientific name: Brachyurices esurio. "Esurio" is Latin for "hungry person", similarly to the "Peckish" in its common name.
Internal names: Its internal name, kanitama, matches the Japanese nickname.
Prerelease: None.

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning	Notes
Japanese	カニタマ^? Kani Tama	Onion crab
Chinese	洋蔥蟹 Yángcōng xiè	Onion crab
French	Crabognon	From crabe (crab) and oignon (onion)
German	Zwiebelkrabbe	Onion crab
Italian	Granchio cipolla	Onion crab
Korean	게양
Portuguese (NoE)	Aristocrustáceo Esfomeado	Peckish Aristocrustacean	Name taken from the Super Smash Bros. for Wii U trophy.
Spanish (NoA)	Cepucranco
Spanish (NoE)	Cepucranco

Gallery

Pikmin trapped inside bubbles.
Even leaders can be trapped inside the bubbles.
Alph and an army of Pikmin attacking a Peckish Aristocrab.
The Peckish Aristocrab in the Pikmin 3 US TV commercial.
The Aristocrab eating a bomb rock held by a Pikmin.
A prerelease image of a Peckish Aristocrab eating Pikmin.
A clawless Peckish Aristocrab.
An image of a real fiddler crab foaming.
The data file on the Peckish Aristocrab.

Trivia

A Peckish Aristocrab look-alike in The Amazing World of Gumball.

The Peckish Aristocrab is based on the male fiddler crab, which has one enormous claw and one tiny claw. Females only have 2 small claws. The fiddler crab also foams, which inspired the Aristocrab's bubble attack.
A creature very similar to a Peckish Aristocrab appears in the episode The Fury of The Amazing World of Gumball.^[1]