Glitch

Glitches are something that can occur in-game that break gameplay in one form or another.

Note: Editors, please try to alphabetize any glitches you find. It will help the wiki out a lot more!

2-P Battle Marble

This is a glitch that happens exclusively in Pikmin 2's 2-Player Battle mode. When this glitch occurs, Olimar or Louie get stuck in their respective marbles when plucking Pikmin, often after getting the marble-retieving roulette item.

The cause of this glitch is the fact that the player's marble usually cannot be moved by their own possessors, and it will often sit close to the Onion without the possibility of moving it. If a pikmin sprout lands underneath it, the player can make their captain attempt to pluck the sprout, only for them to get stuck inside of the marble.

Sometimes you can free your captain by rapidly moving your control stick/ randomly pressing buttons, or getting another marble-retreiving roulette item. If this does not work you must pause and quit.

This can actually be used strategically; if you can somehow get the opposing player to get trapped, you could get a few seconds of time.

Armored Mawdad

When the Armored Mawdad is moving into the captains or Pikmin they may glitch straight through the Armored Mawdad's pincers and the captains and the Pikmin keep on getting knocked down because they are stuck between the Armored Mawdad's head and it pincer, you will have to wait until it opens its pincers to escape (or you might glitch back out) this has a high chance of happening in story mode and mission mode, this glitch may be annoying in story mode because it will eat the Pikmin and hurt the captains in between the head and the pincers so this can ruin no-death-runs, which is why one should go for the boss' tail.

Beady Long Legs

There is a rare and dangerous glitch that causes Beady Long Legs to leave its arena. This glitch is most likely to happen when you leave the arena without killing it. Pikmin and/or Olimar have to be left at the gate to the small arena. The creature will then try to attack these, possibly leaving the arena. Once outside of the barriers, it will continue to pursue you. If you now run to the island where the Libra is, the enemy may fall into the abyss bellow, causing the game to crash (the game will also crash if you do not kill it after it leaves the arena after a certain amount of time). This glitch can basically happen with any boss that is fought in an arena.

If one wishes to attempt this glitch, the best place to do it without receiving any consequences is the Final Trial in Challenge Mode. Go to the arena in the back of the level and try this glitch on the Beady Long Legs in the arena.

Bomb Rocks

In Pikmin, Bomb Rocks can be quite glitchy. If a Yellow Pikmin is thrown at a bomb rock, the Pikmin will get stuck while trying to pick up the bomb rock, and will repeat the picking up bomb rock animation over and over until the Pikmin is whistled back.

Another glitch can happen with some bomb rocks in the Forest Navel. Go to the pipe with bomb rocks in it near the place where the Gravity Jumper is found. If you see a bomb rock that is lying apart from the others, have Olimar lay down by it. The Sliding Olimar glitch might occur, and Olimar will slide towards the water, pushing the bomb rock in front of him. If the bomb rock is pushed into the water, it will shrink and disappear.

The invisible bomb rock glitch (sometimes) happens when a Yellow Pikmin picks up a bomb rock, but somehow the rock does not appear to be in the Pikmin's grasp. Zooming in on it shows the Pikmin with its head tilted slightly backwards and arms extended in front of it, just like a Pikmin that is carrying a bomb rock, but there is not one there. When dismissed the pikmin with the invisible bomb rock will form a bomb rock group or join the others with bomb rocks. When thrown at a wall (other things like enemies are not confirmed yet) the Pikmin will drop its bomb rock (which loses life and explodes while it is still invisible) and return to Olimar. Rarity of this glitch is not confirmed yet, although we know it did not happen on the NPC version.'

In Pikmin 3, pikmin cannot die of explosions if they are paralyzed by electricity. 

Boulder

In Pikmin 2, the boulders that fall from the sky can make the captains jump extremely high. The captain has to use the napsack feature (done by holding down X (or C in the Wii version) after the Five-man Napsack is claimed) with good timing. The captain jumps shortly just before laying down, and if the boulder hits him in that moment, he should slam into the ground and go up into the air. Although the glitch seems to be a lot easier to pull off with Olimar, it is still possible to do it with Louie and the President. Do not touch any buttons during the flight, as it will cancel the climb.

• Cave Of Pain Double Glitch

Bridge

Moving through a bridge

Certain bridges in Pikmin 2 have 'soft' corners that allow Pikmin and captains to glitch through from beneath the bridge to its top. This can happen when they are following a captain, when they are ordered through it (with the analogue stick for captains and the C-stick for Pikmin), or when (for Pikmin) they are thrown through it. Very rarely, either Pikmin or captain may fall through the floor while performing the glitch, in which case the Pikmin dies, or the captain reappears at Hocotate Ship, similarly to the scales glitch.

Pikmin stuck underneath

This glitch involves a Pikmin getting stuck under a bridge in Pikmin 2, in water, but still alive. It cannot be whistled, and will only avoid death at sunset by being pushed out from under the bridge by a Captain into more open water. This glitch can occur in two ways.

It often occurs in the Wistful Wild with the Cloaking Burrow-nit and the Awakening Wood when Purple Pikmin attack any Sheargrubs that are chewing on a bridge that is not fully constructed. The Pikmin must be thrown on top of the Sheargrubs. If exactly this is done, then it is possible that they will fall through the bridge into the water along with the carcass, sometimes sitting on top of it, but will not drown. A similar feat can be pulled off using a Yellow Wollywog, for example in the Perplexing Pool, though the beast will remain on top. This occurs from on top of a constructed part of a bridge.

Another way in which this can occur is when Pikmin other than blues go underneath a bridge while 'swimming', or the bridge is built over them while under it. They may get stuck and will not move or drown until they have been removed from underneath the bridge. For the glitch to work the water must be deep and the bridge close to the water surface, such as the ones in the Awakening Wood near the Flitterbies or in the Perplexing Pool near the Citadel of Spiders.

Wollywogs and Yellow Wollywogs can also fall through bridges and get stuck in them in much the same way. This too is rare.

Two bridge sections

Very rarely, a bridge can be seen to have two distinct sections, one floating over the water. This occurs when Sheargrubs eat the bridge abnormally. The bridge in Pikmin's Distant Spring is a good example of this anomaly.

Carrying through a bridge

If Pikmin are drowning under a bridge, any idle Blue Pikmin on top of the bridge can still save it. The drowning Pikmin appears in the Blue Pikmin's hands as it performs the throwing animation.

Disappearing Pikmin

This is a glitch that is seen in both the New Play Control! and the original version of Pikmin. If Pikmin are whistled from under a certain bridge in The Forest Navel, a few Pikmin die for no reason, indicated by the Pikmin counter, without making a sound. They seem to get pushed under the map and die once they are completely through it as if they fell down a pit.

Spinning Olimar

In the New Play Control! version of Pikmin, while walking on a bridge, Olimar's body spins around for no apparent reason, but his head stays still. Trying to fix the camera behind him will make it spin in the direction in which Olimar's body was when the button was pressed.

Bulbear

In the Hole of Heroes, you can make a Bulbear walk over a wall if it is knocked down to the stage where it only needs to be brought down once more. It will walk towards it and teleport on top of it, then it will proceed to kill Pikmin. The only place this works is in the first bramble (black) gate.

Candypop-Bulbmin

Very rarely, if you throw 7 or 8 Bulbmin into a Candypop Bud in the Submerged Castle or Hole of Heroes, 5 will enter the Candypop Bud and become whatever color the Candypop is, and then one or two of the rest left over will fall sideways from the air (without touching the Candypop Bud), and sink into the ground. This is EXTREMELY rare, so it will definitely not happen every time, even if the conditions are correct.

If you want to attempt this glitch, bear in mind a few things:

• The Waterwraith must not have appeared in the sublevel yet.
• This is VERY hard, so do not expect to be able to do it the first, second, third, or even the tenth time you attempt it.
• You have to throw Bulbmin in; no other Pikmin will work.
• The Bulbmin have to fall in a perfect arc at the side of the Candypop Bud without touching it.
• Obviously, the first point does not apply in the Hole of Heroes.

Caves

• There is a glitch that can happen when proceeding to the next sublevel. In the animation where you jump into the hole, some of your pikmin may appear idle and won't jump in with you. Thankfully the Pikmin that don't jump in with you will appear on the next sublevel.
• If a Pikmin is suffering from a hazard (excluding Bombs and Electricity) and you choose to go to the next sublevel, the Pikmin will still have the suffering animation when jumping down the hole. Luckily, they will be fine on the next sublevel. Similarly, if they make that last cry, and then you advance to the next floor, they will be alive with that hazard on their head, but they will still count to the Pikmin lost count, even though they really didn't die.

• In any Challenge Mode level, a glitch can be made to occur where a captain ends up inside the model of the cave to the next sublevel, or inside a geyser. This happens when the leader is standing where the model will appear when The Key is collected. Once he moves back out of the structure, however, it is not possible to walk back in. If any treasures or enemies (or their corpses) are in a similar position, they disappear and fall back down to the sublevel on top of the appearing structure from above; this is not a glitch, but an intended aspect of the game's design to keep treasures and enemies from becoming stuck in the models. Pikmin are pushed out of the way when the cave appears.

Chart

The Chart Glitch is a rare glitch only seen in Pikmin, as Pikmin 2 no longer uses a chart. Should no Pikmin have died or have been sprouted and the chart is shown to at the end of the day, the chart may say that the player has lost a certain amount of Pikmin and has also gained exactly the same amount again, regardless of the fact that nothing had happened during the day.

Crawmad Waves Glitch

Very rarely, in sublevel 6 of Hole of Heroes, if you petrify a Hermit Crawmad and kill it in the water in its nest, it will produce a strange butterfly shaped "wave" effect that will last for the remainder of the time a player is there.

Crimson Banquet

This glitch occurs when you defeat the Sandbelching Meerslug and carry back the Crimson Banquet at the same time as it.  After the body comes out of the pathway between the arena and the mainland, call back all of the Pikmin carrying it, but not the ones carrying the fruit.  The day must then end, and if done correctly, none of the fruit carriers should be lost to sunset.  Come back the next day, and pieces of the fruit should be scattered around the area where the body was, but they might not be there, meaning that it is gone. You need to restart the previous day to get it to reappear.

Crushing

In Pikmin, if an enemy is defeated, it usually falls to the ground. Occasionally, when an enemy falls, a few Pikmin could mysteriously vanish without a ghost sprite, or even a sound. There are several enemies that have this happen more frequently than others, and it also happens with more regularity when swarming enemies rather than throwing Pikmin at them. The Wollywog and Yellow Wollywog are a very good example of this glitch, thanks to their large size. There were also some demo videos that actually pictured a dying Yellow Wollywog falling on top of 3 Blue Pikmin and ghosts appearing afterward. This may be viewed as a glitch, or completely natural. Although rare, this can also happen in Pikmin 2 when a treasure falls on Pikmin. Here are a list of enemies that may have this happening in Pikmin at some times:

• Dwarf (Red) Bulborb
• Dwarf Bulbear
• Puffstool
• Puffy Blowhog(When it falls to the ground)
• Spotty (Red) Bulborb
• Spotty Bulbear
• Wollywog
• Yellow Wollywog

The glitch has not been fixed in the New Play Control! version of Pikmin.

Cutscene Glitches

Box Glitch

In Pikmin, if ten Pikmin are directed to move one of the large cardboard boxes and are called back immediately, the cutscene will initiate, but the box will not move. The cutscene will therefore not finish, and it cannot be skipped, meaning the game must be restarted.

Paper Bag Glitch

In Pikmin 2, if the paper bag on Valley of Repose is weighed down then Pikmin immediantly called back, there is a slim chance that it will stay up, and in the cutscene Olimar and Louie will walk through it. The whole rest of day 1 the bag will stay this way.

Pikmin die during cutscenes

In Pikmin 2, it is possible for Pikmin to die if they are exposed to a hazard when a cutscene is triggered. The most noticable instance of this happening is in the Perplexing Pool if the player's pikmin are attacked by the Fiery Blowhog while walking by the Burgoening Spiderwort Mold for the first time. This will cause the game to trigger the cutscene to occur where the player first encounters the mold. Meanwhile, any pikmin that are on fire or drowning in the water in the background will continue to do so and die in the few seconds before the Ship pauses the game to start talking. They will have no death noise, but the counter will automatically adjust itself once the cutscene is finished.

Disappearing items

When a group of Pikmin are carrying an item in Pikmin, and it is not the one that initiated the cutscene, it will disappear. This can be seen when two ship parts are being carried close to each other: once the first part reaches the Dolphin and the cutscene starts, the second part will not be visible in the scene.

This glitch can also be seen if the player dismisses the Pikmin near the Main Engine. If the Pikmin are dismissed just prior to the cutscene, the Pikmin will start picking up the part, and once there are enough of them holding it, the part will disappear from the scene. The part is visible again when the player regains control over Olimar.

In Pikmin 2, after a boss has been defeated, if you try to get your pikmin to carry the corpse of the boss the Ship, if you time this right, the corpse will disappear during the cutscene and it will look like the pikmin carring the corpse are joining hands in a circle. This glitch can happen after the battle with Empress Bulblax, Emperor Bulblax, and most if not all bosses. It is not known if this glitch is in Pikmin.

Off-screen Louie

When the Titan Dweevil has been killed, Louie will fall to the ground and a cutscene will start. At this point, the C-stick or X-button can be used to swarm or dismiss the Pikmin underneath Louie when he lands, and the Pikmin will carry him off the screen when the cutscene starts. However, Louie will stop moving when the Ship starts speaking. This makes Louie the only treasure in the game that can be carried during a cutscene.

End of Day Cinematic Disappearance

Very rarely, when Pikmin are still working when the day ends and the Pikmin are called back, they don't show up at all in the cutscene, and are not left behind either, just as if they were glitched into their Onion(s). This glitch has been observed to occur in Pikmin.

In Pikmin 3's end of day sequence, an odd glitch can occur. If there is a blob of nectar by one of the Onion's legs, leaf or bud Pikmin that try to climb up that leg will turn into a flower and become idle. Then, they will suddenly disappear as the S.S. Drake takes off. Luckily, this does not leave them behind.

Dead Pikmin

In all of the metallic caves like the Subterranean Complex, it is possible for your Pikmin to fall off the stage. Sometimes when in, the Pikmin don't die and other times they can. It's just best to avoid the dead zone spots.

Double Sprays

Whenever a spray pops out of an egg or a frozen enemy, you can gather two sprays from the drop, instead of the usual one. This is much easier with the Rush Boots, but the general idea is that you need to run towards a spray drop. Right before the captain hits it, you need to switch leaders. If that leader runs into the spray drop while the first leader is collecting it, you will also collect it. If you are fast enough, you can gather 2 sprays from 1 drop by using this, or gather multiple sprays at the same time, instead of bottling them one at a time if many spray drops are on the ground.

• Alternatively, put one captain near the spray, then switch to the other captain and push the first one into the spray, then quickly drink it with the one you are controlling. However, sometimes the captain you're pushing will jump up in the air and you will run under him and collect the spray prematurely... watch out for this.
• You can also whistle them into the spray. Have one captain disbanded, go on the opposite side and whistle to them. The first captain will run towards you. When the captain tries to run through the spray, disband him and touch the spray before it disappears. This method is very reliable.

This glitch only works for sprays in the second installment of Pikmin. This glitch is not available in Pikmin 3, as the game, as sprays have better hit-detection and are absorbed much faster. 

Drowning on land

Sometimes while fighting Whiptongue Bulborbs, your Pikmin can randomly start drowning. Even Blue Pikmin drown, and its impossible to save the Pikmin, meaning no-death-runs can be affected by this glitch.

End of Day Captain Glitch

In Pikmin 2, there is a dangerous glitch. If you switch Captains rapidly near the end of the day, not all Pikmin will align with the Captain that is in command when the day ends, leaving only a few that are with the current leader. The rest will die at the end of the day unless you are near the Onions and Ship.

This doesn't happen in Pikmin 3, as you can't change to a capitain that is under the control of another.

Embed Glitch

In Pikmin 2, treasures that fall out of enemies will occasionally become partially embedded in the ground. If Pikmin are told to pick the treasure up, they may move around to the side buried in the ground, carrying it with only their heads protruding. When the treasure moves forward, it will be sucked down further by the force of the Pikmin pulling until the Pikmin let go and die as if they had been thrown into a void. The treasure will usually then fully surface. It is similarly possible for treasures to become embedded in walls, particularly after having been carried by a Dweevil in a small enclosed alcove. When the treasure is removed from the beast, it remains where it was if it was partially out of the boundary of the sublevel. It can be retrieved by throwing Pikmin at the bottom, at which they will hold onto and carry the treasure, eventually freeing it.

Enemies Falling into the Unknown

This is very similar to the way you can strategically kill enemies in Pikmin 2, but is slightly entertaining to some, and there is only one species of enemy this is possible to do with: Shearwigs. Find some Shearwigs in The Forest Navel region, likely near the area where the Automatic Gear is. Lure some or all of them to the area along the edge of the world where you find the Libra and the Analog Computer near the area with fiery geysers. You can lure them into the small lake and they'll lose health, or you can punch them. When they have lost enough health, they begin to fly. Wait for a few seconds while they recover in the air, and if they do, they may fall into to the abyssal depths of the hole. They won't come back out, but they'll still respawn in their original habitat in a few days.

Fiery Bulblax Glitch

If you fight the Fiery Bulblax while in water with Blue Pikmin, as soon as it gets out of the water, the fire starts again, but the Blue Pikmin that are still latched on to its body will not get burnt.

Floating Treasure

There is a glitch in Pikmin 2 where a treasure is seen floating. First, have a Pikmin carry a treasure (or beast in Story Mode), and just as the object is being beamed into the Research Pod or ship, quit the level or leave the cave. the cutscene will initiate with the beast or treasure floating, and smaller than its original size. This glitch is possible to perform with cutscene-triggering items, but this method is much harder.

Go into 2-Player Mode. Have a Pikmin grab a Cherry near a dead enemy's carcass. The Pikmin will grab the cherry and start to take it right through the carcass. The Pikmin will get stuck in front of the carcass, walking endlessly until the cherry enters the Onion. Meanwhile, the Cherry will continue to move without any Pikmin carrying it.

Forest Navel

There is a glitch that rarely appears in this level. When the player defeats an enemy (usually a Wollywog), one or more Pikmin will vanish with no spirit shown. When this happens, sometimes the first Pikmin-counter gauge (on the bottom of the screen) will show more than the total number of Pikmin in the area. For example: 98/97/305. The Pikmin gauge should stay like that until sunset. This happens in other areas, but in The Forest Navel it is more common. This glitch can also occur when battling other enemies, and apparently even when there are no enemies around. This glitch can also happen in the Awakening Wood in Pikmin 2.

There is also a glitch that will cause Olimar to fall into the abyss where the Libra is located, which can only be done in Challenge Mode. There are three large pellets in the very back area where the Analog Computer is in the main game. However, the path back to the onions is too narrow for all three pellets to be carried back at once. If Olimar is standing between the pellets while they are being carried, he may get pushed off the edge, along with the pellet and possibly the Pikmin carrying it. Olimar will not die or respawn when he falls into the pit; in fact, he will not even fall at all! Instead he will "float" over the pit as if there is invisible ground. Olimar can walk very far into the darkness, but it may be hard to tell where he is going, because the cursor will not follow him. If Olimar falls off the cliff by any other means, he will simply respawn after a few seconds back in the same spot he was before he fell. The only other known way to fall into the abyss is to lure the Shearwigs by the Automatic Gear all the way to the island where the Libra is, which will cause them to start chewing on the bridge.

There is another glitch involving the Libra. When the Yellow Pikmin carry it off the highest cliff and it falls to the ground, the Pikmin may fall off (as if an enemy flings them off), and the Libra may shoot off the ledge, possibly with Pikmin still hanging on. However, the Libra should come back with any Pikmin hanging on still there, much like a boomerang. It is unknown what causes the glitch, but it should not cause any harm.

Frozen Captain

This is a glitch that causes a Captain to become immobile and unusable until the end of the day or until the next sublevel is reached in a cave. It occurs when a captain falls over the edge of a level boundary while using the Napsack to sleep. This can be brought about in a number of ways.

It is possible to have a Dweevil carry a captain off the edge of a sublevel with low boundaries (particularly those with a metallic theme) because Dweevils pick up sleeping captains they see. If you are lucky and get carried over the edge, the captain and Dweevil fall, then the glitch occurs. The second way for this glitch to happen is if the player uses an Action Replay to float out-of-bounds in an area. If the captain is made to float beyond the invisible boundary line and fall asleep, the glitch occurs. If the player stands over the spot where a geyser/cave entrance will appear in Challenge Mode, Olimar or Louie will occasionally bounce away from the object and fall off the edge. 

After falling off the edge, the camera moves to the Research Pod or the Ship; the captain's helmet beacon light can be seen above this. Sometimes, the camera stays there and nothing further happens. Pressing any button causes the captain to reappear at that spot, as normal. In this case, it is also possible to switch captains; if the player whistles the other captain's beacon light, the captain who fell appears at the Ship or Research Pod. Otherwise, if the player moves around and performs actions such as throwing Pikmin, the beacon light fades and the glitch progresses. If this happens, the captain reappears somewhere near the edge of the level where he fell off. He is lying down with his beacon light gone, and he cannot be whistled or switched to, only carried by Pikmin (or Dweevils or Bumbling Snitchbugs). After having been returned to the Ship or Research Pod, he cannot be moved again. On the other hand, if the beacon light fades near-instantly, the player still plays from the point of view of the now-frozen captain. Switching captains makes it impossible to switch back. Pressing A makes the captain stand up and lower his head; now, no more actions can be performed, and the game must be reset, the day ended or the cave left. This result usually only happens if the player was carried off by a Dweevil next to the geyser on Sublevel 6 of the Subterranean Complex.

Gate

This glitch happens in Pikmin if the player presses down on the D-pad while standing on top of a gate. When Olimar sleeps, he falls through the wall. If he is woken up, he gets stuck in the wall and is unable to move until the wall is destroyed. If Olimar falls through the posts holding up the gate instead of the wall, he is able to walk out. 

In the Hole of Heroes, on the Ranging Bloyster's Sublevel 7, there may be two gates side-by-side. If one gate is destroyed, and Pikmin are thrown on the side where the other gate is, they will mysteriously land on the wall, and the other gate will come down.

Gatling Groink

A glitch that can happen at any time and can be a real relief (it should be noted, however, that this does not help no-death runs). Sometimes, when a Gatling Groink attacks, its attack injures but doesn't kill the Pikmin. At days end when it tallies your Pikmin, created and killed, it counts the Pikmin that were supposed to die from the mortar blasts.

Goolix

If Goolix is near the right of the tree-stump arena and the yellow, brain-like nucleus is hit by a Blue Pikmin, that Pikmin, or the other Blues that are attacking the smaller, blue nucleus may be knocked into the out-of-bounds, forest like terrain. Many things can happen when this occurs, either the Pikmin will slide around (throwing Pikmin onto this ledge reveals that it's slippery, as the Pikmin will slide off) and then fall off the ledge and into the area with the Pearly Clamclamps or where the Main Engine was, or they will slide too far for Olimar to call back (some will even continue sliding until they are off-screen and then will die). These Pikmin will be left behind unless you reset the day.

Haunted Area

If a Pikmin dies in an area at the half point of the day and the player enters the same area the next day, you will hear the Pikmin that dies drowning even if there are none on the field at the time.

Heroine's Tear

For this glitch to occur, you must leave the Heroine's Tear in the room that you found it in.  After finding Winged Pikmin,  go back and carry the fruit.  The Winged Pikmin will get stuck in the opening leading outside, and since they are where the blue arrow appears on the map, they will be unable to be whistled back.

Invisible Captain

If one of your captains die in any sublevel in a cave, then his body is invisible but he is still there. Wollywogs are most preferable for this. The active captain must attack it where the invisible captain is. When it leaps in the air after being hit enough times, the invisible captain will be hit showing his body suit being damaged. Of course, try to yield after attacking and do not save after you've done that sublevel.

Invisible Pikmin

Very rarely, if Pikmin are directed to carry an object and quickly called back after they have carried the object a few steps, you can hear the sound of Pikmin carrying the object, although there are no Pikmin working and the object does not move. This glitch will stop when Pikmin start to carry the object again.

Instant Pikmin Extinction

This can be performed in any cave in the game, except two-player caves. It's simply done by pressing X and A together at the right time. Keep in mind that you need to press X instantly before A, next to any random cave you please. The cave chart will say you have all of your Pikmin, but make sure your Pikmin are idle. Press yes and Olimar, Louie, or the President will go in the cave with no Pikmin. During the landing scene, they will fall on the ground and have a ring of smoke around them. After that, the game will announce a Pikmin extinction. In the treasure chart it will say no Pikmin had died, and saving won't harm the player in any way. (P.S) He will come back to the surface and will find all Pikmin in his onions/ship. This doesn't work on New Play Control! for Pikmin 2. It'll give you the message that it's too dangerous to enter caves without Pikmin.

Juice Mixing Color Error

Pikmin 3 turns the collected fruit into juice at the end of the day based on what order the fruit was collected in-game. This glitch can be done with at least a Zest Bomb and Juicy Gaggle; it is not yet known if this works with other combinations.

Collecting the fruits one right after another and so that their juice will mix will result in the color quickly turning into an unusual light cyan, even though the combination doesn't make much sense. This is probably because the method the game mixes juice colors is based on a hue-saturation-value scale, where merging two colors makes the result into the shade that is the closest hue in between. As the Zest Bomb gives a greener shade of juice than the other fruits and the Juicy Gaggle gives a color closer to blue than the other fruits, the resulting color in-between is cyan instead of the more typical results gotten from mixing.

Jumping While Laying Down

If one of your captains is knocked over by an enemy just as you are going in a hole, he will jump while lying down. This will not work if he lies down by himself.

Leaving Boundaries

If you are in a sublevel that looks like an outside area (such as the second sublevel of the Snagret Hole or the Brawl Yard), have an enemy push you close to the boundary. If done right, you will be flung to the outside of the walls and can explore the outside. If you go far enough away from the main part of the level, you will hit a massive wall with blurry images of trees and foliage painted on it, or in other cases an invisible barrier. 

Scale Glitch

It is possible to get inside the scale platforms found in the Awakening Wood and the Perplexing Pool, and use this advantage to warp to certain areas. To get inside one of the scale platforms, the captain must be on a moving scale during a cutscene. This causes the scale to move during the cutscene, and the captain will get inside it. Most often this is done by having a captain throw a purple Pikmin on the scale right as a treasure rolls into the ship. This glitch can be used in the Awakening Wood to access blue Pikmin on Day 3, and to get to the Bulblax Kingdom without Yellow Pikmin. It can also be used in the Perplexing Pool to access both the Onion Replica treasure and the Shower Room cave.

Make captains fall into the abyss

In caves like the Snagret Hole, there are solid walls. Behind these walls you see nothing but black. If a Bumbling Snitchbug grabs one of the captains, there is a chance that they will drop them into the void the walls are blocking out. If you fall in, you will magically reappear at the Research Pod. Also, if you use the Napsack ability to make a captain fall asleep, a Dweevil (excluding titan and Volatile Dweevils) may pick you up as an item. If this happens, there is a chance it could walk off an edge and take you with it.

Libra

There is a rather notorious glitch involving the Libra. The part may bounce and fall into the abyss when pulled from the ledge it is positioned on. The part may not reappear in any way on the file (though sometimes it will reappear in a random location). Should this happen to the player, he or she should reset the game immediately, as the game cannot be completed without this part. Thankfully, this glitch has be fixed in the New Play Control! version.

Napsack Shortcut

This glitch works best in the Perplexing Pool, where it can be used to access treasures without breaking down certain barriers. If a Pikmin is carrying one of the captains via the Napsack, objects, or small ledges in the way of his route to the Onion, can cause him to hop slightly. When a Pikmin carries the captain in a certain spot right next to the Glutton's Kitchen, the Pikmin will hop up and over the small ledge that juts out of the stump. If the captain regains mobility at the right time, he can get on top of that ledge and access the Glutton's Kitchen, Submerged Castle, and Massage Girdle without breaking down any barriers with Pikmin. Another application of this glitch allows the player to access the Yellow Onion without breaking down the poison wall. There is also a shortcut in the Valley of Repose utilizing this glitch that lets the player get to the Subterranean Complex without breaking down the poison wall, and two in the Awakening Wood that let the player bypass a barrier and a bridge.

Nectar

A useful glitch that happens when Pikmin drink nectar. If timing is perfect, calling the Pikmin before they finish drinking the nectar will turn them into flower Pikmin, but the nectar will not disappear. With this glitch nectar can be used over and over again. This can be done with multiple Pikmin, but the timing is harder to get right. This glitch is seen in Pikmin and Pikmin 2.

Next Sublevel Travel

In some caves if there are fire, water, or poison hazards/attacks present and you let your Pikmin get afflicted with said hazard they will start to panic and run around the area. After awhile they will make a noise which means that it's too late to save them and they will disppear after a few seconds, but if you enter the next sublevel before the Pikmin disappear, the Pikmin that were supposed to be killed will be in the cutscene with said hazards on their head. Once you arrive to the next sublevel you may find your Pikmin still with you unless you were too late entering the next sublevel.

While this may seem like a harmless glitch as none of your Pikmin were actually killed, the game still thinks that the Pikmin did get killed and if you repeat this on more sublevels... if possible, the death counter can become very high, such as having 200+ deaths once you leave the cave. An example of this is if you bring 100 Pikmin with you and 80 of them got burned/poisoned and you did the glitch, then on the next sublevel you got 60 Pikmin burned/poisoned and did the glitch again. You will still have 100 Pikmin if you weren't too late but when you leave the cave the game will say that you lost 140 Pikmin, even though none of them were actually killed as you still have 100 with you.

Olimar Falling Through the Ground

If a bridge is being built and Olimar lies down where the end of the bridge would be when the bridge is completed, sometimes Olimar will get pushed down into the ground and will appear to be falling. After he travels through some black and blue expanses, he will drop from the sky on to the area that he was before. This glitch has no affect on the game.

Pearly Clamclamp

In order for this glitch to work, you need to go to the Distant Spring in Challenge Mode. Go to the Pearly Clamclamp by the area where the Chronos Reactor is found. Rotate the camera so you can only see Olimar's red shadow and lay down. The Yellow Wollywog should try to jump on you. Olimar cannot be hurt when he is lying down. Right after the Yellow Wollywog lands, Olimar's shadow will jump towards the Pearly Clamclamp for a moment. When this happens, move Olimar towards the direction that the shadow moves, and Olimar will be inside of the Pearly Clamclamp. You can attack the Pearly Clamclamp from inside, and if the Yellow Wollywog is inside the Pearly Clamclamp when it snaps shut, the Wollywog will either glitch out of the Pearly Clamclamp or fall through the ground and disappear. This strategy can also be used to go out-of-bounds.

Pellet

There are five known glitches involving Pellets.

The first is the possibility of having three Pikmin carry a single one-weight pellet. In some rare cases, when one Pikmin attacks the leaf of a Pellet Posy, and two are attacking it from the ground, they will all carry the pellet.

The second is having two one weight pellets go into each other. If two Pikmin are carrying both pellets and they run into each other, it looks like four Pikmin are carrying a single weight pellet. This glitch is merely visual, and it does not affect the game.

The third is the chance of having the sides of a large pellet point up and the Pikmin carrying it will appear to be standing in mid-air while holding it. They'll bring it back to the Onion normally. Simply call them back and order them to pick it up again to fix this issue. This also happens with some ship parts, most notably the Libra. One good example for this glitch would be minute 2:39 of this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dkjht5Kt9H4&feature=related

The fourth glitch happens when a pellet is beneath a bridge suspended over water, but the bridge is still being constructed, and the pellet has to be in front of the rolled-up stick pile that forms the bridge's tip. How far away is irrelevant, as long as it will still be beneath the future bridge. As an example, the one with a Yellow Wollywog near the island with the Massage Machine in The Distant Spring would work well. When the bridge comes to the point where the pellet is, the Pikmin that are working may stop working and move in circles around the spot where the pellet is under the bridge, and try to grab it. They can be called back and ordered to finish the bridge, but if not, they will sigh, showing that their attempt to grab the object failed, and then become idle. In some rare cases the Pikmin can fall through the bridge, but instead of drowning, will sit safely on top of the pellet. If such a Pikmin is whistled at multiple times, it will fall off the side of the pellet and start drowning.

A fifth glitch also occurs; however, this glitch only occurs in the New Play Control! version of Pikmin, as it's unknown if it can happen in the original Gamecube version. This glitch happens anywhere when Pikmin, carrying a large item, walk into a group of Pellet Posies (For example, to the left of the landing site in the Forest of Hope, where the ledge with the Shock Absorber is). When the Pikmin walk into the patch of Pellet Posies, the Pellet Posies may act like a "cage," and the Pikmin will carry the object while walking in place, and the noise that ship parts make when they are set down will play continuously. Calling the Pikmin back and ordering them to cut down the Pellet Poses, or to manually do it with Olimar, will allow the Pikmin to proceed to the Dolphin.

Pellet Posy

In the Forest of Hope, go somewhere near the Nova Blaster on a random day when a Pellet Posy is inside a wall. Try to go between it to fly out of bounds. You can use this glitch to get the Radiation Canopy, Geiger Counter and Sagittarius without Blue Pikmin. When you throw a Pikmin at it, the screen will go black and you will be falling.

Another glitch can happen with the Pellet Posies by the Nova Blaster. For this to happen, one of the Pellet Posies must be killed. The pellet will disappear for a few seconds, and then will glitch on to the small ledge above the place where the Pellet Posy used to be.

In Pikmin 3, there is a glitch that can show different colored Pellet Posies to appear, such as ones that do not correlate to any Pikmin type. To do this, the Quaggled Mireclops must be defeated. On the next day, if the player uses the KopPad to view the area where the Mireclops was previously, there will be many pellets growing on it's dead body. There is a chance that one of the Pellet Posies, usually a 5 Pellet, will be incorrectly colored. So far, Purple, Brown and Peach pellets have been observed.

There is also a peach colored pellet in the Tropical Wilds. Use the KopPad to see the map and go to the area where you fight the Female Sheargrubs and the 5 Pellets will be different colors.

A Video demonstrating this Glitch:

File:Pikmin 3 - Purple and Brown Pellet Posy Glitch

Pikmin Counter

If a lot of Pikmin are lost at the same time, the Pikmin Counter might say that you have more Pikmin than the number of Pikmin in the field (for example, 80 Pikmin out of 73 Pikmin in the field). This glitch happens often when battling the Smoky Progg or the Pearly Clamclamp.

Puffstool

This glitch involving the Puffstool and the Mushroom Pikmin can be executed two different ways, each with slightly different results, but both involve Mushroom Pikmin either attacking the Puffstool or breaking free of its control.

The first and easiest way is to knock a Pikmin to the ground at the moment it gets infected by the Puffstool's spores, most easily done by throwing them on top of a Puffstool which has been flipped upside-down, and then wait for it to shake them off and hit them with its spore cloud. Upon standing up, the newly-created Mushroom Pikmin will become pale, as if idle, and start to attack the Puffstool. You cannot call or command these Pikmin, but they will return to normal when they are knocked down again, or if the Puffstool is defeated.

The other method is much harder to execute, but a bit more interesting. Rally your Pikmin around the Puffstool and dismiss them, or simply have them attack it. Then, call them the moment the Puffstool flips its cap to blow out its spores. If the timing is perfect, the Pikmin will turn into Mushroom Pikmin and then immediately fall into line by your side. You can command these rebels with the C-stick and direct them to carry objects or even attack enemies, but they cannot be thrown or dismissed, and they will revert to normal Pikmin as soon as they have completed a task. Be careful not to bring normal Pikmin anywhere near the Mushroom Pikmin, as normal Pikmin will still attack them despite them being under your control. There is a highly useful glitch that allows you to alter the type of Pikmin you have (convert reds to yellows, blues to reds, etc.) without using Candypop Buds. This glitch works in both Challenge Mode and Story Mode. In order to perform this glitch, have a Puffstool transform the Pikmin you want into Puffmin, and then use the Puffmin Helper Glitch so that they can follow you. Now, take them back to the Onions and go to the color Onion you want to alter your Pikmin to. Stand under the light of that Onion, and it will allow you to put your Puffmin into it, so do so. The Puffmin will crawl up the leg of the Onion and go inside like any other Pikmin. Call them back out, and they be the color Pikmin of that Onion, even if they were not that color before they became Puffmin. This is easy to do.

Purple Pikmin

Purple Pikmin are capable of destroying poison pipes with their groundpound move. To perform this you must walk with a group of at least 6 Pikmin ( it's possible with larger groups but they will get a bigger chance of dying) and let them get poisoned then you call them immediately back and throw them on the poison pipes. They will damage the pipes before getting poisoned again. 

Scales

The scales glitch is a teleportation glitch that places a Captain next to the ship after falling. It is performed by having a treasure return to the ship while the pilot is moving up on one block of a set of scales and is, therefore, only possible at the Awakening Wood or Perplexing Pool. When the treasure cutscene has finished, the Captain is below the top of the block, and can walk about within its boundaries; but if he moves off one side, he falls out of the level and reappears at the ship. The side of the ship he reappears at is the same as the side he walked off the block.

The only currently known beneficial uses of these glitch are:

Perplexing Pool: falling off the side nearest the Onions places Olimar or Louie on top of the stone structure behind the ship, from where it is possible to walk around the side of the level and gain access to the Shower Room without demolishing the electric fence before it. Awakening Woods: Walking on the edge of the wall around to where the blues are, and warp to them using the Napsack. (If the player simply falls into the abyss inside the wall, he/she will be warped back to the start of the area). This same glitch can also be used to access the Bulblax Kingdom without breaking down the electric fence.

See-Through Can

If you direct some Pikmin behind an empty can in the Forest of Hope, you will be able to see the Pikmin through the back of the can trying to get back to Olimar. However, the Pikmin will not be able to go through the can.

Silent Bomb Rocks

If two or three Bomb-Rocks go off at once, the area that the explosion covers will be larger and the explosion noise will be louder. If a really large amount of bomb-rocks (about eight to ten) go off all at once, one of two things will happen. Either an extremely loud exploding noise will occur for about a split second and the explosion distance will be bigger than ever, or the explosion will be silent.

Skip yellow onion

occurs in pikmin 3 . After defeating the armored mawdad , go to the distant tundra and as Brittany, pluck the 5 yellow pikmin and run  on the side of the slide. DO NOT GET MORE PIKMIN. Eventually you will reach the side of the slide. Then go to the tree roots and pass without falling down. go to the exit with the yellows already waiting for the player. Once you exit , thegame will resume as if nothing happened with the exeptions of no yellow onion ,and you exit with 5 pikmin   

Sliding Olimar

In some places, if you make Olimar lie down, he will slowly slide in a direction as if he was on the side of a hill.

Smoky Progg

The Smoky Progg Glitch is a glitch found in Pikmin. In The Distant Spring, find the Smoky Progg's egg. Attack it with Blues, but induce only little damage. Wait a few seconds, and it will heal itself. Should it not have emerged by now, attack again. It should shake a bit and open. Try waiting for the Progg to come. In some cases, it will now not appear, at least not on the route it takes all the time. If you go to check if the egg is still present, it should be gone. If you go back to the Onions, there is a high chance it will be standing there.

Although these glitchy steps are unlikely to have effect on the following, they were present in most cases of the next glitch. Here, the counter will count more Pikmin in Olimar's control than there is said to be on the entire map. E.g., it would look something like this on the counter: 007/006/300. Even when all Pikmin are killed or are put back into the onion, the counter will say there is (in this example) 1 Pikmin in Olimar's command. It is still possible to get 100 Pikmin into the field. The counter will simply go to 100/99/300, and will stay at 100 when another Pikmin is brought out. This glitch has also happened in other places in the game, even when there are no enemies around.

Snagret

When hovering above the Valley of Repose in the Area Selection screen, view the Pileated Snagret in the Piklopedia. Since the creature spawns on a hill in this particular area, it may get stuck or fall in the ground when emerging or burrowing. If it doesn't work, going to another Piklopedia entry and then looking at the Pileated Snagret again will produce the glitch after some tries. It seems this works more often if Pikpik Carrots are thrown at the Pileated Snagret.

A glitch in the Piklopedia in Pikmin 2 causes the Pileated Snagret to endlessly hop in a direction without moving. To bring about this glitch, the player must have visited the Valley of Repose; then, in the Piklopedia, throw a Pikpik Carrot in the hill-like snowy area. If performed correctly, the Snagret jumps over the snow-covered hill, trying its best to eat the Pikpik Carrot. If it is eaten or disappears, the Snagret attempts to jump back to where it came from, but can only continuously hop in place. No matter how long the game is left on, the Snagret continues this action. This glitch occurs with most enemies, due to it being that they are either trying to return directly to their spawn/burrowing point, or trying to reach a Pikpik Carrot. In either case, the creature is blocked by an obstacle, usually a ledge.

Stuck Confection Hoop

Sometimes on the second Sublevel in Submerged Castle, when you retrieve the Confection Hoop from the weird area near the pipes where you have to throw Pikmin to it from a sledge (a slanted edge). When the Pikmin take the hoop from the little area (Olimar and Louie can't get in), they could get stuck in the elevated entrance to the hoop, and will vibrate and shake. This will not normally affect the game as the Pikmin will get the treasure out. However, they could really get stuck, and you'll have to reset because the Pikmin won't be able to get the hoop and/or themselves out.

Strange Pikmin Physics

If Olimar is running while holding a Pikmin, throws it, and then stops, the Pikmin will fly to where the cursor would have been if Olimar had kept running, giving the throw much more power than it should have. The same can happen in reverse. If Olimar is holding a Pikmin and starts running backwards but releases the Pikmin before the cursor gets behind himself, the Pikmin will be thrown an incredibly short distance.

Swimming

In Pikmin, if Olimar simply touches a drowning Red or Yellow Pikmin, the Pikmin will jump a little bit out of the water. When this happens, the amount of time it can stay in the water before dying is reset. This can be used to obtain the Sagittarius without Blue Pikmin, as well as to build the bridges in the The Final Trial, among other things.

In Pikmin 2, if a Pikmin other than Blue is drowning in a body of water, simply throw (or make idle) a Blue Pikmin near the drowning Pikmin. The Blue Pikmin will pick up the drowning Pikmin and try to save it. Immediately call back the Blue Pikmin once it picks up the other Pikmin, and the amount of time it can survive in water will be reset, allowing it to cross any body of water, no matter the size.

Suicidal Ghost Pikmin

This glitch usually only works in the Distant Spring: if you are fighting a Yellow Wollywog in the water, a Pikmin will sometimes fall through the ground and kill themselves. Fortunately, it is very rare.

Trapped Puffy Blowhog

If the Puffy Blowhog in the Distant Spring near the landing site is weighed down with Pikmin over the skull with Bomb Rocks, it will get stuck on top of the ledge and repeat its sinking animation until it is killed.

Treasure

This glitch happens when there is a treasure, ship part, or Pellet placed high up on a perch that is higher than the Yellow Pikmin's arc when thrown by a Captain. In the process of returning the object to wherever it needs to be taken, the Pikmin drop to the ground along with the object, and the object will most likely land on its side. However, the Pikmin will remain in a circle around the area that would be the shape of the object if it were laying flat or they can form a tilted circle in the angle the object is tilted. This is believed to be caused by the Pikmins' circle being "linked" to the treasure/ship part's model, when this glitch occours an odd sound can usually be heard.

Whenever a treasure is evaluated sometimes a miniature of the treasure can be seen in the top right in the background. Though this glitch will not always occur it can be a little interesting.

Undead Emperor Bulblax

There is a very rare glitch with the Emperor Bulblax in Pikmin 2. After it has been defeated, it will walk at the same place and will not die. It can't be petrified and the Pikmin will still attack him but he will not react. The only way this glitch can be stopped is resetting the game or going to the next sublevel. It's unknown what causes this glitch or how even to perform it, but it has something to do with Purple Pikmin.

Visible Seeds with Magic Growth

In 2-Player Mode, if the Onion is on a ledge and if a Swooping Snitchbug throws a Pikmin at the very edge of the ledge, the Pikmin seed underground will be visible (it looks like it does when it pops out, only with a longer stem). If you try to pull it out, the bottom will "magically" form a Pikmin body, and the Pikmin will fall off of the ledge.

Wall

In Pikmin 2, usually in caves, if Pikmin are carrying something or fighting an enemy, they usually latch on and don't let go. This happens even if the object or the Pikmin carrying it and/or fighting it are carried through a wall. Caution is advised, as calling the Pikmin while they are outside the barrier of the wall will make them mysteriously appear in the black area beyond and vanish into the void. This may seem strange, but the Pikmin are actually standing outside of solid ground. (Picture a stage where there are no walls and your Pikmin can fall off of the edges; that's basically what any other level is, except there is a wall/floor between you and an infinite drop.)

Another glitch involves Pikmin being eaten through walls, and occurs mainly with the Spotty Bulbear, Bulbmin and Orange Bulborbs. However, most other enemies can eat through walls.

Sometimes when an enemy is killed very close to a wall, the enemy can get stuck inside it. Continuously trying to pick it up and calling the Pikmin back can help remove it from the glitch. This is known to have occurred with a parental Bulbmin and an Armored Cannon Beetle Larva in Pikmin 2.

Occasionally, if one of the posts that holds up a gate protrudes from a wall, the Pikmin will be able to destroy the wall from the other side of another wall.

Waterwraith

This glitch is likely caused by the Waterwraith's head coming into contact with the Research Pod after having lost its rollers, or some other collision. The outcome is a change in the way it moves: instead of walking, the creature glides along with a constant speed, never stopping - presumably the speed it was at when the glitch happened. Another effect of the glitch is that Pikmin that touch it are thrown out of the way, though unharmed; this does not affect Purple Pikmin though. The amount of health it had previously to the glitch occurring determines whether or not the Waterwraith can be damaged once in this state.

Another glitch is known to occur when the Waterwraith just stays in one place, randomly switching directions.

Videos of the gliding glitch:

• [1] In Challenge Mode
• [2] In the Submerged Castle

In the Area Selection screen, press the L or R buttons and view the Piklopedia. Go to the archive of the Waterwraith, if you have it unlocked. Right when you open it, immediately press or repeatedly press the "Z" button to petrify it. The rollers will become petrified, and then the Waterwraith's body. The rollers will break free first. When they do, immediately re-petrify them. The Waterwraith will then break free, and appear to have a very difficult time trying to lift its petrified boulders. This can easily be repeated indefinitely as long as you keep the rollers and the Waterwraith petrified at the right times.

If you're on the fifth sublevel and you've destroyed the Waterwraith's rollers, if you repeatedly switch between captains when they are far enough away from each other, the Waterwraith will freeze, but still be moving.

Wollywogs

Wollywog

The Wollywog glitch is a very simple glitch that can manifest itself in a number of ways. It basically involves the number of strange things that can happen with Wollywog (color is irrelevant) collisions, such as when it lands on objects (such as treasures, parts, and carcasses). Most of the time, the Wollywog will simply slide off, but can sometimes instantly rise back up in the air, skid on the ground, teleport from one side of a wall to another (if it is frozen by Ultra-Bitter Spray, it gets stuck in the wall), make odd poses or even get stuck in the ground. In the latter case, its life meter remains, but it cannot be hurt even if Pikmin are attacking the part of the beast above ground. Uneven or strangely-angled terrain can cause these glitches as well. The best place to do this is Sublevel 6 of the Cavern of Chaos.You can also perform this glitch in Sublevel 1 of the Shower Room. This usually happens at random, but players can force a Wollywog to glitch itself.

Yellow Wollywog

In the Final Trial in Challenge Mode, there is a Yellow Wollywog near a pipe. If the Yellow Wollywog jumps on the hole in the pipe, it gets stuck there; it can be coerced into doing so by moving Olimar onto it. While stuck, the Wollywog cannot be harmed; it remains in its jumping animation and cannot be brought out of it.

There is more than one glitch with Yellow Wollywogs. If you kill the Yellow Wollywog in the path that the bridge will be built in Challenge Mode and you start building the bridge, the Wollywog's corpse will start "twitching" and fall through the ground. Another minute later, it will reappear near the bridge.

If Olimar manages to make a Yellow Wollywog land right on top of a creature, it might fall through the ground and disappear. It is unknown whether this glitch works with Wollywogs as well, or if Yellow Wollywogs can make creatures other than Dwarf Red Bulborbs can be killed in this fashion.

There is a glitch associated with purple pikmin on floor 6 of Hole of Heroes, which causes a Yellow Wollywog to glitch halfway through the floor.  While it is stuck in the floor, it is invincible.  You can throw all of your Pikmin onto it, and have them keep attacking infinitly.

Another Yellow Wollywog glitch can be caused when a Yellow Wollywog lands on the rolled-up part of a partially finished bridge in Pikmin 2. The Yellow Wollywog will hop towards you, but simply stay on the rolled-up bridge and keep landing there for a certain amount of jumps, then hop back to the place it came from.