Pluck
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Plucking is how leaders uproot Pikmin planted on the ground. When an Onion expels some Pikmin seeds, these float gently to the ground, where they become buried for a few seconds. Afterwards, a Pikmin seed sprout appears, and from this point forward, the leader is able to pluck it.
To pluck a Pikmin, the player should move the leader near a Pikmin sprout and press A / A in the first two games, and A / A / PCA in Pikmin 3. Upon doing so, the leader will crouch down and grab hold of the sprout. After pulling for a bit, the Pikmin will eventually pop out, with a back-flip in the air, and join the other Pikmin in the leader's party.
If the player waits some time before plucking a Pikmin, it will eventually advance in phase, in the following order: leaf, bud, flower, seed. After some time has passed on the flower phase, the Pikmin reverts back to a simple seed, where it cannot be plucked for a few seconds. After that, it returns to the leaf stage.
The secret boss in Pikmin, the Smoky Progg, can also uproot Pikmin from the ground as one of its attacks. There is also an e-Reader game that involves having Captain Olimar pluck all Pikmin in a board.
Strategies
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To do: Time comparisons would be nice. |
Plucking each individual Pikmin is a tedious task, so it is recommended to use a few tricks and mechanics that speed up the process, specially when combined.
Faster plucking
A built-in feature of the plucking mechanic is the ability to rapidly pluck the second and following Pikmin in a row. By repeatedly pressing the pluck button, the leader will automatically move from Pikmin to Pikmin and pluck them out, at a faster speed than a regular pluck. This speed does not apply to the first Pikmin in this automated run. After each pluck, the leader moves from the current Pikmin to the closest one, even if that involves plucking one from a different type. If the closest Pikmin is too far away, the leader will stop the plucking spree, and if it is behind a wall but close, the leader will walk against it, and stop after a second.
Technically, although the recommended method is to rapidly press the pluck button, [1] [2] all that is needed in order to trigger the automatic and quick pluck of the next Pikmin is to press the pluck button once while the leader is grabbing onto the current Pikmin sprout. This is needlessly more precise than the recommended method, which explains why the games and manuals describe it.
Using a second leader
In Pikmin 2, if the other leader is following the current one, they will help the latter pluck Pikmin. When the button is pressed, the accompanying leader will automatically move to and pluck the closest Pikmin, besides the one the current leader is already pulling out. Although the player can use the fast pluck mechanic, the secondary leader cannot; they will move from Pikmin to Pikmin automatically, so long as the player keeps plucking, but they will never pull out Pikmin with the faster way.
If playing Challenge Mode in cooperative mode, it is naturally faster to have both players pluck at once, specially because both leaders can use the fast pluck mechanic. It is, however, normally recommended for the other leader to do something else in the level, in order to maximize the multitasking potential.
Avoiding plucking
If possible, plucking should be avoided altogether: if delivering something into an Onion will cause it to spit seeds, it might be faster to withdraw some Pikmin from the Onions before that, so that the number of Pikmin in the field is as close to 100 as possible. This is because the Onion cannot expel seeds if there are already 100 Pikmin in the field, storing them inside instead. It is usually faster to withdraw the Pikmin to the 100-Pikmin cap, deliver the item to the Onion, and, if the Pikmin the player wants are from a different type, re-store the previously withdrawn Pikmin, and withdraw out Pikmin from the type of the receiving Onion.
Pluckaphone
- Main article: Pluckaphone.
By far, the fastest way to pluck Pikmin in Pikmin 2 is by using the whistle, after the Pluckaphone has been obtained. This Exploration Kit treasure allows the current leader to uproot Pikmin merely by whistling at them.
In Super Smash Bros. Brawl
- Main article: smashwiki:Pikmin Pluck.
In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Captain Olimar's stage entrance animation has him crash into the stage from the S.S. Dolphin and pluck three Pikmin from the ground. His neutral special attack allows him to do the same mid-battle, but only one Pikmin at a time – this move has no effect in mid-air, as a result. If he already has 6 Pikmin in the battlefield, the move will fail. Plucked Pikmin are automatically added to his group, and the Pikmin that are plucked are picked at random, although slightly influenced by the type of terrain (water-based platforms have a higher chance of giving Blue Pikmin). Plucked White and Purple Pikmin make a slightly shorter back-flip, which, when used near a ledge, can allow the player to pluck several Pikmin in a row, and let the Red, Yellow and Blue ones fall off the platform, leaving only the remaining two types.