Purple Pikmin

Purple Pikmin
File:Normal purplepikmin1.jpg
Resistance	wind
Attack strength	Strong (20)
Mobility	Low
Throw	Low
Digging speed	Unknown
Carrying capacity	10

Purple Pikmin are the second type of Pikmin found in Pikmin 2 and are first found in the Emergence Cave. They are specifically required to obtain a number of treasures, two of which are needed to gain access to new areas, making them necessary to complete the game. In the Wistful Wild area, there is a treasure that requires 100 purples; it is the Doomsday Apparatus. While it is, in fact, possible to clear the debt in the first area, this takes a substantial amount of time to finish, as eventually the only form of income that remains are enemy corpses. Purple Pikmin share a number of similarities with White Pikmin. Firstly, they can only be obtained via certain Candypop Buds, in this case Violet Candypop Buds, and have pink flowers rather than white. In addition, at the end of each day, they are stored in the ship; and they are not found in Pikmin.

Abilities

Purple Pikmin can lift ten times as much as other Pikmin types and weigh ten times more; this, it should be noted, renders the windy attacks of the Puffy Blowhog ineffective. The same applies to the fact that Purples are not affected by Mitites or the roar of Emperor Bulblaxes. Their weight, however, slows them down a lot; even with flowers. Purples cannot move as quickly as other Pikmin types, and move even slower when carrying items. This can result in a player accidentally leaving a Purple Pikmin behind, especially with a leaf, while crossing an area. Also due to their weight, their throw arcs are very low, and they stop mid-throw to perform a ground pound.

To compensate, Purple Pikmin are notorious for their effectiveness on the battleground, as when thrown, they will land with a resounding thump, stunning and seriously injuring larger beasts, and fatally injuring smaller, more fragile creatures such as Shearwigs and Dwarf Bulborbs. Bosses are harder to stun, and require several direct hits to do so. This strong landing destroys eggs immediately, defeats Mitites in a wide radius, and can instantly deactivate fire geysers and electrical nodes. In fights, Purple Pikmin are undoubtedly the strongest. It would also seem that when throwing a Purple Pikmin, as compared to others, it moves substantially faster through the air to its target, at least twice as fast.

Also concerning the throwing of Purple Pikmin, they have a limited ability to home in to targets. If thrown such that they are not greatly horizontally displaced from an enemy below, they will move towards that enemy and land on it. This is particularly useful in defeating large numbers of Dwarf Bulborbs; it does not apply to very large creatures.

Another interesting ability of the Purples is that they rarely stumble while traveling. Other Pikmin will occasionally trip and continue moving in one direction for a little bit before returning to the rest of the pack, but Purples rarely stumble, and when they do, they move about half as far as any other species. This may be due to their intense weight preventing them from falling easily.

These Pikmin possess the strange ability to anchor extra-dimensional entities such as the Waterwraith to this dimension for a brief period, and although this has never been explained in detail, it is likely another effect of their heavy weight.

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Purple Pikmin have the shortest throw distance and the smallest grab range. When thrown at an enemy, rather than latching on, purples will deliver a blow with knockback, stopping the opponent in his or her tracks. They are the most durable Pikmin of all and deliver the highest amount of knockback in Olimar's smashes and aerial attacks. Purple Pikmin are also the only Pikmin that will be plucked by Olimar in the Home-Run Contest.

Obtaining Purple Pikmin

Retrieval of the Doomsday Apparatus treasure in Pikmin 2 requires the use of 100 Purple Pikmin. The best place to get so many would be the Subterranean Complex. Take a single Pikmin into that cave and skip sublevels until you reach the eighth one, with an exit geyser, Candypop Buds and some eggs. Use the Queen Candypop Buds first and the Violet Candypop Buds after to produce 15 Purple Pikmin and 2 Red, Blue or Yellow Pikmin. Or, if you are also going for White Pikmin, bring 16 Pikmin and throw 15 of them into the 3 Ivory Candypop Buds to gain 15. When you reach the 7th floor, throw the last non-white Pikmin into a Queen Candypop Bud first and the Violet Candypop Buds after to produce 15 Purple Pikmin and 2 Red, Blue or Yellow Pikmin.

Gallery

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  A Purple Pikmin carrying a red berry.

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  Purple Pikmin when first discovered in the Emergence Cave.

• Brawl Purple.PNG

  A Purple Pikmin in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

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  Clay artwork of a Purple, and White Pikmin from Pikmin 2.

Brawl Trophy Description

File:SSBBPurpPikTrophy.jpg

Trophy for Purple Pikmin.

"A type of Pikmin, much heavier and slower than other Pikmin. When thrown, they impact with such force that they may kill or stun enemies. They're also incredibly strong--one of them can carry an item that normally would require ten Pikmin. While they're more powerful fighters than their red cousins, their slow speed hampers their effectiveness."

Trivia

• Among the many Onions seen in the 100% ending of Pikmin is also a purple one.

This article was a featured article from 23rd February 2011 to 12th April 2011.