Whistle
The whistle is a main part of the gameplay in the Pikmin games. This is the primary way of calling idle Pikmin, the secondary way being a captain bumping into them. Embedded into the captains' suits, it'll blow some sound waves towards the cursor when used by pressing the B button. The longer the button is held, the wider the call's radius.
In Pikmin 2, Olimar, Louie and the President all have different sounding whistles. Olimar's sounds like a normal whistle, Louie's resembles a train whistle, and the President's resembles a truck's horn.
Improvements
In Pikmin 2, the following treasures, when collected, improve the whistle:
- Pluckaphone: allows the captains to uproot Pikmin using the whistle.
- Mega Tweeter: allows for a wider range and longer lasting whistle.
In Super Smash Bros. Brawl
In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Olimar's down special move is called Pikmin Order. When used, Olimar briefly blows his whistle around him. Any Pikmin that are stranded will quickly jump back next to Olimar, regardless of their distance to the captain. Then, all the Pikmin are grouped by type. If this move is used while they are already grouped, it'll send the next group to the back of the line. Interestingly, this move has some super armor frames, which means that, with good timing, one can use this move and suffer no knockback from powerful attacks.