Alph

Alph (, Alph) is the first of the three protagonists of . He was the engineer on the S.S. Drake as well as the youngest crew member. After getting stranded on PNF-404, the world of Pikmin, it fell to him to reunite the crew, get the fruit they were sent to obtain, and repair the ship's warp drive. The crew end up running into and saving Olimar in the end.

Origin
In Pikmin 3, a group of three astronauts consisting of Alph, and, are tasked with saving their home planet of , due to their planet's food supplies become nearly depleted. When data collected reveals that a distant planet, given the name PNF-404 (which also happens to be the home planet of the Pikmin), is rich with a variety of fruits whose seeds can be cultivated on Koppai to end the food shortage, the crew of three travel to the alien planet in the.

However, their ship malfunctions and they become separated just before landing, with the also being lost, which is mandatory for leaving the planet. Over the course of the game, Alph reunites with Brittany and Charlie, collects fruit, harvesting their seeds and using their juice for sustenance while on the planet, and eventually meets up with and later on Olimar, who they rescue from the Plasm Wraith. As thanks, Olimar gives them their lost cosmic-drive key, allowing them to return to Koppai safely with their findings.

As a playable character
Alph makes his Super Smash Bros. series debut as an alternate costume character of. He was first shown off on September 11, 2014. He has his own alternate costumes, which are based on the color schemes of Brittany, Charlie (the two other playable characters of Pikmin 3), and Olimar (his appearance from the original Pikmin), respectively. Alph is also acknowledged by the announcer, crowd, and character selection screen, but not in battle records and other miscellaneous aspects, such as Classic Mode.

Despite using the S.S. Drake in Pikmin 3, Alph still uses Olimar's Hocotate Ship for his on-screen appearance and Final Smash. He has a trophy using his playable model, classified under the fighters category. However, it is obtained in the Trophy Shop instead of as a reward for clearing Classic Mode, similarly to the Koopalings.

According to design documents for SSB4 available in Masahiro Sakurai's book "Thinking of the Making of Video Games 2", Alph was intended to be included as a clone alongside , , and. Rock Pikmin were also planned to be implemented, in which they would be heavy and short-ranged, but very powerful, similarly to Purple Pikmin. However, the idea was scrapped, presumably because of time constraints.

As a playable character
In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Alph returns as a playable character, accessible via Olimar's alternate costumes. Unlike in the previous game, Alph is technically an unlockable character here due to Olimar himself becoming needing to be unlocked. Just like in the previous game, his attacks and statistics are identical to Olimar's and (with the exception of the announcer, crowd, and character selection, all of which say and/or display his own name) the game does not acknowledge him as a separate character from Olimar in battle records and other miscellaneous aspects, such as Classic Mode.

Akin to his trophy in Super Smash Bros. 4, Alph also has his own associated Fighter Spirit, although it can only be obtained from the Shop instead of being rewarded after completing Classic Mode.

Trivia

 * Alph and Inkling are the only playable characters in the Super Smash Bros. series whose console of origin is the Wii U.