Pikmin Throw
Pikmin Throw is Pikmin & Olimar's side special move. Captain Olimar throws a Pikmin at an enemy, then the Pikmin latches onto the enemy and slowly racks up damage, similar to the effects of Lip's Stick. Different Pikmin have different effects when thrown, such as additional throwing damage from a Blue Pikmin, a curved trajectory from a Yellow Pikmin, and knockback and damage instead of damage over a long period only from Purple Pikmin. Red Pikmin deal 2%, blue 2%, yellow 2%, white deal 6% (the best for Pikmin Throw because it does the most damage and due it's height and speed, it's very easy to get a hit), and purple deal 6% with weak knockback.
It should be used to repel incoming opponents that are charging at Olimar while he is throwing Pikmin (latched-on Pikmin do not cause an enemy to flinch, and so they can continue attacking normally. Purple Pikmin are the exception, knocking the enemy away and interrupting any attacks currently winding up.) Olimar's attacks require lots of training to be made effective. However, it may make opponents have to take time to knock the Pikmin off.
Pikmin can be reflected back at Olimar, in which case, they will stick to him. The player can simply use Pikmin Order to get them off if this happens.
The less damage the opponent has, the longer time the Pikmin will latch on. Also, Pikmin are unable to latch onto Subspace Emissary enemies. A strong attack is usually enough to not only shake off the Pikmin, but usually also kill them.
Pikmin that are thrown can be attacked, and thus killed. However, Pikmin together with Olimar are invincible.
Number of times that the Pikmin will attack the opponent
The total number of times the Pikmin will attack the opponent depends on the damage that the opponent has when the Pikmin latches on to him/her.
| Damage | Number of times the Pikmin attacks |
|---|---|
| 1%-2% | 9 |
| 3%-24% | 8 |
| 25%-62% | 7 |
| 63%-92% | 6 |
| 93%-122% | 5 |
| 123%-152% | 4 |
| 153%-182% | 3 |
| 183%+ | 2 |
Notes
- There is a glitch that when fighting a boss, throwing the Pikmin at it may have some Pikmin hit it, while 1 or 2 Pikmin latch on then fall down, the Pikmin that latched on the boss will never get to hit.
- If a player throws some types of Pikmin into a certain area (like Red, Blue, and White Pikmin towards the blocks in Green Greens or Mushroomy Kingdom stage 1-2), the Pikmin will get stuck and spin on forever, therefore, they will soon die. The player cannot whistle them back.
Origin
In Pikmin, if Olimar wasn't able to direct the Pikmin to something, he could alternatively throw them to what he wanted them to interact with. Thrown at enemies, the Pikmin would cling to them and attack. Not very strong by themselves, the key to the Pikmin's power was to overwhelm enemies with large numbers of them. Often, throwing Pikmin onto a creature's back is a safer alternative, not only avoiding attack but sometimes dealing additional damage or even killing weaker enemies outright. Additionally, differently colored Pikmin would have different traveling arcs; Yellow could be thrown the highest and white could be thrown the farthest. Similarly, Purple Pikmin traveled the shortest distance, due to their mass; all of these characteristics were carried over to in Brawl.
