Pikmin Forever/Metal Index

In Pikmin Forever, metal objects play a very important role. In order to charge the Hocotate ship or KHA Lander for blasting off at sunset and orbiting through the night, their batteries must be charged using metal powder as particulate fuel. Thus metal objects must constantly be collected to convert into metal units; getting to explore for another day requires 250 metal units. Since metal objects are so important to collect, they often are only presented after particular challenges, such as an environmental puzzle or an enemy or enemies.

The higher the metal content of the object, the more metal units it is worth. However, not all metal objects are salvaged for units. Some (particularly the ones collected at the ends of caves) give upgrades to the leaders' ship, Piktop, or spacesuits; these are listed in bold. One "metal" object, the Gem, unlocks Pikmin Forever ' s Challenge Mode.

All metal objects can be found in the real world; Olimar gives them ridiculous names because he is extraterrestrial and does not know the objects' origins. Each metal object has a file in the Metal Index, the sister index to the Piklopedia. With each metal object comes notes: a general description and reflection by Olimar, and a creative program output from DELTA in which she analyzes the object and describes what it would do and feel if it were sentient.

Other sources of metal
Metal objects are the primary, but not the only means of collecting metal. Nuggets of gold and other metals appear in all areas except the Canyon of Moonlight, and function just like. Every day in each area, nuggets of metal respawn in a new part of the area, so that the area is never emptied of metal.

Enemies also have some metal in them; a few enemies have a great deal of metal due to their size or metal composition. Using the Piktop, Pikmin can be told to take a fallen enemy back to the ship instead of the Onion, to salvage it for metal rather than Pikmin seeds. For metallic enemies, there is often an advantage in salvaging them for metal rather than propagating Pikmin with them.