Garish Cannon Beetle Larva

The Garish Cannon Beetle Larva is a member of the lithopod family that appears in Pikmin 2: New Year as a relative of the Armored Cannon Beetle Larva. It may be found wandering about on dry land, occasionally stopping to emit honking sounds before turning in place to walk in another direction, or buried under the ground. When a Garish Cannon Beetle Larva detects Pikmin or leaders in its range, it will, if on land, stop what it is doing, or, if buried, erupt from the ground, then turn to face them, and visibly and audibly inhale before spitting a boulder from its mouth. This boulder will travel in a straight line, crushing any Pikmin and leaders in its path until it collides with a wall or an enemy, or falls into a pit, causing it to shatter and disappear.

True to their name, Garish Cannon Beetle Larvae are visually unappealing. Their face is a dull, dark lavender color, while their featureless, glowing eyes are a lighter hue of lavender. Their blowhole is surrounded by a ring of that same dull, dark lavender color, and so is the tip of each spike on the top of each of the body segments behind the front one. The interior of their mouth is green, much like their four legs and the underside of their body. A Garish Cannon Beetle Larva's long body is orange towards the middle and yellow towards the top, and a single blue spot decorates each side of each body segment, at the point where the orange and green colors on its body meet.

Garish Cannon Beetle Larvae can be dangerous because their boulders can crush so many Pikmin, but it is possible to use them against surrounding enemies to kill them effectively. Additionally, Garish Cannon Beetle Larvae exert much force on Pikmin they buck off of themselves, which may result in those Pikmin falling to their doom if the creature happens to be facing a pit at the time. Those that are burrowed into the ground are often a nasty surprise, especially when already in the heat of battle with another creature. The optimal course of action against any Garish Cannon Beetle would be to swarm it with a large quantity of Pikmin immediately after it spits out a boulder. If the creature does not die before it can shake them off, call the Pikmin away from the creature before it does so, and continue the offensive until it dies. If the Garish Cannon Beetle Larva is buried and can not be reached by leaders, as is often the case, simply throw Pikmin up to it, and employ the aforementioned strategy until it is defeated.