Pikmin: Wide World/Bottomless Abyss

Bottomless Abyss is an alternate game mode in Pikmin: Wide World. As the name implies, it involves exploring the eponymous cave, which has an indefinite quantity of sublevels. Bottomless Abyss itself is permanently unlocked by collecting the Anomaly Log upgrade in any Story Mode save game. The goal is to accrue as many pokos as possible by collecting objects such as corpses, treasures, normal and golden fruits, and various other collectibles, and bringing them to the Lander Pod. Even sparklium has monetary value, each unit being worth one poko. Defeating all enemies in a sublevel will award bonus points, as will clearing a sublevel of all non-corpse collectibles. Ten pokos will be awarded for every Pikmin present in the squad. Up to four players can play together locally, online, or both to set new personal records, which are recorded on the save files of all participating players.

Every sublevel's theme is random, as are its contents, with a particular number of enemies, vegetation, objects, and obstacles appearing based on the size of the sublevel, the sublevel number, and the current Pikmin or lack thereof in possession. A sublevel's theme and contents are determined by if they were encountered in story mode; for example, if a Dwarf Red Bulborb hasn't been recorded in the Piklopedia in story mode, Dwarf Red Bulborbs will not appear in Bottomless Abyss until they are. Essentially, the more story mode is explored, the more content Bottomless Abyss will have, exactly like with Battle Mode.

Sublevels do not have time limits, much like in story mode. Leaders regain a portion of any lost health between sublevels, and are revived with minimal health if they were knocked out. A boss is guaranteed to be encountered every few sublevels. Every tenth sublevel is a rest sublevel that contains harmless or low-risk enemies, a few treasures, and most importantly, an escape geyser. In lower sublevels, bosses become more plentiful, and more enemies are present on rest sublevels.

The default starting Pikmin are ten Red Pikmin, Yellow Pikmin, and Blue Pikmin. However, players may choose what Pikmin and the amount of them they desire to start with before delving in. In multiplayer, players may choose which Pikmin and how many of each they would like to share. If using a custom set of Pikmin, the combined total can not exceed one hundred. Additional Pikmin can be created by using a Monarch Candypop Bud, and Pikmin can be turned into other types through the use of other candypop buds. Juvenile parasitic Pikmin hosts can also be found following their superiors if the combined total of Pikmin is less than one hundred. Sublevels that contain something only a certain type of Pikmin can overcome will contain their respective candypop bud, typically in an easily accessible location, such as by the Lander Pod.

When all leaders are down or a Pikmin extinction occurs, gameplay automatically ends and half of all pokos gathered up to that point are forfeited. When the cave is exited through an escape geyser, gameplay ends and the total amount of Pokos collected up to that point is recorded. If that score happens to be one of the highest scores ever achieved by the player, it is recorded on the list of their top five highest scores for Bottomless Abyss.