Cave
- This article relates to the official games. See Pikipedia's "Cave" article for more official information.
Caves are the underground areas in most fanon games. Although there is a large overworld, most treasures are found in these caves, so most of the time playing the game is spent down them. All enemies, including bosses, respawn between visits.
Entering caves
The holes through which you enter the caves are round, rocky mounds, with a small hole in them with wisps of smoke coming out. Simply press (A) to enter it. Any Pikmin under your control will jump down with you, and any that are idle or working will return safely to their Onions.
Sublevels
The caves are split into several sublevels. Each sublevel usually has at least one treasure for you to find, and almost always one or more enemies. There are three types of sublevels. Every time you enter a sublevel, the game will save. So if you turn the game off then back on, you'll start over in the current sublevel you are on.The cave will always look slightly different when you restart the game.
Normal levels usually have a few harmful enemies, and sometimes don't have any treasure.
Rest levels either lack enemies or only have harmless enemies. A somewhat common exception to the "harmless enemy" rule is Doodlebugs or, in one case, Bulbmin. Rest levels have Pikmin-supporting items, such as nectar, Ultra-Bitter Spray, Ultra-spicy spray, or Candypop Buds.
Boss levels are usually the final level of a cave. They hold one large boss enemy, and maybe a few normal enemies, and this enemy, when defeated, often drops an item which upgrades Olimar/Louie's space suit or ship.
Cave Designs
There are a number of different cave designs.
- Common cave design
- The most commonly seen type of cave design that vary in size. Has plants, dirt floors and walls, and sometimes small pools of water. Rocks, Eggs, and Bomb-rocks will occasionally fall from the cave ceiling.
- Sand floor design
- Perhaps the second most common cave design. The walls in these caves are concrete and the floor is sandy. A plant that commonly grows in this type of design is the shoot. This design can be disorienting for some because so much of the terrain looks the same, so without a good knowledge of where you've been one can easily get lost in a large sand floor sublevel like the Concrete Maze. Sometimes, there are sinkholes in these places that make fighting much more difficult.
- Tile design
- Another semi-common type of design. Blue tiles cover nearly the whole sub-level and many hazards are found on these types of design. Wogpoles will sometimes fall from the cave ceiling.
- Swamp design
- In Pikmin 2, this was the rarest cave design, but certain fanon caves use or are based around this particular design. There are many Shoots here. Most of the time when entering a sublevel with this design, you will land on a giant tree stump with a root that, when you walk down it, leads to a small piece of land, since these types of levels are mostly water. Even though these level consist almost entirely of water, there are other hazardous enemies such as Fiery Blowhogs. You may encounter Wogpoles, Water Dumples, Wollywogs, and other aquatic enemies here.
- Boss design
- These cave designs are the designs that appear on sub-levels where you fight bosses. Each one is different.
- Outside design
- This type of design appears as if you are outside. These type of design always has harmful enemies in them, save Mitites.
- Garden design
- Slightly rare. These are rest areas with water not deep enough for Pikmin to drown in, and enemies such as Mamutas, Skitter Leafs , and Unmarked Spectralids.
- Battlefield Design
- This type of sublevel is another common one that normally consists of Careening Dirigibug , Gatling Groinks or Lithopods. It consists of rusting metal bridges over a bottomless void. Bombs are the most common method of attack from enemies on these floors. If a Pikmin is thrown over the edges of these sublevels, it will fall to its death.
- Toybox design
- These cave designs are in caves such as Infantile Fortress. These levels are often filled with giant toys and treasures that are used for food, entertainment, and office supplies.
- Snow design
- This type of sublevel is similar to the normal cave theme, only with snow instead of dirt and blue/grey walls instead of brown walls. Sometimes the walls will appear to be made of red bricks, and slippery ice can cause all but Cyan Pikmin to slide around. Enemies such as Hairy Bulborbs and Chill Dweevils often populate these sublevels, and plantlife is rare, with the exception of dead Figworts and/or Shoots.