Pikmin 2: What if Red Pikmin could be Skipped?

Описание: By never whistling the wild reds on day 1, we can effectively skip Red Pikmin. Currently, there is no way to end day 1 without whistling the wild reds. However, if I hack the day to be day 2, I can Go to Sunset. If I land back in Valley of Repose after this, things look almost the same, except the dwarf bulborb is gone, causing the wild reds to be idle. Unfortunately, there's not much to do in Valley of Repose. Even if we go oob, we need Pikmin following us to enter a cave.

Thus, I use a Gecko Code that makes all areas unlocked so that I could test more things. Note: 1 side effect of this Gecko Code is that some objects don't load into the map, such as bulborbs in Awakening Wood. Regardless, I can now obtain yellows (and blues later) in order to do more experiments.

First, let's discuss some minor effects. Even after obtaining yellows and blues, no Onions appear in the pause screen. The Red Onion does not follow me after sunset or in the area select screen. If no Pikmin are unlocked, the Pikmin screen in Today's Report stays blank until I press A. Plucking other Pikmin types before plucking a red has no effect. Landing for the first time in Awakening Wood with the Yellow Onion is like landing for the first time in Perplexing Pool with the Blue Onion.

Next, let's discuss Pellet Posies (namely, the ones that can switch colors). Their color always starts off as red for a couple of seconds. Then, their color cycles between the Pikmin types that I've unlocked. This behavior is the same in the Piklopedia. Queen Candypop Buds also have this same behavior. In fact, Queen Candypop Buds can be used while red! But not so fast...

I actually can't use candypop buds until I crush a paper bag. This is because leaders and Pikmin are immune from enemy attacks until then. (However, the candypop buds have interesting behavior when not usable. You see, when they give Pikmin immense knockback, the candypop bud actually "thinks" it has captured the Pikmin. After they try to capture 5 Pikmin, they no longer give Pikmin knockback. Then, interacting with the candypop bud in any way makes it close immediately, but it has no Pikmin to spout, so it just opens again right afterwards.) Espyo documented this effect first:    • What if you could enter Emergence Cave on ...  
But once I crush a paper bag, I can get back to testing other things.

Now, I can throw Pikmin into a Queen or Crimson Candypop Bud. Note that Crimson Candypop Buds, like Violet ones, always appear, even though I've never encountered the respective Pikmin type, while other candypop buds have the opposite behavior. However, plucking my first Red Pikmin while underground in any scenario will cause a crash!

According to the crash log (thanks to Uncle Punch for providing the Gecko Code to let us see this on emulator), the game crashes because there is no Red Onion. You see, after you pluck your first Red Pikmin, a cutscene plays of the Red Pikmin chasing Louie. The location of this cutscene must take place right next to the Red Onion, but if the Red Onion doesn't exist, there is nowhere for the cutscene to take place. Hence, a crash occurs.

However, if I pluck reds with the Pluckaphone and immediately pause and escape the cave, I can obtain these reds without triggering the cutscene I just referred to. HSS0136 first documented this here:    • Pikmin 2 - white pikmin glitch  

The first natural thing to test is what happens if these reds pick up a pellet/corpse. Well... a crash happens! This crash also happens if purples/whites randomly decide to carry towards the Red Onion. As you might suspect, the crash happens since the Red Onion does not exist outside Valley of Repose yet.

What happens if these reds try to enter the Onion while I enter a cave or during sunset? Well, somehow they succeed! (Interestingly, the reds just follow the leader all the way to the ship during the sunset cutscene.) Putting reds in their Onion for the first time causes a cutscene to play, and when this cutscene plays outside of Valley of Repose, we get a glitch called Coordinate Displacement, which scrap651 first found:    • Pikmin 2 Glitch  

Now, we can extract these reds from the Red Onion in Valley of Repose. We can also carry things to the Red Onion, and we can successfully pluck a red, since the Red Onion is here. Doing this makes the pause screen and Pellet Posies act normal. However, if we still skip whistling the wild reds, more interesting stuff happens!

A glitch happens that you may have seen happen to the Yellow Onion before:    • 【ピクミン２】１０２匹クリア  
Basically, when you pluck a red/yellow/blue but never whistle the respective wild Pikmin, the Onion is never "discovered". Thus, it doesn't act properly. It won't fly with you, but it does appear in every landing site, and Pikmin can exit/enter it. It also has a boot-up animation when Pikmin are inside, and it doesn't make a sprout when an extinction occurs.