Leaves, Flowers, Poppies.. OH MY!

[IllidR]

Well from the first few screenshots of Olimar we recieved, it's pretty clear that the Pikmin will be utilizing the leaves, flowers, and poppies from the game.

As we know the leaf in both Pikmin games was the standard for Pikmin, they'd have this if no modifications were made to them and they'd have standard strength and speed with this, so it's pretty safe to assume that the Pikmin at the start of a match will begin with this.

And then there's the flower. The flower would appear in place of the leaf whenever you fed your Pikmin honey (I'm not sure if it was honey, always looked that way to me). The flower was an upgrade to the leaf, increasing Pikmin speed and strength. So if that's the case how will the Pikmin be able to get the flower? Will they have to get an item, or will Olimar have a move to transform his Pikmin? And lastly, would the Flower have the same effect on the Pikmin that it did in their games.

Finally, there's the bud, obtained by leaving your Pikmin planted in the ground for extended periods of time, also increasing both speed and strength if I'm not mistaken (I'm not sure which is the bigger upgrade, the leaf or the poppy). So does this give us the safe assumption that Olimar will be able to pick Pikmin in some form for his moveset? And once again will this have the same effect as in the games.

So now I leave it up to you to discuss, are these simply random phenomena, there just for show? Or will these be utilized to make Olimar the best character ever?

 

[Yigguth]

I don't think they will have anything to do with speed, as you can see in this picture

his pikmin are trailing behind him at the same speed. I think that he is coming down from a jump here.
It'll probably have to do with strength, or if not that, nothing at all.

 

[SilverBlaze]

Without Pikmin, Olimar can’t even do a Smash Attack. And the short-lived Pikmin tend to scatter. Theirs is a fated symbiotic relationship.

The speed/strength of pikmin is as follows: Leaf < Bud < Flower

Seeing as how Sakurai said that Pikmin are easily separated, I imagine it has something to do with how fast they can keep up with Olimar.


Another important thing is that he says the Pikmin are short-lived. This can only mean we'll be plucking more from the ground. Maybe the amount of time you wait to pick a new Pikmin dictates whether you get a flower, bud, or leaf.

Another similar idea is that getting new Pikmin is a 2 step process. Your first Down B plants a seed, and then you can watch/pick it with another Down Bwhenever. This would allow you to monitor the flower status of the Pikmin.

 

[Dragonbreath]

Hmmm...Perhaps he has one move to plant, another move to pluck? I could easily see some kind of chargeable up-b that launches seeds into the air and lets them fall to the ground, damaging enemies as they fall. Or a Side B that throws a seed, doing similar things. Maybe both. Perhaps Pikmin in the ground could defend themselves if an enemy tries to attack them? And of course, all his specials would improve if Olimar had a Pikmin or two handy.

The more I think about it, the more interesting Olimar becomes.

As for weaknesses, it's obvious: poor planning. If you let your enemy get between you and your five, growing pikmin, you're probably going to eat one. Olimar isn't a fighting kind of guy, and that 'no smash attack without pikmin' bit suggests that he can't go mano-a-mano with other characters. So, if you use up your pikmin wrongly, you'll probably leave yourself open to attack.

Of course, I should probably wait until the special moves update to open my big, green trap.