This time it's my favourite Brawl newcomer, Pikmin & Olimar, except this time Alph is along to join the ride. I never liked playing Olimar in Brawl for some reason, maybe this time around I'll enjoy him more, because the Pikmin series is easily in my top 3 favourite series along with DK and Metroid.
Neutral Special 1 (Pikmin Pluck)
Pressing the button, if you have less than 3 Pikmin in play, will pluck a Pikmin out of the ground, using the move with 3 active Pikmin or using it in the air will cause the animation to play but nothing will happen.
Pikmin come out in a set order (Red -> Yellow -> Blue -> White -> Purple -> Red -> ...) and each individual Pikmin type has different properties when used in aerials and smashes (properties when a Pikmin latches onto an enemy will be in the Pikmin Throw section) and resistances.
Red - Resistant to fire damage, causes fire damage, average throw distance, increased base damage, average knockback
Blue - Resistant to water, causes normal damage, average throw distance, low base damage, average knockback
Yellow - Resistant to electricity, causes electrical damage, gets thrown higher, low base damage, average knockback.
White - Weaker than average pikmin (?), causes dark damage, throws the furthers, lowest base damage, average knockback.
Purple - Resistant to nothing, causes normal damage, shortest thrown distance and can't latch on, highest base damage, highest knockback.
There's not really much else to say about this move, it's doesn't really do much other than enable 75% of your moveset really.
Neutral Special 2 (Tough Pikmin)
Very similar to the default move, except that it takes almost 3 times longer and it takes more to kill a Pikmin, haven't been able to do much testing on exactly how much more it takes to kill these Pikmin, the CPUs aren't exactly co-operative enough.
The pluck animation is
very slow in this move, but the increased toughness could be worth it if you plan carefully, I've thrown a Pikmin into a fully charged Charge Beam from Samus and it came out unscathed, the increased toughness seems to also apply whilst they're latched on, so it's going to take someone a hit or two more to get rid of them.
Doesn't seem to change any of the Pikmin's damage properties or anything.
Neutral Special 3 (Explosive Pluck)
Everything about a Pikmin's properties seems exactly the same as the default special, except for the fact that in this one the Pikmin creates a small explosion when it's plucked doing damage and knockback dependent on the pikmin type.
Red - 8%, small knockback.
Yellow - 8%, smaller knockback.
Blue - 8%, small knockback.
White - 5% small knockback.
Purple - 10% largest knockback.
The tradeoff with this move is that the endlag is higher than the default and the Pikmin is launched high into the air, meaning you can't actually use the Pikmin in an attack as quickly as you can with the default special.
Side Special 1 (Pikmin throw)
Throws a Pikmin, if it hits an enemy it will latch on and starting doing damage over time until it either falls off, gets knocked off or gets killed. Purple Pikmin, on the other hand, will not latch on at all, instead just doing damage and knockback.
Each Pikmin will normally hit 8 times whilst latched on, though you can get unlucky and only get 7 hits. Red, Blue, and Yellow Pikmin do 1-2% a hit and on average will do 10% total damage, White Pikmin do 2-3% damage and on average will do 20% total damage and the Purple Pikmin do 6-7% damage and decent knockback.
Side Special 2 (Speedy Pikmin)
Universally decreases throwing distance in exchange for more damage during almost the same time frame, Pikmin will attack every ~half second instead of every second for a total of 14 hits.
The damage per hit seems generally decreased, with Red, Blue and Yellow Pikmin only doing only 1% damage for 14% total, White Pikmin do 2% damage for a total of 28% and Purple Pikmin only do 5% damage and knockback equivalent to the default.
Side Special 3 (Butterfinger Pikmin)
In this variation, all Pikmin types act like Purple Pikmin, completely losing the ability to latch on and instead doing one stronger hit and average knockback.
Red, Yellow and Blue Pikmin do 5% damage, White Pikmin do 3% damage and Purple Pikmin do 8% damage.
I guess the advantage of this move is that they're harder to kill due to not being stuck to the player and that you'll be able to throw them again sooner due to them not latching on anymore, can't quite tell whether this move is actually good or not, it seems like a downgrade but I guess it depends on how easy your opponent finds it to efficiently remove Pikmin.
Up Special 1 (Flying Pikmin)
Olimar's new recovery that replaces the Pikmin Chain from Brawl, lets you travel somewhat freely through the sky after a short delay, can be cancelled at any time by executing an aerial, though you will still be put into special fall after the aerial.
Provides no offensive capabilities whatsoever and the distance travelled (as well as the initial delay) scale with the number of Pikmin you currently have, with 0 being the furthest and quickest and 3 being the shortest and slowest.
There also seems to be measure put into place to stop the move from being spammed, if you keep using the move, the travel distance will keep decreasing, not using the move for a while will refresh the move back to full strength.
Up Special 2 (Weak Flying Pikmin)
These Pikmin are natural born sprinters, very good over short distances, but they tire out quite quickly!
This variation gets rid of the initial delay so you're less vulnerable, but it only travels about 3/4s as far and you lose out on horizontal distance.
This move still has the gradual reduction if you spam it, but an upside is that the number of Pikmin you're carrying doesn't matter, it will always go the same distance with or without Pikmin.
Also of note is that the start of this move has very minor push back, though it's so small that the benefit is almost negligible.
Up Special 3 (Hard-working Pikmin)
These Pikmin have got a sweat on, must be because they're always working hard trying to carry Olimar as far as they can. In this variation, Olimar has as much control over his flight path as the default special, but he lacks the distance of it and moves as far as the second Up Special.
The number of Pikmin he carries doesn't seem to effect the travel distance either, the main difference in this variation seems to be that the recharge rate of the Pikmin, that is, the rate at which they return to full strength after being used, seems to be quicker than that of the other specials, so you can use it more often.
Down Special 1 (Whistle)
Olimar toots his whistle, bringing any stray Pikmin back to him and bringing the second-in-line Pikmin up to the front and sending the Pikmin that was first to the back.
Pikmin can only be called back to you if they're on the ground it seems, which is a change from Brawl if I remember correctly.
Down Special 2 (Crash Whistle)
What this move does isn't immediately apparent, but basically, it increases the endlag on the move and causes Pikmin to do one final hit before they jump off (final hit damage depends on your side special but it's equivalent to one hit basically).
When they do jump off, the launch themselves higher into the air and come falling down behind you, if they hit someone whilst falling down, they do another hit for a small amount damage and knockback. Red, Yellow and Blue do 3%, White does 2% and Purple does 5%
This honestly seems a bit pointless to me personally, but I never mained Olimar in Brawl so maybe it has some use that I'm not aware of.
Down Special 3 (Shrill Whistle)
This whistle variation does 1% damage, sucks people towards you and makes them face away from you.
The endlag is increased and the damage isn't very useful, but it may be good for disrupting people every now and then?
Final Thoughts
I don't really have much to say about Olimar, his custom moves are about as tame as you'd expect considering what the defaults are, I think the Tough Pikmin and Speedy Pikmin are a good combination, you get that increased damage and the Pikmin are harder to knock off as well, seems good to me. Hopefully Olimar players in Smash 4 will be able to show us some interesting stuff with him because at a low level, the customs leave much to be desired.