Waterwraith: Difference between revisions

Waterwraith
File:P4 Waterwraith Render.png
Appears in	Pikmin 2, Pikmin 4
Scientific name	Amphibio sapiens
Family	Unknown
Areas	None
Caves	Submerged Castle, Engulfed Castle, Cavern for a King
Challenge Mode stages	Bully Den
Dandori Challenge stages	None
Dandori Battle stages	None
2-Player Battle stages	None
Attacks	Crushes Pikmin

The Waterwraith (アメボウズ^?, lit.: "Candy Bouzu") is a boss from Pikmin 2 and Pikmin 4, found in all sublevels of the Submerged Castle and all sublevels of the Engulfed Castle, respectively.

It can only be damaged by Purple Pikmin's space-warping stomps; however, the entrances to both the Submerged Castle and the Engulfed Castle are flooded, making them impossible to bring along. Since Purple Pikmin are only obtainable in both cave's final floors, the Waterwraith is completely invincible and immune to attacks in the first four sublevels.

The Waterwraith is one of the few bosses in Pikmin 2 which has its own background music, along with the Titan Dweevil and the Giant Breadbug. In the Submerged Castle, when it appears, its own theme plays. When it is fought in the last sublevel, the normal boss music plays, and when it has no rollers, a special, crazy, funky lighthearted version of the boss music plays.

Stats

Game	Weight	Max. carriers	Seeds	Value	Health	Regen.
	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	1800[note 1]	No
	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	1800 [note 2]	No

Behavior

The Waterwraith is one of the most dangerous enemies, as it can instantly kill Pikmin by just rolling over them, and cannot be deterred or defeated without Purple Pikmin.

Appearance

Its appearance is generally humanoid in shape, with the suggestion of a head, body, arms, and legs, but without distinct characteristics, and with a watery, transparent body. As a matter of fact, its scientific name is Amphibio sapiens, which is similar to the human's scientific name: Homo sapiens.

The Hocotate ship notes that although it can be seen, its sensors somehow detect nothing, leading to the conclusion that the Waterwraith's physical form is anchored in another dimension. This is implied further in Pikmin 4, where both Olimar and Dalmo describe the creature's watery form as "nonexistent".

Locations

As stated before, the Waterwraith appears in all 5 sublevels of the Submerged Castle in Pikmin 2 and the Engulfed Castle in Pikmin 4. In the first 4 sublevels, it will drop from the ceiling after a five minute period. In the 5th and final sublevel, it will only fall when in range of its spawning point, similar to other bosses.

Once defeated in the Engulfed Castle, it will not respawn in any sublevel, replaced in the final encounter with a swarm of mitites.

The Waterwraith only appears a few time outside of its caves. In Pikmin 2's Challenge Mode, two Waterwraiths will spawn in the Bully Den when the seconds counter falls to 270, leaving only 30 seconds for preparation. In Pikmin 4, one can be found in the final story of the Trial of the Sage Leaf, The Purple Key. And, much like Bully Den, two will spawn immediately in Sublevel 16 of Cavern for a King. These are, however, intended to be fought with Purple Pikmin.

Strategy

The Waterwraith in the Piklopedia.

While wandering

The Waterwraith will come on any sublevel of the Submerged Castle or Engulfed Castle, after 5 minutes. When encountered, the beast falls from the sky. This will give two falling noises followed by two heavy thuds and then a noise like a scream underwater. It lifts up its front roller, and smashes it on the ground, crushing any Pikmin underneath. It then commences moving around on its stone rollers. However, before sublevel 5, there is no way at all to harm it; not even bomb rocks or attacking with Pikmin after using an ultra-bitter spray will have any effect. With that in mind, there are a few things to remember:

• The Waterwraith can kill other enemies and disable traps. This can be used to your advantage.
• It follows the active leader. This can be used to your advantage, similar to the fight with the Ranging Bloyster.
• The Waterwraith does not go into small corners, crevices, dead-ends, and areas with Candypop Buds (even if it has been used) making these places safe to hide in. In Pikmin 4, there are specially marked crevices with grass and metal archways that the Wraith will be unable to access.
• In Pikmin 2, if you're having a difficult time avoiding the Waterwraith, you can always reset in an attempt to get an easier or more exploitable floor layout. Similarly, in Pikmin 4, the Rewind mechanic can be essential to making more efficient movements around the sublevels or making up for heavy losses.
• A cloud of dust is visible behind the Waterwraith, allowing you to keep better track of it.

The following tips can also be used for story mode:

• You should collect treasures as quickly as possible and avoid collecting corpses. If you're fast enough, you can avoid facing the Waterwraith entirely. Remember that you can return to the cave and collect anything you missed the first time around.
• It is advised to at least have the Rush Boots power up, which can allow leaders to quickly escape the Waterwraith. The Stellar Orb also helps to illuminate the area, giving you a good view of where the beast is.
• In Pikmin 4, The Water Wraith presents very little issue to Oatchi due to his compactness and precise handling, making him ideal for Pikmin transportation instead of letting the Pikmin squad roam free.

Battle

A stunned Waterwraith, vulnerable to attacks.

Since it can only be damaged by Purple Pikmin, the only way to combat it in the Submerged Castle and Engulfed Castle is to survive until the final sublevel, where you can get Purple Pikmin via Violet Candypop Buds. When a Purple Pikmin lands on or near the Waterwraith in a fashion that would stun any other beast, it turns a deep shade of purple not dissimilar to that of the Pikmin that cause this state to come about. In this state, it is vulnerable to all Pikmin attacks. When the Wraith's health has been fully depleted, the rollers crumble and the Waterwraith will run aimlessly around the cave, no longer a threat to your Pikmin. Attack with more Purple Pikmin and then you can easily attack it with other Pikmin. When defeated, it will vanish into nothing, and you will be troubled no more. It drops the Professional Noisemaker, a useful addition to the Exploration Kit, the first time you beat it in the Submerged Castle.

The Waterwraith can be petrified, which is useful to stop it if it is coming towards you, but while in this state, it cannot be damaged with normal attacks – Pikmin that attack will just cause an effect similar to attacking a reinforced wall in other games. Purple Pikmin that land with a thud on the petrified creature have a different behavior, however. When the boss has its rollers, a thud can cause the health wheel to appear, if it hasn't already. In the state without rollers, these thuds will actually cause a small amount of damage, and make it possible to kill the creature when petrified.

Notes

Ship's dialogs

Olimar's notes

Louie's notes

Pikmin 2 Nintendo Player's Guide

Glitches

The Waterwraith while sitting on petrified rollers.

The Waterwraith is the cause of a few glitches in Pikmin 2.

• Struggling Waterwraith: by petrifying the creature on the Piklopedia just as its archive is opened, and then petrifying it again just as the rollers break free will result in only the rollers getting petrified, but not the boss.
• Sliding Waterwraith: By switching between a leader close to a vulnerable Waterwraith and to a leader far away from it, the creature will be seen stuck in the same pose, but moving around like normal.
• It is likely that if the Waterwraith's head comes into contact with the Research Pod after having lost its rollers, another glitch will occur. The outcome is a change in the way it moves: instead of walking, the creature glides along; and any Pikmin that touch it are thrown out-of-the-way, though unharmed. The amount of health it had previous to the glitch occurring determines whether or not it can be damaged in this state.
• Another glitch may occur when the Waterwraith attempts to turn around sharp corners. Instead of successfully completing a 360 degrees turn, it may get wedged in the middle of a tight space. This could either be helpful, allowing the player to avoid the Waterwraith, but this glitch could also block crucial pathways, such as a pathway to the next floor. Unfortunately, the only solution for this is to reset.
• Yet another glitch happens when the Waterwraith is hit with a Purple Pikmin while running. The Waterwraith may turn clear while in the crouching position, instead of it having a purple hue.
• In Bully Den, the Waterwraiths will never pay attention to Louie, when playing in 2-player mode. This can result in a rollerless Waterwraith to casually walk or even stand still near Louie, instead of panicking. It can still be attacked by Louie, though.

Technical information

Creature

Rollers

Other information

• Size: Roller width: 112mm, as per the e-card
• Pikmin 2 Piklopedia number: #78
• Musical theme: Waterwraith appears, Waterwraith attacks

Naming

• Common name: Waterwraith. The name is a portmanteau of "water" and "wraith", where a "wraith" is a spirit, or a ghost.
• Japanese nickname: アメボウズ^?. ボウズ^? translates to "Buddhist Monk", however this may in fact be referencing a type of yokai known as Bouzu or Oobouzu, Japanese monsters with a shaved head reminescent of monks, alluding to their phantasmagorical existence. アメ^? translates to "candy", referring to the creature's hard candy appearance, per Olimar's notes, and also the fact that the majority of the treasures in the cave are candies. To note is that 雨^? means "rain", though it is not used to describe a texture in the same way "candy" is being used. In addition, the name could be a portmanteau of "amoeba" (written in katakana like "ameba") and "Bouzu".
• Japanese name: ヤマトアメビト^?, lit.: "Yamato Candy Man".
• Scientific name: Its scientific name, Amphibio sapiens, uses the word amphibio, similar to the English word "amphibious", and sapiens, meaning "discerning" or "wise", and which is also part of the species name for the real world human, Homo sapiens. This can be construed as both a reference to its humanoid shape, as well as it being essentially "living water".
• Internal names: Its internal name is blackman. The "man" part is naturally because of its human-like frame, and "black" is presumably due to the fact that it can turn purple when attacked by Purple Pikmin – during development, Purple Pikmin were given the name "black". Interestingly, the names of the creature's animations inside the game's files refer to it as "Kagebōzu" (かげボウズ^?), which means "Shadow Bouzu". This indicates that, during development, the Waterwraith's Japanese name was meant to be different. Interestingly, there exists another type of yokai known as Oonyuudou, described as an unclear shadow or a giant rather than a monk, if it was originally called shadow, it may be in reference to this other yokai. Pikmin 3's Plasm Wraith is named after this other yokai in the Japanese version, アメニュウドウ^?, lit.: "Candy Nyuudou".
• Prerelease: None.

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	アメボウズ? Ame Bouzu	Candy Bouzu
French (NoE)	Spectreau	Portmanteau of "spectre" (specter) and "eau" (water).
German	Wassergespenst	Waterwraith
Italian	Spettro d'Acqua	Water Specter
Spanish	Espectro acuático	Aquatic specter

Gallery

• 

  Artwork of the Waterwraith from Pikmin 2.

• 

  The Waterwraith appears.

• 

  The Waterwraith as seen from behind.

• 

  The Waterwraith's physical form in Pikmin 2.

• 

  The Waterwraith tired out with no rollers.

• 

  The Waterwraith taking on its physical form in the 4^th sublevel via hacking Purple Pikmin into the level.

• 

  Two Waterwraiths hitting each other in Pikmin 4.

• 

  A player being chased down by two Waterwraiths.

• 

  The creature's e-card, #63 (16^th red card).

Trivia

Animation of the Waterwraith standing still.

• In Pikmin 2's Piklopedia, it is possible that the Waterwraith will roll out-of-bounds.
• The Waterwraith is one of three enemies to not appear in the Wistful Wild or any of its caves, the others being the Giant Breadbug and the Toady Bloyster. All three can be found in the Perplexing Pool.
• The Waterwraith seems to be related to the Plasm Wraith, in both appearance and name. In addition, a possible translation for the Japanese common name of both is "Candy Priest".
  • The Waterwraith is mentioned in Olimar's Piklopedia entry for the Plasm Wraith in Pikmin 3 Deluxe, though it just highlights how they are different.
• In the game's files, the Waterwraith's model contains a dummy texture that reads "fb dum". This is a dummy texture applied to the model before the framebuffer is used to texture it:
• Since the Waterwraith disappears after defeat it is unknown how Louie collected and experimented for food purposes.
• If Purple Pikmin are forced to appear in the cave earlier than sublevel 5 and the monster is defeated then, it will still drop the treasure. Speaking of which, the monster's treasure will not be detected by radar until the showdown with the beast in the final floor; if all treasures in an earlier sublevel are collected, the radar will deactivate and remain that way, even if the Waterwraith had shown up.
• After taking out the Waterwraith's rollers and entering the second stage of the fight, if the player is sufficiently far away from the boss, it will stop walking randomly and will instead stand in place. In this animation, it also occasionally turns around back and forth. This elusive animation can only be seen by being far enough away, by using the zoomed-out or ground-level camera settings, and by being on sublevel 5 of the Submerged Castle, since it is too dark to see that far away on the Bully Den.
  • This animation can be better seen in the Piklopedia in Pikmin 4, where the rollers can actually be destroyed.
• The helpless phase of the Waterwraith, along with the Giant Breadbug and the Titan Dweevil, are the only bosses in Pikmin 2 that have their own boss theme.
• If the player reaches the final floor before the Waterwraith makes its first appearance, the boss battle with play out as usual, but the ship will not trigger the cutscene to declare it a danger.^[1]
  • This same fact is not true in the Engulfed Castle.
• The Waterwraith is one of the two enemies in the Pikmin series to have a sequential health meter, the other being the Ancient Sirehound.
• Interestingly, while the Waterwraith is still unaffected by bomb rocks in Pikmin 4, it can still be frozen by Ice Blasts, their icy equivalent. However it breaks free very quickly and can't be damaged by non Purple Pikmin in this state.
  • Similarly, Lighting strikes will stun him very briefly, but not nearly as long as other enemies.

See also

• Plasm Wraith

References

This article was a featured article from March 24th to September 23rd, 2010.

Bosses
Pikmin	Burrowing Snagret •  Armored Cannon Beetle •  Puffstool •  Beady Long Legs •  Goolix •  Mamuta •  Smoky Progg •  Emperor Bulblax
Pikmin 2	Empress Bulblax •  Burrowing Snagret •  Beady Long Legs •  Emperor Bulblax •  Giant Breadbug •  Pileated Snagret •  Man-at-Legs •  Ranging Bloyster •  Waterwraith •  Segmented Crawbster •  Raging Long Legs •  Titan Dweevil
Pikmin 3	Armored Mawdad •  Vehemoth Phosbat •  Sandbelching Meerslug •  Scornet Maestro •  Quaggled Mireclops •  Plasm Wraith  Baldy Long Legs •  Bug-Eyed Crawmad •  Burrowing Snagret •  Shaggy Long Legs
Pikmin 4	Foolix •  Empress Bulblax •  Emperor Bulblax •  Groovy Long Legs •  Waterwraith •  Gildemander •  Snowfake Fluttertail •  Giant Breadbug •  Man-at-Legs •  Sovereign Bulblax •  Smoky Progg •  Ancient Sirehound  Porquillion •  Burrowing Snagret •  Crusted Rumpup •  Hermit Crawmad • Bug-Eyed Crawmad •  Baldy Long Legs •  Toxstool  Tusked Blowhog •  Puffy Blowhog •  Masterhop •  Arctic Cannon Beetle •  Mammoth Snootwhacker •  Dwarf Bulborb •  Bulborb •  Jumbo Bulborb •  Titan Blowhog •  Blizzarding Blowhog •  Horned Cannon Beetle
Hey! Pikmin	Bulborb •  Long Water Dumple •  Armurk •  Electric Cottonade •  Queen Shearwig •  Fiery Blowhog •  Luring Slurker •  Emperor Bulblax •  Berserk Leech Hydroe

Pikmin 2 enemies

Red Bulborb •  Hairy Bulborb •  Orange Bulborb •  Dwarf Red Bulborb •  Snow Bulborb •  Dwarf Orange Bulborb •  Spotty Bulbear •  Dwarf Bulbear •  Bulborb Larva •  Fiery Bulblax •  Water Dumple •  Bulbmin •  Fiery Blowhog •  Watery Blowhog •  Armored Cannon Beetle Larva •  Decorated Cannon Beetle •  Puffy Blowhog •  Withering Blowhog •  Gatling Groink •  Iridescent Flint Beetle •  Iridescent Glint Beetle •  Doodlebug •  Female Sheargrub •  Male Sheargrub •  Shearwig •  Cloaking Burrow-nit •  Ravenous Whiskerpillar •  Anode Beetle •  Mitite •  Hermit Crawmad •  Swooping Snitchbug •  Bumbling Snitchbug •  Careening Dirigibug •  Antenna Beetle •  Lesser Spotted Jellyfloat •  Greater Spotted Jellyfloat •  Fiery Dweevil •  Anode Dweevil •  Hydro Dweevil •  Munge Dweevil •  Volatile Dweevil •  Toady Bloyster •  Yellow Wollyhop •  Wollyhop •  Wolpole •  Creeping Chrysanthemum •  Skitter Leaf •  Unmarked Spectralids •  Honeywisp •  Mamuta •  Breadbug •  Empress Bulblax •  Burrowing Snagret •  Beady Long Legs •  Emperor Bulblax •  Giant Breadbug •  Pileated Snagret •  Man-at-Legs •  Ranging Bloyster •  Waterwraith •  Segmented Crawbster •  Raging Long Legs •  Titan Dweevil

Pikmin 4 enemies

Dwarf Bulborb •  Albino Dwarf Bulborb •  Bulborb •  Jumbo Bulborb •  Dwarf Orange Bulborb •  Orange Bulborb •  Dwarf Bulbear •  Spotty Bulbear •  Dwarf Frosty Bulborb •  Frosty Bulborb •  Fiery Bulblax •  Whiptongue Bulborb •  Bulborb Larva •  Empress Bulblax •  Emperor Bulblax •  Sovereign Bulblax •  Fiery Blowhog •  Watery Blowhog •  Snowy Blowhog •  Titan Blowhog •  Blizzarding Blowhog •  Tusked Blowhog •  Armored Cannon Larva •  Horned Cannon Beetle •  Arctic Cannon Larva •  Arctic Cannon Beetle •  Female Sheargrub •  Male Sheargrub •  Mama Sheargrub •  Shearwig •  Shearflea •  Joustmite •  Flighty Joustmite •  Swooping Snitchbug •  Skitter Leaf •  Desiccated Skitter Leaf •  Fiery Dweevil •  Anode Dweevil •  Hydro Dweevil •  Iceblown Dweevil •  Venom Dweevil •  Arachnode •  Baldy Long Legs •  Man-at-Legs •  Groovy Long Legs •  Anode Beetle •  Iridescent Flint Beetle •  Doodlebug •  Iridescent Glint Beetle •  Mitite •  Skutterchuck •  Skeeterskate •  Muckerskate •  White Spectralids •  Yellow Spectralids •  Red Spectralids •  Snowfake Fluttertail •  Creeping Chrysanthemum •  Startle Spore •  Breadbug •  Giant Breadbug •  Gildemandwee •  Gildemander •  Miniature Snootwhacker •  Mammoth Snootwhacker •  Sunsquish •  Foolix •  Downy Snagret •  Burrowing Snagret •  Waddlequaff •  Scorchcake •  Shockcake •  Freezecake •  Puffstool •  Toxstool •  Moldy Dwarf Bulborb •  Moldy Slooch •  Pyroclasmic Slooch •  Bearded Amprat •  Mamuta •  Porquillion •  Honeywisp •  Puffy Blowhog •  Icy Blowhog •  Withering Blowhog •  Lesser Spotted Jellyfloat •  Greater Spotted Jellyfloat •  Wolpole •  Yellow Wollyhop •  Wollyhop •  Chillyhop •  Masterhop •  Water Dumple •  Puckering Blinnow •  Pricklepuff •  Waddlepus •  Aristocrab Offspring •  Peckish Aristocrab •  Grubchucker •  Hermit Crawmad •  Bug-Eyed Crawmad •  Crusted Rumpup •  Pearly Clamclamp •  Toady Bloyster •  Bloomcap Bloyster •  Bogswallow •  Waterwraith •  Smoky Progg •  Ancient Sirehound •  Moss