Character from Pikmin by Nintendo / Shigeru Miyamoto
Gill-mouthed amphibians who breathe where others drown — discovered last, needed most, and quietly heroic in how they rescue drowning Pikmin of other colors.
Blue Pikmin are the last type Olimar discovers, found deep in the underground Forest Navel, and their late arrival recontextualizes every body of water the player has walked past. All those unreachable ship parts, those ponds full of enemies, those water-blocked passages — Blue Pikmin are the key to all of them. What makes them remarkable beyond their amphibious biology is their rescue behavior. When idle near water where other Pikmin are drowning, Blue Pikmin will independently rush to the water's edge, grab their flailing companions, and throw them to safety on shore. No command needed. No whistle required. They just do it. This emergent behavior — one of the earliest examples fans noticed of Pikmin AI acting autonomously — gives them a character trait the others lack: altruism. Strategically, they unlock the Distant Spring (which is mostly water), the deeper sections of the Forest Navel, and numerous ship parts that sit in or across bodies of water. The game's final stretch is impossible without them.
Blue-bodied with a distinctive pink mouth — unique among all Pikmin types — and gill-like structures on their cheeks that flutter when they breathe underwater. Same leaf-bud-flower head sprout. Their coloring shifts slightly darker when submerged, and they move through water with a fluid ease that other Pikmin types, who thrash and drown, cannot match.
Also known as: Blue Pikmin, Blues