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This article is about the character. For Louie as a treasure, see King of Bugs.
"Mostly been focusing on snacks lately. Guess I'll just make something up when I report to the boss."
— Louie revealing he had falsified reports so he can keep on living on PNF-404

Louie (ルーイ, Rūi) is a main character in the Pikmin series, serving as Olimar's partner and co-worker. He first appears in Pikmin 2 – the only game in which he is a playable character in Story Mode. In Pikmin 3, he stays at the Koppaites' ship after being saved twice, and appears as Olimar's partner in Bingo Battle, as well as a playable character in some missions. In Pikmin 3 Deluxe, he once again accompanies Olimar as a second leader in the new Side Stories mode. He appears once again in Pikmin 4 with a more antagonistic role.

A deliveryman at Hocotate Freight, Louie is more interested in fueling his own appetite than his job, and puts his desires above all else. He is relatively new to the shipping business and has a ravenous appetite. Louie was raised by his grandmother, who encouraged him to play with bugs, as well as eat them – an activity he seems to partake while on PNF-404. After being left behind on PNF-404 a few times, he eventually becomes accustomed to life in the wilderness.

Biography

Early life

Screenshot 2014-04-14 at 6.41

Louie's grandmother

As a child, Louie was quite skinny, and his grandmother always had him eat everything on his plate. When he lived with his grandmother, he used to be forced to play on a hill behind their house, where she would make him eat plants and bugs. While intended to be a punishment, these events, combined with Louie's already insatiable hunger, seem to have kickstarted Louie's constant desire to feast on bugs, and seemed to give him a sort of connection to wildlife. Over the years, his hunger would grow and grow, with his biggest craving being the ever elusive Golden Pikpik Carrots. While Louie would grow up as an unassuming young man who was hired by Hocotate Freight as a deliveryman, he would wait for the right opportunity to satisfy his desire.


Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.


Pikmin 2

Louie originally appears in Pikmin 2 as the secondary protagonist, who assists Olimar in Pikmin 2 with repaying the debt of 10,000 Pokos, but is accidentally left behind on PNF-404. Olimar and the President of Hocotate Freight return to the planet to search for Louie, and later find him in the Wistful Wild, hidden deep in the Dream Den with the Titan Dweevil. They rescue him and send him to the Ship's Treasure Hoard, calling him the King of Bugs.

Olimar's return

Louie P2 opening cutscene

Louie's first appearance

Louie's first mission for Hocotate Freight was to transport a shipment of valuable Golden Pikpik Carrots. He was supposedly attacked by a "ravenous space bunny", and the carrots were eaten. The President of Hocotate Freight took out a giant loan to cover the losses of the carrots, and had no way to repay the loan other than sell off company assets. However, the only available asset was Olimar's ship, the S.S. Dolphin. Because of this, it was immediately claimed on Olimar's return to Hocotate from having just rebuilt it on PNF-404. Learning that the Dolphin was sold to cover the debt, Olimar was so shocked he dropped a souvenir for his son: a bottle cap. As it rolled to a stop at Louie's feet, an old ship commonly called the Ship was able to use its Research Pod to suck up the rusty bottle cap. The Pod proclaimed the piece of salvage to be worth one hundred Pokos, which lowered the debt to 10,000 Pokos. The President instructed Olimar and Louie to head back to PNF-404 to search for treasure and save the company from bankruptcy.

Paying off Hocotate Freight's debt

Louie left behind

Louie at the end of the credits in Pikmin 2, left behind on PNF-404

As Olimar and Louie head to the Valley of Repose at the start of Pikmin 2, the snow blurs the former's vision, causing him to clip a tree branch. When this happens, Louie falls out of the cockpit, leaving Olimar alone. After making contact with the Ship, Louie sets off to return to Olimar at the landing area. On the way, he discovers a Red Onion and cultivates some Pikmin sprouts, just as Olimar had done when he was stranded in the first game. The player can reach Olimar through the use of the newly-sprouted Red Pikmin, and then proceed to find the Courage Reactor, the first treasure of the game, effectively starting the adventure. While Olimar's field notes on the enemies in Pikmin 2 are helpful, Louie's are nowhere near that status, as they are more comical than serious and give tips on how it is best to eat said creature. The debt is eventually paid off throughout the game, treasures being found in the Awakening Wood and Perplexing Pool as well as the Valley of Repose. After collecting 10,000 Pokos worth of treasure, Olimar blasts off from the planet, noticing too late that poor Louie is left behind. Louie aimlessly wanders around the planet for a bit, as seen in the credits of the game.

Titan Dweevil

Captain Olimar and the President of Hocotate Freight return to the planet to search for Louie. Olimar and the President later find him in the Wistful Wild, hidden deep in the Dream Den with the Titan Dweevil. They rescue him and send him to the Ship's Treasure Hoard (since the cockpit is already full), calling him the King of Bugs.

Louie - Titan Dweevil-3-

Louie, as seen before the fight with the Titan Dweevil.

It is of constant debate whether Louie was a captive of the Titan Dweevil, or in actuality controlling it. E-mails the player receives from Louie's grandmother reflect that Louie was made to play with bugs by his grandmother as a child, so he has a great deal of experience with them, therefore it is possible he had the ability to control the Titan Dweevil. This is heavily hinted at by the sales pitch on Louie, here denoted as the King of Bugs, where the ship states that Louie had hijacked a colossal insect's brain. The fact that Dweevils naturally mimic the objects they carry is also a supporting factor. However, if Louie really was in control of the Titan Dweevil, it was still not him or the Titan Dweevil who attacked, but actually the treasures carried by the Titan Dweevil.

Louie's Dark Secret

Pikmin2 Switch Louie's Dark Secret

Louie eating the Golden Pikpik Carrots

Louie is revealed to be the one responsible for the debt Hocotate Freight suffered. It was truly he who ate the load of Golden Pikpik Carrots. When he returned from his first mission, he falsified his report to the President, explaining that a "Ravenous Space Bunny" ate all of the carrots. This is revealed in a cutscene, called "Louie's Dark Secret", unlocked by getting a pink flower for all 30 of the Challenge Mode levels, which is achieved by completing the stages without losing any Pikmin.

Louie's Notes

Like Captain Olimar, Louie takes notes too, but his notes are about how to cook enemies. While Captain Olimar's notes would be useful to a scientist or biologist, Louie's would be useful to a chef. Interestingly, Louie references ingredients found on Earth (cultivated in oxygen). These ingredients could not possibly be known by Louie, as Hocotate has a severely different climate. This is most likely because Hocotatian plants often have a similar appearance to those found on Earth, so Louie uses the names he is familiar with for a moderately different plant. Some of his notes say that the creature is inedible, like the Waterwraith and Mamuta. In these cases, he states a humorous side effect of eating one (e.g. saying the Mamuta is inedible because it "tastes like chicken.". Louie's notes, like the Sales Pitches for Treasures, are not shown in the beginning of the game and are unlocked by defeating the Titan Dweevil.

Pikmin 3

Louie reappears in Pikmin 3 as a side character, and as Olimar's teammate in Bingo Battle. He is captured by first the Scornet Maestro and later the Quaggled Mireclops and is rescued by Alph, Brittany, and Charlie on both occasions. He also makes another appearance in Pikmin 3 Deluxe's Side Stories, including a major role in Olimar's Comeback.

Held 'captive' by the Koppaites

Faitality! 2

Louie near death

Louie is found in Twilight River, after the Winged Pikmin lift a stick from the water a transmission is received. He is shown standing on a large tree stump and is mistaken as Captain Olimar due to a bad signal. He is later found unconscious on the tree stump before being abducted by the Scornet Maestro's swarm. He is freed when his captor is killed and must be carried back to the S.S. Drake, which displays him similarly to a newly obtained Fruit/treasure, labelling him "Hocotatian."

He wakes up in the early hours of the morning and mistakes the rescue as a kidnapping. To save himself, he then lands the ship in the Garden of Hope, steals all of the juice, and runs away, with a large explosion visible shortly afterward. The explosion destroyed a wall and opened a large part of the area, where Blue Pikmin are found.

NotOlimar

Louie's interrogation.

Louie is found unconscious once again after defeating the Quaggled Mireclops, along with the remains of The Ship. When carried back to the Drake, he is again displayed like a Fruit or treasure, but this time is labeled "Food Thief". Afterwards, he is kept tied up in the S.S. Drake to keep him from running off with the juice again. Once retrieved, he floats around in the S.S. Drake like Charlie's rubber ducky.

Louie is reunited with Olimar after the Plasm Wraith is defeated by Alph, Brittany and Charlie. Olimar apologises on Louie's behalf to them, saying that he "mostly causes trouble for him". Brittany says they'll forgive him and expresses relief that he won't be their problem anymore. Louie then appears and does a little dance while saying food four times, as Olimar sighs in response.

In one of the game's endings, it is revealed by Alph that Louie was not on board the S.S. Drake when they left PNF-404. The reasons behind this and consequences for this were not specified. However, the Koppaites do not show much interest in trying to rescue Louie, as Alph simply says that "I'm sure he will be fine..." This is contradicted in Pikmin 3 Deluxe, however, in the Olimar's Comeback side story, which states that both Olimar and Louie returned back to Hocotate.

In Olimar's Secret Logs

Louie returns

Louie as he appears in Pikmin 3.

Louie is featured shortly in each of the expedition logs that you can unlock by collecting every secret memo. He is usually seen being ambushed by some enemies, like the Peckish Aristocrab or some Scornets. In the last exploration log, it is seen that he runs away before Captain Olimar gets kidnapped by the Plasm Wraith. He even said that he had a bad feeling about landing at the Formidable Oak. He appears to have fled to the Twilight River.

In this video, it is shown that Louie might have been planned to have Expedition Logs like Captain Olimar (later confirmed in Pikmin 4). This was never announced by Nintendo and was kept as a secret. This one, unlike Olimar's Logs, seem to take place during the Koppaites' hunt for Fruit. This one is about him once he steals the juice from the Captains and finds the Wayward Moon, just before being kidnapped by the Quaggled Mireclops.

Mission Mode

ForgottenCoveSlurker

Louie being held captive by a Medusal Slurker.

Louie is an unlockable character in Pikmin 3's Mission Mode. He is always kidnapped by an enemy, and by carrying him back will enable the player to play as him. He functions just as any other character, and has a yellow background for his character icon in the bottom left. When saved, he will say something along the lines of "Took you long enough!" or something of that topic.

Olimar's Comeback

Following his return to Hocotate, the President immediately orders Louie to go back to the Pikmin planet with Olimar to recover the Hocotate ship. Reuniting with the Pikmin once more, he is successful at reassembling the ship with their help.

Pikmin 4

Louie returns in Pikmin 4 as the main antagonist for the second half of the game. He first appears during the game's credits after Olimar and the Rescue Corps make their first attempt to return home. In his subsequent appearances, Louie makes failed attempts to turn three castaways into leaflings before challenging the player to Dandori Battles. Upon his defeat, Louie goes to the Cavern for a King, where he confronts the player while riding the Ancient Sirehound.

Accustomed to life in the wilderness

Louie thinking about the Golden Pikpik Carrots

Louie thinking about the Golden Pikpik Carrots

In this alternate timeline where Olimar never managed to leave PNF-404, The President of Hocotate Freight sent Louie after Olimar in order to rescue him. However, instead of actually focusing on rescuing him, Louie instead focused on eating the local wildlife after getting sick of his grandmother's cookies. He couldn't recall what Olimar actually looked like and quickly lost interest in his assigned task in favor of looking for creatures to eat. Together, with the help of some wild Pikmin, Louie would eventually come across Olimar's leafling form, but decided to go against orders and leave him alone because he "seemed happy enough", instead taking notice of his companion Moss.

During the events of the game, Louie became accustomed to his life in the wilderness, but due to his job, Louie had falsified reports about not finding Olimar. After the Rescue Corps find and cure Olimar, the group leave the planet, unaware that Louie, alongside numerous other castaways, are still on the planet. During this time, Louie would find Moss, and the two would team up.

Kidnapping of castaways and Dandori Battles with the Rescue Corps

Louie's Dandori Battle

Louie challenging the player character to a Dandori Battle

After the Rescue Corps notice that their rescue pup Oatchi had developed a leaf-like tail and is dying from leaving the planet's atmosphere, they decide to turn back and find someone who could help cure Oatchi from his ailment. During their search, they come across Louie and Moss, who had kidnapped the Koppaite castaway Yorke for reasons unknown, shocking Olimar as he was unaware that Louie was on the planet. Although attempting to convert Yorke into a leafling for an unknown reason, Yorke had eaten Glow Sap, making the process impossible. Despite this, Louie still held Yorke hostage for reasons unknown, only giving him up once defeated in a Dandori Battle.

After his defeat, Louie and Moss would run off to the Primordial Thicket, where he would attempt the same process on Nelle, a veterinarian who is key to Oatchi's survival who just so happened to also have a bit of Glow Sap on her that caught Louie's attention. Failing once again, Louie is shocked, running off, abandoning Moss in the process.

Ancient Sirehound

Sirehound

Louie, as seen before the fight with the Ancient Sirehound

As a replacement, Louie hunted down a giant dog known as the Ancient Sirehound, who he had previously spotted earlier. Taking control of the beast, he decides to lay low in its den, known as the Cavern for a King. Hoping to feast on the bugs there, he hopes that the sheer density of monsters in the cave would overwhelm the Rescue Corps and leave him alone. Unfortunately for him, the Rescue Corps needed DNA from the Ancient Sirehound to cure Oatchi of his leaf tail in order for him to leave the planet, so the player character and Oatchi venture into the cave. Enraged, Louie takes control of the Ancient Sirehound, attempting to kill the group in a last-ditch effort to leave him be.

Louie is eventually defeated by the party, and the Ancient Sirehound flees, dropping its collar and reverting to its normally peaceful state. Louie is apprehended to prevent any more trouble.

Louie Side Mission

Louie talking to the player character during his side-quest

Louie's Quests

Louie can be found at the base in the post-game, where he has mostly cooled off. He gives the player character quests to recover corpses of creatures for Louie to prepare. For completing his quest, the player character gets the Item Helping Hand, which lets them carry Items yourself with the power of one Pikmin.

Requests

4x Dwarf Bulborb/ inside Hectic Hollows

2x Yellow Wollyhop/ inside Secluded Courtyard

1x Peckish Aristocrab/ inside Seafloor Resort

1x Fiery Bulblax/ inside Frozen Inferno OR Cradle of the Beast

1x Giant Breadbug/ inside Plunder Palace

After the game is over, Louie, alongside the rest of the castaways, would return home to their respective planets.


Spoilers end here.


Super Smash Bros. series

Super Smash Bros. Brawl Trophy

"A new Hocotate Freight employee. Louie is responsible for Captain Olimar having to venture back to the Pikmin planet. On his first delivery, Louie was supposedly attacked by a space bunny that devoured his whole lot of pikpik carrots. Pushed to the verge of bankruptcy, Hocotate Freight takes out an enormous loan that Louie and Olimar set out to pay back."

Louie Trophy

Louie's trophy

Compared to Olimar's appearance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, it seems Louie looks much less detailed than Olimar's (Olimar's suit having three red buttons, pockets, and more, while Louie has no visible changes to his suit).  This is probably because Louie makes no other appearance in the game, so they kept his Pikmin 2 design.

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U Trophy

"Louie worked for Hocotate Freight in Pikmin 2. His appetite has gone into overdrive in Pikmin 3. Rescued from a swarm of Scornets by Alph and crew, Louie thanked them the next day by stealing all of the food they'd collected. Maybe he should work on his manners more than getting a meal..."

Louietrophysmash4

Louie's appearance in the trophy is based off his appearance from Pikmin 3.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Spirit

Louie appears in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as a Primary Grab-type Spirit with moderately strong abilities.

Personality and traits

Physically, Louie has a single yellow tuft of hair and light yellow (beige) spacesuit, decorated with blue lines and blue gloves, like Olimar's spacesuit. Unlike Olimar, Louie is slightly lankier, his nose is rounder and slightly smaller, and his head is pear-shaped. Louie is known to have a very ravenous appetite. He has prepared many recipes for creatures on PNF-404, even attempting to eat creatures that may be inedible to his species. His notes on the Iridescent Glint Beetle suggest he wants to start his own cooking show, called "The Insect Gourmet!". Louie is also known for being generally quiet, with most of his desires being up in the air.

According to his description as the King of Bugs, he operates on the same wavelength of bugs, giving him some sort of connection to them. Whether or not this is true is unknown, though considering he takes control of the Ancient Sirehound (and arguably the Titan Dweevil), this might have some merit. In Pikmin 4, Louie's personality takes a nosedive into villainy, as without anyone else to control him, his flaws become much more apparent, getting to the point where he is now perfectly willing to kill the people trying to rescue him just so they can leave him alone. Louie generally acts much more childish, with nearly all of his entries being either how to prepare something for a meal or wishes as to how he can mess around on the planet.

Generally, Louie seems to be more accustomed to PNF-404, despite the air being poisonous on the planet and everything trying to eat him. Louie cares for very little, with the only person he consistently dotes on is his grandmother. Louie also seems to like the Ancient Sirehound, calling it the "ultimate ride" and expressing regret that he has to leave it behind. Other than that, he seems to only like people if they have use for him, seeing as he abandons Moss for the Ancient Sirehound as the latter seemed more fun to ride.

By the time of Pikmin 4, Louie's notes reveal he doesn't care about anybody except his grandma, he doesn't care about his job (even revealing that eating the golden Pikpik Carrots on a delivery job was an active plan he was waiting to get the right job to do) and actively hates the President, and everything he writes about in the Piklopedia and Treasure Catalog is either him talking about food or about how fun something looks to mess with. In the Dandori battles with him, Louie is completely uninterested, getting annoyed when he believes he actually might have to put effort into it, he notes that the reason he abandoned Moss after losing the second fight was because the Ancient Sirehound seemed like a more fun dog to use as a ride, and he left Nelle unconscious and alone to die because she was drinking too much of the juice he stole from her group. Alongside some post-game dialogues, Pikmin 4 retroactively suggests his actions in the previous games (such as controlling the Titan Dweevil or running from the Koppaites) were fully conscious efforts to stay on PNF-404 because he can eat and play with as much as he wants for as long as he wants.

In Pikmin 2 he is shown to be an impulsive and inconsiderate idiot, but not really evil. While he does eat the Golden Pikpik Carrots, it's depicted to be more because of his idiocy and gluttony, and he may have been controlling the Titan Dweevil, but that is kept vague, and after being left on the planet he may have gone a little bit crazy. In Pikmin 3 he steals the Koppai crew's juice, but he thought they were kidnapping him, so his actions could be justified. In Pikmin 4 he is just a straight up antagonist, caring for no one but himself and his grandmother, and only concerned with fulfilling his own desires.

He shows signs of preferring PNF-404 over Hocotate and thriving on the planet; he's inexplicably capable of surviving there and is implied to have some form of authority over the Dweevils, as his treasure name is "King of Bugs" and he rides on the Titan Dweevil's head during its boss fight. Pikmin 4 later elaborates that he prefers PNF-404 because he can fulfil his hedonistic desires without anybody else to hold him back, and that he actively hated the President and ate his golden Pikpik Carrot delivery out of spite; indeed, his entire motivation is to get the Rescue Corps to stop trying to bring him back and to let him stay.

Profiles

Pikmin Garden bio

Text

“無口な新米ドライバー

ルーイ

出身星 ホコタテ星

無口で何を考えているかわからない、ホコタテ運送の新入社員。トラブルメーカーを体現する人物で、本能のままに行動する超ド級の食いしん坊。

関係者 田舎のババ

趣味 料理 夢 自由に暮らすこと” Translation

“Quiet New Driver

Louie

Home planet: Hocotate

A new employee of Hocotate Freight, he's quiet and it's hard to tell what he's thinking. He is the embodiment of a troublemaker, and a huge glutton who acts on instinct.

Related persons: grandmother in the countryside

Hobbies: cooking

Dreams: living as he wishes

ID Badge

Text

Hocotate Freight Employee

Louie

Home Planet

Hocotate The quiet new driver and the embodiment of the word "troublemaker". He has a ravenous and alarmingly adventurous appetite.”

Gallery

Main article: Louie/Gallery

Trivia

  • Louie's name is based on Luigi, as Olimar's name is based on Mario.
  • Louie was mentioned in Hey Pikmin. in the Creature log for Crammed Wraith.
  • Occasionally, Louie will mutter to himself, "Olimar-...Huh?...Olimar?" very quietly. This usually happens when he stands still for a long time, something Luigi from the Mario series says as well in Luigi's Mansion; "Mario... Uh... Mario?"
  • Pikmin 2 would have never occurred if it weren't for Louie's actions.
  • In Pikmin 3, Brittany states that she was surprised to hear that Louie eats meat, due to Koppaites thinking that Hocotatians usually stick to a vegetable-only diet.
  • In Pikmin 2, he only needed one Pikmin to carry him when he was playable, this also accounts for when he's named the King of Bugs in the Dream Den, whereas in Pikmin 3, he needs five.
  • Louie was hired during the events of the first Pikmin game.
  • In Louie's expedition log, it is shown that he thought the Koppaites captured him and that he escaped with their treasure, implying that he did think Charlie's rubber ducky was treasure, or that he also considered their food treasure judging by his comments on the fruit in his Expedition Log.
  • After defeating the Scornet Maestro, the S.S. Drake names Louie "Hocotatian." However, after defeating the Quaggled Mireclops, the S.S. Drake changes it to "Food Thief."
  • Louie can somehow cook creatures that are not salvageable for the ship, such as Bulborb Larva and Pellet Posies.
  • Despite the fact that oxygen is poisonous to Hocotatians, Louie shows no signs of poisoning when he is within the S.S. Drake, which contains a higher level of oxygen suitable for Koppaites.
  • It is unknown how Louie survived on PNF-404 after being left behind. While he is quite capable at cooking local wildlife, the toxic atmosphere coupled with his (supposed) airtight helmet would make eating virtually impossible. The other possibility is that Olimar rushed back before time was an issue.
  • Pikmin 4 reveals that not only does he hate the President and intentionally waited for the right job to eat the shipment of Golden Pikpik Carrots, but implies that he was actually controlling the Titan Dwevil and didn’t mistake the Koppai crew for kidnappers, he just wanted to stay on PNF-404 so he can do whatever he wants.
  • On June 18, 2009, Nintendo of Europe released an article titled "Louie's Notes: Musings of a Sidekick" on its website. It is essentially a humorous commentary written from the point of view of Louie, comparing himself and Olimar to other famous Nintendo duos (Mario and Luigi, Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong, Link and Navi, Pikachu and Pokémon Trainer), as an attempt to promote the New Play Control! edition of Pikmin 2.[1]
  • The majority of events in the series from the second game onward come about from Louie's selfishness and hedonism actively harming everyone else. Pikmin 4 confirms that his actions are very much intentionally minded as well. However he rarely has much to do with the overall conflict besides causing the debt that drives the second game.
  • With the possible exception of the President, Louie tends to get on the other captains' nerves. Olimar seems to get on the right foot with him at first in Pikmin 2, only remarking that he's a bit quiet and nothing else. During the events of the third game, however, Olimar and Louie start butting heads more, which ends with Louie deserting him right before Olimar enters the Formidable Oak. Louie also doesn't endear himself to the Koppaites by running off with their juice supply after they rescued him from the Scornet Maestro, which Olimar is ashamed of as well. And after finally being 'saved' by the Rescue Corps in Pikmin 4 after all the trouble he had caused for them (capturing castaways and trying to deny the team a cure for Oatchi by commanding the Ancient Sirehound), he is once again tied up to prevent him from causing any further trouble.
  • Despite having caused his company's near-bankruptcy with his gluttony and possibly controlling the Titan Dweevil in Pikmin 2 and abandoning Olimar to the Plasm Wraith and stealing the Koppai crew's food supplies in Pikmin 3, Louie doesn't really suffer any punishment for it. Louie doesn't face any real retribution for his actions in Pikmin 4 aside from being gagged and taken back to Hocotate against his will - from the Rescue Corps, it's quite clear everyone is quite fed up with him and it is clear the Corps see him less as a "rescue" and more a "prisoner" - it just isn't their purpose to punish him.

See also

  1. Nintendo of UK (June 18, 2009). "Louie's Notes - Musings of a Sidekick" (archive.is). Retrieved March 9, 2024.
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