| “ | Normally, this is a harmless species of plant life. We only found out later that it grew vicious because the Sparklium Converter fell from the ship during our crash landing, falling onto the Leech Hydroe as it slumbered. The influx of energy sent its parasitic urges out of control. I know I'm to blame, ultimately, but I'm glad I could put a stop to it—with the help of the Pikmin and the S.S. Dolphin II. Let this final entry end with my thanks to them. | „ |
| ~ Olimar's log on the Berserk Leech Hydroe. |
The Leech Hydroe is the main antagonist and final boss of the 2017 3DS videogame Hey! Pikmin, a spinoff of the Pikmin series.
Appearance[]
The Leech Hydroe is a small green amoeboid-like creature that normally feeds on nutrients released from plants by absorbing them. While generally harmless and timid in its natural body, when absorbed to a large amount of Sparklium due to a ship part, its appearance turns bright pink and grows taller, while its plant host turns into a massive three-headed monster with Venus flytrap-like heads followed down prickly necks onto a pink body covered with grass, with appendages made out of roots and 4 giant leaves as wings.
Biography[]
When Captain Olimar flies his spaceship, the S.S. Dolphin II, back towards his home planet of Hocotate, he accidentally warp drives to the wrong coordinates in space, crashing his ship into an asteroid belt orbiting a planet. In the process, his Sparklium Converter unit is detached from the ship and crash lands onto the Leech Hydroe as it slept. The energy released from the Sparklium sent the Leech Hydroe into a frenzy, causing its parasitic urges to grow rapidly out of control.
Although the Leech Hydroe is not fully seen until the end of the game, its presence is sensed throughout Olimar's exploration, as multiple roots similar in color to the Leech Hydroe can be spotted growing across multiple sectors of the planet, possibly indicating that the Leech Hydroe is feeding off the sources of the planet to make itself more powerful.
Upon reaching his 30,000 Sparklium limit, Olimar reaches the ninth and last sector in the planet, "The Final Stretch", to locate the Sparklium Converter, where he discovers the Leech Hydroe has gone berserk from all of the energy that it has consumed and engages it with his Pikmin army to defeat it once and for all. Ultimately, the Leech Hydroe uproots itself and grows wings to gain an advantage, but Olimar and the Pikmin manage to defeat it, seemingly killing it as it turns brown and decomposes.
With its host destroyed, the Leech Hydroe emerges from the remains and attacks Olimar, but trips and falls; in the process the Sparklium Converter pops out of its body, returning it back to its original form. Upon getting back up, the Leech Hydroe cowardly runs off, leaving its fate ambiguous.
Battle Strategy[]
Phase 1[]
In the first phase, it spits out three poison balls from its side heads; the right head first, then left. Then the middle head will open its mouth, casting a shadow which shows where it will drop and crush any Pikmin underneath. The shadow follows the player, so they must try to avoid the shadow when it stops moving and attack the head when it gets stuck in the ground. After taking damage, both side heads will shoot two poison balls simultaneously before the cycle restarts.
Phase 2[]
In the second phase, it now has 4 legs. It will try to stomp on the player and their Pikmin, crushing them, but cannot if the player quickly throws Pikmin at the bottom of the foot that flashes before it stomps. Then, it will use both of its feet to crush the player, and the player needs to quickly throw Pikmin again, enough causing it to trip and fall. The middle head falls down into view, allowing the player to throw the Pikmin at its head until it gets back up. The left and right heads will now spit poison balls, but they are significantly harder to avoid. Repeat throwing Pikmin at the bottom of its foot, and throwing Pikmin at its head. This phase always takes two times to make it fall, even if dishing out the most amount of damage as possible.
Phase 3[]
It gains wings, and loses its left and right heads aswell as its back legs. Now it will spit three poison balls, closely next to each other. Before it begins with the first ball, run under, and throw Pikmin at its chest. The Pikmin will hit it, which makes the Berserk Leech Hydroe blow them off with its wings, and then bite as it did in the first phase, except its head will be at the top part of the screen, allowing the player to toss Pikmin at it. After taking damage, it will blow them off again. It then flies to the back of the screen and shoots a poisonous laser beam at Olimar, killing up to seven Pikmin at a time if the player does not avoid it in time. Once again, repeat throwing Pikmin at its chest and once it is low on HP it will snap three times. Throw Pikmin at its head until the health reaches zero to win the battle. Once defeated, the giant plant withers and rots away, as the Leech Hydroe escapes the now dead host.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- With its plant-like abilities and a head appearing like a Venus flytrap, the Leech Hydroe somewhat resembles Biollante and Audrey II.
- The Leech Hydroe is derived from the Hydra from Greek Mythology.
- When being attacked, The Leech Hydroe makes seagull noises on top of monstrous roars.
- The Berserk Leech Hydroe only appears in the Creature Log as its winged form.
- It is heavily implied that the Sparklium Converter was the reason why the Leech Hydroe's parasitic urges went out of control, as once it loses the ship part it turns back to normal and cowardly runs away rather than trying to go on fighting.
- In its neutral form, the Leech Hydroe is the smallest Pikmin boss.
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 Villains
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Captains Hostile Species | ||