How to Get Blue Pikmin and the Blue Onion Early in Pikmin 4

After a 10-year wait, Pikmin 4 has finally been released. Most players are going to want to find as many Pikmin types as early as possible as certain puzzles or treasures are locked off until you get a certain ability. One of the most important belongs to the original trio of Pikmin: the aquatic Blue Pikmin. While they aren’t the only kind who can swim anymore, they still have numerous uses in exploration and you’ll want to amass a large amount of them as soon as possible. Usually, this may take a bit of time but, by following the method below, you can get a bunch of Blue Pikmin and the Blue Onion as early as Exploration Day 3. 

Here’s how you can get Blue Pikmin, and the Blue Onion, as early as possible in Pikmin 4. 

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How to Get Blue Pikmin Early

Prerequisites

Before you can pick up Blue Pikmin in Pikmin 4, you’ll need to do a few things first. 

The most important of which is getting 30 Ice Pikmin. You’ll find about 10 Ice Pikmin during one of the early tutorial caverns. After that, it’s up to you to discover the location of 20 more: we recommend visiting the Hectic Hollows and the Last-Frost Cavern to find those last few Ice Pikmin. Both of these caves are in the Sun-Speckled Terrace. 

You’ll also need to upgrade Oatchi’s strength. By levelling up Oatchi’s Buff Pup Skill to level 3 (which only costs 2 Pup Points), he’ll gain a strength equal to 10 Pikmin. This exact amount of strength is required for getting the Blue Onion early, so make sure to level up Oatchi with the Captain before you leave camp for the day. 

Buff Pup

Next, you need to have the ability to have 40 Pikmin on the overworld. You can increase the amount of Pikmin on the overworld by finding pale white bulbs called Flarlics. By just following the main path early on, you’ll be able to hold 30 Pikmin at once, meaning you only need to locate one more Flarlic.

The easiest way to find said Flarlic is by grabbing one found in the Terrace Overworld. You’ll find it in the Sun-Speckled Terrace on top of a broken plant pot, close to a Bulborb and a clock treasure. The problem is that it’s too high up for your Red or Ice Pikmin to reach and it’s stuck in the ground, meaning Oatchi cannot knock it off with a Rush. Instead, you’ll need 5 Yellow Pikmin to throw up there, which you can pick up from the Crackling Cauldron, a cave located very close to this Flarlic. 

Finally, you’ll need 14 Raw Materials and need to have rescued the Scientist Russ. Both of these tasks are very easy and you’ll likely complete both in no time flat. 

Freezing the Lake

To start your journey to acquiring Blue Pikmin early in Pikmin 4, head to the starting area, The Sun-Speckled Terrace. To be more specific, head to the Rugged Scaffold base. 

Right next to this base is a large open body of water with a land mass on the opposite side. That land mass is where you need to go to get the Blue Onion, meaning that you will need to freeze the water. To do this, throw 30 of your Ice Pikmin directly into the water to freeze it solid, allowing you and your non-aquatic Pikmin to safely cross over: just be sure not to recall the Ice Pikmin until you’re on dry land as this will unthaw the water and could lead to some wet deaths.

With the water frozen, make your way to the left-hand side of the platform. Here you’ll see a climbing wall that needs Raw Materials to finish constructing – 14 Raw Materials, to be precise – which you should complete pretty easily. At the top of the wall is a pesky Blowhog so we recommend that the 10 Pikmin you bring up here are Red ones.

Defeat the Blowhog and you’ll be able to explore the upper level of this platform, one Oatchi cannot reach. Take a look about and, eventually, you should spy the Blue Onion, buried in the ground near the perimeter of the area. 

Blue Onion Location

Blue Onion Location

Getting the Onion

Now that you know where the Blue Onion is located in Pikmin 4, you just need to actually carry it back to base. The main issue with that is twofold: the Onion requires 20 Pikmin to be picked up and there’s the lake between you and the base. If you keep the lake frozen, you won’t have enough Pikmin to carry the Onion; if you grab the Ice Pikmin to help carry the Onion, then you cannot cross the lake. 

Clearly, the intended strategy here is to wait until you find another Flarlic so you can have 50 Pikmin at your disposal. If you don’t want to have to wait, though, there is a way to do it with only 40 Pikmin. Start by freezing the water again with the Ice Pikmin. Once that’s done, run over to the lower ledge where the Onion is located and throw your Red or Yellow Pikmin onto the area above. You also need to make sure that Oatchi is standing on the lower platform and that he’s not following you. 

Group Up Your Pikmin

With the other Pikmin up the ledge, recall the Ice Pikmin and make your way up the climbing wall. By doing this, you’ll easily have 40 Pikmin at the top of this platform, making short work of the Onion. 

Eventually, the Blue Onion will reach the edge of the water and refuse to go any further. From there, recall your Ice Pikmin and refreeze the lake while your other 10 Pikmin and Oatchi carry it back. Should all go successfully, you’ll be the proud owner of a Blue Onion, allowing you to begin sprouting Blue Pikmin slightly earlier than intended in Pikmin 4. 

Blue Pikmin

Fused Onions

With two distinctly coloured Onions at your disposal, the Red Onion will change. Now, it’s two-toned, with one red half and one blue half, transforming it into a Fused Onion. 

These two-toned Onions can sprout two different types of Pikmin. Before this point, the Onion would only sprout Red Pikmin, no matter which colour brought back a pellet posy or a corpse. Now, depending on which Pikmin brings the material back, you’ll sprout a different colour.

Fused Onion

For example, let’s say 3 Pikmin are carrying back a Dwarf Bulborb. If there are 3 Red or 3 Blue Pikmin, you’ll sprout that colour. On the other hand, if you have 2 matching colours and 1 odd-one-out, the Pikmin sprout will match the majority. Keep this in mind when directing your Pikmin. 

Obtaining the Blue Onion will also cause blue pellets to begin spawning. You can find them both in the home base and around the different explorable environments. A quick reminder that if you match the pellet to the Pikmin (i.e. Red Pikmin carrying back a red pellet) you’ll sprout additional Pikmin. 

Ready to Go Swimming

That was how to get Blue Pikmin and the Blue Pikmin Onion as soon as possible in Pikmin 4.