Captain Olimar


 * For fighter info, see Olimar (SSBB) and Pikmin & Olimar (SSBWU/3DS).

Captain Olimar(キャプテン·オリマー, Kyaputen Orimā) is the main character of the Pikmin games. Together with the Pikmin, he serves as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Smash Bros. 3DS/Wii U.

Character description
Captain Olimar is a tiny astronaut from the tiny planet Hocotate. Olimar, like the rest of his kind, is only the height of a quarter. Olimar orders and commands the Pikmin through his games.

Captain Olimar's first appearance was in the Nintendo GameCube game, Pikmin, where he is the main and only playable character. His first adventure tells that his ship, the S. S. Dolphin, crash lands on a Distant Planet. The planet contains high levels of oxygen, which is poisonous to Olimar, and his life support systems will allow him only 30 days to live. To help recover the 30 missing ship parts, he seeks help from the Pikmin, an indigenous plant-like alien race. There are three possible endings to this game.

Olimar is joined by his partner Louie in the second game, Pikmin 2. In the game, Olimar is identified as the top employee of Hocotate Freight Company. He has a wife and children, and communicates with them whenever he can. In Pikmin 2, Louie was on a delivery and was entrusted with a load of golden Pikpik carrots. On his way he got hungry and ate the whole load (he later says that a space bunny ate them), thus forcing Hocotate Freight into bankruptcy. Louie then returned to Hocotate and falsified his report to the President. Shortly after that, Olimar returned from the Distant Planet only to find that the company was 10,100 pokos (the planet's currency) in debt. Olimar and Louie then return to the Distant Planet to gather treasure to pay off the debt. Also, after obtaining 10,100 pokos, Olimar accidently leaves the Distant Planet without Louie, forcing Olimar to team up with the President.

In Pikmin 3, Olimar lands on Koppai to gather more treasure to be able to buy back the S.S. Dolphin.Towards the end of the game, he is rescued by Alph, Brittany, and Charlie(the protagonists of Pikmin 3). At the end of the credits, a red object is seen crashing into the surface, possibly being the S.S. Drake (what Olimar was being rescued in).

Olimar is heavily based on Mario, as he has a similar nose, and his name, prior to translation from Japanese to English "Orima", is "Mario" backwards in Japan, since there are no letters, only symbols that dictate sounds (Ma-Ri-O and O-Ri-Ma). Likewise, the lankier Louie (whose Japanese name is "Loojie (Lugii)" is derived from Luigi in both name and body proportion.

In Super Smash Bros. Melee
Captain Olimar makes only one minor appearance in Super Smash Bros. Melee:

As a trophy
The Pikmin franchise debuted less than a month before Melee was released. As such, the game's story and its various characters/items had not been fully fleshed out during Melee ' s development. The only mention of Pikmin in the entire game is a pair of trophies, one depicting Olimar and the three original Pikmin species. This trophy is one of the most unique in the game, as in order to get it, one needs to have a save file of Pikmin on their GameCube memory card, making it one of the rarest trophies in the game. Melee will automatically give the player the Pikmin trophy the next time he/she starts it up.

''The main character of the game Pikmin, Captain Olimar crash-lands on a mysterious planet after his spaceship malfunctions. In order to get off the planet, he must gather the pieces of his broken ship, but the atmosphere of the planet is poisonous to Olimar. As a result, he has to enlist the help of the native Pikmin.''
 * Pikmin, 12/01

There is also a trophy of 100 Pikmin, which is obtained through the lottery.

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl
The Pikmin universe is established as a main universe in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, so Olimar serves a much more major role:

As a playable character
Captain Olimar is featured along with the Pikmin as a single playable character entity. Olimar is very weak on his own, and needs to summon Pikmin to his side with his Special Move, Pikmin Pluck, in order to use stronger attacks with them, as he needs at least one to use most of his attacks.

Trophy Info

 * ''Veteran spacefarers in the employ of Hocotate Freight. After crash-landing on an enigmatic planet, Olimar met the mysterious beings known as Pikmin. He enlisted their aid to find his spaceship parts and help him escape. Once home, he found his employer on the verge of bankruptcy. He was sent back to the Pikmin world with his partner, Louie, to repay the company debt."
 * Pikmin
 * Pikmin 2

As a playable character
Olimar was confirmed as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. 3DS/Wii U.

Trivia

 * Olimar wears a spacesuit because oxygen is poisonous to him and his species.
 * Even though Olimar is only about the size of a quarter, he is only a bit shorter than the other characters. However, it should also be considered that all of the characters could be animated toys/trophies (see Melee ' s opening), so Olimar may be his correct size, and everybody else could be miniature.
 * Oddly enough, the Pikmin are considered items in Kirby's Final Smash, as Kirby will pull them in along with anything else. Also if Olimar is not effected by Kirby's Final Smash, he can keep pulling up the Pikmin to get more items. This is helpful in a team battle.
 * Olimar's name may be based on Mario's, as it is pronounced "Orima" in Japanese, making it an anagram of Mario's. The reference is pushed further with the fact that Olimar's partner in the games is name Louie, which is similar to Luigi.