Waterwraith

About

The Waterwraith is a unique enemy found in Pikmin 2. It is a transparent gelatinous blob riding on two cylindrical pieces of stone to move around. The strange creature is infamous for being a genuinely terrifying encounter for first-time Pikmin players, as it would appear without warning in a specific dungeon, could not be harmed until a much later section of the said dungeon, and could kill Pikmin instantly and ceaselessly. Newer players getting the 2023 remaster and encountering it for the first time have expressed terror in blind playthroughs, making it a trend in mid-2023.

Origin

In Pikmin 2, the game is divided into several areas. Within the area "Perplexing Pool" exists a dungeon-like cave called the "Submerged Castle" where the Waterwraith lurks.^[1][2] On top of several hard-to-navigate hazards and an incredibly limited selection of Pikmin, the cave presents many unique challenges to the player at face value.

On top of this, after a span of five minutes on a given floor, the screen will fade to black and present a unique cutscene. From a birds-eye view, two cylinders crash to the ground, followed by the monster itself landing on top of them.

From this point, the ship's computer states the following in a distressed fashion:

bq. “What is this?!? I can see it with my optical receptors, but my sensors cannot detect it!
Could its physical form be anchored in another dimension? …Attacking it is futile!
If only we could force it to take on physical form… But in its current state… Krzzzt-zrrrk!
Danger! Danger! Danger!”

From this point onward, the Ship's Captains are heavily advised to keep away from the creature at all costs, as any attempts to fight back against this specific creature will lead to instant death for any Pikmin unlucky enough to get in contact with its stone rollers. A unique theme also plays while the Waterwraith is present to emphasize the player's heavy disadvantage, shown below.

Spread

The Waterwraith began becoming a popular phenomenon in the Pikmin fandom when Let's Player Chuggaaconroy posted Episode 26 of his Pikmin 2 Let's Play on July 18th, 2011 (shown below, left). In the episode, Chuggaconroy got to the 2nd floor of Submerged Castle while trying to avoid jinxing himself into provoking the appearance of the Waterwraith. When Waterwraith appears, Chuggaconroy screams "I JUST HAD TO OPEN MY MOUTH!!!!!". This moment was reposted to the YouTube Channel "LP Catchphrases" roughly a month and a half later (shown below, right).

The character saw renewed interest in the Pikmin fandom starting in the summer of 2023. During Nintendo's June 2023 Nintendo Direct, Nintendo announced remasters of Pikmin 1 and 2 available on the Switch in anticipation of the upcoming release of Pikmin 4. Newer players subsequently shared their experiences with the Waterwraith for the first time on Twitter, citing either terror or sheer frustration. For example, on July 9th, 2023, Twitter user @MSPNova03 posted that the Waterwraith turned Pikmin 2 into a "horror" game (shown below, top). On July 3rd, user @TJG_art posted an animation of the Waterwraith, gaining over 130 retweets and 830 likes in two weeks (shown below, bottom).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References