It’s actually been a while since I last played Pikmin 3, but I picked it back up tonight. I tested out the Tropical Winds level, which is a huge area with lots of enemies. I explored some, but ultimately I decided not to save my game. Instead, I returned to the Garden of Hope with Alph and Brittany, as I continued my search for the captain. After throwing some Pikmin across a river, building a bridge, and tearing down a wall, I found a data file left behind by Captain Olimar! Very interesting.
I then stumbled into the nest of this huge creature, called an armored mawdad!
It was covered in crystal armor, so I had to throw rock Pikmin at it to break the crystal before I could do any damage to it. Once I (eventually) defeated it, it coughed up an old cell phone. Can you hear me now?
Apparently the signal I thought was coming from the captain was actually coming from this phone. So I still don’t know where the captain is. But the phone did expand my ship’s range (somehow), so I can now travel to a new area called the Distant Tundra. I wrapped up my game for tonight, but I’ll return to the world of Pikmin 3 sometime soon!