Pikmin scavenging an abandoned construction site.

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Occupational Hazards (たいへんな一日^?, lit.: "A Crazy/Hard Day") is the thirdPikmin Short Movie. The film and credits last a total of 12:45 minutes, making this movie the longest of the 3. This movie features thePikmin andOlimar scavenging an abandoned construction site for nuts, bolts, and othertreasure. During their adventure, they come across aFiery Blowhog and aBulborb, which they eventually defeat.

YouTube uploads[edit]

Nintendo website blurb[edit]

Synopsis[edit]

The short begins with the camera focused on a rusty bolt in a metal wall. As the bolt comes out, so does aRed Pikmin and aBlue Pikmin, entangled into one another in a twirling pattern. After untwisting themselves, the Red Pikmin picks up the bolt and beginscarrying it away. While doing so, the camera pans to show a large portion of a construction site, where dozens of Pikmin can be seen exploring about. The Red Pikmin can be seen heading towards a large, abandonedbackhoe.

The scene changes to 2 Blue Pikmin using their leaves as screwdrivers to unscrew 2 screws. As they twirl their stems, they themselves spin in the air to return to normal; a nearby Red Pikmin becomes dizzy from watching them. In a different location, a Red Pikmin tossesgrommets down a ledge, where another Red Pikmin down below catches them with its stem while a Yellow Pikmin and Blue Pikmin watch nearby. After four grommets, a pile of them fall down on the Pikmin at once, crushing it. This doesn't kill it, however, as it continues to move around, scaring away the other two Pikmin. The Red Pikmin from above falls down on top of it, andplucks the Pikmin from the grommets' holes.

At ground level, elsewhere, a multitude of Pikmin are carrying several metallic objects, either by pushing them, carrying them, or rolling on top of them, with one Pikmin even serving as a wheelbarrow. A nut tower made of Pikmin falls down soon after. The camera pans out, revealing hundreds of Pikmin around the area, all working on their tasks. Only one White Pikmin and two Purple Pikmin can be seen in this scene.

As the action continues, a Red Pikmin is seen jumping from atop the backhoe asCaptain Olimar watches its descent. Following this, Olimarwhistles 2 Blue Pikmin to fall down from the same spot, holding hands. Right afterwards, a Red Pikmin jumps up from below, carrying a bolt. Olimar turns back and whistles the Pikmin, ordering it to bring the piece to a spot. Olimar then issues 2 Yellow Pikmin to drop down, and again, another Pikmin comes back up, this time with a nut.

The Research Pod flying away. Notice that the Purple Pikmin (bottom-left corner, and above the yellow helmet) have pink buds and flowers, although they are white inThe Night Juicer.

A large pile of construction utilities, like bolts, nuts, and screws lie under theResearch Pod's beam. The Pod sucks up the objects, one by one, making the same noise heard when aMii ball turns into a Mii inWii Party's "Roll to the Goal" game. After some parts, it stops. Nearby, some Pikmin are playing around on the driver's seat of the vehicle, under a yellow helmet. They lift up the helmet to spot the Research Pod flying away; as it flies, the camera reveals the top of the backhoe, covered in Pikmin.

The action returns to Olimar, and from a top-down view, a seesaw can be seen on the ground below. A pair of Blue Pikmin jump down from the backhoe and land on one end, and the Red Pikmin lying on the other end gets flung up to Olimar's level. Two Yellow Pikmin then jump down, and a Blue Pikmin gets flung up, followed by 2 more Red Pikmin jumping down to get a Yellow Pikmin up. This Yellow Pikmin is carrying a crooked nail, which it then shows to Olimar. Disapprovingly, Olimar shakes his head, and the Yellow Pikmin tosses the nail down below, hitting aWhite Pikmin in the line for the seesaw, and enraging it in the process. 2 Blue Pikmin fall from above, trying to toss thePurple Pikmin now on the seesaw, only to get sprung off themselves due to the Purple's unmovable weight. Annoyed and cross, the White Pikmin shoves the Purple Pikmin aside and gets on the ramp, just as two Purple Pikmin fall on the other side of it. The immense weight of the Purple Pikmin compared to the White Pikmin is enough to shoot the Pikmin rocketing to the sky. The White Pikmin disappears in a twinkle of light, and after some seconds, the bewildered Pikmin on the backhoe return to their tasks.

The Blue Pikmin being electrocuted.

Meanwhile, some Pikmin make their way through a crack at the back of the backhoe to the inside of the backhoe, where the battery is. A pair of Yellow Pikmin approach and interact with a battery post, learning that it transmitselectrical currents. Delighted, they hold on to the post to feel the discharge through their bodies, and when doing so, each leaf matures into buds and they begin blinking like a Christmas tree light set. A curious Blue Pikmin nearby attempts to do the same and touches one of the Yellow Pikmin, electrocuting itself and dying, as evidenced by itssoul.

A Red Pikmin resemblingMario jumping out of a pipe.

The scene changes to some Pikmin playing around on a pile of tubes. As a Red Pikmin looks inside one of the tubes that are lying down, a Blue Pikmin behind it naughtily kicks it inside. The Red Pikmin slides all the way and comes out on the other end, along with some dust. Other Pikmin come out of tubes, carrying some dust and some treasures, including a mushroom similar tothe ones in theSuper Mario series or aSpotcap. Above them, agreen tube begins shaking, andcoins come out, accompanied by the coin sound effect fromSuper Mario Bros.. The "pipe entered" sound from the same game, and a Red Pikmin with dust on its face comes out; the dust clouds make it look likeMario. The Mario Pikmin jumps out, accompanied with the jump sound and main theme fromSuper Mario Bros.. The Pikmin quickly falls, but the dust remains suspended for a brief period of time.

The Red Pikmin engulfed in the flames of the Fiery Blowhog.

Nearby, some Pikmin investigate what appears to be a small red tube, but turns out to be the snout of aFiery Blowhog, which soon after, shoots fire. The Yellow Pikmin and Blue Pikmin in the group run away, but the Red Pikmin braves the fire and jumps on the Blowhog's head; a second Red Pikmin appears and joins the first one. The first Red Pikmin grabs the enemy's snout, which sends it on a rampage. The other Pikmin try to run away from it and its fire while the Red Pikmin enjoy the ride. Eventually, the Blowhog trips on a rock and slides onto a puddle of mud, which is where the Pikmin ran off to. After a wave of mud, everybody stops, and the Pikmin stare at the enemy's snout, preparing for an incoming attack. Instead of fire, however, the creature cannot help but spit out some more mud onto the Pikmin. With the exhausted Blowhog now immobile, the Pikmin frolic on the mud and play around and on its body. For some reason, a Red Pikmin emerges out of the mud and its leaf is quickly turned into a flower.

Back to Olimar, he continues issuing Pikmin to fall on the ramp before noticing some Pikmin approaching with a large melted metal bolt. Surprised, he quickly tells them to put it on the pile. As the camera points to the top of the backhoe, it is possible to notice a hole on the arm piston, indicating that that's where the previous treasure was taken from. At the top of the crane, some Pikmin attempt to pry out a nut with their leaves, but fail. A White Pikmin approaches them, and spits acid at the screw keeping the nut in place, disintegrating it. Two Pikmin hurry to bring the nut away, as the third Pikmin looks down upon the melted metal hole, which gives a clear view of the scene down below. Midway through carrying the nut, it melts into a puddle of iron. The White Pikmin eventually moves to the base of a guard rail at the side of the driver's cabinet in the vehicle, which is a U-shaped metal pole stuck to the cabinet's floor. The White Pikmin melts down most of the bases of each end of the pole. It then kicks one of them, trying to make the guard rail fall, but is stopped by the other Pikmin nearby. After squirming under a Red Pikmin's grasp, it spits out some acid around itself, scaring away the others, while a Red Pikmin sitting on the pile of screws laughs at them. During this, the rail eventually does fall down and off the backhoe.

Meanwhile, back at the mud puddle, a Red Pikmin, Yellow Pikmin, and Blue Pikmin throw mud at each other, and a Red Pikmin climbs the exhausted Fiery Blowhog's head, leaving muddy footprints in the process. Then, a Yellow Pikmin notices a large dark tube with something shining inside. It hurries in and grabs the shiny screw, noticing a second one further inside. It squeals in delight, and runs to it. As the Pikmin kneels down to grab the second screw, it notices some normal-sized mushrooms and a gigantic mushroom-like bulb. It kicks it twice, and it is revealed that it is actually the hide of aBulborb. The Pikmin drops the screws and runs away from the tube, screaming. The other Pikmin wonder why that was, until the Bulborb exits its dark den.

A Yellow Pikmin meeting the Bulborb.

The Pikmin all get out of the mud as the Bulborb gives chase. It eventually catches up to a Red Pikmin and a Blue Pikmin, grabs them with its mouth, and swallows them. They do not die, however, as they eventually pop out out of its nostrils. In terror, they round around its forehead and grab its eye stalks, and later, its eyes. After shaking them off, the Bulborb comes face to face with a worker glove standing upright, with its fingers in a "stop" gesture. Under the glove, one can see Pikmin feet. The hand then extends the index finger, shakes it negatively, points at the Bulborb, and starts spinning the finger in circles, hypnotizing the beast. It then wildly flails the finger about, with the Bulborb quickly facing to the direction it points, and after pointing up, the Bulborb rapidly flips backwards and lands on its back. In this state, a thought bubble appears over the Bulborb, showing the glove, and highlighting the Pikmin feet under it. Upon this realization, the enemy gives chase to the glove, and catches it, flinging away the Pikmin inside.

These Pikmin land on a nearby car tire rim and crawl inside its holes. The Bulborb looks around, and eventually a Blue Pikmin peeks out of its hole. Other Pikmin do the same, and pop back in almost straight afterwards. This gets repeated between the Pikmin, with each time being quicker and having more Pikmin do it. Enraged, the beast finally sticks one eye stalk down a hole, only to get a Red Pikmin kick its eye. The Bulborb reels back in pain and violently kicks the rim. The object doesn't move, and the creature just ends up hurting its foot instead, putting it in its mouth after shrieking in pain. Meanwhile, Olimar and some Pikmin climb up to the top of the backhoe's crane, and he takes notice of the Bulborb down below, which is attempting to flip the rim over with its snout. The Bulborb manages to toss it high into the air, as the Pikmin inside nervously try to hang on, except for a Blue Pikmin, which runs along the rim's curve as it spins. The object lands, and the Pikmin scatter around. Seeing this, Olimar whistles them to safety. The Bulborb then begins chasing after the running Pikmin.

On their way, they run into a stream of fire emitted by the Fiery Blowhog from before, now inside the vehicle's treads; it only manages to shoot some flames after it resumes spitting mud from its snout. Interestingly, one Blue Pikmin is caught by the flames, and its leaf catches on fire, but unlike what happens in the games, the fire extinguishes itself automatically and the Pikmin continues unharmed. The Bulborb eventually catches a Blue Pikmin, tosses it into the air, and swallows it. This Pikmin does die, as itssoul can be seen floating in the air. It also catches a Red Pikmin, which it chews before swallowing. Right after, it spits its stem and leaf, which release the Pikmin's soul; these souls are in thePikmin 3 style. The Bulborb and Pikmin continue running, with one Pikmin even crying, until they all eventually reach a dead end on the backhoe's bucket.

At this point, a large number of Yellow Pikmin inside the backhoe hold hands and enjoy the flow of electricity from the backhoe's battery, while emitting lights like before. Just as the Bulborb roars at its prey, one Yellow Pikmin hanging onto a jumper cable touches a Pikmin in the chain, closing a circuit in the process. There is a large spark from all the Pikmin, and the backhoe's engine begins working. The machine's arm rises up into the air, lifting the bucket and the creatures within. This lift makes Olimar lose his balance and fall down, eventually landing on one of the control sticks. One of the Pikmin that was with him falls down too, and lands on his head, making him whistle slightly; this new weight is enough to turn the lever forward.

Yellow Pikmin activating the backhoe.

The lever's pull curves the bucket, making the Pikmin and Bulborb fall off. While falling, the Pikmin's leaves turn into flowers, acting as parachutes. The scene stops, and the Bulborb imagines itself creating an umbrella out of the red spotted part of its back. When it realizes that that's impossible, the thought bubble breaks and, horrified, the creature continues falling to its doom. It lands on the floor with a thud and becomes unconscious not long after. The Pikmin gently land on top of the creature, and during that time, a descending Blue Pikmin bumps against a Red Pikmin that had already landed, causing the "Koopa Shell kicked" sound fromSuper Mario Bros. to play. Olimar eventually shows up and approaches the Pikmin and Bulborb. The Pikmin that came with Olimar all rush and swarm the beast, bumping against Olimar on the way. As they attack it, Olimar faces the camera with a drop of sweat on his face.

Suddenly, a loud metal screeching noise is heard. The gears that held the backhoe's bucket in place begin to fall off and detach, followed by the same happening to the whole arm of the machine. In a panic, Olimar whistles the Pikmin several times to get them out of the way. They look up at the incoming objects and run off. When they leave the Bulborb's carcass, it becomes censored with apixelization pattern; the reason could be as a joke: the Bulborb is so badly beaten up that its appearance is too gruesome to show. The bucket falls down and traps the Bulborb in, but no Pikmin gets trapped under it, although they are tossed aside as if they were hit by aBomb Rock explosion. The rest of the backhoe falls apart in a huge cloud of dust.

The Research Pod returns at this point, and starts scanning the wreckage. Once it is done, it points at Olimar and displays some holographic text with the total value of the junk: × 100. After a second however, another zero is added to the right, and then more and more. The real value of the backhoe's remains turns out to be × 1000000000000007, one quadrillion and seven Pokos – because of the seven, the Bulborb's carcass is likely included as well, as per its value inPikmin 2. This sum is over 37 billion times the total amount oftreasures inPikmin 2. Bewildered, Olimar spins around and poses as the Pikmin celebrate.

Ending[edit]

The White Pikmin landing in the ending scene.

A cropped image of a forest appears, with a Blue Pikmin, Red Pikmin and a Yellow Pikmin. Their buds pop to flowers as the letters "Fin" appear on top. Shortly after, the White Pikmin that got launched before appears from the sky and falls on the ground, followed by the bolt it was carrying, which bumps against its head, enraging it.

Thecredits sequence begins rolling, with the credits scrolling from bottom to top, and miscellaneous shots from the short appearing behind them. Some Pikmin doing poses and the Bulborb also appear at times, between the credits, and scroll along with them; the Red Pikmin at the start is even seen hanging on to the letters. The screenshots show, in order of appearance:

• The scene where several Pikmin carry objects, after the scene with the grommets.
• The scene where the Fiery Blowhog fails to spit fire, and instead spits mud.
• The scene with the Mario Pikmin jumping.
• The scene where the Bulborb chases down Pikmin, before reaching the tire.
• The scene where the Blue Pikmin gets electrocuted by touching the electrified Yellow Pikmin.
• The scene where the Pikmin float down from the backhoe's arm, using their flowers.
• The scene where the glove stops the Bulborb.
• The scene where the Pikmin float down from the backhoe, but with the camera far away.
• The scene with Olimar posing after reading the wreckage's value.

Some more credits appear afterwards; these ones are the same as theTreasure in a Bottle credits sequence: Pikmin appear from the ends of the screen and run to the other end, unveiling credits as they pass them. After this, the copyright messages for Nintendo appear.

Audio[edit]

Some songs and sound clips from thePikmin games appear inOccupational Hazards. This list does not contain simple sound effects and Pikmin noises taken from the games.

• The music that plays during the start of the short is fromBingo Battle inPikmin 3, specifically thesong that plays in metal-themed stages.
• The Research Pods makes the same noises that theS.S. Drake makes inPikmin 3.
• When the Bulborb emerges out of the tube, a jingle plays. This is the same jingle that plays duringboss introduction cutscenes inPikmin 3.
• The Bulborb's roar is fromPikmin 3.
• When Olimar issues the Pikmin to come to him after the tire rim gets thrown in the air, theboss theme fromPikmin 3 plays, specifically the section when a boss is attacking.
• When Olimar reaches the top of the backhoe, a calm remix of thecave completion jingle fromPikmin 2 plays.
• When Olimar approaches the defeated Bulborb, a remix ofThe Final Trial's theme begins playing, and when the Pikmin attack, the The Final Trial portion of the Good Ending theme fromPikmin plays, mirroring the Pikmin attacking the Bulborb within the original scene.
• During the Research Pod's analysis of the machine's remains, a remix of the cave completion theme fromPikmin 2 plays.
• When Olimar poses after learning of the wreckage's value, the same jingle that plays when atreasure is salvaged and given a name can be heard.
• 2 songs fromPikmin are used in the credits: theResults theme that plays when aChallenge Mode stage is completed, and theEscape to Hocotate theme that plays during the game's ending cutscene.

Text[edit]

Various text, mostly in Japanese, appears on some of the objects in the construction site.

• The yellow helmet has任^? (lit.: "Responsibility") at the front. This is also the first character in the kanji writing of Nintendo (任天堂^?).
• In the scene with the Pikmin playing around with the tubes, there is a fence with安全^? (lit.: "Safety") on it.
• On the license plate of the backhoe, "Dynamo" is written. This is a reference to Dynamo Pictures, Inc., the animation studio that animated thePikmin Short Movies.
• When the Yellow Pikmin on the mud notices the screws, some roadblocks appear in the background, with the words安心安全^? (lit.: "Safe and Secure"). These roadblocks appear several times in the film after this moment.
• When the Bulborb first begins running, it goes past a sign saying what appears to be通行止め 申し訳ございません^? (lit.: "Sorry, road closed"), and a different sign sayingストップ! 進入禁止^? (lit.: "Stop! Entry prohibited").

In addition, on the scene after the Fiery Blowhog hits the mud, three cans appear in the background. These are different from the ones inTreasure in a Bottle in that instead of being covered by rust, they are partially buried. The closest can to the Pikmin has two characters fully visible and one half obscured character. Given the context of the can, this is believed to readハイボール　ゴルド^? (lit.: "Highball Gold") which is a very popular drink in Japan (seeHighball). The other two cans do not have visible text.

Gallery[edit]

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  TheWhite Pikmin being launched by twoPurple Pikmin.

• 

  The Blue Pikmin after being electrocuted.

• 

  A mushroom resembling theSuper Mushroom.

• 

  TheFiery Blowhog shooting out mud.

• 

  TheBulborb roaring at the nearbyPikmin.

• 

  The Bulborb flipped over by the Pikmin in a glove.

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  ARed Pikmin attacking one of the Bulborb's eye stalks.

• 

  The Bulborb after kicking the tire rim.

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  Thesoul of a Blue Pikmin.

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  The soul of a Red Pikmin coming out of its stem.

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  The Bulborb chasing a group of Pikmin.

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  TheYellow Pikmin chain inside the backhoe.

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  The presumed corpse of the Bulborb.

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  A Red Pikmin standing on the Bulborb.

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  The Pikmin on the Bulborb whileCaptain Olimar looks toward the camera.

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  The Bulborb, censored after the Pikmin get off it.

• 

  Captain Olimar and the Pikmin running from the collapsing backhoe.

Trivia[edit]

• Occupational Hazards has been extremely successful on YouTube since it was uploaded to the platform in October 2020, having received a total of over 380 million views across its 13 official uploads as of February 2026. It is the most-viewed video on several of Nintendo's regional channels.
• In the scene where the Red Pikmin and Blue Pikmin are running, before they get eaten, but not killed, a police siren can be heard, possibly referencing how the Pikmin are being chased.
• There are a total of 3 Pikmin deaths within the Short Movies, all of which occur inOccupational Hazards. A Blue Pikmin gets electrocuted, and a Red Pikmin and a Blue Pikmin get eaten by a Bulborb. It's also possible that the Bulborb dies, as its body appears censored before the machine's bucket falls on it.
• After the Research Pod flies away, the line of Pikmin that jump off to hit the seesaw ends with 2 Blue Pikmin, Yellow Pikmin, and Purple Pikmin. On the next camera shot, the line ends with 2 Blue Pikmin, Yellow Pikmin,Red Pikmin, and Purple Pikmin. Later on, the 2 Purple Pikmin move in front of the 2 Yellow Pikmin and Red Pikmin, but this was likely Olimar's decision, so that they would line up with the would-be Purple Pikmin at ground level.
• As pointed out by Shigeru Miyamoto when unveiling the shorts, this movie features a total of 500 Pikmin on-screen at once,^[1] an impressive feat that is technically impossible in the contemporary games, where thePikmin limit is 100.
• The nut tower made of Pikmin resembles one in a cutscene inSteel Pipe Forest inHey! Pikmin, the difference being that all the Pikmin in the cutscene are Yellow Pikmin.
• The celebration dance Olimar does at the end of the short was later used inHey! Pikmin in the cutscene that plays when Olimar completes anarea.

Names in other languages[edit]

Language	Name	Meaning	Notes
Japanese	たいへんな一日? Taihen'na ichinichi	A terrible day
Chinese (traditional)	辛勞的一天	Hard day
Dutch	Occupational Hazards	-
French	Les risques du métier	The risks of the trade
German	Ein harter Tag	A hard Day
Italian	I rischi del mestiere	The risks of the trade
Korean	힘겨웠던 하루 Himgyeo-Wossdeon Halu	A hard day
Portuguese	Ossos do ofício	Occupational hazards	Only used on the official site[2] The YouTube upload used the English name
Spanish (NoA)	Gajes del oficio	Occupational hazards
Spanish (NoE)	Un día duro	A hard day
Russian	Вредная pабота Vrednaya rabota	Dangerous work

See also[edit]

• The Night Juicer
• Treasure in a Bottle
• Close to you

References[edit]

• Pikmin Short Movies

• Featured articles