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History of the Parasite[]
The Parasite's beginnings are unknown. Because the parasite is rooted to the spot in the depths of an isolated abyss, it cannot easily obtain its energy source, the Dark Spore. Without the spore it cannot continue to consume the roots of the great tree which grows above it. (Note: This is not the same tree seen in The Portal. It is a completely different one referred to as "The Spire of Being" which holds everything together.) The Parasite is indeed the "Sinister Incinerator" mentioned in the title. Because it cannot obtain Dark Spores directly, it relies on another creature to pass on its own spores to the world above in order to spread its influence. The spores of the Parasite manifest themselves in the form of Puffstools, which can in turn pass their own spores onto other creatures such as Pikmin. In this way, the Parasite controls its own army to seek out Dark Spores throughout the universe and bring them back to obtain more energy and burn further into the Spire of Being.
The Parasite itself is not really the creature's true form. It is merely a structure that holds its true essence in place. Before it developed its parasitic covering, the being itself was not dangerous at all. But endless ages of being trapped within the parasite have made it grow tremendously powerful off the power of the Dark Spores it consumed. The parasite and the being within should be thought of as two different minds; the parasite focuses on consuming while the being has no mind left at all.
Phase One[]
As soon as you land on the 30th floor of the Worlds Beyond in the small chamber, the Research Pod will warn you that there's something extremely dangerous up ahead and that it might be wiser to give up. But you've come too far to turn back now. Once you pass through the tunnel ahead, a tremor will knock Olimar, Louie and all the Pikmin down the tunnel, and a rockslide will prevent the Research Pod from getting to you. The tunnel will seal behind you and you'll be facing an enormous growth that takes up the whole central portion of this room. A large root is hanging down from the ceiling into the large mouthlike opening of the parasite, which is burning it away. A strange appendage will emerge from inside the mouthlike opening. It has what looks like a red eye. This is the boss's weakpoint. Once it spots you, the parasite will make four tentacles emerge from the ground. What you're supposed to do is attack each of the tentacles individually while avoiding the tentacle's attempts to smash your Pikmin by slamming down. You have to dodge the slam and then throw Purple Pikmin onto the top of the tentacle before it can rise back up. They'll beat it apart and the tentacle will disintegrate, leaving behind some scattered small bomb rocks. While you fight the tentacles, the mouth of the parasite will belch up poison gas clouds which you should avoid. After all four tentacles are destroyed, the appendage will show itself and it'll try to snatch Pikmin and pull them into the parasite's mouth. What you have to do is stand close to a small group of bomb rocks that fell out of a dead tentacle and get the appendage to accidentally grab a bunch of bomb rocks instead. Once it pulls them inside the mouth, the boss will take a lot of damage and the tentacles will come alive again. This time though, the boss will belch sticky fluids as well as poison gas clouds. Your Black Pikmin will be able to keep the fluids away. Repeat the process and you'll have to do it one more time, only this time the mouth also throws up deadly acid in addition to everything else. After you bomb it once more though, the first form will die.
Phase Two[]
The appendage will disappear back into the mouth and the parasite will start causing tremors with whats left of its upper tentacles. They'll be permanently destroyed but they manage to smash the floor apart, causing you and all your Pikmin to fall onto another tier, facing the midsection of the parasite. The ground here has bumps which you can use for cover similarly to boss fights like Man-at-Legs in earlier portions of the game. The midsection is made up of hundreds of skin flaps with multiple appendages that pop out of them with odd crystal-like objects at the ends of each appendage. What you have to do is throw Pikmin at a crystal appendage when it swings by and it'll knock the crystal off and the crystal will fall on the floor. The boss's main attack here is to shock your Pikmin with dozens of electrical lasers. These lasers are extremely effective and accurate, so what you have to do here is split up your forces. Have one leader keep all non-yellows hidden behind one of the bumps in the ground, while the other goes out with Yellow Pikmin to knock down the crystals. Whenever one of its many electrical lasers hits a crystal, the laser will be deflected into the parasite's skin, damaging it. Once you have enough crystals knocked off, it'll be easier to get the boss to damage itself. Once it's at 75% damage, the midsection will start releasing spores which turn your Pikmin against you. A large portion of skin will open up at the area where it will launch the spores, so move all Pikmin out of the way. Keep letting it damage itself and the second form will die.
The Final Phase[]
The midsection will start rumbling and fire extreme high-intensity lasers. These actually won't hurt your Pikmin, but they do blast apart the floor again so you fall down to the parasite's base. Around the parasite's base there are four openings where the appendage with the eye that you saw at the first tier can emerge from. The way you damage this thing is to throw Pikmin at it so they latch on and damage the weakpoint. Call them back when the eye turns blue because that means its going to retreat back into the parasite's body. Any Pikmin clinging on will be devoured. This portion is perhaps the hardest fight in the game. There are several roots with things that look like nozzles attached around the parasite. These can spray water which fills up the ground around here, drowning Pikmin. What you have to do is break open the rocky coverings on the floor before you do anything else, because these will open drains to quickly get rid of any water that might defeat all your Pikmin during the fight. What you also want to be careful of are the openings where the eye appendage could come out from. Often, the opening will just blast a whole bunch of fire to burn your Pikmin; there's about a 1/5 chance that the eye will emerge instead. Lastly, there's one attack that you just have to dodge, Pikmin can't survive this. The openings on the parasite have turrets inside them which it draws only after it's taken 60% damage. These shoot explosive pellets at your Pikmin at a very quick rate. The pellet will flip around for about half a second before exploding. Occasionally this attack will turn out to be a dud and instead fire a bunch of harmless Scatter Shrooms which will run around confused and scared before disappearing. When it has less than 15% health left it will use its most dangerous attack: it'll call Puffstools into the area. These Puffstools will try very hard to spore your Pikmin, and fighting them can be dangerous because you've got a boss to worry about. Instead, try to lure them into explosive pellets to finish them off. Damage the eye enough and the parasite will be effectively paralyzed, and the geyser will open up to escape. However, the eye will detach and dig a hole in the ground, jumping down the hole. At this point you have to choose: will you escape or follow the eye?
Trivia[]
The Complex Parasite is based on two different antagonistic figures.
- The first is the Nidhugg, a beast of Norse mythology that consumes the roots of the World Tree, the tree that holds the universe together. In the myths, its hateful speech is carried to the rest of the world by a red squirrel. The Parasite needs carriers to spread its spores in a similar fashion.
- The second is Giygas of the SNES game EarthBound. The Parasite could be thought of as the "Devil's Machine" from the game, whereas the being within that has lost its mind is not unlike the actual Giygas.
- The relation to Giygas ties in with the title's abbreviation, PSI.
- The fight against the Complex Parasite is similar to the fight against the Meteor Parasite from the game "Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles."