Captain Olimar

Captain Olimar (Japanese: キャプテン・オリマー, Hepburn: Kyaputen Orimā) is an anthropomorphic fictional character from Nintendo's Pikmin video game series created by Shigeru Miyamoto. He first appeared in the 2001 video game Pikmin, which led to the development of two additional games; one of them featuring the character as the protagonist.

Olimar also appears in other Nintendo games, being a playable character in Super Smash Bros. series. Reception to the character has been positive both for his appearance in Pikmin and Super Smash Bros. His replacement in the series third installment of Pikimin is also a subject of discussion.

Creation and design

He was named after Mario; in Japanese, the name "Olimar" (オリマー) is "Mario" (マリオ) spelled backwards. Captain Olimar was a late addition in Pikmin; Shigeru Miyamoto said that since initially during the original development the Pikimin would be utilized as weapons to be shot by the player themselves, "it wouldn't be interesting enough" to have a player character.