Olimar’s basic attacks are pretty simple, a majority of them are punches and headbutts, the former deriving from Olimar’s Rocket Punch attack from Pikmin 2, this is made most clear in the side tilt.

This punch attack was a simple way for Olimar and Louie to attack when no Pikmin were around, you couldn’t kill bosses with it but it was useful for taking out small fry.