Emperor Bulblax

Emperor Bulblax
Appears in	Pikmin, Pikmin 2
Scientific name	Oculus supremus
Family	Grub-dog
Areas	The Final Trial
Caves	Bulblax Kingdom, Cavern of Chaos, Hole of Heroes
Challenge Mode levels	Emperor's Realm
2-Player Battle levels	None
Attacks	:  Eats and crushes Pikmin :  Eats and crushes Pikmin, causes panic and summons Mitites

The Emperor Bulblax (ダイオウデメマダラ^?, lit.: "Bug-eyed Spotted Great King") is the second largest known species of the Grub-dog family right after the Empress Bulblax. It serves as the final boss in the first Pikmin game, dropping the last ship part needed to complete the game.

The Emperor Bulblax is different than most members of the Grub-dog family as it has a sludgy, melted appearance, smaller eyes, and a more flexible tongue. Moss grows upon its thick hide in both games, giving its body a greenish color and serving as camouflage, although in the first game it even bears tall mushrooms and fern-like stems. Although these growths are missing in Pikmin 2, they are replaced by what appears to be rocks embedded into its back.

This beast usually hides in the ground to ambush prey, catching them with its long, sticky tongue. Its soft face is its only weak point to attack, but since it doesn't discriminate much when eating things, it can be led to swallow something a bit less tasteful than Pikmin – namely, bomb-rocks.

It varies a bit between the two games, being a lot weaker and smaller in Pikmin 2, even having less health than a Fiery Bulblax – an enemy which is not considered a boss. In addition, it has the least health of any boss in the game.

Stats

Game	Weight	Max. carriers	Seeds	Value	Health	Regen.
	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	30000	Unknown
	20	30	30	× 15	1300	No

Notes

Reel notes

“

This massive grub-dog buries itself when hunting.

”

Olimar's notes

“

The largest member of the grub-dog family is normally found buried in the ground, with only the stalks of its eyes exposed. This camouflage allows the predator to surprise smaller creatures and use its long, adhesive tongue to capture prey. The thick hide and angular hump give the organism a distinct rocklike quality. During the rainy season, moss grows freely on its hump, making it nearly impossible to distinguish this lethal predator from a stone.

”

Louie's notes

“

To prep the tongue for cooking, marinate in olive oil and chop into cubes. Stir in a pot with carrots, potatoes, and chives, cover, and simmer over low heat for several hours. Accompany this mouthwatering, rustic stew with a hearty roll.

”

Olimar's voyage log

“

My radar indicates that a gigantic member of the bulborb species has swallowed the Dolphin's final part. Yet, how am I to attack this gargantuan beast? Testing the explosive power of the bomb-rocks the yellow Pikmin unearth may prove valuable...

”

Pikmin

The Emperor Bulblax's artwork from Pikmin.

The Emperor Bulblax is the final boss in Pikmin. It lies buried in the ground at The Final Trial inside the center of the sandy arena north of the landing site, visible only by the mossy growth on its back protruding from the ground. When approached, the Bulblax will rear up and roar, knocking Olimar and the Pikmin back, and will then proceed to attack by licking Pikmin into its mouth with a large purple tongue. If Pikmin are latched onto it or located under it, it will jump in order to shake off any Pikmin on it, and crush any Pikmin underneath. Once it reaches beneath half of its maximum health, it will add a new attack to its arsenal: jumping high up into the air, and eventually dropping onto the army of Pikmin.

One can tell when it is willing to use its tongue by observing his salivation: if it's drooling, that means it will soon attack by using its tongue, gobbling up any Pikmin in front of it. The tongue is large and has no limit on the amount of deaths it can cause. When it's in a jumping phase, one can foresee a jump by knowing that its eyes widen just before it hops.

Once defeated, the Emperor Bulblax will go into a particularly long death animation, where it writhes around while drooling and appears to be sucked underground, leaving behind the Secret Safe and five randomly coloured 5-Pellets.

It's usually a good idea to devote a single day to removing obstacles and clearing the path, and then deal with the Bulblax the following day, since the battle itself can often be time-consuming. The Bulblax must be defeated in a single day, since any damage done on one day will not carry over, and if the day is ended before it is killed, then it will be at full health the next day. However, experienced players can cover all of the Final Trial in a single day, which is a must for a 6-day run.

Pikmin 2

The Emperor Bulblax's artwork from Pikmin 2.

In Pikmin 2, these beasts are much weaker, most likely due to their diminished size. They are found only underground, with only their eyes exposed as a form of camouflage, but emerge in the same manner, sans the leader knockback. The hide is not very mossy, but the backside of the beast is still green and slimy, as well as invulnerable. This could mean that the Pikmin 2 versions may just be younger than the one in Pikmin.

They still eat the now huge bomb-rocks, but must be coaxed into doing so instead, seeing as Yellow Pikmin no longer have the ability to handle those explosive objects. All other abilities are retained, except for the jumping phase. It is replaced by a roaring phase when the Bulblax is about a quarter until death; it will make other Bulblaxes join the fight and drag existing Mitites out of the ground, which will scare the Pikmin into a frenzy.

Luckily, unlike in the previous game, an Emperor Bulblax can only eat a maximum of 9 Pikmin at a time. When it dies, the Bulblax spins around and roars, whipping gobs of saliva everywhere until it shrinks down to a pre-determined size for easier carrying.

This creature is found on the last Sublevel (7) of the Bulblax Kingdom, where it is larger and stronger than normal; two are found on Sublevel 4 of the Cavern of Chaos and Sublevel 10 of the Hole of Heroes; and three are in the Emperor's Realm in Challenge Mode.

Strategy in Pikmin

Pikmin

The following article or section is in need of assistance from someone who plays Pikmin. Particularly: Confirm that "Pikmin can also be thrown into his mouth while he is preparing to stick out his tongue and still give a stun-like effect." claim.

This article or section needs to be cleaned up, either its format or general style.

When you enter the sandy arena, it is best to sneak around the beast, and take down the bramble wall behind it. Once destroyed, there will be fifteen Bomb-rocks available to use, found inside the strange pipe structures. Give them to your Yellow Pikmin, and dismiss them in an open area, where you can easily select one from the group. Bring your large army of Red Pikmin along with you as well, since they are the most powerful Pikmin. Awaken the beast by throwing a Pikmin onto the moss patch, and wait for it to ready its tongue for an attack. With proper timing, throw a bomb-rock carrying Pikmin in front of it so that it will throw the rock into its mouth, stunning the Bulblax for a period of time. If the Pikmin gets consumed with the bomb rock, the stun will not last as long, so be careful.

Once stunned, throw your group of Red Pikmin onto the Emperor Bulblax's face. Throwing Pikmin onto its back will bounce them right back off. When the Bulblax gets back up, it will hop into the air to shake off Pikmin. If there are no Pikmin under it, wait until it is in the air before your call your Pikmin back, to maximize damage; otherwise, call them back before he jumps so that no Pikmin are lost. Keep repeating this process until the final boss has reached half health, where it will begin using its high-jumping attack.

Now you will have to be a little more cautious. You can tell whether or not the Emperor Bulblax will jump into the air if it is not drooling when it sees your Pikmin. If you see its eyes go wide open, flee from the arena, as that is an indicator that it is about to jump into the sky. If the Bulblax is drooling, proceed to use the strategy used before, and eventually the Emperor Bulblax will be defeated.

Pikmin can also be thrown into his mouth while he is preparing to stick out his tongue and still give a stun-like effect. Once the bomb-rocks explode, it/they will stun the Bulblax (the more bomb-rocks, the longer the stun), providing a good time to toss as many Red Pikmin, as they are stronger than other Pikmin, as possible onto his face. Doing this repeatedly will have him beaten easily.

A slightly faster method would be to leave a Yellow Pikmin with a bomb-rock behind him when he has turned around. All of the Red Pikmin (which should be able to amount to 85 or so) then swarm the Bulblax as soon as it notices the Yellow Pikmin, as attacking its legs also hurts it. However, careful timing is necessary when calling back the Pikmin. The stomping attack will be especially dangerous, as the Pikmin are right beneath the creature, and the attack can be initiated very quickly.

It is also possible to beat the Bulblax by throwing Pikmin onto its head when it is distracted. It is more risky than using bomb-rocks, but much more simple and possibly the only feasible option for people trying to do a zero-death run.

In New Play Control! Pikmin, the only ways to have Yellow Pikmin stun the enemy with a bomb-rock is to let the Pikmin be eaten, or to time the throw correctly so that the bomb-carrying Pikmin throws the bomb into the Bulblax's open mouth, which will stun it for a longer duration that allowing it to eat the Pikmin.

Leaders

In Pikmin, the beast cannot be damaged with Captain Olimar's punch.

Speedrunning

One of the fastest strategies to beating him in Pikmin for the GameCube is to gather several bomb-rocks, place the carrier Pikmin near it, and when it is readying to eat them, call them back so that they drop the bombs on the floor. The boss will instead gulp on the bomb-rocks and become paralyzed for a considerable amount of time. Afterwards, quickly throw your Pikmin army at its face path (starting with the Reds). With enough speed, the creature should be defeated in a single cycle. This strategy will not work in New Play Control! Pikmin.

Strategy in Pikmin 2

Pikmin

Bring a small group of Purple Pikmin (10 or more) and toss them right in between the eyes; in no time at all, the beast will be defeated. If you don't have enough, use Red Pikmin and other Pikmin types, but be prepared to use sprays in case your numbers dwindle. One way to kill it without Purple Pikmin is to bring a group of 10 White Pikmin, as they are fast, or any of the original Pikmin, to fight and throw all on the Bulblax's face and the battle will be over in from 30 seconds to about a minute.

Where bomb-rocks are available, making it eat them is the safest strategy, and if the beast is underwater, the only strategy. By standing near a bomb-rock and running away before the boss strikes with its tongue, it is possible to make it eat the explosive instead, causing a high amount of damage. This method can be a bit time-consuming, however.

Leaders

In Pikmin 2, it is possible to kill an Emperor Bulblax without Pikmin. The first method is to lure the Bulblax into eating bomb-rocks, should there be any nearby, until it succumbs to the explosions. Another is to punch it while petrified. However, this requires about 50 sprays under non-stop punching. More damage can be dealt with the Rocket Fist upgrade; using said upgrade would require twenty less sprays. It is one of the only two bosses in the game the leaders can hit, the other being the Waterwraith.

Speedrunning

By far, the quickest method is to rapidly throw Purple Pikmin at it, even when buried. If the player is fast enough, it'll have suffered almost fatal damage by the time it is ready to fight, and should succumb soon after.

Technical information

Creature

Pikmin technical information (?)
Internal name	king
HP	30000

Pikmin 2 technical information (?)
Internal name			kingchappy
Global properties (List)
ID	Japanese comment	Property	Value
s000	friction(not used)	Friction	0.5
s001	wallReflection	Unknown (wall bounce speed multiplier?)	0.5
s002	faceDirAdjust	Unknown	0.25
s003	accel	Acceleration	0.1
s004	bounceFactor	Unknown (bounce when it hits the ground?)	0.3
fp00	ライフ	HP	1300
fp01	マップとの当り	Unknown (related to slopes)	60
fp02	ダメージスケールXZ	Horizontal damage scale	0.1
fp03	ダメージスケールY	Vertical damage scale	0.15
fp04	ダメージフレーム	Damage scale duration	0.35
fp05	質量	Unknown (weight?)	0.1
fp06	速度	Move speed	45
fp08	回転速度率	Rotation acceleration	0.02
fp09	テリトリー	Territory radius	300
fp10	ホーム範囲	"Home" radius	30
fp11	プライベート距離	"Private" radius	70
fp12	視界距離	Sight radius	500
fp13	視界角度	FOV	130
fp14	探索距離	Unknown (exploration radius?)	500
fp15	探索角度	Unknown (exploration angle?)	120
fp16	振り払い率	Unknown (shake rate?)	1
fp17	振り払い力	Shake knockback	200
fp18	振り払いダメージ	Shake damage	1
fp19	振り払い範囲	Shake range	60
fp20	攻撃可能範囲	Unknown (shock attack max range?)	130
fp21	攻撃可能角度	Unknown (shock attack max angle?)	30
fp22	攻撃ヒット範囲	Unknown (attack hit range?)	80
fp23	攻撃ヒット角度	Unknown (attack hit angle?)	50
fp24	攻撃力	Attack damage	5
fp25	視界高	Unknown (height visibility?)	50
fp26	探索高	Unknown (exploration height?)	50
fp27	ライフの高さ	HP wheel height	90
fp28	回転最大速度	Rotation speed	30
fp29	警戒時間	Unknown (warning time?)	15
fp30	警戒ライフ	Unknown	30
fp31	ライフ回復率	Regeneration rate	0
fp32	LOD半径	Off-camera radius	60
fp33	マップとのあたりポリゴンの選定	Unknown	30
fp34	ピクミンとのあたり	Pikmin damage radius	20
fp35	石化時間	Petrification duration	1
fp36	ヒップドロップダメージ	Purple Pikmin drop damage	10
fp37	地震気絶確立	Purple Pikmin stun chance	0.05 (5%)
fp38	地震気絶時間	Purple Pikmin stun time	10
ip01	振り払い打撃Ａ	Unknown	6
ip02	振り払い張付１	Unknown	5
ip03	振り払い打撃Ｂ	Unknown	12
ip04	振り払い張付２	Unknown	10
ip05	振り払い打撃Ｃ	Unknown	17
ip06	振り払い張付３	Unknown	20
ip07	振り払い打撃Ｄ	Unknown	22
Specific properties
ID	Japanese comment	Property	Value
fp01	要旋回角度(deg)	Unknown (required turning angle?)	60
fp02	出現までの距離	Sight radius while hiding underground	60
fp03	雄たけび有効角度(deg)	Unknown (roar angle?)	180
fp04	雄たけび有効範囲	Unknown (roar angle?)	300
fp05	爆弾ダメージ	Bomb-rock damage	200
fp06	見えない範囲	Unknown (blind angle?)	80
fp07	旋回終了角度	Unknown (turning angle end?)	40
fp08	踏み潰し範囲	Unknown (range of the stomp attack?)	45
fp09	出現振り払い範囲	Unknown	100
fp10	出現振り払い力	Unknown	200
fp11	歩きアニメスピード	Unknown (walk animation speed?)	1
fp12	死雄たけび率	Unknown (death roar rate?)	0
fp13	フリック雄たけび率	Unknown (shake roar rate?)	0.5
fp14	白ピクミン	White Pikmin poison damage	200
fp15	bigスケール	Scale (Bulblax Kingdom)	1.5
fp16	bigライフ	HP (Bulblax Kingdom)	1800
fp17	big速度	Move speed (Bulblax Kingdom)	45
fp18	big回転速度率	Rotation speed (Bulblax Kingdom)	0.02
fp19	big回転最大速度	Unknown (max rotation speed in Bulblax Kingdom?)	30
fp20	big攻撃可能角度	Unknown	30
fp21	big攻撃ヒット範囲	Unknown	120
ip01	潜伏までの期間	Unknown	500
ip02	出現までの期間	Unknown	0
ip03	爆弾ダメージ時間	Time stunned after eating a bomb-rock	180

Back

The mossy growth visible when the creature is buried in Pikmin is a separate entity.

Pikmin technical information (?)
Internal name	kingback
HP	N/A

Other information

• Prima guide technical name: Emperor Grub-Dog
• Size: Body length: 130mm, as per the e-card
• Piklopedia number: #73
• Musical theme:
  • Pikmin: Final Boss Battle
  • Pikmin 2: Common boss battle

Naming

See also: Grub-dog family#Naming.

The Emperor Bulblax is the largest male member of the grub-dog family, which earned it the title of emperor. The reason for it to be called Bulblax instead of Bulborb is unknown, but it could be due to the creature being considerably different from common grub-dogs. In Japan, it is given the name ダイオウデメマダラ^?, where ダイオウ^? means "great king", デメ^? means "bug-eyed", and マダラ^? means "spots".

In the scientific name, Oculus supremus, Oculus is the Bulborb genus, and supremus means "supreme" in Latin. The creature's internal name in both games refers to it as a king – the king of the Chappy (Bulborbs) – with the name king in Pikmin and kingchappy in the sequel.

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	ダイオウデメマダラ? Daiō Deme Madara	Bug-eyed Spotted Great King
French	Empereur Bulblax (Pikmin), Roi Bulblax (Pikmin 2)	Emperor Bulblax (Pikmin), King Bulblax (Pikmin 2)
German	Fürst Knollenauge	Lord Bulb-Eye
Italian	Bulbico Imperiale	Imperial Bulbic

Gallery

Pikmin

• 

  The Bulblax licking the ground.

• 

  Stunning the Bulblax with a bomb-rock.

• 

  Calling Pikmin back to safety.

• 

  The Emperor Bulblax being stunned, and attacked in Pikmin.

• 

  Emperor Bulblax hiding itself in Pikmin.

• 

  Emperor Bulblax in the enemy reel from Pikmin.

Pikmin 2

• 

  The Emperor Bulblax in the Piklopedia from Pikmin 2.

• 

  An Emperor Bulblax being defeated in the last sublevel of the Bulblax Kingdom.

• 

  The creature on the Piklopedia.

• 

  An Emperor Bulblax in Sublevel 4 of the Cavern of Chaos.

• 

  An Emperor Bulblax in Pikmin 2. Note the smaller size compared to Pikmin.

• 

  The Emperor Bulblax hiding in the ground.

• 

  The Emperor Bulblax lashing out its tongue.

• 

  The Emperor Bulblax when defeated.

• 

  The creature's e-card, #13 (19^th yellow card).

Trivia

To do: Expand on the Cavern of Chaos glitch and move it to the glitches page. Also, find a source for the statement about the creature's tongue. Care to do so?

• Captain Olimar's notes for the Emperor Bulblax say that moss and plants grow on its back in rainy seasons. In Pikmin 2, these beasts only appear in caves, which, added with the presumably younger age, might explain why so much moss is absent on the beast's back, as the moss only has the cave's moisture to grow with.
• The Emperor Bulblax's attacks and appearance may be based off of the real-life frog. They both bury or immerse themselves with only their eyes and backs exposed while hunting, use their long sticky tongues to catch small things passing by (in this case, the Pikmin), they can both jump higher than most other creatures, both look similar in appearances, and both make loud croaking noises.
• The Emperor Bulblax is one of three bosses in Pikmin to reappear in Pikmin 2, alongside Beady Long Legs and the Burrowing Snagret.
• The Emperor Bulblax is the only final boss in the Pikmin series to not exploit all elements.
• The Emperor Bulblax is one of the two creatures in the whole Pikmin series to have plant-life growing on the beast, the other being the Quaggled Mireclops.
• In the Cavern of Chaos, there is a sublevel with a pool with 2 Emperor Bulblaxes. Go onto the smallest island after waking one up. It will attempt to use the tongue, only it will not wave, just poke out and go back in its mouth. Walk away and it freezes but if you go back on the island it keeps playing the walking animation but does not go anywhere.
• In Pikmin, the creature's tongue is exactly 14.94 centimeters long.
• A rough copy of the Emperor Bulblax from Pikmin 2 exists in unused files in Pikmin 3.