Calcified Crushblat

The Calcified Crushblat is an enemy that makes its debut in Pikmin 3. It is a strange creature, apparently just a head with long, chicken-like legs. Its head is usually protected by a thick layer of silica which can only be broken off by Rock Pikmin and bomb rocks. It is a rare creature, appearing only once in one area in story mode, but appears quite often in Mission Mode and Bingo Battle, along with Side Stories in. It has the qualifications of a mini-boss, but is not considered as one, as the mini-boss music does not play when fighting it.

Behavior
This creature is passive, only waking from slumber if approached. The Calcified Crushblat starts out sitting on the ground with its legs folded underneath it. From a distance, it looks like a crystalline rock. Once a Pikmin or leader approaches it, it will stand up and walk around the area, attempting to sit on and crush the creatures. If its armor is on, it will crush all Pikmin except for Rock Pikmin and Winged Pikmin. If the armor is gone, it will only knock back Pikmin underneath it, but if Pikmin are directly underneath the Crushblat, they can be buried. The Crushblat moves rather fast despite its appearance.

Strategy
As mentioned, this creature is covered with a crystal armor, making either Rock Pikmin or bomb rocks necessary to fight it conventionally. As Rock Pikmin will generally take a longer time, it is recommended to use bomb rocks. By using bomb rocks, a portion of its armor will be blown off (or all of it, if it is in the center of the blast), and damage equal to about 2/3 of its health will also be dealt to the creature, as opposed to using Rock Pikmin, which will break its armor more slowly. After its armor is removed, simply bombard it with Pikmin.

Should bomb rocks not be available, Rock Pikmin still prove useful. It is recommended to have a decent size group when fighting this creature, as the Pikmin may constantly end up planted in the ground. With its armor, the Crushblat deals more damage to leaders and can kill Pikmin, so it is advised to get rid of it. On the other hand, the Crushblat moves slower when without armor, so it is recommend to blow about half to two-thirds of its armor off.

Another possible strategy is to simply swarm its feet until it dies; however this is dangerous as it can easily crush the Pikmin. A very effective way of using this strategy is by using Winged Pikmin as they can easily swarm its under-section and are shaken away the moment it tries to squash them. This is a very useful time-saving strategy on Twilight Hollow, as you can get the Winged Pikmin to defeat the Calcified Crushblat without having to keep watch over them.

Upon its death, the crystal shell will always break, no matter how much you managed to destroy during the fight, and you may then collect its carcass.

Trivia

 * Calcification usually takes around 3-4 years to take place, though the Calcified Crushblat seems to complete this process much faster.
 * The Crushblat's appearance when its armor is taken off somewhat resembles the Large-Mouth Wollywog from Pikmin Adventure.
 * Interestingly, the Crushblat's head still expands and retracts after its death.
 * The Calcified Crushblat is the third creature, and only non-boss enemy in Pikmin 3 that requires Rock Pikmin to expose its weak point, with the others being the Armored Mawdad and the Quaggled Mireclops. However, it can be defeated without them with the use of bomb rocks or by swarming at its legs.
 * The Calcified Crushblat will respawn after being killed, but it doesn't respawn with the shell until a certain amount of days have passed.
 * The Calcified Crushblat can kill enemies in the same manner as Yellow Wollyhops, with or without its shell.
 * If the enemy is seen from behind a transparent object, its shell will not be visible. This is a common problem with transparency in game development.