Editing Bulborb

|pikmin     = y

|pikmin2     = y

|heypikmin  = y

|image       = P4 Bulborb Render Alt.png

|size       = x250px

|icon        = Bulborb P4 icon.png

|namecustom  = ''Oculus kageyamii russus''<br>''Oculus kageyamii'' (''Pikmin'' Player's Guide)

|family     = Grub-dog

|areas       = [[The Forest of Hope]], [[Valley of Repose]], [[Awakening Wood]], [[Garden of Hope]], [[Tropical Wilds]], [[Formidable Oak]], [[Sun-Speckled Terrace]] ([[Story Mode]], [[Olimar's Shipwreck Tale]] and [[night expedition|night]]), [[The Shadow in the Brush]]

|underground = [[Hole of Beasts]], [[Hole of Heroes]], [[Dream Den]], [[Hectic Hollows]], [[Kingdom of Beasts]], [[Engulfed Castle]], [[Cavern for a King]]

|challenge   = [[The Forest of Hope]], [[The Distant Spring]], [[Explorer's Cave]], [[Lost Toy Box]], [[Red Chasm]], [[Collector's Room]], [[Breeding Ground]], [[Emperor's Realm]]

|missionct  = [[Tropical Forest]], [[Twilight Hollow]], [[Shaded Garden]], [[Tropical Forest Remix]], [[Twilight Hollow Remix]], [[Beastly Caverns]]

|missionbe  = [[Tropical Forest]], [[Silver Lake]], [[Thirsty Desert]], [[Shaded Garden]], [[Garden of Hope Remix]], [[Formidable Oak Remix]]

|sidestories = [[Inside Forest]], [[Pikmin Reunion]], [[Creature Hunting]], [[Big Fruit Carnival]]

|dandori_c = [[Dandori Day Care]], [[Hotshock Canyon]], [[Trial of the Sage Leaf]]

|2p          = [[Angle Maze]]

|bingo      = [[Shaded Terrace]], [[Stagnant Sea]], [[Twisted Cavern]], [[Arid Metropolis]], [[Rusted Labyrinth]], [[Jigsaw Fortress]], [[Blooming Terrace]], [[Parched Brook]], [[Buried Pond]], [[Sandbox Kingdom]], [[Corroded Maze]], [[Jigsaw Colosseum]]

|dandori_b  = [[Battle in a Box]]

|attacks     = Eat Pikmin

{{otheruses|the red [[grub-dog]]|other uses|Bulborb (disambiguation)}}

 

The '''Bulborb''' ({{j|チャッピー|Chappī|Chappy}}), called the '''Spotty Bulborb''' in {{p1}} and the '''Red Bulborb''' ({{j|アカチャッピー|Aka Chappī|Red Chappy}}) in {{p2}}, is a common [[enemy]] in the {{ps}}. Bulborbs are the most prominent enemies in the franchise, with images and icons of them often being used to represent enemies in general, and appear in all 4 main-series ''Pikmin'' games. In {{hp}}, a Bulborb serves as the game's first [[boss]]. Bulborbs are the most commonly encountered member of the [[grub-dog family]] of enemies.

 

Bulborbs have pointed snouts, eyes on stalks, and a red back with white spots. They only have two teeth, sharp fangs on either side of their mouth. They are largely nocturnal creatures and spend much of their time sleeping, only waking up when detecting potential prey, or [[Night expedition|during the night.]] They are often found sleeping near [[Dwarf Bulborb]]s, which are actually members of a different species.

 

|seeds1 = 12   |seeds2 = 12   |seeds3 = 10     |seeds4 = 10 (5 [[glow pellet]]s)      |seedsh = 0

}}

 

==Behavior==

[[File:Red Bulborb.jpg|thumb|A Bulborb sleeping during the day.]]

Bulborbs are nocturnal creatures, and sleep in open locations during the day. In the main series of games, this exposes them to being attacked by Pikmin, as they won't wake up until they are [[Combat|attacked]]. However, [[Dwarf Bulborb]]s and [[Dwarf Bulbear]]s in {{p1}} will let out a screech when agitated, awakening any nearby Bulborbs. An object being [[Carry|carried]] adjacent to a Bulborb can also wake up the enemy.

 

 

Bulborbs behave very differently in {{hp}}, as one takes on the role of the [[boss]] of the [[Brilliant Garden]]. In this game they are larger, more aggressive, slower, and not nocturnal. When defeated, the Bulborb drops the [[Flashy Monument]].

 

In {{p4}}s [[Night expedition]]s, they don’t sleep and act like how they’ve been seen once awoken. They roam about and will attempt to attack any nearby Pikmin and eat them. During the Night expeditions, after a certain amount of time their eyes will glow bright red and they will head directly towards a [[Lumiknoll]] or a [[Tricknoll]] instead of walking around a set space to attack it, making them act more aggressive than normal.

 

 

[[File:Red Bulborb and Pikmin.png|thumb|200px|Artwork of several Pikmin attacking a Bulborb.]]

 

===''Pikmin''===

[[Swarm]]ing a large group of 50 or so Pikmin onto a Spotty Bulborb, preferably [[Red Pikmin]] due to their increased attack power, proves quite effective most of the time. If only a few Pikmin are available, they should be [[throw]]n onto the Bulborb's back repeatedly while retreating if the enemy starts charging at them. Waiting until it goes back to sleep takes longer, but is a lot safer. [[Bomb-rock]]s can also be used to attack a Spotty Bulborb, and it takes two blasts to kill it this way. If you attack its back it will usually do a quarter-turn right, hiding some of its back from your current position.

 

===''Pikmin 2''===

Rather than swarming it, continuously tossing Pikmin onto its back is preferable when the army is at least 30 Pikmin strong, even if some are shaken off. A few [[Purple Pikmin]] can cause serious damage, especially if they stun the Red Bulborb. If it is accidentally awakened before being attacked by Pikmin, you should run away until it turns around, then make a new pass at it.

 

If the Pikmin army is very small, another strategy is to wake up the Red Bulborb and make it chase the leader until it goes far enough away from its starting location, at which point it will turn around and return to its original sleeping spot. Once it returns there, attacking at the moment it starts sleeping can provide the player with a few crucial seconds in which the Red Bulborb is entirely immobilized and harmless.

 

In some metal-themed [[cave]]s, Red Bulborbs can be led off of the stage by awakening it and quickly running around a hole in the sublevel, causing it to fall off.

 

===''Pikmin 3''===

[[File:Wii-U-Pikmin-3.png|thumb|left|A Bulborb in ''Pikmin 3'', hit on the eye in a [[Pikmin 3 prerelease information|prerelease version]].]]

[[Charge|Charging]] a Bulborb from behind is the most reliable way to defeat this enemy in ''Pikmin 3''. As few as 20 [[Red Pikmin]] can be enough to defeat the enemy before it has the chance to eat any, though this will not always work. If approaching the enemy from the front, throwing Pikmin directly at its eyes is an effective strategy, as this will cause the Bulborb to spend a couple of seconds flinching before it can attack again. If the Bulborb shakes Pikmin off, make sure to whistle them before they are eaten. You can also escape from a Bulborb by [[hiding]] under a tall plant.

 

 

===''Pikmin 4''===

If the Bulborb is sleeping, it is wiser to hop on [[Oatchi]]'s back in order to use his Rush ability combined with a squad of at least 30 Pikmin; even with no upgrades, the Rush will launch Pikmin forward when Oatchi hits the Bulborb, making this a simple and effective tactic. If Oatchi has the Mega Chomp and Stun skills, you can also take down a Bulborb with only Oatchi on his own.

 

If the Bulborb is currently awake and chasing you, it's better to let it sleep to try again. If you have no way of escaping it, you should circle around the Bulborb and throw Pikmin on its back, and call them before they get shaken off, as the Bulborb will instantly start eating any Pikmin shaken off by it. Bulborbs in this game don't flinch when Pikmin are thrown directly at their eyes, so aiming at the back is safest. Even with a squad of less than 10 Pikmin, the tactic stated above should work if done successfully, though it is risky.

 

 

[[File:The Shadow in the Brush cutscene.jpg|thumb|The Bulborb cutscene.]]

In {{hp}}, the Bulborb is a [[boss]], and is fought in a standalone battle at [[The Shadow in the Brush]]. Olimar starts the fight with 20 [[Red Pikmin]]. The objective is to deplete the Bulborb's health by throwing Pikmin at its backside. If the Bulborb is facing towards Olimar, then wait for it to bend over and throw a Pikmin at its eye. This will stun it and give you time to run under it to the other side. Once on the other side, proceed to throw the Pikmin onto its vulnerable backside until it shakes them off. The Bulborb will periodically jump into the blades of grass in the backdrop and shuffle around in them until eventually popping back out at the last place Olimar was standing. The player can tell when it will jump out because right before it does it will rustle in a single place. If the Bulborb is attacked once it has shaken off any attacking Pikmin, then it'll slowly turn around to face the group, snarling aggressively, before swooping around once in a circle, attempting to snatch up any Pikmin. After it does this, it'll proceed to do its attack from the grass. While it is bending over, if Olimar or a Pikmin are in its line of sight it will run forward and attempt to eat them.

Bulborbs are among the creatures with the most diverse physiology in the ''Pikmin'' series. They possess traits similar to those of amphibians, reptiles, and mammals. They have large bulbous eyes set in stalks, as opposed to the compound eyes of most insects. These eyes are purple in ''Pikmin'' and ''Pikmin 2'', but appear more detailed starting in ''Pikmin 3'', with large black pupils and blue irises.

Olimar mentions the Bulborbs having a set of mandibles. Mandibles are a pair of appendages near an insect's mouth, used for grinding and chewing food. The so-called mandibles Olimar mentions in his notes look nothing like normal mandibles and are instead most likely saber-teeth, used for breaking exoskeletons of prey insects and digging through the soil for roots. (That being said, "mandible" is also a technical term for the jaws, in which case its use is unremarkable.) Their diet is, however, quite the mystery, as they are equipped with eating both animal and vegetable life, but they are known to fully ignore [[Flitterbie family|Spectralids]].

It seems that the juvenile Bulborb is the favored host of the parasitic Pikmin type known as [[Bulbmin]]. This type of [[Pikmin family|Pikmin]] appears to control its host, causing the animal to behave less like a Bulborb and much more like a Pikmin, following a [[leader]] (which is naturally an older Bulbmin) and hunting in packs. Bulborbs are not observed at the two stages of development displayed by Bulbmin anywhere else in-game (unlike the [[Spotty Bulbear]]), so it is unknown whether Bulbmin are a common stage in Bulborb initial development or not, as symbiotic cooperation from the parasite would give this slightly weaker form of [[Grub-dog]] an advantage in the subterranean environment that all stages of the Bulborb species are found in. The growth stages of Bulborb Larva seems to suggest that the size of Bulbmin comes from the parasitic Pikmin within. As Bulbmin are mentioned to not use an Onion, it is possible that adults give birth to the small Bulbmin that can be used by the leaders.

 

According to Olimar, when certain environmental changes occur, a female Bulborb can transform into an Empress Bulblax, taking on the role of a pack matriarch and giving birth to large amounts of larva. Any males not involved in reproduction also undergo sex changes within these packs. This behavior has never been observed directly, though the large amount of Grub-Dogs encountered in the 9th sublevel of the Hole of Heroes may be a result of this behavior. Bulborbs can give birth without transforming however, as stated in the Players Guide for ''Pikmin'', Bulborbs give birth to their young high up in trees, where they jump down to the ground below when they develop spots. This was removed from the ''Pikmin 2'' notes however, which are otherwise taken directly from the guide, so it is possible this has been retconned.

 

==Development history==

Bulborbs were created before the concept for {{p1}} was established. When a game called ''[[Adam and Eve]]'' was being worked on, the Bulborb had been created to serve as a mammoth-like beast. When the concept for the game was scrapped, the Bulborbs were reused for ''Pikmin''. The "mammoth" properties of the beast, as mentioned by [[Shigeru Miyamoto]], suggest that the first "Bulborb" creature to be developed was large, and hence, the Spotty Bulborb was likely the original, with the Dwarf Bulborb conceptually developed later as a smaller derivative.

 

The scientific name of the Bulborb is ''Oculus kageyamii russus''. One of the character designers in {{p}}'s [[credits]] is Daisuke Kageyama. This name similarity may mean that Daisuke Kageyama designed the Bulborb.

 

Their name in ''Pikmin'' is "Spotty Bulborb", and at this point, only one type of Bulborb exists in the game (besides the false variations of Bulborb, the Dwarf Bulborbs). For {{p2}}, additional types of Bulborbs were introduced, but because they would all be Bulborbs and have spots on their backs, the original one needed a rename. Due to it being red while the others are [[Orange Bulborb|orange]] and [[Hairy Bulborb|hairy]], the name "Red Bulborb" was given to this enemy.

 

Ever since {{p3}}, perhaps with the purpose to simplify things, its name became known simply as "Bulborb", despite two other types of Bulborb existing in the game: the [[Orange Bulborb]] and the [[Whiptongue Bulborb]]. In an attempt to flesh out this iconic enemy, its behavior was made slightly more complex in this game, in the form of it reacting to Pikmin thrown at its eyes with a flinch, and by looking at Pikmin while it chases them. These behaviors also happen with the other Bulborbs.

In ''Pikmin 4'', Bulborbs became a bright orange when compared to the yellow of ''Pikmin 3'' and ''Hey! Pikmin'', though nothing else changed in their appearance.

 

{{notes|reel=y|olimar=y|louie=y|voyage=y|heypikmin=y|p3dpalphus=y|p3dpalpheu=y|p3dpbrittany=y|p3dpcharlie=y|p3dplouie=y|p3dpolimarus=y|p3dpolimareu=y}}

 

===Dalmo's notes===

 

===Olimar's notes (''Pikmin 4'')===

 

===Louie's notes (''Pikmin 4'')===

{{transcript|{{Notes:Bulborb/p4louie}}|block=y}}

 

===''Pikmin'' Nintendo Player's Guide===

{{transcript|This large organism has the familiar mandibles and cranial morphology of the grab-dog family, as well as the characteristic bulging eyes. As with most grub-dogs, its cranium comprises half of the organism's length and girth. Showing a scarlet abdomen with white spots, this creature is primarily nocturnal, choosing to prey upon smaller creatures returning to their nests. Juvenile greater grub-dogs live in treetops until developing spots, then fall to the ground to begin a similar predatory behavior.|block=y}}

{{transcript|Throw Pikmin at the adult spotty bulborb's back while marching the rest of your troop into its feet. Steer clear of the bulborb's mouth.

 

===''Pikmin'' Nintendo Power booklet===

{{transcript|These nocturnal creatures are very common. Capable of surviving in a variety of habitats, bulborbs spend nearly all of their time searching for food. Their favorite meal? Raw Pikmin, of course.|block=y}}

 

===''Pikmin 2'' Nintendo Player's Guide===

{{transcript|The weakest of the larger Bulborbs, the Red Bulborb can still hold its own against a good-sized Pikmin squad. Since it is a nocturnal species, most of the Red Bulborbs that you encounter in the daytime will be asleep to start. Sneak up on them from behind and hit them with a stream of flying Pikmin.|block=y}}

 

===''New Play Control! Pikmin'' European website===

{{transcript|Can anything polka-dotted be dangerous? If it’s a hungry Bulborb, you bet. Its big eyes on the top of its head are as big as its stomach. But the eyes can’t see what’s going on behind it. From the back is the perfect place to strike and swarm this beast.|block=y}}

 

===''Pikmin 3'' website===

{{transcript|These large creatures use their jaws to gobble up several Pikmin with each bite. Whenever possible, use a large squad of Pikmin to charge the creature from the rear. If brute force isn’t an option, throw Red Pikmin and Rock Pikmin onto the creature’s back. During an extended battle, it’s important to retrieve your Pikmin as the Bulborb shakes them off.|block=y}}

=== Nintendo Magazine (Winter 2024) ===

{{Transcript|Bulborb<br>Bulborb is a creature of the Oculus genus. It'll try to swallow anything it sees, sometimes resulting in Pikmin being munched on. It's nocturnal, so you can find it sleeping during the day, looking cute.|block=y}}

===Pikmin Garden===

'''Text'''

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the Smash Run mode of ''Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS'', a Bulborb appears as one of many enemies featured in the mode. It is one of the largest enemies in the game and has a comparable amount of knockback resistance. Its attacks are also deadly, KOing fighters with minimal effort.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

|scientific = ''Oculus kageyamii russus''. ''Russus'' is Latin for "red". See [[Grub-dog family#Naming|here]] for details on the genus and species. In the ''Pikmin'' Nintendo Player's Guide, the scientific name was simply ''Oculus kageyamii'', as other subspecies hadn't been introduced.

|internal  = Its internal name in ''Pikmin'' is <code>swallow</code>, given that the name <code>chappy</code> is already used by the [[Dwarf Bulborb]]. The internal name in ''Pikmin 2'' and ''Pikmin 3'' is also <code>chappy</code>, the same as the Japanese name for Bulborb. In ''Hey! Pikmin'', the enemy's internal and generator names are both <code>boss_chappy</code>, the same as before, but now acknowledging that it is a boss.

 

|ItaN = ''"Coleto"'' may come from ''"boletus"'' (Latin for mushroom), as a bulborb's spots resemble those found on certain mushrooms<br> ''"Coleto"'' is the Italian name for both Bulborb and Bulbear

 

 

Bulborb P2S icon.png|The Piklopedia icon of the Bulborb in [[Pikmin 2 (Nintendo Switch)|the Nintendo Switch version of ''Pikmin 2'']].

Red Bulborb P3Art.png|Render of the Bulborb.

Bulborb Pikmin 3 Artwork 01.jpg|Artwork of the Bulborb.

Bulborb Pikmin 3 Artwork 02.jpg|Artwork of the Bulborb fighting Pikmin.

Buborb.jpg|[[KopPad]] photo of a Bulborb. The {{w|Tapetum lucidum#Eyeshine|eyeshine}} effect can be seen.

Red Bulborb P3 analysis.png|A Bulborb being locked onto.

Alph tossed on a Red Bulborb.jpg|A Bulborb waking up after getting [[Alph]] tossed onto it.

Bulborb Bite.jpg|A Bulborb about to bite Alph.

Pikmin 3 Red Bulborb Eating.png|A Bulborb eating some Red Pikmin.

Bulborbburp.jpg|A Bulborb burping after a meal.

P3 Bulborb corpse.jpg|The corpse of a Bulborb.

Bulborb Burp Bingo Battle.jpg|A Bulborb (on the left) burping after eating some Pikmin in [[Bingo Battle]].

RedBulborbPikmin3.png|Pikmin attacking a Red Bulborb in the E3 2012 trailer for ''Pikmin 3''.

===''Pikmin 4''===

<gallery>

Pikmin Garden Bulborb render.png|Render the Bulborb from the [[Pikmin Garden]] Piklopedia.

Pikmin 4 Pikmin vs. Bulborb.jpg|Artwork of Pikmin fighting a Bulborb.

Angry Bulborb.png|Artwork of a Bulborb enraged by a [[Lumiknoll]]'s presence.

Bulborb P4 Piklopedia.jpg|A sleeping Bulborb seen in the [[Piklopedia (Pikmin 4)|Piklopedia]].

P4DeadBulborb.jpg|A defeated Bulborb in the Piklopedia.

Pikmin 4 Reveal Fight.png|Prerelease image of a Bulborb being attacked by Pikmin.

Pikmin 4 Red Eyed Bulborb.png|Prerelease image of a Bulborb with glowing red eyes during a night expedition.

Pikmin 4 Bulborb Frozen.png|Prerelease image of a Bulborb frozen by [[Ice Pikmin]].

*On the [[title screen]] of {{p2}}, pressing {{button|gc|x|wii|1}} will summon a Bulborb onto the screen. The player can control it by using {{button|gc|c|wii|pad}} and can eat Pikmin using {{button|gc|z|wii|z}}.

*In the North American and Japanese versions of ''[[New Play Control! Pikmin]]'', the sample rate for the Bulborb's sounds were set incorrectly causing them to make whistling and squeaking like sounds rather than their distinctive cries.{{cite youtube|3m_j0UFlbog|where the start explains that the sounds are broken|published={{date|30|November|2019}}|retrieved={{date|4|July|2022}}}} This bug has caused some players to think that the sounds of a Bulborb were replaced by mouse squeaks.

*If a [[bomb rock]] is planted near a Bulborb, the noise produced by the explosion will wake it up. If the bomb hits the Bulborb in ''Pikmin'', the Bulborb will jump awake with a yelp, the yelp being a lower pitched sample of a Breadbug being hit. This also applies to the Spotty Bulbear.

*In ''Pikmin 4'', if a bomb rock is thrown at the correct angle, it can land in between the eye stalks of a deceased Bulborb and remain there until it explodes. This likely works with other Bulborbs of the same shape as these. [[File:P4BombRockBulborbForehead.jpg|thumb|A defeated Bulborb with a bomb rock about to explode between the stalks of its eyes.]]

*The ''Brawl'' trophy game appearance section claims that the Red Bulborb first makes an appearance in {{p2}}. This is [[Mistake|incorrect]], as the enemy is present in the [[Pikmin (game)|first game]] as well. The only part about the trophy that debuted in ''Pikmin 2'' is the name "Red Bulborb" &ndash; this enemy was known as "Spotty Bulborb" prior to that game.

*In the ''Nintendogs'' games, at the second-hand shop, there is a Bulborb toy on a shelf of products in a pre-rendered background shot.

*The appearance of the Bulborb somewhat [[reference|resembles]] that of the [[mario:Super Mushroom|Super Mushroom]] from the [[mario:Mario (series)|''Mario'' series]]. Both have generally bulbous sides, backs, and tops that are red with white spots. Likewise, the red and white spotted patterns of both are broken up by beige-colored fronts with two eyes.

*The Bulborb and the [[Hermit Crawmad]] are the only [[enemies]] in ''Pikmin 2'' to have a clay figure modelled after them.

*It could be said that the Bulborb is what represents enemies in general in the ''Pikmin'' series, since it repeatedly appears as the icon whenever the game needs to refer to enemies: a stylized Bulborb icon is used to represent battle deaths in the [[day results menu]] of ''Pikmin 2'' and the remaining enemy count in the [[Mission Mode#Battle enemies!| Battle Enemies!]] mode of ''Pikmin 3'', a Bulborb silhouette icon represents the [[Poko]]s earned through enemy bodies in the [[Day results menu#Cave results|cave results menu]] of ''Pikmin 2'' and is used to show how many enemies of a particular type have been killed in the [[Piklopedia (Pikmin 2)|Piklopedia]] of ''Pikmin 2'', a Bulborb icon is used to represent the Piklopedias of [[Piklopedia (Pikmin 2)|''Pikmin 2'']], [[Piklopedia (Pikmin 3 Deluxe)|''Pikmin 3 Deluxe'']], and [[Piklopedia (Pikmin 4)|''Pikmin 4'']]. Bulborb icons appear in the Game Hunter, Animal Annotator, and Blast Radius (silhouetted in this case) [[Badge (Pikmin 3 Deluxe)|badge]] icons for completing tasks related to defeating enemies in ''Pikmin 3 Deluxe''; Bulborbs and Bulborb variants appear as the most frequently seen enemy during [[Day#Lift off|day lift off cutscenes]]. Bulborbs also appear very prominently in concept art, franchise merchandise, and in crossovers involving the series (such as in the {{ssbs}}). This role as the standard, ubiquitous enemy, however, is instead fulfilled by the [[Mockiwi]] in ''Hey! Pikmin''.

*In {{pb}}, Yellow Pikmin with Café [[Decor Pikmin|Decor]] wear a coffee cup with a design based on the Bulborb.

*[[Bulborb Larva]]

*[[Albino Dwarf Bulborb]]

 

{{featured|{{date|1|June|2023}}|{{date|1|August|2023}}}}

[[Category:Pikmin-eating enemies]]

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[[Category:Trial of the Sage Leaf]]

[[Category:Hey! Pikmin bosses]]