Empress Bulblax

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Empress Bulblax
Appears in	Pikmin 2
Scientific name	Oculus matriarcha
Family	Grub-dog
Areas	None
Caves	Frontier Cavern, Hole of Beasts, Hole of Heroes
Challenge Mode stages	Emperor's Realm
2-Player Battle stages	None
Attacks	Crushes Pikmin, causes boulders to fall, births larvae

The Empress Bulblax is a boss-class enemy in Pikmin 2. Its markings and general features are similar to those of the Red Bulborb, but its body is much larger and composed of five distinct segments; its comparatively tiny legs dangle above the ground. In the Piklopedia, this creature sleeps and cannot be woken up.

The Empress Bulblax makes few appearances in the game: it is located on the last sublevel (5) of Hole of Beasts, sublevel 8 of Frontier Cavern, sublevel 11 of Hole of Heroes, and sublevel 4 of Emperor's Realm in Challenge Mode.

Notes

Olimar's notes

“Initial observations placed doubt on the capability of the grub-dog family to support a strong ant- or beelike social structure, but recent studies show the family is capable of such complexity. The egg sac of the largest female grub-dog within a given range swells to dramatic proportions in response to environmental changes, such as the sudden depletion of prey species. These females temporarily take on the role of pack matriarch. Also, in pack formation it has been observed that nearly all males not involved in species reproduction undergo natural sex changes. The characteristics of such specimens are quite intriguing indeed.”

Louie's notes

“For a sophisticated delicacy, make a pate de foie gras from this massively obese creature's liver and spread it over a sesame cracker.”

Strategy

To defeat this enemy, throw (preferably Purple) Pikmin onto its face and call them back before it throws them off. After shaking Pikmin off, the boss rolls from side to side across the chamber in an attempt to crush its aggressors, smashing into walls, and making rocks fall from the ceiling in most encounters in the game. Although risky, the Bulblax can be petrified if the spray is released on the middle of its elongated torso.

The Empress Bulblax is one of the few bosses that can vary depending on where the player encounters it: for the Hole of Beasts fight, it is easier to throw the Pikmin on the Empress Bulblax's side to the left and retreat to the alcove in the wall between attacks. Here, it is also effective to swarm the body from the left at the start of the battle, before the boss wakes up. Doing this will deal heavy damage if many Pikmin manage to latch onto the Empress.

This is not as effective in the later two battles, as the Pikmin have less time to attack the enemy before she shakes the Pikmin off, and they have the Empress continuously giving birth to Bulborb Larvae. These are easily defeated by their own mother's rolling; alternatively, in the Frontier Cavern, since the number that can exist is finite, they can be lured away from the Empress with one captain while the other fights the boss, resulting in a fight that is about as easy as in the Hole of Beasts. For the Hole of Heroes fight, the player starts off behind the Empress, and she can make boulders fall after hitting the walls; these are most easily avoided by moving behind the exit hole, itself behind a gate. All rules apply here the same as the Frontier Cavern fight, but trapping the larvae is nearly impossible, and requires a decoy captain who is in good condition.

When defeated, four of the Empress Bulblax's front body segments explode, leaving only the segment attached to the head, which can be returned to the Research Pod and cashed in for 15 pokos.

Technical information

Pikmin 2 technical information (?)
Internal name			queen
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	5000
fp01	マップとの当り	Unknown (related to slopes)	90
fp02	ダメージスケールXZ	Horizontal damage scale	0
fp03	ダメージスケールY	Vertical damage scale	0.05
fp04	ダメージフレーム	Damage scale duration	0.35
fp05	質量	Unknown (weight?)	0.01
fp06	速度	Move speed	125
fp08	回転速度率	Rotation acceleration	0.1
fp09	テリトリー	Territory radius	200
fp10	ホーム範囲	"Home" radius	25
fp11	プライベート距離	"Private" radius	70
fp12	視界距離	Sight radius	200
fp13	視界角度	FOV	90
fp14	探索距離	Unknown (exploration radius?)	50
fp15	探索角度	Unknown (exploration angle?)	120
fp16	振り払い率	Successful shake rate	1
fp17	振り払い力	Shake knockback	300
fp18	振り払いダメージ	Shake damage	1
fp19	振り払い範囲	Shake range	120
fp20	攻撃可能範囲	Unknown (shock attack max range?)	150
fp21	攻撃可能角度	Unknown (shock attack max angle?)	25
fp22	攻撃ヒット範囲	Unknown (attack hit range?)	150
fp23	攻撃ヒット角度	Unknown (attack hit angle?)	25
fp24	攻撃力	Attack damage	10
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	50
fp28	回転最大速度	Rotation speed	10
fp29	警戒時間	Unknown (warning time?)	15
fp30	警戒ライフ	Unknown	500
fp31	ライフ回復率	Regeneration rate	0.00001
fp32	LOD半径	Off-camera radius	300
fp33	マップとのあたりポリゴンの選定	Collision processing radius	250
fp34	ピクミンとのあたり	Pikmin damage radius	50
fp35	石化時間	Petrification duration	1
fp36	ヒップドロップダメージ	Purple Pikmin drop damage	50
fp37	地震気絶確立	Purple Pikmin stun chance	0 (0%)
fp38	地震気絶時間	Purple Pikmin stun time	10
ip01	振り払い打撃Ａ	Shake mode 1 – hit count	30
ip02	振り払い張付１	Shake mode 1 – Pikmin requirement	5
ip03	振り払い打撃Ｂ	Shake mode 2 – hit count	35
ip04	振り払い張付２	Shake mode 2 – Pikmin requirement	10
ip05	振り払い打撃Ｃ	Shake mode 3 – hit count	45
ip06	振り払い張付３	Shake mode 3 – Pikmin requirement	15
ip07	振り払い打撃Ｄ	Shake mode 4 – hit count	50
Specific properties
ID	Japanese comment	Property	Value
fp01	ローリング時間	Unknown (rolling time?)	3.5
fp02	出産間隔 ( sec )	Birth interval	2
fp	Forest 1 Life	HP on the Hole of Beasts	3300
fp	出産数 ( Max )	Max births until it falls asleep	50
fp	出産数 ( Min )	Min number of Larvae on the cave with which it will wake up again	25

Brawl Trophy Description

"A member of the grub-dog family, transformed by environmental factors. Due to her ridiculous size, the empress bulblax can no longer walk on her tiny legs. She just wiggles around, rolling from left to right. Although the female continues spawning bulborb larvae, she unfortunately rolls over them with her massive body."

Gallery

• Empressblublax.jpg

  Concept artwork of the Empress Bulblax.

• Empress Bulblax beta.jpg

  The Empress Bulblax being awakened in an earlier version of the game.

• 112.jpg

  The Empress being attacked by Purple Pikmin in the Hole of Beasts.

Trivia

• The Empress Bulblax may shed its skin; on the last sublevel of the Hole of Beasts, right underneath the Research Pod, there appears to be an Empress Bulblax skin on the floor.
• The Bulblax also makes a cameo appearance in the game WarioWare: Smooth Moves, where the player must tilt the Wii-Remote to squish the Pikmin.
• It is impossible to wake up the Empress Bulblax in the Piklopedia, no matter how many Pikpik carrots are thrown at it.
• The Empress Bulblax is the only member of the Grub-dog family that does not kill Pikmin by eating them.
• The creature resembles a real-life pregnant queen termite.
• Though the Emperor Bulblax is called the largest of the Grub-dog family in the Piklopedia, the Empress Bulbax is bigger while pregnant, as seen here.
• *The matriarcha in its scientific name indicates that it does not belong to the same genus as its descendants, the Bulborb Larvae (bambinii). How this difference between parent and offspring genus is possible is unknown.