Empress Bulblax

Empress Bulblax
Appears in	N/A
Scientific name	Oculus matriarcha
Family	Grub-dog
Areas	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. This creature is shown sleeping in the Piklopedia and cannot be awakened.

An Empress Bulblax 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.

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How to kill

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 you encounter 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 awakes. Doing this will deal heavy damage if many Pikmin manage to latch onto the Empress. This will not be as effective in the later two battles, as the Pikmin have less time to attack the enemy before she shakes the Pikmin off. Later dungeons have the Empress continuously giving birth to Bulborb Larvae, which pose an extra threat to your Pikmin, but are helpless against their own mother's wild rolling, an alternative strategy in the Frontier Cavern is to lure the larvae where the Research Pod is, and using the other captain, continuely crawling into the ledge facing the geyser. Using this strategy, eventually, memory resrictions will prevent the Empress from birthing any more larvae, resulting in a fight that is about as easy in the Hole of Beasts.

When defeated, four of its body segments explode, leaving only the first segment attached to the head, which can be returned to the Research Pod and cashed for 15 pokos.

There is also a strategy to avoid the boulders the Empress Bulblax makes. Break down the wall blocking the door. Then every time the Empress rolls, go behind the hole. No boulders ever fall there.

Gallery

• Empress Bulblax beta.jpg

  The Empress Bulblax, enraged.

• EmpBulb.jpg

  A lego Empress Bulblax.

Trivia

• The Empress Bulblax may shed its skin; on the last sublevel on 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.