Sovereign Bulblax
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| Appears in | Pikmin 4 | ||
| Scientific name | Oculus supremus (advanced age) | ||
| Family | Grub-dog | ||
| Areas | Giant's Hearth, Serene Shores (Olimar's Shipwreck Tale only) | ||
| Caves | Subterranean Swarm, Cavern for a King | ||
| Dandori Challenge stages | None | ||
| Dandori Battle stages | None | ||
| Attacks | Eats, crushes, and scatters Pikmin | ||
The Sovereign Bulblax (コウテイデメマダラ?, lit.: "Emperor Spotted Bug-eye") is a boss found in Pikmin 4. This creature is an Emperor Bulblax in advanced age and shares many of the same attacks as the younger version of the species, such as a loud roar. One important difference apart from its size and health is its incredible jumping ability, far greater than that of its younger counterpart. Similar to the Empress Bulblax, the Sovereign Bulblax's method of attack will change slightly depending on where it is fought. In Giant's Hearth and Serene Shores the Sovereign Bulblax will not drop boulders when it falls down after jumping. However, when encountered in Caves or through the Piklopedia the Sovereign Bulblax will spawn 7 falling boulders after coming down from a high jump.
While not officially introduced until Pikmin 4, it shares many similarities with the Emperor Bulblax variants from Pikmin and Hey! Pikmin, with vegetation on its back being much more abundant, notably featuring fiddleheads rather than Blaxcaps and Bulborels.
Stats
| Weight | Max. carriers |
Seeds | Value | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 | 60 | 50 |  × 20
|
8000 |
Behavior
The Sovereign Bulblax will hide underground until something disturbs it, where it will suddenly emerge, knocking back any leaders or Pikmin who are too close. It will then start to attack leaders and their Pikmin using a variety of attacks.
The Sovereign Bulblax's standard attack is to lash out its tongue and sweep it left to right, stunning the leader and Oatchi, and capturing Pikmin, who are then eaten. It may also roar, causing Oatchi and nearby Pikmin to panic. When the Sovereign Bulblax is lower on health, it will begin to perform large leaps. A shadow warns of its landing location, and any Pikmin caught underneath will be crushed. When encountered underground or in the Piklopedia, boulders will fall soon after it lands. When under attack, the Sovereign Bulblax will jump in place. This will shake off any Pikmin on the face and crush any underneath.
When there are no targets in the Sovereign Bulblax's territory, it will patrol the area and will not retreat underground.
Appearance
The Sovereign Bulblax looks almost identical to its younger counterpart, the Emperor Bulblax. Differences include being much larger and having a lot more vegetation on its back.
Locations
Strategy
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The following article or section contains guides. |
Using a large squad of high-damaging Pikmin, either Red Pikmin and/or Purple Pikmin, and charging them all onto the Bulblax's face using Oatchi's rush ability can deal a lot of damage very quickly. The main issue with this is the fact that the Sovereign Bulblax is much larger than other enemies and it can be hard to correctly throw all Pikmin in the player's squad onto its face. Players must also be careful of where they throw their Pikmin, as if they throw them into the Bulblax's mouth, and it does its tongue attack, a lot of the Pikmin will instantly be stuck to their tongue and will be eaten. The easiest method of dealing with a Sovereign Bulblax is by tricking it into eating a bomb rock, Ice Blast, or something else explosive in the same fashion as its smaller counterpart providing ample opportunity to attack it without fear of retaliation. Be aware that once it recovers from this stunned state, however, it's very likely it will follow up by either bellowing out and scattering your Pikmin or by leaping into the air. As soon as it begins to recover, take the chance to whistle your Pikmin back to avoid this from becoming an issue. You can eliminate this possibility if your squad is large enough by using an ultra-spicy spray prior to Rushing the Bulblax, which will usually go down if stunned by a bomb Rock.
Notes
Dalmo's notes
Olimar's notes
“An Emperor Bulblax of extremely advanced age. it will no longer display the pack behavior commonly exhibited by younger members of its species. Instead, as an individual ages, it leaves the herd and exhibits more solitary behaviors.
It feeds by using its strongly developed legs to leap upon crush its prey with speed disproportionate to its massive body.
To determine the age of any given specimen, you can count the rings of hide calcified in the form of a carapace. One ring forms roughly every year the creature lives. Individuals with over a hundred age rings have been discovered so far.
The Sovereign Bulblax's back is often covered in moss and pteridophytes. On a few occasions, specimens have been found with a rare species of mushroom, called a Bulborel, growing on its back.”Louie's notes
Other information
- Pikmin 4 Piklopedia number: #16
Naming
- See more: Emperor Bulblax#Naming.
- Common name: Sovereign Bulblax. In line with the other two boss bulblaxes, sovereign is used to describe a supreme leader, or ultimate power. As the Sovereign Bulblax is a fully grown Emperor Bulblax, it is an even more powerful variant and does possess incredible power.
- Japanese nickname: コウテイデメマダラ?. It translates into "Emperor Spotted Bug-eye". The use of the word emperor in this case may be a reference to the English name of the younger bulblax.
- Japanese name: ダイオウデメマダラ 長寿個体?, lit.: "Great King Spotted Bug-Eye (advanced age)". ダイオウデメマダラ? is the Japanese name for the Emperor Bulblax. 長寿個体? refers to how it is an Emperor Bulblax of extremely advanced age.
- Scientific name: Oculus supremus (advanced age). This is the same as the Emperor Bulblax, with the added clarification that it is a specimen of advanced age.
- Internal names:
BIGKINGCHAPPY.KINGCHAPPYis the internal name of the Emperor Bulblax, so the "big" is added to distinguish the two, as the Sovereign Bulblax is much bigger. - Prerelease: None.
Names in other languages
| Language | Name | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
 Japanese |
コウテイデメマダラ? Kōtei Deme Madara |
Emperor Spotted Bug-eye | |
 Chinese(traditional) |
皇帝凸眼斑蟲 Huángdì Tūyǎn Bān Chóng |
Emperor Bug-Eyed Spotted Bug | |
 Chinese(simplified) |
皇帝凸眼斑虫 Huángdì Tūyǎn Bān Chóng |
Emperor Bug-Eyed Spotted Bug | |
 Dutch |
Opperbulblax | Supreme bulblax | |
 French |
Empereur Bulblax Empereur bulblax (Pikmin 4) |
Bulblax Emperor Bulblax emperor (Pikmin 4) |
|
 German |
König Knollenauge | King Bulb-Eye | |
 Italian |
Bulbico Supremo Bulbico supremo (Pikmin 4) |
Supreme Bulblax Supreme bulblax (Pikmin 4) |
|
 Korean |
황제툭눈점박이 Hwangje-Tug-Nunjeom-Bag'i |
Spotted Emperor | |
 Portuguese |
Bulbolhão-imperial | Imperial big bulbeye | "Bulbolhão" is the masculine augmentative form of "Bulbolho", the Brazilian Portuguese name for Bulborb "Bulbolhão" also sounds close to "bobalhão" (a childish slang that means "silly" or "stupid", masculine form of "bobalhona") |
 Spanish |
Bulbo Imperial | Imperial Bulborb | "Bulbo" is the Spanish name for Bulborb |
Gallery
A burrowed Sovereign Bulblax.
The face of a Sovereign Bulblax.
The mossy and rocky backside of a Sovereign Bulblax.
A frozen Sovereign Bulblax.
A Sovereign Bulblax using its tongue to eat Pikpik carrots
A Sovereign Bulblax that has been stunned by eating a bomb rock.
A Sovereign Bulblax mid-jump.
Boulders falling after a Sovereign Bulblax jumps.
A Sovereign Bulblax roaring.
A defeated Sovereign Bulblax in the Piklopedia.
A defeated Sovereign Bulblax from a different angle.
A Sovereign Bulblax hiding in the Olimar's Shipwreck Tale version of The Sand Keep.
A Sovereign Bulblax rising out of the ground.
A Sovereign Bulblax after being awakened in Serene Shores.
A Sovereign Bulblax being attacked by Red Pikmin after being stunned by eating a bomb rock.
A Sovereign Bulblax roaring after it gets up from the stun.
A Sovereign Bulblax while landing from a jump attack.
A Sovereign Bulblax immediately after its defeat.
A Sovereign Bulblax in Giant's Hearth directly after eating a bomb rock.
Trivia
- See also: Emperor Bulblax#Trivia.
- It's possible that the name Sovereign Bulblax can be retroactively attributed to the large Emperor Bulblax encountered in Pikmin.
- Both are roughly the same size and feature the same tall vegetation on their backs, along with crushing prey with high leaps. Both are also only ever encountered on their own rather in packs. The Emperor Bulblax from Hey! Pikmin could also potentially count as one, as it shares all of these traits as well.
- The Sovereign Bulblaxes in Pikmin 4 also shares an odd quirk with the one found in Pikmin, in that it will not make any attempt to crush a leader underneath itself, only hopping if Pikmin are below it.
- In French, the Emperor Bulblax is named the King Bulblax in Pikmin 2, but are still named Emperor Bulblax in Pikmin. In Pikmin 4 this trait is carried over, with the small Bulblax being named King Bulblax, and the large Bulblax being named Emperor Bulblax, making the French release of Pikmin 2 the first game to distinguish between the two Bulblaxes.
