| Empress Bulblax | |
|---|---|
| File:Empressblublax.jpg | |
| 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 | Squashes Pikmin Causes boulders to fall Births larvae |
The Empress Bulblax (クイーンチャッピー) is a boss in Pikmin 2. It is possible to surmise that this creature can mate with the Emperor Bulblax. The Empress Bulblax most closely resembles a regular Red Bulborb that has swollen beyond regular proportions. In the Piklopedia, this creature sleeps and cannot be woken up. It is pink with white spots.
The Empress Bulblax makes few appearances in the game: it is located on the last sublevel (5) of Hole of Beasts, last 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."
Nintendo Player's Guide
"The rolling wonder squashes Pikmin and its own larvae. Attack one end of the creature by tossing a small group of purples at it, but call the off to your pilot's side before it shakes them off. If they are thrown off, they may land near the creature's rolling midsection."
Strategy
To defeat this enemy, throw (preferably Purple) Pikmin onto her face and call them back before she throws them off. After shaking Pikmin off, the boss rolls from side to side across the chamber in an attempt to crush her aggressors, smashing into walls, and making rocks fall from the ceiling in a few encounters in the game. Although risky, the Bulblax can be petrified if the spray is released on the middle of her elongated torso.
The Empress Bulblax is one of the few bosses that can vary depending on where the player encounters her: 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 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, 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 start 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 as the same as the Frontier Cavern fight, but trapping the larvae is near 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.
During the fights with the Bulborb Larvae, it is suggested that a captain should distract the larvae, preferably at full health and with the Metal Suit Z obtained, as the larvae can deal a lot of damage otherwise.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the Empress Bulblax appears as a randomly occuring trophy.
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
- Empress Bulblax beta.jpg
The Empress Bulblax being awakened.
- 112.jpg
The Empress being attacked by Purple Pikmin in the Hole of Beasts.
- Bulborb larvae army and empress bulbaxes thing..png
Empress Bulbax in the Frontier Cavern with many Bulborb Larvae.
A high quality screenshot of the Empress Bulblax.
The spoils of the Empress Bulblax.
The Emperess Bulblax with her army of Bulborb Larvae.
Trivia
- The Empress Bulblax makes a cameo appearance in the game WarioWare: Smooth Moves, where the player must tilt the Wii-Remote to squish the Pikmin.
- The Empress Bulblax is one of the only enemies in the Piklopedia whose attacks cannot be activated. The others are the Titan Dweevil, the Ranging Bloyster, and the Segmented Crawbster.
- The Empress Bulblax is the only member of the Grub-dog family that does not kill Pikmin by eating them.
- The Empress Bulblax gives live birth to its larval-form offspring. This is not only unique to the Pikmin franchise, but also to Earth lifeforms.
- Oddly, it's offspring, Bulborb Larva, doesn't share the same scientific name. That's one of a few taxonomy rules the Pikmin franchise breaks.
- The Empress Bulblax's scientific name, Oculus matriarcha, translates into 'Eye Matriarch'. Oculus translates into eye, and matriarcha is similar to matriarch, referring to its title of "Empress".
- In some caverns, if you look where below where the Research Pod is, you'll see what appears to be skin shed by the Empress Bulblax.
- In an earlier version of the Pikmin 2, the Empress Bulblax is called the "Queen Bulborb."