Spotty Bulborb In-game icon.
Artwork of a Spotty Bulborb.
Appears in Pikmin
Scientific name Oculus kageyamii russus
Oculus kageyamii (Pikmin Player's Guide)
Family Grub-dog
Areas The Forest of Hope
Challenge Mode stages The Forest of Hope, The Distant Spring
Attacks Eat Pikmin
This article is about the red grub-dog. For other uses, see Bulborb (disambiguation).

The Bulborb (チャッピー?, lit.: "Chappy"), called the Spotty Bulborb in Pikmin and the Red Bulborb (アカチャッピー?, lit.: "Red Chappy") in Pikmin 2, is a common enemy in the Pikmin series. 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 Hey! Pikmin, 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 during the night. They are often found sleeping near Dwarf Bulborbs, which are actually members of a different species.

Stats

Game Weight Max.
carriers
Seeds Value Health Regen.
  10 20 12 N/A 1100 Yes, unknown how much
  10 20 12   × 7 750 No
  (?) 10 20 (normally) 10   × 50
  × 50
1000 No
  10 20 10 (5 glow pellets)   × 10 1000 No
  N/A N/A N/A   × 0 Unknown Unknown

Behavior

 
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 attacked. However, Dwarf Bulborbs and Dwarf Bulbears in Pikmin will let out a screech when agitated, awakening any nearby Bulborbs. An object being carried adjacent to a Bulborb can also wake up the enemy.

Once awake, they become aggressive, and will run towards nearby Pikmin and lunge at them to try and eat them. If it manages to catch any Pikmin, it will stand up and eat them; otherwise it will trip then try again. If there are a lot of Pikmin attacking it at once, it will shake them off and then start trying to eat again. If their eyestalks are attacked, they will panic and break off whatever they are doing to shake away their assailants.

Bulborbs behave very differently in Hey! Pikmin, 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 Pikmin 4s Night expeditions, 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.

Locations

See: Bulborb/Locations

Strategy

The following article or section contains guides.
The strategies shown are just suggestions.

 
Artwork of several Pikmin attacking a Spotty Bulborb.

Swarming 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 thrown 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-rocks 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.

Technical information

Pikmin technical information (?)
Internal name swallow
HP 1100

Other information

Gallery

See more: Bulborb images category.