Reviewing Monsters: Pikmin

Pikmin!

A reader last year suggested Pikmin as a game that I could do a "Reviewing Monsters" bit for... and I know scant little of the game. I played a little bit of the original game, where you play as an astronaut who crashes on an alien planet, and have to scavenge parts of the ship before the toxic atmosphere overwhelms him. To this end he ends up befriending local plant-creatures called the Pikmin, which are all adorable and stuff... and I didn't really end up playing too much of it before my Wii broke down. Basically it's a bit of a combination of a resource management, real-time strategy and puzzle game, where you have 30 in-game days (each day lasts around 20 minutes) to explore the strange planet with your Pikmin buddies in tow to gather all the ship parts and not lose them to the monsters that wander the world.

I know kinda-sorta enough of the game to get an idea what the gameplay is like, but it's been a long while since I played it. I do think that it's going to be an interesting experiment, though, to just go into a monster review 'blind', just going to the game Wiki and just going through the list of monsters and reviewing them from there with zero knowledge on what the real lore of the game or how these monsters function as game enemies or whatnot, so enjoy my completely blind review of these creatures!


Spotted Bulborb/Red Bulborb (Oculus kageyamii russus)
So as I gather, these "Bulborbs" are the more common enemies for our happy little alien plant-sprites They are iconic enough to show up in the cover gobbling up the adorable little Pikmin, so... probably? It's a simple enough monster design, looking like the whimsical thing that a kid would design as a cutesy monster creature, and I mean that as a complement. The Red Bulborb (originally named Spotted Bulborb in the first Pikmin game) is nothing more than a huge maw with tiny chicken-feet and slug stalk-eyes with googly eyes, and apparently the monsters in Pikmin have scientific Latin names -- Oculus kageyamii russus in this critter's case. I absolutely love games that take the time to do this!

There's really not much to say here, it's a pretty neat, simple monster with a simple behaviour -- these fuckers feed on small animals returning to their nests at night, and unfortunately for our main character Olimar, this means that the Bulborbs will be chomping down on your poor little Pikmin. Their weak point are their tiny chicken-legs or their rear, which... kind of makes sense since this thing is basically a big walking mouth.

Since I'm working off of Wiki pages, I'm just basically reading through the "notes" segment of the four Pikmin games, and the Spotted/Red Bulborb's lore has been expanded in the next couple of games, and the pokedex-equivalent in the Pikmin world seems to be some sort of zoology notebook. Extremely charming! The Bulborb is noted to be part of the "Grub Dog" family, which... okay, so it's fusion between a worm and a dog? And at some point in the series, Olimar develops a taste for eating the enemies. He ends up realizing that Bulborbs are "best spit-roasted whole, stuffed with lime and a slab of bacon".

Dwarf Red Bulborb (Pansarus pseudooculii russus) & 
Oh, hey, it's a smaller Red Bulborb. Except... it's not a Bulborb, as its scientific name will tell you. Pansarus pseudoocculii russus is a dang mimic! It's a pseudo-red-Bulborb! They perfectly resemble the Red Bulborbs, except they're smaller with more chibi-esque proportions. But despite their name, they aren't actually Bulborbs, but are Breadbugs -- a creature we'll cover later. It's kind of neat that apparently the larval stage of another species have grown to mimic the appearance of a different creature, an adaptation that is done by many real-life species! That's such a cool little detail that they didn't have to do, but it's like the Mullerian mimicry where the non-venomous scarlet king snakes have similar markings to the very poisonous coral snakes to deter predators. 

Unlike most real-life mimics, though, these Dwarf Red Bulborbs actually co-mingle with the larger, more dangerous creatures they mimic, with the Dwarf Bulborbs hanging out with their larger Red Bulborb counterparts. These guys are kind of weak, and if you toss a Pikmin to knock it down to the ground, they will scream and summon the bigger Red Bulborbs to the area. I guess that's a sort of symbiosis, there the Dwarf Bulborbs end up acting like a watchdog or spotter to the Bulborb colony or something?


Breadbug (Pansarus gluttonae)
A closer relative to the Dwarf Red Bulborb is the Breadbug, which is a vague creature with a similar body layout to the Bulborb, but with a weird shell around its rear part that resembles bread rolls. And also it has glowing blue eyes. Unlike the Bulborbs, which will swallow and munch on Pikmin, the Breadbugs are more of an annoyance. The in-game texts identify these guys as scaengers that simply compete with many of the same resources that the Pikmin do. The Breadbugs won't devour your Pikmin, but will drag them or the treasures you're looking for into their lair. The Breadbug is a far more defensive creature thanks to its bread hide. I'm not sure how combat even works in these games, but that's what the in-universe flavour text tells me!



Spotty Bulbear (Oculus terribilis dotticum) & Dwarf Bulbear (Oculus terriblis)
The larger cousin (they're part of the same Oculus genus!) of the Red Bulborb is the Bulbear, which is basically the bear equivalent in the ecosystem of Pikmin. It still has the same body layout that the Bulborbs and the Breadbugs have, but it has thicker, disturbingly human-like lips and nostrils, and have colouration that's meant to be evocative of a bear. It's noted that these Bulbears are far more aggressive, devouring Pikmin more quickly and more ravenously. They're also often accompanied by a swarm of Dwarf Bulbears that sort of feed off of its leftovers. Like bears, they like to sleep in their lairs. The game lore also notes that the Bulbears patrol and actively hunt for prey, compared to the more passive Bulborbs that just attack smaller creatures that wander into a territorial range. I do like all of these random little details about these creatures' biology and behaviour, and it seems like these random details I'm reading about in the Wiki is probably relevant to how the in-game enemy behaves.

Unlike the Dwarf Red Bulborbs, the Dwarf Bulbears are actual juvenile Bulbears. It's neat, and they basically just hang out around the bigger Bulbears, practicing patrolling a route until they can figure one out on their own. The Wiki seems undecided on whether the Dwarf Bulbear is another Breadbug mimic or a juvenile Bulbear, but all of the in-game texts and the scientific name identify the Dwarf Bulbear as indeed being a Bulbear, part of the Oculus genus.


Water Dumple (Ichthyosa felinis)
Despite its common name being the "Water Dumple", this creature is apparently a relative to the Bulborb that have evolved to live in an aquatic lifestyle and... it sure is a strange creature! I would call bullshit, but then again whales are mammalians, so it's not too far off, I guess! It's like this huge slime-like blob with slug feet on its back a whale-like maw, no eyes, and a lot of purple scales that presumably is why its scientific name is Ichthyosa. It's a pretty neat-looking, if creepy, enemy, and I'm not even sure what part of this is meant to be felinis. It's a weird blobfish-slug-cat thing? They behave like the Bulborb, except they can also move around in aquatic areas. It's very interesting how all of the Pikmin games note that these Water Dumples are close relatives to the Bulborb as proven by the skeletal structures, evolutionary pathways and whatnot. Kind of a strange critter, but a pretty neat one.


Wogpole & Yellow Wollywog (Amphicaris frodendum)
Wogpoles are... little stylized tadpoles! They're apparently completely harmless, just flopping around harmlessly on land and serve as food for your Pikmin. Because your Pikmin are plant creatures, and I suppose killing animals and then using their corpses as compost is a neat showcase of the circle of live or whatever. Wogpoles are kind of just there, and they remind me of a more froggy version of the Pokemon Tympole with a spherical head and two large eyes on either side of the head.

Their adult stage, the Yellow Wollywog, is an adorable stylized mouthless frog-monster, with a huge chunky bus-like body, adorably large eyes and teeny-tiny frog legs, and it's got a neat orange/yellow-green colour scheme that just looks neat... I dunno. I just really like this take on making a frog monster. It's still unmistakably a frog, but it's just got such a bizarre set of proportions! Their Japanese name is literally "Potato Frog", which is even funnier. They jump around and attempt to squish Pikmin if they get too close, and they can temporarily float in the air. Interestingly, unlike real frogs and toads, the Wollywogs in their adult stage are completely terrestrial, being unable to swim and can only jump around.


Wollywog (Amphicaris albino)
Interestingly the version of the Wollywog that doesn't need a colour identifier is the Amphicaris albino, the albino Wollywog, and this one has a far more frog-shaped body layout, although the feet are still too tiny for its body, its eyes too large and it still doesn't have a mouth. Being an albino creature, these Wollywogs live in subterranean caves and whatnot, and it's a nice nod to how a lot of real-world subterranean creatures have evolved to have albino-like coloration. Hell, one of the in-game lore bits even specifically uses the term 'troglodytic', which I love! Not much to say here, I just like that there are different variants of a creature adapted to different parts of the terrain.



Iridescent Flint Beetle (Pilli envelopens)
The Iridescent Flint Beetle is sure a funky-looking animal, going from a watermelon with two stalk-like eyes and four legs to the far more elaborate design seen in the newer games, seemingly based on one of those colourful domed beetles. I do like that despite having a pretty bug-like appearance, the Iridescent Flint Beetle still looks pretty bizarrely alien with an almost metallic quality to its lower body, as well as the almost comical eyeballs attached to its eyestalks. The newer design is sure dang pretty! 

The Flint Beetle is actually not a harmful creature, and is basically something you love to find -- unable to harm you, but will drop loot if you toss Pikmin onto it, flavoured as the Flint Beetle dropping all of the pellets it stores in its stomach that's apparently its hibernation stockpile. You don't actually kill the Flint Beetle, thankfully, since it has a real tough shell. You just scare it enough into dropping its hard-earned loot that it was planning to store for winter and claim it for your own, presumably leaving the Flint Beetle to cry and mourn the fact that it's going to starve to death in the coming winter, you monster.


Female & Male Sheargrub (Himeagea mandibulosa)
The Sheargrubs are little insects that look like a cross between a real-world maggot and a real-world beetle larva, and unlike the Bulborbs, they are more of an annoyance than a threat. The Female Sheargrubs have the pinky-white colour of maggots, and they are scavengers that never attack your Pikmin, just burst out of the ground, chase them and scare them around, and they will fuck up some of the bridges that your Pikmin build. According to the in-game notes, these creatures aren't actually larval stages of a larger beetle-like animal, but are instead insectoid animals that have regressed and lost wings and legs as part of evolution. Interesting.

The male versions of the species are purple, have larger fangs and an armoured... abdomen? The males are predatory and aggrsesive, and will attack the Pikmin, in addition to destroying structures and whatnot. Their Japanese name is ujinko, a pun on maggot (uji) and parrot (inko), although there's not a whole ton of 'parrot' in their design. Mostly, I do like them for being chunky, cute little bug enemies.


Shearwig (Himeagea volaris)
The Shearwig is part of the same Himeagea family that the Sheargrubs are from, but its from a completely different species -- it's an interesting thing to do, most games wouldn't be able to resist making the Shearwig as an adult, flying form of the Sheargrub. The Shearwigs we see in the game are apparently only the male variety, as the game lore establishes that all of the female ones live underground, like cicada larvae or something. 

The Shearwigs are pretty neat and there's something just extra whimsical about the teeny-tiny malproportioned wings that seem to pinch up this fat maggot-grub up, defying all the laws of physics. It's got this armoured chitinous carapace mask covering its front half ending with a massive beak that I think opens sideways. Basically, they behave like Sheargrubs, except with the added ability to fly. Also, since their back half is just exposed maggot flesh, it's their weak point and lobbing one of your Pikmin minions there will insta-kill a Shearwig.


Swooping Snitchbug (Scarpanica kesperens)
Another insectoid enemy, the Swooping Snitchbug is part of the Scarpanica genus instead of the Himeagea, because it's not a grub-based critter. While a lot of the non-Bulborb enemies we've seen so far have been relatively down-to-earth enemies that look more like dramatizations of like, mutant maggots or frogs or whatever, the Swooping Snitchbug is the first non-Bulborb creature to look more like a weird monster. Sure it's got evidently insectoid features, but it definitely looks more like an enemy in Mega Man or Mario, being a dumpy insect abdomen with two gangly arms and a fly's head and some moth antennae slapped onto it. Its massive moth antennae double as this creature's wings, allowing it to fly around. 

Its modus operandi is to kidnap your Pikmins, swooping in and grabbing them with their gangly claws and flying off... before slamming the Pikmin back to the ground and reverting them to their sprout stage. The lore in some of the games note that the Scarpanid creatures used to live on the ground with poorly-developed wings, but eventually evolved antennae that allow them to fly. The lore also notes that the Snitchbugs apparently don't actually eat Pikmin, and will always exclusively drop them to the ground. Are the Snitchbugs just sadists? Or did they mistake the Pikmin for a different prey and toss away the captured plant-sprites in disgust when they realize they can't eat what they just snatched?


Fiery Blowhog (Sus draconus)
The Fiery Blowhog, judging by its name, is some sort of pig, but I wouldn't have guessed by looking at the picture. It's just this nondescript lumpy thing with sad eyes, four pudgy legs and a leathery, disturbing texture. And it's got a tube for a mouth, which is where the 'fiery' and 'blow' part of its name comes from, because it breathes fire. Not really a whole ton to say here, it looks like an enemy straight out of Zelda, one of those fancy Nintendo monsters that's just "okay, how do we communicate an enemy that shoots fire out of its mouth? Well, just slap a flamethrower appendage on a fat pig body I guess?" 

However, there's a neat attempt to explain just how a biological creature can breathe fire -- extra dangerous to your plant-based buddies -- and it's by expelling volatile phosphorous compounds, which are only explosive when mixed together in air. Okay! That sounds fantastical, but that's exactly what real-world Bombardier Beetles do, although their 'bombs' are more of a caustic acid than fire!


Puffy Blowhog (Sus inflata)
The other member of the Sus family, the Puffy Blowhog, which flies around by inflating itself like a goddang balloon. A bizarre combination of the Blowhog pig, seal flippers and pufferfish spines, the Puffy Blowhog... uh... sure looks trippy, like something out of Winnie the Pooh or something. It looks tasty, like it's a candy or something, but knowing nature, the bright blue and purple markings probably means it's poisonous. Being partly based on a pufferfish means that the Puffy Blowhog likes to hang out in watery areas. It uses a hydrogen gas, inhaling them with its snout and floating with it, and then expelling it through the row of blowholes on its side, which is neat! Also, it somehow generates electricity, because why not, I guess.

Honeywisp (Nektara fatuus)
A completely bizarre creature, the Honeywisp is less of an enemy and more of a walking treasure chest. It's just this tiny little ghost-like sprite carrying around a huge dollop of honey, which your Pikmin can beat up and steal from. I do really like the design of the Wisp, though, with its upside-down teardrop body, and its body being see-through, allowing us to see the little pink... internal organs? Absolutely love the fact that there are little eye-stalks (nerves?) connecting the pink eyeballs on the surface of the clear body to the internal pink body within. Are they based on Cliones? After all, it's not the first time a Nintendo game has had a creature inspired by the whimsical sea angels, although combining the visual look of a Clione with the behaviour of a honeybee is way more creative than anything Manaphy ever did. Of course, they behave like little fairy wisps, moving in and out of the trees, and the game's lore segments explain that these Honeywisps collect nectar for the larvae waiting in their nests, which is neat! The 'wispy' part of it is further emphasized by the fact that upon death, their physical structure instantly collapses, causing it to be particularly difficult to study.



Pearly Clamclamp (Lapis regrettabilis)
Okay, this one is kind of boring. It's just a giant clam with a pearl within. All of the other Pikmin enemies have been whimsically weird monsters, and even the more mundane ones like the Wogpole and Sheargrub have had some sort of a twist to them. The Pearly Clamclamp is just a clam that will chomp down on your Pikmin as they try to extract the valuable pearl as fast as possible, with the games noting that this is actually a way for them to feed, venus flytrap style. It's also not exclusively water-borne like Earth clams, because these are as likely to show up in the middle of the forest as they are in aquatic areas. That doesn't make this critter slightly more interesting, but I felt like they could've done more.


Mamuta
The Mamuta is the only enemy in Pikmin to not have a scientific name, and the only one that I can tell isn't inspired by some sort of real-life animal or plant. It's a misshappen rock-critter with cute gangly arms and googly eyes, and just kind of looks pretty bizarre. It's got thee weird runic bracers on, so is there like some sort of golem thing going on? They are just huge rock giants that sort of hang out as NPC's, I guess, able to transform one of your Pikmins into a far more valuable Flower Pikmin. There's only a single Mamuta in the entirety of the first Pikmin game, acting essentially as an NPC, but it would actually be a bit more hostile in the subsequent game, although that's more of an attempt to 'replant' Pikmin into Flower Pikmins... but woe betide you if the Mamuta decides to attack one of your 'leaders', the human astronauts you control. There's a whole lot of mystery on what Mamuta is, with the game's various protagonists noting how the Mamuta loves to plant flowers, but only for decorative properties, and also plants fruit-bearing plants to harvest seeds. It's basically a farmer rock, and I suppose these might be the creatures that cultivated the Pikmin in the first place? I mean, isn't it super convenient that the helpful plant-sprites in this world is also so readily able to be planted and farmed?

That's all for the regular enemies for Pikmin! It's pretty whimsical, and I like it, and we'll cover the bosses in a separate segment!