Reviewing Monsters - Pikmin 3, Part 1

So it took me almost until Pikmn 4 is out before I actually finish this, huh? 

Anyway, I first reviewed the monsters for the first Pikmin game in... jeez, 2020? Where has all the time gone? Special thanks to one of our comnentors RJ, who basically reminded me that I needed to do this. And so here's the review for the creatures of Pikmin 3! I had planned to do this after I finished the game, but I severely underestimated the amount of time it would take for me to finish Persona 5 and Final Fantasy XII (I haven't even gotten started on FFXII!)

I reread my own reviews of Pikmin and Pikmin 2 to re-familiarize myself with the designs in this game and fell in love all over again with the wacky bestiary. Honestly, the fact that they all have latin scientific names is easily my favourite part of this franchise!

The story of Pikimn 3 has a couple of paths. The main story follows the three (get it, Pikmin 3) explorers Alph, Brittany and Charlie to find a food source to help solve a food famine. The three have to work together with their respective Pikmin buddies to fix their starship. We also get the return of the gastronomically hungry Louie from Pikmin 2, as well as Olimar himself. 

And while it's already apparent in the first two games that these 'encyclopedia' entries in-game are actually written in-character by Olimar and Louie, I do really like that even with five protagonists, they still find a way to make the descriptions match their personalities. Olimar returns with the more wordy, full-Pokedex-entry speech, and Louie still wants to cook and eat everything. Alph, meanwhile, is more pragmatic and lists their weaknesses, weights and their defense mechanisms. Brittany's a bit more focused on their physical appearance, and Charlie's a hot-blooded lunatic. I have no idea who these characters are, but I do like that their comments do give a fair amount of personality to them!

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Since we covered them before, we'll acknowledge but not cover these monsters: Bulborb, Dwarf Bulborb, Orange Bulborb, Dwarf Orange Bulborb, Spotty Bulbear, Dwarf Bulbear, Fiery Blowhog, Watery Blowhog, Skitter Leaf, Armored Cannon Larva, Female Sheargrub, Male Sheargrub, Shearwig, Swooping Snitchbug, Iridiscent Flint Beetle, Burrowing Snagret, Yellow Wollywog, Wogpole, Water Dumple, Toady Bloyster, Hermit Crawmad, Puffy Blowhog, 

Whiptongue Bulborb (Oculus longolingua)

It is inevitable that a Pikmin game gives us another Bulborb variation, yes? The Whiptongue Bulborb (you know it's a 'true' Bulborb and not a Breadbug 'dwarf' mimic by its genus name, Oculus) has a pretty standard-looking body plan for one of these things, with a butt that has spotted markings. Instead of a giant maw, the Whiptongue has a snout and it's especially clear in that one art that this Whiptongue Bulborb is meant to be some sort of an animal that preys on our poor Pikmin buddies like an anteater. It's a pretty interesting variation, and even the in-game lore notes that the Whiptongue has only recently been properly classified as part of the Oculus genus. 

Interestingly, one of the main characters Brittany expresses confusion that there isn't a 'smaller version' of this guy -- referring to the Dwarf Bulborbs that the game's flavour text tells us are mimic creatures from other genuses... and my guess is that the Pansarus genus simply isn't able to evolve enough to mimic the whip-tongue properly. According to Olimar's notes (we'll be referring to his more speculative-evolution remarks the most, I think) the Whiptongue has evolved its long tongue to snatch prey that are drawn to high-blooming flowers. 

Desiccated Skitter Leaf (Rus mortifeuillea)

We met the regular 'Skitter Leaf' in Pikmin 2, where it's a fusion between the aesthetics of a leaf insect and the behaviour and movements of a pond-skater -- a fact that's made much more explicit by its Japanese name. What a great look, with the mottled and bug-eaten main body leaf, and it's clear that those giant arms function like the raptorial legs of a praying mantis. There's also the colouration -- the autumn colours and the red bug-eyes really do make this guy look pretty threatening!

The Desiccated Skitter Leaf hides around in areas infested with leaves that resemble them, and gobble up your Pikmin. This makes the behaviour of camouflage be more in line with carnivorous ones like the flower praying mantis as opposed to real leaf insects that use camouflage to hide from predators. Olimar notes that the camouflage is twofold, however -- the leaf litter camouflage also causes scavengers to accidentally carry its eggs, allowing the species to spread its population over a larger terrain. Phoresis! 

According to Alph, "When you see a lone green leaf on the ground, that's suspicious. But a lone dead leaf? Nobody looks twice at those. Very well thought out.” ...which technically is true? I mean, I see a lot of green and dead leaves on the ground all the time when I walk near trees, but I guess a dead leaf is less suspicious? As Charlie notes, "the only defense is to treat every dead leaf you see as a mortal threat!"

Arctic Cannon Larva (Granitus frostitum)

We saw the Armoured Cannon Larva in Pikmin 2, and they are the larval stage of one of the bosses in the first Pikmin game. This one is an ice-themed variant that shoots snowballs instead of rock balls, and because of cartoon physics, instead of squishing Pikmin flat, the snowballs will roll them around, Looney Tunes style, and pick up any other Pikmin on its way. The game explains that the Arctic Cannon Larva's internal bacteria and pressurized internal fluids are specialized to transform moisture into ice compounds, which explains how these creatures are able to create snowballs despite the lack of outside cold temperatures. 

It's ultimately just a reskin, but our captains are rather taken with this. Alph is excited at the design of the 'nonlethal weapon', Brittany tried to have fun with being stuck in the snowball, Charlie practices fancy footwork to avoid the snowballs, and Louie, of course, makes some raw meat sashimi with the bug's flesh and dessert with the snowballs. 

White Spectralids (Fenestari albaprismatus)

Pikmin 2 features Unmarked Spectralids as 'flavour' animals, but they all graduated into being adversaries in this game. What a fun little design, too! The typical butterfly wings are maintained, but the body is such a fun deviation from what we'd normally consider a butterfly! These guys are called the 'Flutterbie' family, and are part of the genus 'Fenestari'. A massive, fuzzy central body isn't too out of place with some moths, but instead of a regular lepidopteran head, the Spectralid's got two gigantic snail-like eyestalks, and it's got little bird-talons! Fun! Olimar notes that the White Spectralids often just sticks around to its own habitat, only moving out to forage or to escape from predators.

Most of our captains are actually taken to this otherwise non-harmless creature, and even gung-ho Charlie doesn't have the heart to use his steely-fists to punch it. Except for Louie, of course, who cooks the bodies and seems to make tempura out of the thing. 

Yellow Spectralid (Fenestari jaunoprismatus)

We've got a couple more Spectralids, with this pretty yellow one. I don't know too much about butterfly identification, but the markings on all three Spectralids in this game do look like they're directly inspired by real-world butterflies! It is a pretty yellow critter, and it's got those eye-spots so commonly found on many real-life butterflies. 

Interestingly, Olimar notes that the yellow and red spectralids can crossbreed, with a 25% chance of inheriting the yellow spectralids' spots on orange wings. Olimar wonders if it counts as a new 'subspecies', but since the two spectralids can interbreed it really would count more of expressed phenotypes or like dog breeds or something instead of a proper 'subspecies', wouldn't it?

Red Spectralids (Fenestrati russoprismatus)

Our last Spectralid is the Red Spectralid, which are bright red with multiple little spots. Again, not much to say that I haven't spoken with the previous two entries. It looks like a fun crossbreed between a butterfly, a snail and a bird, but it still looks like a 'butterfly' at the end of the day. Apparently it carries 'ultra spicy' nectar, however the heck that works! Nectar is supposed to be sweet, right? 

Olimar does provide an explanation, however! He explains that the butterfly's wing scales contains ultra-spicy flakes, which are mixed into the nectar that it's sucking up from flower. The combination of saliva, nectar and these flakes end up transforming into Ultra-Spicy Nectar, which the Red Spectralid uses for growth supplements for its eggs. Unfortunately, like what happens with a lot of real-world creatures, this unique behaviour ends up causing the Red Spectralids and its ultra-spicy nectar to fetch a high price among collectors. 

Joustmite (Trilobitins reversa)

A relative of the Trilobitins genus, the 'Cloaking Burrow-nit', the Joustmite works more similarly to Zelda's Hiploops -- with a heavily-armoured frontal section and an exposed rear segment. If you need a refresher, the Burrow-nit is an interesting creature where its back is protected by a heavy shell and its front is an exposed blood-sucking mouthpart. Get it? It's a Trilobitins reversa, since the shell is reversed! I'm struggling to think of an insect that behaves similarly to this, normally these carapaces cover up the insect's entire dorsal side. I do like the design, though. The Joustmite retains its Burrow-nit cousins' giant eyespots on the colourful carapace, while you can see the little blood-sucking proboscis poking out of the 'head' of the front end of the creature. 

Olimar notes that these parts are more like 'shells' than strictly carapaces, since the Joustmite can 'wear' these shells. Do these things function more like hermit crabs instead, then? The Joustmite also apparently has atrophied wings, causing them to burrow into the ground and acting as ambush predators to stab and suck fluids from its prey. The larval stage apparently remain underground for years and decades, something that many insects like cicadas and beetles do! The mention about wings is a foreshadowing to the next species. 

Flighty Joustmite (Trilobitins reversa volanti)

With a slightly altered shell that has a much more contrasting eyespot, the Flighty Joustmite is able to fly! And... I love just how comical this thing looks. It's just got a pair of tiny little wings jutting out from the end of its rather large visible thorax (?) that is somehow able to support its entire body weight, shell and all! 

Like the regular Joustmite, this thing has an impenetrable front, and a weak grubby abdomen. Like many flying enemies in video games, however, the Flighty Joustmite will do a charge attack and get stuck when it charges in and misses. Olimar notes that despite being able to fly, it still makes its habitat below ground and still acts as an ambush predator. It makes sense if it still has the adaptations that the regular Joustmite and Burrow-nits have, though, since presumably it's just a species that hasn't bred out the usage of wings, but are otherwise entirely adapted to the ecological niche that the regular Joustmite has. Apparently, the helmet of these Trilobitins are hard due to waxy secretions that can absorb and redirect any shock. Is that how it works? 

Swarming Sheargrub (Himeagea turba)

A variant of another classic enemy, the Swarming Sheargrub is a variation of the Female Sheargrub that has red eyes and a greener skin. The game explicitly identifies this as a different species than the Male and Female Sheargrubs, though, which are Himeagea mandibulosa. Olimar explicitly classifies them as a completely different creature whose entire life cycle is aboveground, and they are pack hunters. The Swarmers move around at a high speed, and while they don't physically attack Pikmin, they move around in such great numbers and speed that sometimes bowl and carry Pikmin away with them. They also grow quickly if they manage to feed, and there's a game mechanic that causes them to slow down your Pikmin depending on how fat they are. 

Our heroes note that these Swarming Sheargrubs are very weak, but their sheer number as they forage for fruit and nectar (things you need!) will cause your Pikmin army to get separated as they chase the tiny little bugs. Charlie likens this to 'cutting off an enemy's supply lines', and this is what the Swarming Sheargrubs do -- they just cause a lot of chaos for your supply lines, sucking up your nectar, weighing down your items, and causing the clueless Pikmin to get lost. 

Skutterchuck (Hierodeciderit crystallosum)

Oh! An adorable one, even if I'm not sure how the anatomy of this works. The texturing on this one looks pretty cool, reminding me of a scorpion's claws, and in fact this guy's entire body looks like the claws of a scorpion held together. Except it's actually the whole thing's body, which is somehow, thanks to evolution, turned into the shape of a catapult or something. There are some bits of anatomy that marks this as being an arthropod, like the antennae and those hairy legs, but it is really bizarre to look at how it's balancing itself like that with the legs pointing backwards. Identified as a member of the 'heavil' family, I guess it's meant to be a 'weevil'? Even though we already have those Dweevils in Pikmin 2 (none of which make a reappearance here, surprisingly), and there really isn't much to make this look like a weevil. 

It's notable that other than launching the crystals on its back, this thing is apparently completely defenseless and is otherwise a moss-grazing herbivore, and only does its rock-chucking behaviour if it's in danger. Interestingly, in a bit of a symbiosis, the Skutterchuck ends up sharing habitat with the larva of the Calcified Crushblat, which we'll talk about later on -- that symbiosis is what makes the fact that this thing is somehow adapted to throw identical calcified rock all the time believable, to to speak. Charlie and Alph's comments both note some sort of strategy to beat it, with Charlie being particularly enthusiastic about getting Skutterchucks to chuck their crystal loads at each other. 

Phosbat (Tectupervus pteromys)

Huh! When I first saw the image for this one, I thought it's another Bulborb variant, and it does have a somewhat similar silhouette... but it's actually a 'Phosbat'! It's kind of weird, but I do see that this thing has rudimentary wing-looking structures on its back, and the raggedy black fur does bring to mind a bat or a rat of some sort. Those bulging eyes really doesn't look comfortable smack-dab inside that mass of spiky hair, though! The game classifies them under the 'Aerodentia' family, which is such a great punny name that describes a bat perfectly!

The Phosbat will only live in dark environments, and like vampires, they will take damage if they are exposed to light -- including if your Pikmin manage to activate some of the luminescent fungi in the cave. This creature turns out to be the juvenile stage of the actual adult -- which acts as a boss that we'll cover much later on. Olimar and Alph are both surprised at just how light-sensitive these creatures are that even glowing mushrooms can blow it up. Olimar notes that the chromatophore excretions that they use for camouflage are extremely overwhelming on the young infant form, and causes apoptosis (cell destruction) in excessive amounts. Olimar also notes that his own lamps do not cause this cell destruction on the poor bat babies, theorizing that only specific wavelengths can cause these strange chemicals to rupture. 

Phosbat Pod (Tectupervus pteromys)

A pretty typical video game monster trope, the Phosbats 'spawn' from Phosbat Pods, which do get their own entry so I'll talk about them here. The Pods are obviously static and do not move, and are also weak to light -- closing up if you manage to shine a light on it. These pods are described by the in-game characters as something more like 'egg sacs', and will cause the eggs within to hatch... but will stop the birthing of new Phosbats if there is a certain density of Phosbat pheromones in the air, which would deter an effective sustainable level of Phosbats running around. That's... that's actually pretty cool! I don't think any specific eggs in real life do that (though I'm happy to be proven wrong), but I do know that there are some types of aphids that will release pheromones for the next generation to grow wings if the population density is a bit too high or if the conditions are not favourable, allowing the next generation to fly off elsewhere. 

Pyroclasmic Slooch (Sulucina vulcanis)

Okay, a slug made entirely of a substance that resembles rippling, half-cooled magma. The black-and-bright-yellow going down in ripples do make for a pretty cool visual image, and you can see certain bits of anatomy -- two 'tendril'-like whiskers and a rather interesting head that brings to mind a volcano, but is more of a single eyestalk that splits into two at the terminal end. 

What a name, too. Pyroclasmic Slooch! It slooches around and leaves behind a trail of burning slime, a neat gag on how slugs and snails in real life leave behind icky secretions. I don't think these guys do have a proper explanation about how it creates fire, and Olimar explains more about how it's not hurt by its own fire -- there's a constant secretion of mucus that separates the fire aura and its own skin, but... but where does the fire come from? The Slooches also have an instinctive ability to apparently avoid causing forest fires, since it knows how to avoid plants. 

Bearded Amprat (Porcellus barbavolta)

And our last creature on this page is going to be the Bearded Amprat. I don't really remember seeing a 'common' enemy that's explicitly a mammal? I don't know why I'm so weirded out by having a guy that's 90% just a rat, and the remaining 10% is the big-ass smashing mustache that takes up almost the entirety of its face. It's also got no ears, which I think is what makes this design feel so off to me compared to a regular rodent. What a creepy set of feet, too, when you really look at it. The rest of the Amprat has a typical, classic white-and-brown guinea pig colouration, but the tips of his legs are mottled green. 

We've had electricity-generating ladybugs in the previous games, but now we've got a creepy shaggy rat that can generate electricity, which Olimar notes is through the massive chunk of hair on its face acting as a 'capacitor'. It basically generates electricity via static electricity from the hair, which is kind of some ridiculous video-game logic, but then again the Pikmin, the captains and all the other monsters are tiny enough that the static electricity generated by this thing might just be realistically zappy for them? I guess this is a more 'speculative biology' electric rat than Pikachu is? 

And also, yes, Olimar notes just how weird the Amprat is, with 'qualities unique to this ecosystem', which is explicitly noted as 'breastfeeding its young'. I love that so much of this game's bestiary (other than the utter weirdoes like the Mamuta) have been invertebrates. Even the few vertebrates that we've seen have been the taxonomically-weird Bulborbs and Breadbugs, as well as the snake-bird that is the Snagret. This 'Numbouse' is our first real mammal, and our heroes are baffled by it!

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...and yeah, this is the first of probably three monster reviews about the bestiary of Pikmin 3. Again, I reiterate... I've never played a Pikmin game in my life, and have only seen playthroughs of it. Yet I am charmed by its bestiary nonetheless!