Bulborst

The Bulborst is an enemy appearing in Pikmin:The Return. It is a dangerous boss fought in the Dusk Den.

Appearance
In appearance the Bulborst looks like an enlarged Spotty Bulbear with red eyes and an all-black abdomen. The most notable difference is that it somehow ended up with two long butcher knives strapped to its sides! The knives point directly forward and are mainly used in offense.

Strategy
Any type of Pikmin will work, but use 20 at maximum.

The Bulborst is quite a vicious enemy. Althought it is capable of biting Pikmin or Olimar, its primary offensive weapon is charging forward while tilting its body to put the knives at ground level.

The Bulborst's eyes will "flash" before it charges, so just sit in place until he begins to charge. As soon as he does, move the to the side and avoid the attack. It will take a couple seconds to look around and try to find you. Once it spots you, it will shake to readjust its knives and then go through the charging sequence. Use the brief moments in which it looks for you to attack the rope tying the knives on.

Once you hit the rope enough, it will snap and the Bulborst will lose its knives. At this point, the Bulborst will roar and begin attacking like a Spotty Bulbear would, except with increased health, speed, and attack damage.

However, once the Bulborst reaches 50% health, it will unlock a new move. The Bulborbs will spot and appear to "cough" for a couple seconds. This time could be used to attack the Bulborst, but it is recommended you get away.

The Bulborst will cough up a big spiky ball on a chain and keep the end in its mouth. Now, whenever it spots you, it will rear back and try to slam the ball on top of you. Fast reflexes are required, but you can easily avoid it by moving to the side. Hauling the chain back will take several seconds. Use this time to attack.

At 75% health, the Bulborst will use a devastating attack, but only once. It will spin around the arena and instantly kill any pikmin and take away half the captain's life. Hide in the only ditch in the arena to avoid this. The Bulborst's chain will go flying away, making it just like an oversized Bulbear again.

Trivia
The Bulborst is the second enemy in the Pikmin series to show a human "taint" (something that indicates humans), the first being the Titan Dweevil.