Pikmin 4 brings an onslaught of big baddies
for the player to fight. Some new, some old, all with their own unique spin
that diversifies the gameplay. I'm Kyle with 1upBinge and this is
Pikmin 4 Bosses: Weak to Powerful. One thing to note before we begin
is that many of these bosses have multiple appearances and a few of them have
smaller or weaker versions. We're going to be basing these rankings on the most powerful
forms of the enemy throughout the game. With that being said, let's fly our onions
into the rankings starting from the Weakest Boss and working our way up to the Most Powerful! Cooling down our first entry is the Blizzarding
Blowhog. A larger variation of the Snowy Blowhog that essentially acts the exact same, the
Blizzarding Blowhog hardly even qualifies as a boss due to its low stats and not very strong
offense. Essentially, the Blizzarding Blowhog is has one attack, that being blowing ice at the
Pikmin which freezes them in place. With that said, the player is given ample time to unfreeze
the Pikmin making this an attack which is not that effective. The Blizzarding Blowhog's defensive
strategy is actually more deadly potentially as it will launch the Pikmin in front of it after
its regular attack. This is only an issue in certain situations though such as when a
player is in a cave with a bottomless pit. Sticking to the same family though polar
opposites in temperature, next we have the Titan Blowhog. This boss is essentially the same
as the Blizzarding Blowhog in terms of its health, size and attack pattern. The only real
difference is that the Titan Blowhog blows out fire instead of ice which, as you
may have guessed based on its higher ranking, proves to be a more effective attack. While
the Pikmin simply freeze in place when in contact with ice, fire causes them to run
around in panic, thus making them harder to retrieve. Red Pikmin are naturally resistant
to fire but the Titan Blowhog can still burn the pedals off of their head regardless, so
no Pikmin is totally immune to these beasts. Popping up next is the Bug-Eyed Crawmad. Returning
from Pikmin 3, the Bug-Eyed Crawmad is a large crustacean creature which hides away in its hole,
waiting for the player to come around. Once it spots its target, the Bug-Eyed Crawmad lunges from
the ground and can snatch up to ten Pikmin in its mouth. That sounds like a lot but the Bug-Eyed
Crawmad is pretty easy to avoid, especially if the Pikmin are attached to Otachi. Not only that
but the Bug-Eyed Crawmad has some of the lowest health out of any boss in the game. Granted, you
have to attack its eyes to flip it on its back first but even that isn't that much of a hassle
given that the eyes have pretty low health too. Moving on to another Bug-Eyed creature, the
Jumbo Bulborb is up next. Its undeniable that the Bulborb enemies are amongst the most
recognizable enemies in the Pikmin games, making frequent appearances ever since the first
entry. These creatures have many variations and with Pikmin 4 we were introduced to a new member
of the family with the Jumbo Bulborb. This boss is quite similar to the regular Bulborb except
it's bigger and a little more aggressive. Unlike the regular or Dwarf Bulborb, the Jumbo Bulborb is
never seen asleep. Instead, it prefers to patrol around looking for prey, even occasionally hiding
in vegetation waiting to ambush the player. The formidable size of this Bulborb does make it a bit
tougher than some other enemies. As long as you don't underestimate it though the Jumbo Bulborb
can be taken care of without too much trouble. As noteworthy as the Bulborb enemies are,
arguably the most iconic boss in the series is the Burrowing Snagret. Appearing in every
single mainline Pikmin game as well as a trophy in the Smash Bros series, the Burrowing Snagret
is a bird snake hybrid that emerges from the ground to pick at enemies. In Pikmin 4, Otachi
can charge at the enemy which can stun it for long enough to where it will burrow back into the
ground before attacking. However, if Otachi misses said opportunity then the Burrowing Snagret can
swallow the Pikmin pretty quickly. Much like its other incarnations from previous installments, the
Burrowing Snagret does keep players on their toes even if Otachi's powers do make it a little easier
than some of its appearances in previous games. Poking into the next spot is the Porquillion. The
first boss encountered during the game's tutorial, the Porquillion is a round enemy that shoots
out spikes at the player from four quadrants on its body. The spikes can stun or kill the Pikmin
but once all the spikes are absent from its body, the Porquillion has no offensive or defensive
measures leaving it open to being pummeled by Pikmin. The Porquillion is really slow and
its attack isn't that effective or hard to avoid. The only reason it ranks somewhat higher
than a few other enemies is due to its somewhat high health but even so, that's not enough
for us to call it a very powerful creature. Belly flopping in next is Masterhop. Much like
the Jumbo Bulborb, Masterhop is a much bigger version of a smaller enemy, this time being
the Yellow Wollyhop. As such, the Masterhop essentially acts the exact same as its smaller
counterpart, jumping up high into the air and falling on the player and their Pikmin. Rock
Pikmin are thankfully immune to being crushed, making them a good choice to go up against
these massive amphibians. Even that isn't a fool proof plan those as if the Masterhop
is on a certain surface, its massive hops can sink the ground into the water making for
another hazzard for the Pikmin to avoid. Up next, we have the OG final
boss of the Pikmin franchise, Emperor Bulblax. This creature has somewhat
of a complicated history because even though it was arguably the most powerful enemy in the
original Pikmin, Emperor Bulblax was weakened significantly for its return in Pikmin 2. The
large Grub-dog returned once again for the most recent installment where it is much closer to its
interpretation in the second game. In Pikmin 4, Emperor Bulblax has three attacks; eating the
Pikmin, crushing the Pikmin and screaming to make the Pikmin run around in a panic. They
can still be stunned if they eat bomb rocks, but on top of that, they can also be
stunned by Otachi or frozen with Ice Pikmin. Sticking to the theme of enemies that crush
Pikmin, the Waterwraith rolls in next. Fans of Pikmin 2 will recognize this large liquid
monstrosity who returns again to haunt players as they traverse down the Engulfed Castle
cave. On the first four sublevels of the cave, The Waterwraith will drop down from
the ceiling after some time passes and attempt to roll over the Pikmin, resulting
in an instant kill if successful. Attaching the Pikmin to Otachi can make this easier to
avoid than it was in Pikmin 2 but regardless, the invulnerability of the Waterwraith
still makes for a challenge if the player hasn't collected all the treasures on the sub
level. Once the final sub level is reached, the player can collect Purple Pikmin which
can turn the Waterwraith from a liquid into a solid for reasons I have yet to fully
understand. After breaking it down for a while, the Waterwraith will lose its rollers and run
around in peril, no longer being harmful to the Pikmin. Repeat the same process with the Purple
Pikmin again and the Waterwraith will be no more. Another enemy that's fond of crushing is
the Baldy Long Legs. Returning from Pikmin 3 (although sporting a new tropical look in
this game), Baldy Long Legs is a member of the large arachnorb family that have terrorized
the Pikmin many a time. They act similarly to any other member of their family, stomping around
with the only weak point on their body being their round core which is a bit out of reach
for most Pikmin (with the exception of Yellow and Winged Pikmin). The only way to attack
the Baldy Long Legs is by having the Pikmin climb up their legs to reach the core, although
they can be shaken off either by the Baldy Long Legs shaking its body or the leg that they're
on slamming onto the ground. Like many bosses, this is another one that is made easier with
Otachi as the Pikmin attaching themselves to him makes it much harder for them to get crushed.
If you make sure to gather your Pikmin up quickly after getting shaken off, your army will
mostly be safe from the Baldy Long Legs. Moving into colder territory, the Arctic Canon
Beetle is up next. A subzero variation of the Armored Canon Beetle from the first Pikmin, the
Artic Canon Beetle is a large for that attempt to suck the Pikmin into its mouth. After a
few seconds, it inhales much more intensely, revealing his weak spot on its back.
During its extended inhale session, the player must travel around to its back
and throw the Pikmin on it which is made much easier if Otachi stuns the enemy. If this is not
done quickly enough, the Artic Canon Beetle will shoot a snowball out of its mouth which can hit
a wall and cause icicles to drop on the player. The Artic Canon Beetle may be a tricky enemy
at times but we'd say its cousin the Horned Canon Beetle is even more powerful. This creature
acts somewhat similarly to its Artic counterpart, inhaling before shooting out a boulder at
the player. The difference this time around is that the Horned Canon Beetle inhales
through its blowhole instead of its mouth, so if a Pikmin is thrown into said hole, it'll
cause the boss to open up its shell and become vulnerable. The Horned Canon Beetle has more
health and shoots out a larger boulder that can actually crush Pikmin which is why we're
ranking it higher than the Artic Canon Beetle. Moving to a different family but sticking
with the shelled bosses, the Crusted Rumpup rushes in next. This is kind of a hard boss to
rank as the level of difficulty when it comes to the fight depends on how equipped you are at
that point in the game. The Crusted Rumpup is a large scorpion-looking enemy that charges at
anything that comes in its line of sight. It can eat up to five Pikmin at once and stun the
player or Otachi at the same time. The only way to defeat the Crusted Rumpup is by attaching
enough Pikmin to its tail to flip it on its back, exposing its belly. If you have Purple Pikmin
in your party this is a much easier task as it will only take two of them to flip it over
instead of fifteen. Also if you have the rush boots to avoid the charges of the creature,
this fight becomes significantly easier. Moving back the arachnorb clan, next is the
Man-at-Legs. Reprising its role from Pikmin 2, the Man-at-Legs is a a robotic variation of the
bizarre spiders which shoots at the Pikmin on sight.as usual, the player has to wait for
the Man-at-Legs to reload in order to get an opening for an attack. The Man-at-Legs
in Pikmin 4 has significantly more health than its Pikmin 2 counterpart and most of the
objects to hide from the incoming fire in this newer entry are destructible. Even so, the fight
against the Man-at-Legs in this game proves to be easier for one simple reason. Yes, we're of
course talking about Otachi who can protect the Pikmin so long as they remain attached to him.
Otachi is kind of OP if you haven't noticed. Now we have our only double ranking on this list,
those being the Puffstool and the Toxstool. The Puffstool is an enemy who has been absent from the
series ever since the first game but it came back and brought its cousin along for this newest
entry. The Puffstool and the Toxstool are two large mushrooms with legs who will run away from
the Pikmin instead of attacking them. If pursued then the creatures will let out a toxic gas which
will confuse the Pikmin in the Puffstool's case or poison them in the Toxstool's case. It’s true that
poison is deadly to the Pikmin while confusion is not but the Protagonist can get rid of poison with
a simple whistle while the Pikmin remain confused until the Puffstool is defeated. For that reason,
we think they kind of level each other out, not to mention White Pikmin are pretty
much invulnerable to the Toxstool entirely. Rolling in next is Emperor Bulblax's better half,
Empress Bulblax. Making her return from Pikmin 2, Empress Bulblax is a massive creature whose
main form of attack is rolling back and forth, crushing anything in her vicinity, including
her own children. That's another thing; later versions of this boss feature her popping
out Bulborb Larvae which also attack the Pikmin. Empress Bulblax shouldn't give you too much
issue in the first two fights so long as you stay in front of her Nd call the Pikmin
back before she starts rolling. However, the third time you face her, Empress
Bulblax is located in a very narrow hallway, making that previous strategy impossible.
This fight is one of the hardest in the game and requires either very careful planning or a
lot of items used quickly. Even at her weakest, Empress Bulblax is one of the toughest
enemies in the game, if not the series. Empress Bulblax can be attacked from the head but one enemy that makes more of an effort to hide
its weak points is the Gildemander. An adult variation of the Gildemandwee, the Gildemander is
a large lizard like creature that carries plates of fake gold on its back. It will try to eat the
Pikmin until the gold is knocked off its back, causing it to prioritize putting it back
on. As the gold falls from its back, it starts to expose its weak points which the
Pikmin can attack. The part that really makes this tricky is that the Pikmin will attack
the fallen gold on the ground instinctively, giving the Gildemander an opportunity to
swallow them up while it throws the gold back on its back. Even without the
gold the Gildemander has very high defense making for one of the tougher
enemies from a defense standpoint alone. Now we have the largest, hardest
and coolest arachnorb in the game, the Groovy Long Legs. Much like the Man-at-Legs,
the Groovy Long Legs seems to be part robot, specifically in its core which has been replaced
with a disco ball. Like almost every other arachnorb, the Groovy Long Legs stomps around and
crushes every Pikmin underneath its feet. The one difference this time around is that the Groovy
Long Legs will also spew out a mind controlling gas which causes all the Pikmin beneath it to
dance uncontrollably. As the battle continues, the Groovy Long Legs will change up
the music to a much faster paced beat, causing it to dance even faster. This is
another case where you'll want to keep your Pikmin attached to Otachi as much as possible
if they're not attacking the creature itself. The Groovy Long Legs has the second largest
single health wheel out of any boss in the game, beaten only by the Foolix. An orange
cousin of the Goolix from the first Pikmin, the Foolix ranks this high almost solely on its
high health alone. However, unlike the Goolix, the Foolix is not vulnerable to Blue Pikmin and
has an offensive strategy of stretching around to absorb any Pikmin type it can. The only way
to stun the Foolix is by having fifteen Pikmin (or two if you have Purple Pikmin) pull on its
tail which will cause the creature to explode into pieces and expose its core. This does give
the player time to attack the core but they have to be quick as the Foolix will reconstruct
itself and absorb anything in its path. We bet no one is surprised to find out that
the Smoky Progg is taking home a Medal, this time around the Bronze. We're willing to bet fans
of Pikmin 1 got some PTSD when this scary thing reared its head again in this new game. Here,
the Smoky Progg appears in nighttime levels where it hatches from an egg and slowly works its way
toward the Lumiknoll. Much like the first game, the Smoky Progg is surrounded by a deadly fog
that will kill Pikmin upon impact. On top of that, the Smoky Progg has a few new attacks such as
spitting a glowing red projectile that will create waves that will kill the Pikmin that it
hits. Ideally, you’ll have Otachi with you to jump over said waves but even then, the Smoky
Progg will occasionally release a loud roar that will cause the dog, and all Pikmin, to
run around in a panic. There is a chance to destroy the Smoky Progg’s egg before it hatches
but its quite slim and risky to do so any way you look at it, this definitely ranks as one
of the hardest creatures you’ll come across. One of the more confusing enemies to talk
about, the Sovereign Bulblax takes home the Silver Medal. Earlier we talked about
how the Emperor Bulblax had been weakened significantly since its introduction in
Pikmin 1. It turns out that the original, much more powerful Emperor Bulblax is still around
but changed its name to the Sovereign Bulblax. Pretty much everything about the smaller Emperor
Bulblax’s move set applies to the Sovereign Bulblax but the size and added health of this
beast makes it much harder to avoid its attacks. The Sovereign Bulblax also is much more agile than
its smaller counterpart, jumping high into the air and slamming down onto its opponents. Personally,
we would recommend using Purple and Red Pikmin, along with Otachi and a bunch of items, to
take this giant beast down as fast as possible. As powerful as the Sovereign Bulblax is, we still
think the Gold Medal of Power easily has to go to the Ancient Sirehound. The final boss of the
game and as such the most complicated and deadly, the Ancient Sirehound is a mostly peaceful
creature that suddenly goes into a rage upon seeing Louie. I mean, we don’t really blame it
as Louie sends us into a rage too but regardless, the Ancient Sirehound is not the type of enemy
you want to tick off. The fight against it happens in five different phases, each of which sees
the canine using a different elemental power to its advantage. The Ancient Sirehound will
chomp at the Pikmin, charge at the player, send different hazardous balls bouncing around
the stage, fly, and even spit out a similar venom as the Smoky Progg. They say you can’t teach
an old dog new tricks but apparently this dog has more than enough tricks up its sleeve to
begin with. With its wide variety of attacks, multiple wheels of health, large size and
unpredictable nature, the Ancient Sirehound undoubtedly stands as the Most Powerful
enemy in the game, if not the series.
