Zoologist Reviews Species Concept and Classification in Pikmin 4 | My First Pikmin Game

[@OutofPlaceZoologist]

Further context: 21:35 The wamei for Sus genus is Inoshishi (イノシシ), so i don't think the developer intended to classify them in the Sus genus in the first place FAQ: Q: Wouldn't it be difficult / create even more confusion if the common name is changed? A: Considering the people in the game are aliens, it's probably not that hard since i assume these creatures are not common knowledge of their society. If we're talking meta and the reasoning is it would confuses veteran players then i have no comment about that. Efforts for changing common names did happen several times for real world animals. For example, nowadays you just call hedgehog "hedgehog". You don't call them urchin anymore because that could confuses pople with the sea urchin. I think most people don't even know hedgehog used to also be called urchin. Walrus was also known as sea cow but nowadays don't because it clashes with the sirenians sea cow (nowadays it's even less common to call them sea cows) Cheetah was called hunting leopards but nowadays don't because it clashes with the actual leopards etc Q: Aren't there many animals with "improper names" even in real world? A: Misnomers in real life are common indeed, but those are mostly not a big problem as they don't really intersect with the taxonomic classification itself. For example, king crabs are not crabs, but it's fine because that name is for the entire family (familia Lithotidae) There are red king crabs, blue king crabs, etc, but those are consistently called "x king crab". It's not called king red crab then suddenly blue king crab, then golden king crab, then king scarlet crab. This kind of inconsistency is what makes the english name for some of the pikmin creatures messy in my opinion. If there are inconsistencies, zoologists usually encourage using another common name (refers to the previous question)

[@GeneralBoom101]

Bulbmin only showed up in the caves of Pikmin 2 and haven’t been seen since then.

[@JohnRaines]

And as an explanation of what they are; basically Bulborgs with Pikmin acting as a controlling parasite.

[@liamsonador9370]

And un the 2 and 4 games (i think) apear the white pilmin that is poisionus (and has some Xray vision) so my theory and some theory is that the pikmin are parasite creatures o and in a special ending of the first game it was show many more bulbs of pikmin that hasent apper never

[@gavros9636]

Wait King crabs aren't crabs?

[@OutofPlaceZoologist]

@@gavros9636 Yea, they aren't "true crabs" (infraordo Brachyura). They are in the same infraorder as the hermit crabs (infraordo Anomura). Their abdomens are not symmetric, hence why.

[@botchboy4237]

Funny thing is Olimar is basically a space trucker with no scientific background, he just happens to have a natural love for zoology.

[@CeilingFloor122]

I forgot from which game was it, but it was mentioned that he shares his notes with his son since he loves animals. Not sure if that's the main reason he has interests in zoology or not but it's just soo wholesome to see that he loves his family!

[@ERROR-uk9uc]

He basically does science for a hobby

[@ZizZap4]

I mean tbf he's also been stranded on this planet four times now, like, he's kind of an expert.

[@swordsmancs]

@@ZizZap4man has more experience with PNF-404 than literally anyone in the universe (since all the humans are dead)

[@PrairieKass]

i wish i could be a space trucker with a natural love for zoology, instead I'm stuck being a land trucker with a natural love for zoology :(

[@myboyjigglz4118]

A lot of the pikmin creature classifications are still ambiguous as most of the creatures have limited and ongoing research. I like the inconsistencies as it replicates the messy process of classifying creatures. That being said, it doesn’t make up for all of the localization problems, but even if the work is sloppy, it’s fun to imagine olimar, a glorified interstellar cargo delivery man, trying to make scientific classifications of all the creatures he finds on this foreign planet using what little knowledge he picked up in school. And even funnier, everyone around him just taking his knowledge as fact because they don’t want to study the creatures themselves

[@Olimar92]

Not to mention that PNF-404 is such a recent discovery. Olimar is like the only one who's done any real research. Like the planet hasn't been known about for more than a few years I bet.

[@yummychicken753]

Some of the questions you asked are answered on a very obscure Japanese-only website called Pikmin Garden. All bulborbs start their life as white larvae and are impossible to identify. They will spend their early life hiding in caves and only coming out at night because their coloration makes them easy prey (even adult bulborbs will sometimes hunt them). All species will undergo metamorphosis after their second molt and develop proper adult coloration and abilities. The website also seems to imply that the creeping chrysanthemum is a sentient parasitic plant. The frog half of its body is just an unnamed host species the plant is controlling. This is used to explain why it got a massive redesign in pikmin 4. It was the same plant all along, it just switched its preferred hosts to frogs. Pikmin 4 has done quite a few revisions and corrections on creature classification, however many mistakes originally made in pikmin 2 still managed to slip through.

[@Springdude11]

...you learn something new everyday, whether you like it not.

[@syweb2]

If I recall correctly, the frog _is_ the parasite in the Chrysanthemum, at least in the English version of Pikmin 4; more specifically, that is what is stated for the Startle Spore.

[@anglure3617]

Glad to see you cover Pikmin! To answer some questions... -Bulbmin are a type of creature only from Pikmin 2. They look like regular Bulborbs but with Pikmin stems, and the Piklopedia reveals that they are a type of parasitic Pikmin that grow roots into the bodies of Bulborbs to control their bodily functions. You only find them in caves, where one large enemy Bulbmin is followed around by many smaller Bulbmin, and defeating the large one lets you recruit the small ones. Gameplay-wise, they were sort of a precursor to Glow Pikmin, as they're immune to all elemental hazards but you can't take them with you out of caves. -There are actually VERY few Pikmin creatures from past games that are not present in Pikmin 4. Pikmin 4 has the largest bestiary in the series, only excluding a handful of bosses and minor enemies from previous titles.

[@BynineStudio]

i do not seem to be able to stop running into your comments LOL

[@anglure3617]

@@BynineStudio ha, fancy meeting you here :o)

[@TheScrombler]

@@BynineStudiosame!

[@swordsmancs]

To be clear, a good chunk of the enemies that don’t appear in 4 are replaced by carbon copies instead (like the big cannon beetle, it has a slight redesign and has a different name, but it’s the same enemy really) I think wallywogs are the best example of this, and I’m pretty sure Wandering Snitchbugs or Scornets don’t show up, but I can’t remember the rest of the absentees

[@syweb2]

@@swordsmancs Is Wandering Snitchbug an alternate name for the Bumbling Snitchbug? In its case, its gameplay function was merged with the Swooping Snitchbug. Also, Wollywogs weren't replaced by carbon copies, their names were outright changed in the American version; in Europe, they were always called "Wollyhops" because "wog" is a racial slur or something.

[@tuanahmadkurniaillahi6864]

10:56 "homonymy is illegal" i can imagine a serial killer ask a newbie "what you're in for ?" forber scientists in prison "i've done some homonymy in my 4 years working, and got caught.." serial killer "what ? you're here because you're gay ?"

[@shinysands]

help

[@proclarushtaonasat]

this definitely happened at least once.

[@ottoia9126]

To clarify, most of the research is done by Olimar, the guy you're supposed to rescue (you referred to him as "some kind of a researcher). He's a shipping company employee, and i suppose he has no zoology background lmao, but he's been on PNF-404 longer than anyone... maybe excluding Sage Leaf

[@OutofPlaceZoologist]

Ah i see. Didn't know he was "just" a shipping company employee That's impressive work for someone who have no zoology background actually

[@Leyva0scarVRL]

Yeah, the fact the main protagonist of this series is just your average amazon delivery driver and his quirky co worker is kinda funny lol

[@thekoifishcoyote8762]

@@OutofPlaceZoologist It gets better. Louie (the gourmand) is his coworker.

[@ThineDude]

​@@OutofPlaceZoologistif you read some of the treasure logs, Olimar reveals he originally was studying to be a zoologist, but had to take a job as a delivery driver instead to support his family. So he's got an interest and background in it, despite not being his career

[@TheDMan2003]

@@ThineDudeWhich logs were these?

[@qwertystop]

For *kageyamii*: Daisuke Kageyama is credited for character design in Pikmin 1 and creature design in Pikmin 2; the Bulborbs have been in the series since then, and presumably he was involved in designing them.

[@deleeuwlc871]

Bulbmin are the result of a parasitic form of Pikmin known as “Hermikmin” infecting a Bulborb and taking over its body. Most Pikmin types have the bodies you see, but Ice Pikmin and Rock Pikmin are both also types of Hermikmin that chose inanimate objects as their hosts. Olimar says that Ice Pikmin have cold cores that constantly freezes the ice and that Rock Pikmin have chambers in the rock to house their organs, so it it likely that each parasitic Pikmin type uses a different species of Hermikmin

[@devranyilmaz9806]

The thing about Olimar’s notes is that Olimar himself is not a scientist, but took an interest in cataloging all the weird animals that he discovered. He does his best in trying to replicate scientific jargon and nomenclature as an amateur ecologist. Olimar being the 1st person to name everything in the game seeing as he was the one who discovered them in the first place.

[@NotAGoodUsername360]

I believe it's canon that Olimar took his notes back to Hocotate after Pikmin 1, prior to leaving with Louie, and that he engaged in rigorous debate with the local zoologists. His notes from Pikmin 1 are vague and quite unprofessional compared to his 2 entries. That, or he has been communicating with xenobiologists during the events of Pikmin 2, likely while selling the specimens collected by Pikmin.

[@kryzethx]

@@NotAGoodUsername360 Woah, is that the true reason the bodies turn into money when underground in Pikmin 2? That would actually make a lot of sense...

[@iamnothale]

@@kryzethx Not really, but it would be so awesome. It would be so cool.

[@discountchocolate4577]

@@kryzethx My headcanon was always that most of the corpses get sold off to a combination of laboratories and restaurants while Louie cooks the remainder for the ship's crew.

[@edgarmarques97]

Today I learned about Hotwheels Sysiphus.

[@404_nowheresnotfound3]

You should look into it more they are actually a really interesting species.

[@armandoguzmannieves5472]

PNF-404 is future Earth. So the blowhogs could genuinely be from the actual pig lineage. Just excessively smaller, of course.

[@FissionCube]

given pikmin garden suggests that the little space people (hocotatians, koppaites, giyans, etc) are apparently maybe descended from humans it wouldnt be the only mammal that became tiny if thats the case so i guess theres precedent

[@lnterest-ing]

i wonder why they properly named the planet that, instead of going with the obvious connotation that the planet isnt in their system for some reason. Error 404, Planet Not Found, and all that

[@ellueccid8625]

Pikmin content spotted

[@Dolphin2048]

Louie content spotted

[@captaincaption]

frfr 🗣️🗣️🗣️

[@SolarisTheDis4]

so true..

[@helixsol7171]

*_LOUIE YOU BI-_*

[@supercouchpotato9698]

True as hell

[@legionbeast]

Lore you would miss by going to Pikmin 4 first: -Pikmin 1 You play as Olimar, a simple salaryman for a shipping company who crash lands on the planet and has 30 days to collect all 30 parts of his ship or he will die due to Oxygen being toxic to his species. If you get all 30 pieces of his ship, you get a bonus credits sequence where Olimar reveals information he observed about the species he encountered, though again, he's just a salaryman. -Pikmin 2 has you revisit the planet because the company Olimar works for went into debt because he was gone for around a month and the planet has "rare treasure" on it, and the boss has you bring Louie with you. Louie is the "gourmet" and while he allows you to have two different captains in other places, storywise he's just as bad as he is in Pikmin 4 in terms of causing trouble. This is the first game with a Piklopedia and a lot of creatures that return from Pikmin 2 in Pikmin 4 have their entries copied almost exactly, so this would be a case of the pikmin 4 localizers potentially being lazy. That said there are several species not present in pikmin 4 that are exclusive to pikmin 2. -Pikmin 3 has you play as THREE captains from another planet which is running out of food. They classify the unknown planet as PNF-404 and suffer a crash landing and have to work to get the missing parts of their ship, but also collect fruit to harvest the seeds to cultivate said food on their home planet. While there, they find fragments of another expedition of Olimar and Louie who were sent back to the planet after Pikmin 2 not to repay a debt, but to make their boss wealthy. The finale of the game has you save Olimar and you can unlock a piklopedia, but only in Pikmin 3 Deluxe. Pikmin 3 has MANY creatures not in Pikmin 4. -Pikmin 4 is actually an alternate timeline of Pikmin 1 where Olimar failed to get off the planet and succeed in sending out his SOS signal, causing MANY other people to be stranded on the planet.

[@seandwalsh3]

Small correction, but in Pikmin 3 Olimar and Louie had to return to the planet because the President made a bad investment and put the company in debt once again. It was not an expedition to make the President rich - he was already rich thanks to the second expedition (where they try to rescue Louie) in Pikmin 2.

[@samuelpaech5628]

Sounds like a video on Pikmin 3 would be interesting to watch too!

[@maxhay9098]

You touched on it briefly but questioningly, so I'd like to expand, based on what I remember from a different speculative biologist's expoundings on Pikmin: While they do blend the line between Kingdoms, Pikmin do more closely align with an assignment as Plants. Left undisturbed, a rooted Pikmin can sustain itself and indeed progress through a traditional "season," albeit on a mayfly-like one-day cycle, with their stalk being capped by progressively a leaf, bud, and flower, before eventually wilting back to a leaf if left long enough. A successful "fruit" of a Pikmin is only borne through propagation by unknown means within the Onion, a "host" organism they share a strong symbiotic relationship with, which releases fertile seeds when provided nutrients from the environment. However it's worth noting that the seeds do need a nutrient-rich environment to root into and rapidly mature and bear the fruit of a Pikmin, again in a mayfly-like acceleration of nature's processes, quite likely being nutritionally preloaded from the Onion. That said, Pikmin are clearly beyond what we'd traditionally consider "a plant." They're fully ambulatory, seem to have an animalistic organ system and skeleton (skeleton confirmed from shocked pikmin, guessing on the organs based off that skeletal structure). However, the presumption of organs leads to another topic: Which systems do we know Pikmin have? There's some kind of cardiovascular system, as they can die from cardiac arrest if left in a state of electrocuted for too long. They're susceptible to neurotoxins and psychoactive compounds, on top of blatantly displaying sentience if not sapience, suggesting not just a nervous system, but an extremely advanced nervous system capable of complex thoughts. They have ocular and auditory systems feeding into that nervous system. There's an air-exchange respiratory system, as they can drown if submerged in water, with the exception of blue Pikmin, which have a gill structure whose placement mimics a mouth's location. However, there's the rub: *only* blue Pikmin have a mouth-like structure. But all Pikmin, blues too, don't seem to have any form of a digestive system, full stop. As best we and the in-game scientists know, any and all forms of digestive decomposition occur exclusively on the part of the Onion, which by means unknown is rapidly capable of performing, to then store any reclaimed nutrients in its biomass until the ecological conditions are met to release new Pikmin seeds. It's unknown if during nights, when Pikmin roost in their Onion(s), if they receive any kind of sustenance, or if it's that they can simply sustain themselves indefinitely from sunlight, despite massive expenditures of energy moving objects several times their biomass. The leaflings probably know, but they won't tell us, the workaholic jerks. To that extent, it's actually a contested topic whether Pikmin and their Onion are even a symbiotic relationship, or whether Pikmin are simply the earliest life stage of an Onion, borne en-masse with a known-sacrifice mentality, to somehow progress through as-yet unobserved transitions and have a lucky few eventually become Onions themselves. Tying into that theory are the Candypop Buds, which are in-universe speculated as close relatives to the Onions and Pikmin, possibly one of the transitionary forms, a Pikmin whose role has transcended to imparting its environmental benefits to other Pikmin, a Pikmin who is being introduced to the concept of consuming and digesting, but hasn't yet reached a state where it's capable of storing and retaining nutrients/seeds, nor developed the mechanisms they use for detecting sunset and flying up when they do. And do bear in mind, this is all still under the theory that Pikmin and Onions evolved naturally. There's a whole other bear trap you can stick your leg into about "Pikmin were a created species, to *OBJECTIVE UNCLEAR* the world! [and maybe every other world!!!]" saying that Pikky bois, their Onions, and the entire great heritage of the Grubdog lineage were all at one point lab projects, which either graduated into deployment or were abandoned until they broke containment, take your pick, either way that's why they're so danged good at getting _absolutely everywhere._ *BUT* I think that's more than enough of my rambling about some other person's rambling about the silly made up boxes we put the silly made up creatures in a fake world into, pretending that any of it means anything. I hope I was able to provide some clarification, or at the very least, make the murky waters a whole lot muddier and even more confusing. TL;DR Pikmin are Plants, huge asterisk with a question mark next to it

[@MasterofInterspace]

28:40 An Empress Bulblax is a regular bulborb that goes through a metamorphosis when there's a lack of Empress's in the area. The implication, I believe, is that a bulborb will find a good nesting space, go through metamorphosis, and begin producing larva. I believe that the larva are then to travel through the cave systems of the planet, or simply head above ground, and they take on the features necessary depending on its environment. Bulborbs would actually be a pretty strong species in the real world, a creature that can pretty radically adapt to whatever environment it's in is phenomenal.

[@oliverjonseck9742]

With the "academic" aspect of the taxonomy in pikmin, you have to understand that in pikmin 4 we see the biggest quantity of people arriving on PNF-404. All the academics that researched the local wildlife can be counted with just one hand. (Also the fact that Olimar states that between academics there are debates makes it ten times funnier, because it would just only be him and like 2 other people, who have nearly to no knowledge on taxonomy arguing in a garden. lmao)

[@boppee]

Pikmin 2 got me interested in creatures and taxonomy and stuff as a kid, so the series definitely educated me

[@logandaley1544]

I didn’t realize how much real life scientific naming went into the Piklopedia. Thank you for teaching me something new today.

[@mikomakowski7907]

2:51 Just know, Olimar is literally just a delivery truck driver. He doesn’t have any scientific background, but just learned about zoology just because he was stuck there for a while

[@koopliss]

12:55 I assume the Armored cannon larvae's scientific name might actually just be a pun on taking "Granite chucker" and making it look like a scientific name, considering they attack by launching boulders at you.

[@jasonreed7522]

That's what i assumed most of the scientific names were, essentially just puns dressed up to look scientific to the casual observer. I'm honestly surprised how well they held up to an actual scientist's review.

[@PhailRaptor]

I think the root of the classification issues (which seems to be 75% of the complaint here) comes down to the actual Japanese developer responsible for the taxonomy actually doing a lot of research and working with people who do it professionally. Meanwhile, the localization team(s) who did the translation work did as little of that as possible. This causes a sort of exponential localization error issue. Chances are they had little idea about the paired Japanese taxonomy tree from the start, and basically just used Google Translate on individual words to make something that sounds neat. The additional level of complication here is that while Captain Olimar clearly cares a lot about scientific matters, but... he's not a scientist. He's effectively a galactic scale parcel delivery man going out into the backwoods of nowhere to collect or deliver packages. He crash landed on the planet completely by accident on his way back to his homeworld after completing a delivery. So there is likely an amount of intentional errors in the taxonomy provided, since such knowledge is something Olimar has been doing on the side. It's his hobby, not his profession. So naturally, he's going to make mistakes, or make classifications that seem sort of ambiguous but ultimately sound more interesting. Also, regarding the Bulbmin, it was a specific creature in a couple of specific caves in Pikmin 2. There's a specific type of Bulborb that sports a leaf out of it's head like a Pikmin, that leads a squad of what I would assume are Dwarf Bulbmin, that also have leaves on their heads. The neat thing, though, was that the Dwarf Bulbmin would join your squad for the rest of that cave if you could wrest control of them away from the Bulbmin. If you weren't careful, your thrown Pikmin would attack the Dwarf Bulbmin just as readily as the Bulbmin leader, but the Pikmin and Dwarf Bulbmin would respond to your whistle equally if the leader Bulbmin was distracted or defeated. IIRC, the description for it posed the question of whether or not it was an evolutionary response to encounters with Pikmin hunting parties -- if the Bulbmin and Dwarf Bulbmin adapted this behavior to mimic Pikmin, to avoid being a target of Pikmin attacks. Which further suggests that there must be some other entity able to lead a squad of Pikmin, since wild Pikmin are pretty aimless. They stand around waiting for someone to give them orders, rather than banding together like an ant colony or bee hive and self-coordinating.

[@CraftedPbody]

So, actually, yes, All bulborbs metamorphos from the standard Bulborb Larvae, that is seemingly the lore intention. Also, any adult female bulborb can become an Empress (so long as they are the largest in their region, according to Olimar's notes)

[@Eclipsed_Embers]

I don't think they even necessarily need to be female to become an Empress Bulblax, I'd always been under the impression that it was a Clownfish situation where they're all born male but in the absence of any female individuals the largest and most dominant males become female.

[@CraftedPbody]

@Eclipsed_Embers this is also correct, Olimar also states that any Male bulborbs that aren't involved in reproduction will become females.

[@OOFUS4103]

I’ve seen so many videos on Louie’s cookbook portion of the Piklopedia, so it’s a nice change of pace to see someone focusing on the zoology part of it 😊

[@okthen3921]

omg I was not expecting a lob corp shoutout. It's always when I least expect to hear my favorite game that it shows it's face

[@thosebloodybadgers8499]

ProjectMoon sleeper agents activated

[@starryfae]

The japanese comparison of the names is so interesting, as someone who’s a long time fan of the series. In regards to the dwarf bulborb discrepancy, this is most likely intentional, as this is a running thing in the previous pikmin games, where Olimar, the only researcher in those games, states it’s actually part of the breadbug family. It might be interesting to compare the changes between Pikmin 2, 3, and 4’s Piklopedia. Others have probably mentioned this, but all the same, it’s interesting! fascinating video, thank you!

[@Whispernyan]

Pikmin 3 Deluxe and 4 reuse the entries form 2 and considering Olimar is the only one who talks about the creatures scientifically it'll kind of be in vain

[@NotAGoodUsername360]

While most of Olimar's notes are written as a hobbyist xenobiologist, it is important to note that Olimar has been canonically selling the bodies of deceased specimens to unknown buyers, who can be presumed to be other xenobiologists, especially since his notes frequency reference the fact that less is known about specimens that do not leave a body begind and are difficult to capture. As such, his notes should be seen as hybrid efforts between a hobbyist zoologist who just happened to discover a planet teeming with unknown life forms- which our academia really hasn't had to deal with since the end of frontier days- and professional xenobiologists who are studying the bodies of preserved specimens.

[@TheStarsTwilight]

At first I thought describing ambulofungus or ambuloradicis as simply a mix of two other kingdoms was mildly strange and probably just a simplification... and then I remembered about obelisks. "Obelisks" are a type of microorganism discovered only this year with a mix of traits between plasmids and viruses. They are tiny, minimally-structured producers of a singular protein that often live in/aid cells - like plasmids - but are made entirely of rNA - like viruses. They were discovered while examining human gut flora and are currently an ambiguous taxonomy. So yes, descriptions like that - especially for recently discovered categories - are very real.

[@TheStarsTwilight]

(Sorry if I got my terms mixed up a bit. I'm not a biologist, just someone who found out about these new, kind of obscure organisms and think they're cool)

[@diesaur]

As a younger Pikmin fan interested in biology this video is FANTASTIC!! Your issues with the names wasn't nit-picky at all, it was very informative, especially as you explained in depth the issue with it. I also appreciate things like, the video having no music, so it's easier for me to follow along. I will definitely be watching more of your videos, and I hope to learn from them.

[@Just_a_guy909]

30:53 Kageyami is a reference to Daisuke Kageyama, one of the creators for the bulborbs design. For more information about references, I recommend you use the pikmin wiki.

[@ninjabunny9526]

If you liked olimars notes in pikmin 4 then id recommend you play the older pikmin games as well since he has notes on every creature in every game, and each note is unique for each game, even with reoccuring creatures. Also pikmin 4 is definitely the easiest game in the series by a lot, so the older games may be more engaging to you. Finally, i suppose a possible lore reason for some of these mistakes is that Olimar is just an explorer that discovered the planet pikmin takes place on, and is not a professional zoologist, hes only a hobbyist. So the more technical mistakes could be explained with him only being an amateur zoologist. Really great video btw! It was very fun and informative, especially as someone who has been a pikmin fan since childhood but never paid too much attention to the piklopedia; I'll be sure to look at it a lot closer the next time i replay a pikmin game!

[@Whispernyan]

The notes are not unique for each game, 3 Deluxe, and 4 all reuse 99% of the entries when applicable. Even when it's not applicable, as Louie's entry on the Creeping Chrysanthemum in 4 still talks about cooking it's bulb, which it no longer has.

[@ninjabunny9526]

@@Whispernyan well that shows how much I read the piklopedia in pikmin 4 lul.

[@ZeroTaichi]

The reason of the Larva part in the kageyamii, is because in the larval state all of the kageyamis are indistingible between them, only a dna test could revel at what subspecies them belong, that the reason of the larva is more of a quick solution, also if an Animal or Plant in pikmin uses the name of a real family or kingdom is because they are actually part of that family, in the case of the blowhog they are part of the pigs family, another case is the amprat that is part fo the guinea pig and capybara family.

[@OutofPlaceZoologist]

Larva: What's confusing for me is specifically because the wamei in the japanese version only stated "dememadara 1st molt larva", and dememadara is the term they use for all bulborbs, not just the supposed "kageyamii" ones. If researcher couldn't even identify them to species level when they are still pre-2nd molt, then why write them as Oculus kageyamii? Real animal counterpart: Is this confirmed lorewise? If it strictly follows real world taxonomy then they should not be. Real world pigs' family is called inoshishi-ka. The blowhogs are butadokkuri-ka (classic blowhogs and the floaters) and shishidokkuri-ka (tusked blowhogs). Their "genus" also don't share the same wamei. Pigs wamei is Inoshishi, the pikmin creatures are not. Real word capybara is tenjikunezumi-ka. Amprat is shibirenezumi-ka. I didn't talk about amprat because their genus doesn't overlap with real creatures so it's completely sounds.

[@ZeroTaichi]

@@OutofPlaceZoologist yes is confirmed some plants in game are real world plants ,and the Creeping Chrysanthemum belongs to the Taraxacum aka Dandelions(both appear in the game), and in the case of the Crawmads both of them belong to Cambarus familie aka crawlfish, also many of the mistakes that the piklopedia has is because Olimar isnt a biologist only a fan of it and is computer only give him some basic information about the species(is computer is really old and really bad at naming things), also the people in pikmin evolved from humans, that the reason that they still have some records of the planet. As for larva was a mistranslation in 2 and retconed in 4, but still will the same entry.

[@OutofPlaceZoologist]

@@ZeroTaichi I see That's a bit unfortunate for the educational aspect but no big deal i guess

[@ZeroTaichi]

@@OutofPlaceZoologist actually is good, because betweek 2 and 1 Olimar studied the animals in the planet more, and tell some errors that he noticed about is description, so the information we get is constanly updating like in the real world(beside plants because Bethany a character in 3 is a famous exo botanist and is description about plants are accurate)

[@Leyva0scarVRL]

​@@ZeroTaichiyeah, one of then fun parts is seeing the knowledge about there critters change and evolve with the games as " new discoveries are made" also the fact that it wasnt untill pikmim 3 that people other than hocotate freigth set foot on the planet, and actual researchers only came there during pikmin 4

[@Hadaron]

0:11 - There I am, Gary, there I am! Thanks so much for putting me in your video, and thank you so much for such an educational video. You made everything clear and concise, and I really enjoyed watching. You called out a lot of mistakes you saw that honestly were very important, but you also made sure to point out the good, too. I’m glad you focused on both; it was very enlightening.

[@santiagoacosta3372]

I really like reading olimar's paragraphs on the piklopedia; he has a beautiful narration and you can feel his love for science. He's a kind sould, I hope in a future game he can ditch his job as an space Amazon delivery driver and become a scientist

[@ThineDude]

This is really cool to see from someone new to the series! I can explain a few little tidbits and such I haven't seen in the comments already. Quick little character bits for the three log authors First character is brand new to 4, and just an animal enthusiast as you said. Not a whole lot of character development for them. The 2nd is Olimar, the protagonist in the first 2 games. He's a hobbyist Zoologist who was forced to change career paths to a driver for a freight company to support his family. In Pikmin 1 he crash lands on the planet and is the first to discover many of the creatures. The third is Louie, who is a co-worker to Olimar. He's a quiet type who rarely talks. He loves food and cooking though, as you could probably tell from him coming up with dozens and dozens of recipes for all the creatures. In pikmin 1 Olimar named the Bulborbs/chappy after his dog Bulby/chappy because they looked similar. (You can see some of him in art and Olimar's dog really does look quite similar) The logs you read seem to take place some time after the events of the game too. The logs often include mentions of research and studies being done on creatures that you literally just discovered for the first time. The note about the Armored Cannon beetle is a nice in universe explanation why their design changed from their original appearance in pikmin 1. It's just a shame they didn't do something similar for the Creeping Chrysanthemum, which also got a radical design change from 2 to 4. (That's why Louie mentions a large bulb to cook up that the new design doesn't really have) The Piklopedia is my absolute favorite thing about the series and I'm glad it's become a staple of the series. It was a blast to hear your thoughts on the subject! I've always wondered how "realistic" the names were. All in all, Incredible work you've done on this video, you've got me wanting to watch more of your vids.

[@ZombieChicken1310]

I love that Olimar, a space deliveryman, has this level of knowledge about the flora and fauna of the distant plant (PNF-404) out of his natural love for biology

[@foggy8298]

Olimar isn’t a researcher, he’s functionally a space delivery driver All the notes, the scientific names, and the discovery of the creatures themselves were done by Olimar himself trying his best lmao

[@Supershadow301]

When it comes to bulborbs and breadbugs, Olimar coined the animals' common names as he encountered them, then later pondered on a scientific name after getting some more info on their taxonomy (probably from his ship's analysis of corpses, as the ship itself is a smart AI). Here's a potential timeline: -Olimar encountered Bulborbs very early after crash landing on PNF-404 (Pikmin's planet), then met Dwarf bulborbs, so he assumed they were related. -Later while spelunking, he found a nest of Breadbugs. The pikmins carried their carcasses to the ship. -Later again, he encountered a bulblax empress and/or albino dwarf bulborbs. After taking care of them, he brought their bodies to the ship. -The ship analyzed the DNAs of the various species, and found out that dwarf bulborbs are actually close relatives of breadbugs, while the bulblax empress albino dwarf bulborbs are the same species as bulborbs. Then he coined scientific names a bit hapazardly (he's just a ship pilot, not a xenobiologist) without changing the common name he'd given them.

[@frostflamegames673]

I think that the implication with putting the "Sus" genus on the Blowhogs is that they, over the course of however much time passed since humans were on PNF-404, had evolved from modern-day pigs. Hence the "BlowHOG" name. I'm very glad you mentioned the thing about the names in Japanese. It was very informative.

[@reda84.]

I think an important nuance with the piklopedia, is that like 75% of it was written in 2004 (which makes its accuracy very impressive), but it didn't return until 2021. Although it has some scientific errors and iffy stuff here and there, that's normal for a game from 2004, and it likely would have been fixed if the pikmin games had a normal release schedule. For example there were only 2 years between the first two games, and there were many edits to names and details. However, it took 9 years for pikmin 3 to come out, which didn't have a piklopedia, and then a further 8 years before it was rereleased with one, which means the community had spent 17 whole years being used to the Pikmin 2 version of the Piklopedia, and changing or retconning any details would be incredibly jarring, which basically means every single inaccuracy in there is just locked in stone forever and unlikely to be fixed. Overall as something from the Gamecube era it's actually very impressive

[@WannabeMarysue]

Pikmin 1 is a short game, but moreish in replay value. A single run takes less than six hours. There's not much zoology stuff in the first one. But its a good portrait of it's protagonist, Olimar, who narrates the Piklopedias to come. If that matters. Pikmin 2 was the first game in the series with a Piklopedia. Pikmin 2 is harder than Pikmin 4, but the difficulty comes from more insta-kill hazards and deadlier enemies. Its just more unfair. Its still not going to be a solid challenge for an RTS veteran. I really liked Pikmin 2 as a kid, but nostalgia be damned Pikmin 4 has it beat. Pikmin 3 was a Wii U game that used the game pad heavily. It has a Piklopedia added in the Switch re-release, but also reworked controlled. Which version is the definitive one is still something fans argue about.

[@QuixoteGarden]

Unexpected project moon mentioned.

[@shopnil4]

I'm glad to see a new Pikmin player who's basically like Olimar in game, categorizing and describing the creatures

[@doommustard8818]

at 26:14 you ask if they are to busy to change the name lore-wise, and the answer is that yes. they are busy trying to get rescued, everything was discovered less than a month ago and these are research notes taken hastily between tense moments of being chased by these predatory creatures. that's what "crash landing on an unexplored planet" would mean.

[@autismandgaming4532]

Pikmin is one of my favourite vidoegame franchises, and the care put into it's Biology is definitely a big part of that

[@Octoyaxiii]

32:40 LETS GOOOO LOBOTOMY CORP FAN IN THE WILD!!!!!! I hurt my neck from how fast i looked at the screen when you said this!

[@bigcat5348]

Perhaps the Ambuloradicis class is actually a group of organisms that at some point in their history underwent a kind of symbiogenesis between plants and animals, like with mitochondria: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbiogenesis So the pikmin and their relatives are a fusion of animal and plant, with distinct animal and plant DNA and systems.

[@obnox1ous_3fe420]

I assume the in universe explination why some scientific names in pikmin don't abide by the laws of scientific classification irl is because our player characters are aliens that have differant rules

[@theconsumerofpenguins81]

Sounds like a lame excuse to me

[@obnox1ous_3fe420]

@@theconsumerofpenguins81 yeah maybe your right

[@randomspider725]

That seems like a perfectly-decent explanation. After all, why would we expect an alien to have the exact same taxonomy organization that we do?

[@theconsumerofpenguins81]

@@randomspider725 because 90% of the names do use the same taxonomy organisation as us.

[@GL_099]

I honestly think the common name for the Dwarf Bulborb not being changed is more for gameplay purposes. They have been called that way since Pikmin 1 (before it was revealed that they're actually mimics) and they still function the exact same way as they did then. Bulborbs are the most common and basic enemy type, meanwhile proper breadbugs (which have also existed since Pikmin 1) are very unique and function completely different from the other enemy types in the game. Changing the name now would probably be confusing to players, especially since most casual players wouldn't know or particularly care that dwarf bulborbs aren't technically bulborbs, because functionally, they are. And this being a videogame, maybe that just takes priority. I completely understand your gripes with it, though.

[@MegaMinerd]

Kageyamii probably refers to Kageyama, the creature designer for the second game, where the fully readable piklopedia was introduced.

[@try2bchilledout417]

Dude, I feel like I’m going crazy, when you were first talking about all the games you play where you collect stuff, I do the same thing and I got back into all of those games within the LAST TWO WEEKS. Viva Piñata, Monster Hunter, & Animal Crossing. I feel like I suddenly started hearing about them everywhere again!

[@UniversalSketch]

Bulbmin are an enemy and companion in the second pikmin game where you defeat the large enemy version and the pikmin sized followers behind it scatter and can be added to your army to supplement missing or fallen pikmin in caves which is really good because in the levels they do spawn this basically just gives you 10 free pikmin who are immune to virtually every element in the game. In Pikmmin 2's notes they are called Parasiticus pikminicus which doesn't match any entries in pikmin 4 because despite most entries being copied and pasted from the most recent entries in the past games so they probably only cross referenced with the information they are using in pikmin 4.

[@happyguy3317]

This is a half hour long video of "Olimar getting roasted by his passion project"

[@cheep5645]

Love the video! Also I don’t mean this in a mean way, but I love the way you say ‘in italics’ as ‘in italy’. Like the problem with the species name is that Nintendo didn’t go to Italy to have them written lol.

[@OutofPlaceZoologist]

Wait did i? i didn't realize at all lol

[@AngeTange]

I loved reading through the Piklopedia for hours, I love learning new things from videos like yours! Thank you so much for your input and explanations, can't wait to see more videos from you! Immediately subscribed to your channel :D

[@rillrill1312]

this video is so great, amazed by how in depth they went into their naming!!! so cool

[@TheDMan2003]

25:08 That’s a typo from copy-pasting the text from Pikmin 2. In that game, the Bulborb was known as the “Red Bulborb”, and by extension, the Dwarf Bulborbs were called “Dwarf Red Bulborb.” Why they changed the name, I don’t know, especially considering the Orange Bulborb.

[@alienenthusiast]

This is the video I never knew I needed, this video was really fascinating! Thank you so much for the knowledge and entertainment! 😊

[@AndrewRKenny]

This was an awesome video. Your enthusiasm for the subject seeps out of the screen, my partner and I love your cute little deer as well! Your accent is also very charming.

[@Mirawaru]

AWWWWWW PIKMIN IS MY FAVOURITE FRANCHISE❤ I'm so happy you enjoyed it

[@lightrealmrapono]

If you wanna harder pikmin game to play, I'd recommend pikmin 2. The late game caves can be very punishing.

[@mybattyvalentine]

This is such a wonderful little video that deserves way more views. I learned a lot and you have a really great knack for scriptwriting and explaining these complicated concepts in an engaging and fun way. I hope your channel gets big, you really deserve it for the hard work you put into these. Earned a sub from me and I'm looking forward to what you make in future!!

[@clovxrr]

the pikmin brainrot + learning random information i won't need brainrot combination goes crazy

[@supremekirb]

great video! I love the extensive taxonomy in Pikmin and I definitely learned more about it (especially when going over the inconsistencies) The localisation errors are particularly interesting. But in Pikmin 4, it's definitely of the highest quality it's ever been. In the 3DS spinoff title Hey! Pikmin, the US localisation put a few enemies in completely new and arbitrary families and genera, but every other localisation (including the PAL region English release!) kept them consistent with existing classifications. Oh... and if you ever want a headache, try researching the incredibly chaotic history of how members of the Lithiopod family have been classified throughout the series.

[@nonomen6665]

Something I love is that they did all this when they didn't have to. These creatures were made for gameplay, to be enemies. They needed fire-based enemies to force the player to use red pikmin, or an enemy that blends in to the environment to catch the player by surprise, but they still went the distance and justified the biology in a way that mostly works. The blowhogs could've easily all been entirely separate, unrelated species from each other, but instead they decided to have them be from the same family evolved to different "niches."

[@Failuigi41]

So you know, the pikmin games canonically take place on a far-future earth. No explanation has ever been given as to where humans went / are, but several entries have flat out confined that this is earth.

[@seandwalsh3]

@@Failuigi41 an explanation has been given - humans left the planet and colonised other worlds, eventually becoming the species we see crashing on the planet and leading the Pikmin in these games. Olimar, Louie, Alph, etc. are humans.

[@georgem.6076]

I love when video games do this. Pikmin, Pokemon, Metroid Prime. Makes the world feel real. I like learning about fictional creatures. Lol.

[@MickyMr95]

"What is a Bulbmin?" The entire Pikmin fandom: "We have much to talk"

[@Goomba456]

30:14 There are a few species that did not make it in, but not very many compared to the total. The Bulbmin, the Goolix (the species the Foolix mimics), the Beady Long Legs (related to the Baldy Long Legs, which also has a shaggy form not in game and several different colorations), the Ranging Bloyster (mentioned in the notes for Bloomcap Bloysters), the Armored Canon Beetle (the adult version of the Larva Canon Beetles, not to be confused with the Horned Canon Beetle) and the Plasm Wraith (Related to the Waterwraith and according to the japanese website is a reference to the Umibozu Yokai).

[@Fangflier]

This was really interesting! Thank you for the in depth explainations

[@marche800]

Bulbmin are Bulborbs who have been taken over by an unseen parasitic Pikmin. The juveniles respond to a captains whistle the same as regular pikmin and are about to be commanded. The adults however are unable to surpress the natural hunger of an adult bulborb and are too vicious to command. I'm unsure if they are meant to be true bulborbs or dwarf bulborbs (the mimics)

[@jkid1134]

Excellent video and frankly congratulations on achieving such a high state of being

[@crickettbug3959]

This was really cool! I’ll check out more of your channel :)

[@gferrol118]

30:07 Bulbmin were a thing in pikmin 2. You could find them in some of the caves in the game. They were basically red bulborbs with a leaf coming out them, the same as pikmin. If you killed the mother, you could control the small ones the same as regular pikmin

[@4Xezbeth4]

YT recommended this video to me and although I don't know much about Pikmin it caught my attention, but omg, I didn't expect a mention of LobCorp, it's one of my favorite games. Good video btw, gonna check your channel

[@heinrichvonschnitzel8600]

Olimar's notes on the Empress Bulblax mention that any female Grubdog can become an empress under specific circumstances so I think we can assume that all bulborb types have their own unseen empress variant and that the one we see in game is of the red bulborb subspecies. My guess is that the piklopedia entry for the empress refers to the phenomenon of Grubdog empresses in general and not just to the red variant, this lines up with Olimar's notes where he talks about the Grubdog family in general and not just red bulborbs. Also in the English version of Pikmin 2, the empress is also called "Oculus matriarcha" without the kageyamii in the middle.

[@indomleon]

You asked about the Bulbmin, they are a Pikmin type that only ever appeared in caves in Pikmin 2, they were a type of parasitic Pikmin that implanted themselves in bulborbs. They wandered around in a troop led by one adult, once you kill the adult, the juveniles could join your party. Since they're basically wearing a monster, they were immune to all the hazards

[@AdrianCS128]

Love this video hahaha I love your explanations for everything

[@thedaychr]

If you liked pikmin 4 and thought it was easy you should try the second entry, that game really tests your battle skills. Great video!

[@reniesulaweyo4383]

1. I love Hotwheels sisyphus. 2. I really liked how you talked about the Latin roots. I am German, so Latin is a bit more familiar to me. I also took it in school as my second foreign language. It can be useful for all these names as they are often meaningful. For writers, other English-Latin dictionaries that are very good are Logeion and Latinium. 3. I really appreciate the brief glimpse into 和名! I was only told that scientific texts would use katakana for animals, but I didn't know there was even more. I am not nearly fluent enough to read fun texts about animals in Japanese yet. The suffixes are fascinating. I am probably so used to "kingdom" as a sort of realm, but seeing 門 really evokes the image of bushi and retainers. (And gates, of course, but I know that isn't meant here.) I don't know all of the suffixes, so I will have to look them up. Seeing how popular names beyond the traditional were handled really made me excited. 5. I have never played Pikmin, but the collecting urge is relatable to me! It's a bit sad that the writers of the game did a pretty good job, but the localisation team struggled a bit more. 6. I think a whole video on wamei would be great! Or maybe an introduction to Hotwheels sisyphus, because it's so memorable! ❤

[@PatrickGilland]

I think it's worth perusing the creature entries across all games in the series, not only to see what carried over between them, but to also delve into the mindset of each of the player characters in each game, as they are non-human characters essentially discovering new species on an uncharted planet. For instance, most of the details are supplied by a single freight worker across all games. The first game gives some details in the post-credits movie, while also randomly supplying some data in between game days in the captain's log, the second game and the remaster of the third have their own version of the piklopedia. Also a couple things change across games, which is usually mentioned in the character notes.

[@hyliaphora-cecropia]

Yayyy!!! I watched your Dungeon Meshi video a few days ago and immediately wondered what you’d think about Pikmin-filling out the Piklopedia and seeing what Olimar had to say about each animal/plant was always one of my favorite parts of the game! I can also answer your question about the Bulbmin-it is an enemy in Pikmin 2 that is a parasitic species of Pikmin which uses a Bulborb as its host. Could the Startle Spore be a similar creature in the Taraxacum genus which, instead of parasitizing a Bulborb like the Bulbmin, parasitizes the mushroom cluster? Great video!! It made me happy to see as a Pikmin and biology lover

[@kryzethx]

I always loved reading the scientific notes for these creatures, even in Pikmin 1's official guidebook that came with a "field guide" in the back, detailing all of the creatures on the planet. Even before the Piklopedia was introduced in-game in Pikmin 2, they had these scientific names in mind. They went so far as to give them each a common name, technical name, and "binomial nomenclature", which I assume would be the scientific name. Even back then, the red Bulborb was a "kageyamii" lol

[@elliebee3520]

Love that you describe Louie as a gourmet

[@1colonelsanders]

Delightful video. Also, I've never seen someone ask what a bulbmin is because they're so beloved by pikmin fans. That was really interesting to see.

[@Molemash]

I very much enjoyed this. Hope you can try the other games soon!

[@meganhammer7857]

Pikmin was a formative part of my childhood. I remember reading every entry in the Pikmin 2 Piklopedia, I spent more time there than actually playing the game because having your guys die all the time was stressful lol. I wouldn't say I'm into taxonomy at all, so it was really interesting to learn new stuff from you! The thing I got out of Pikmin was more of an interest in ecology, and video games with a bunch of systems and moving parts that interact organically instead of through scripted events. And whenever I start thinking about that, the demons in my body take over and I have to recommend Rain World. I don't know that it fits into the kinds of videos you do on your channel, there isn't any taxonomy element (it's played from the perspective of non-speaking animals, so it makes sense that there isn't a bestiary, as much as I'd love one), but it is a very unique game that was essentially designed as an ecosystem simulator first and the game part came after, since players needed some kind of goal to keep engaging with it. It does also have a lot of stuff to collect for truly dedicated/masochistic players, and the story you uncover by doing so is beautiful and haunting, but I won't say any more on that subject. The main draw of the game is the weird animals and how they interact with each other and their environment. As one example, the lizards (the basic predator type) come in a bunch of different species, and some species will compete for territory with their own species and ignore the others, while another species might use cooperative tactics to surround their prey. There are also even bigger predators that eat the lizards, and if one of those arrives on the scene, it could end up inadvertently saving you, or it could just eat you instead. There are also definitely people in the Rain World community that lean heavily into the speculative biology aspect and create fan-made taxonomies and explanations for all the creatures and phenomena in the world.

[@tijanamilenkovic9442]

This is how I expanded and fixed Puppy In My Pocket series in my Puppy In My Pocket fanfiction series 💖🐾💛🐾🧡🐾 1) animal characters live in the same world as human characters 2) all of the animal characters are small and cute (all of the animal characters are the same size as each other (all of them are 31.75 cm tall), plus all of them have large anime eyes and human like facial expressiveness, the only thing that differentiates them is their animal species, as there are both well known species and lesser known species, plus there are more than just one member of the species) 3) all of the girl characters have the same extreme hourglass figure as each other and the exact same cup size as each (all of the girls have 35-25-35 bust-waist-hip ratio and the C cup size, the only things that differentiate them are hair colors, eye colors, skin colors, hairstyles and clothings) 4) all of the boy characters have the same body type as each other (all of the boys have 35-25-24 bust-waist-hip ratio and lean athletic build with medium sized defined muscles, the only things that differentiate them are hair colors, eye colors, skin colors, hairstyles and clothings) 5) all of the characters that are animalistic deities in the original versions of their stories are now just as humanoid as the other characters (the only things hinting at their animal inspiration are their hairstyles that look like attributes of animals they are based on, for example, Bastet has buns that look like cat ears and a braid that looks like a cat tail) Series in Puppy In My Pocket: Puppy In My Pocket Adventures In Pocketville Momotaro Journey To The West The Three Musketiers Sword In The Stone Leilani And Pele's Hair Jason And The Argonauts Wurrunna Little Red Riding Hood Diego And The Charcoal Cat Quetzalcoatl Bastet Anansi Vasilisa The Magical Glooscap Terror Of Gevaudan Killer Phantom Kangaroo Of Kentucky Baatar And The Death Worm Loch Ness Mystery Ramayana Pocketville Princesses are Katie, Martina, Molly, Nicole, Alice, Anabelle, Beatrice, Francesca, Michaela, Vanessa, Alexia, Valerie, Maggie, Emilly, Lillia, Kaguya Hime, Otohime, Urikohime, Jade Princess, Amelie, Vivianne, Leilani, Penelope, Anjea, Little Red Riding Hood, Isabella, Xochiquetzal, Nefertiti, Zuri, Vasilisa, Atahensic, Jacqueline, Sierra, Zhana, Evelyn and Sita Pocketville Princes are Kevin, Marc, Stephan, Lucas, Daniel, Liam, Momotaro, Urashima Taro, Kintaro, Issun Boshi, Sun Wukong, D'Artagnian, Porthos, Athos, Aramis, Arthur, Kanekehili, Jason, Wurruna, Friedrich, Diego, Quetzalcoatl, Ushebti, Anansi, Ivan, Glooscap, Guillaume, Duncan, Baatar, Lesley and Rama Pocketville Principal Pets are Magic (dog), Bella (dog), Princess Ami (cat), Mela (cat), William (dog), Balloon (cat), Danny (dog), Wallace (dog), Eva (cat), Zull (dog), Gort (dog), Krakia (crow), Evershell (turtle), Durilia (crocodile), Toby (dog), Goldie (hamster), Robbie (American robin), Slowpoke (turtle), Juno (dog), Orilliam (pig), Sketch (dog), Swimmy (dolphin), Dr. Carrot (rabbit), Pinna (goldfish), Phoebe (dog), Pia (dog), Ginevra (horse), Kikki (dog), Frankie (dog), Leo (dog), Otto (dog), Camo (cat), Ribbon (baby chick), Tray (dog), Lenny (monkey), Precious (pheasant), Luna (rabbit), Virgo (lamb), Diana (moon moth), Rocky (sea turtle), Coral (tropical reef fish), Maomao (cat), Amethyst (turtle), Crystal (silkmoth), George (cat), Maybelline (parrot), Blush (horse), Elliote (falcon), Malorie (dog), Charlie (cat), Polly (hedgehog), Angela (Hawaiian honeycreeper), Matthew (sea turtle), Sylvester (dolphin), Octavius (octopus), Oscar (tropicbird), Gabriella (swallow), Andy (wallaby), Bouncer (bandicoot), Carmen (numbat), Star (billby), Roxy (dog), Freddy (squirrel), Charcoal (cat), Lilly (dog), Obsidian (snake), Ruby (bat), Bastet (cat), Anubis (jackal), David (spider), Glimmer (butterfly), Millie (cat), Chase (wolf), Joshua (turtle), Uriah (groundhog), Mary (bobcat), Alex (peacock moth), Roderick (dog), Briana (Mexican tree frog), Tony (anole), Rufus (ground squirrel), Manisha (sandfish lizard), Harry (longhorn beetle), Sarah (cat), Patch (tiger) and Faith (dog) (Puppy In My Pocket) Pocketville Villains are Pet Buster, Akandoji, Yellow Wind Demon, Cardinal Richelieu, Morrigan, Nightmarcher, Circe, Bunyip and his drop bears, kangawallafoxes and hooroos, Wolfgang, Lobo, Tezcatlipoca, Apophis, Giza, Baba Yaga, Malsumis and his wendigos, Beast of Gevaudan, Killer phanthom kangaroo, Mongolian death worm, Arthur Grant and Ravana

[@DoodleWill]

Look Gary there I am. 0:09 Pikmin 3 originally lacked a Piklopedia but when it was rereleased to the Nintendo Switch with Pikmin 3 Deluxe, they added one. While the selection of creatures isn't as much as Pikmin 4's, I like it because you have even more overviews from the captains of Pikmin 3. Returning from Pikmin 2 you have Olimar who gives the creatures a overview and gives it a somewhat scientific approach and Louie still goes into the best cooking methods. Alph as the engineer of the group looks at enemies from the perspective as an engineer, To quote the Wiki ; "focus on the creature's design, strengths, and weaknesses. He starts his comments by listing a "structural flaw" in the creature, which refers to a weakness that the player can use for their advantage when fighting against" which is pretty useful gameplay wise. Brittany as a botanist will view it from a botanists perspective, and usually will bring up points for flowers and plants or creatures with said attributes, outside of that, she will mostly focus on appearances, habits of the creatures or if there could be any use out of the creature. Finally, Charlie as a explorer and adventure mostly talks about a creatures strengths and weaknesses, there is a bit of overlap with Alph but its mostly just flavour text for Charlie. Honestly the Piklopedia did alot to get me interested in taxonomy, while the Piklopedia isn't perfect and even excluding localisation humbugs, it isn't the most accurate, I think its in service of trying to establish the world of Pikmin as Alien. I love the idea that the enemies of the games aren't just generic obstacles, and seeing them fleshed out in this fashion really endeared me to alot of them. Shout Outs to Pikmin 2 where a few enemies are mechanical or odd in some form and Olimar has to do alot of heavy lifting to explain them in a scientific manor. Thanks for checking it out!

[@SacredFaerie]

This is an amazing video. Was not expecting you to look into the Japanese, but I suppose it would be obvious for a zoologist to handle information from different languages.

[@OutofPlaceZoologist]

Yeah, i often need to check references from few centuries ago that were written in the author's respective native language so it's usual business

[@syweb2]

25:20 I already know where this is going. You're getting at the Dwarf Frosty Bulborb or whatever it's called, right? Yeah, there is some weirdness there. One thing I noticed is that the Albino Dwarf shares a similar snout shape to the adult Bulborbs, which is more pointed than the mimic dwarfs, but the Dwarf Frosty Bulborb has the more rounded snout like the mimics, perhaps contributing to the in-universe confusion. 32:29 WOOO! STARCRAFT REP! WOOO!

[@pallukun]

bulbmin are bulborbs with a pikmin stem and leaf growing from their spine, parasitizing the body to control it - pikmin are implied to be a similar case, where the pikmin itself is the leaf growing from another unidentified animal, which is also shown with oatchi and possibly moss growing their own leaves i spoke about this with a friend and we concluded (so just a headcanon) that candypop buds were the ancestor to modern pikmin and onions and would attract insects, swallow them, and then plant a pikmin leaf in their body which would force them to collect food for it or spread their seeds. We theorised that the candypop buds probably specialised in a specific insect, but as they died off, onions evolved from candypops with more complex seed producing bulbs so that they could turn the dna samples they collected from the hosts into replicas of that host and just put a pikmin leaf in that

[@dontworry4945]

instantaneous sub. biologist and pikmin? my dreams combined

[@DoctorTex]

Out of all the characters, it surprises me that Olimar, the space trucker, is the one with the most scientific notes. Louie just tells you the best way to cook them. Dalmo just gushes about them. And in Pikmin 3 Deluxe, the Koppai expedition team also get notes. Alph, the Engineer, muses on how they work biologically. Brittany, the Botanist, judges them on their cuteness. And Charlie, the captain, details strategies for combat against them.

[@dstroyer7793]

Loved the video! I think everyone has asked you already a lot of valid questions and shared more about the pikmin lore to expand on them. But I want to know what you thought of the waterwraith please 🙏🏻

[@OutofPlaceZoologist]

I personally think it's kinda weird that they seem to be somewhat "magical" in a game where everything is "biological", but i just take the stance of "perhaps it'll be explained in the future or maybe it was explained in previous game" and didn't think too much about it

[@ABitofEpicness]

@@OutofPlaceZoologisthonestly it being so out of place is one of the aspects that makes it so scary Its so foreign to us even in a game all about alien creatures and its super bizarre

[@Tyranitar.]

@@OutofPlaceZoologistno it is just magic

[@El_Omar2203]

Fun fact about 7:43 the reason this is a thing is because the first Pikmin game only had the Spotty Bulborb, then Pikmin 2 introduced the Orange Bulborb (and other species) so it triggered the name change of the former into Red Bulborb, that game even acknowledges that as well.

[@Queen_Mab]

The Piklopedia was one of my favorite parts of Pikmin 2 as a kid (and still is!), and it definitely contributed to my love of biology and zoology. The Pikmin 2 Piklopedia actually also included a number of plants in addition to animals, including most interestingly the Glowstem (Nocturnica illuminati), which is assumed to be a relative of the Common Glowcap mushroom, but in reality Glowstems are tiny LEDs. In the English localization, the Glowstem is listed under the Glowcap family, but in Japanese it is considered an unknown family. The misconceptions seen in the Piklopedia always stuck out to me as a kid, and it’s cool how that mirrors the way real life zoologists are constantly learning more and reclassifying what they already knew.

[@cullenwhiteside8165]

When it comes to your issues with the inconsistency of Dwarf Bulborbs, the names come about due to gameplay convenience. However, the 2 exceptions can be explained away due to the Bulborbs cannibalistic tendency towards the albino larva driving away any creature without spots. The reason the Dwarf Bulbear can exist is because mature Bulbears have enough intelligence to notice mimics and not eat actual larva, and Dwarf Frosty Bulborbs exist because they have a unique defense mechanism that prevents predation and can't be mimicked.

[@IreSketch]

so about bulbmins, im sorry in advance for not being too clear or not giving anough infos, but its a kind of pikmin that parasites bulborb dwarfs if i remember correctly, the only thing differencing them from bulborbs is their stem, like the pikmins

[@maglev0789]

This gave me the really goofy idea of a lightning round of going through every single scientific name and reviewing if they got it right on a case by case basis