a brief history of periwinkles and bulbmin

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Bulbmin

 

The original Pikmin game was released in October of 2001 on the Gamecube. It was quite a revolutionary game for its time and gained a small following. Miyamoto once even claimed Pikmin was soon to be the next Mario (I am paraphrasing). In that game were little plant-like creatures called Pikmin that you would control with a whistle. Of course, there were also dangerous creatures, the Wollywog, the Burrowing Snagret, the Swooping Snitchbug and the notorious Bulborb.

 

Periwinkle

 

A while ago, I was sitting on the couch on a hot, boring weekend. Out of the blue, someone who would only like to be described as “The Amazing Bear”, came up to me and told me I was a periwinkle. Periwinkle. What did that mean? She continued on with her “periwinkle” shenanigans and it became normal. The definition morphed and twisted over the time, becoming a devious thing to a cute thing to a flexible word being able to shapeshift based on context.

 

Bulbmin

 

With the success of Pikmin came Pikmin 2, a bit of a controversial game, but it did add something very important - Bulbmin. Bulbmin were only able to be found in the underground caverns Pikmin 2 also introduced. Essentially, they were Bulborbs with a leaf growing out of their spines, similar to Pikmin. They were just the Dwarf Bulborbs, but something about them clicked. They stood out from the rest of the Bulborbs. Maybe it was that they were modeled in a lower poly so they would run more efficiently, as they were used as extra Pikmin in caverns. Maybe it was the leaf sprouting on their back, giving them the illusion of being little cursed Pikmin babies. Whatever it was, it was enchanting.

 

Periwinkle

 

As the periwinkle term expanded, it soon grew the reputation of being used for something that is both likable and devious. Perhaps the greatest example at the time was my dog, Pepe. He captured such periwinkle energy that he might’ve just been crowned periwinkle king. However, a new rival soon appeared. When I heard about Pikmin 4’s launch, I immediately became intrigued. Knowing nothing about the Pikmin franchise, I booted up the demo and fell in love with it. I became a Pikmin connoisseur. I was interested in the previous games and their history. For a while, I thought the Bulbmin was some fan made thing or a scrapped concept. I never imagined it to be real because there’s only two new Pikmin types in each game. For Pikmin 2, it had the white Pikmin and the purple Pikmin and that was it. Until it wasn’t.

 

The Bulbmin perfectly captures the pure essence of being a 98% guaranteed periwinkle. Everything to the texture to the low poly Gamecube style makes for an unforgettable periwinkle. My dog Pepe is probably the superior periwinkle, but the Bulbmin is still great in every way.