Pikmin: Stepping Stone Towards Better To Come

Pikmin began as a series created by Mario creator, Shigeru Miyamoto. The foundation of Pikmin can be found in a GameCube-era tech demo called Super Mario 128, it showed the performance of the GameCube, being able to animate 128 copies of Mario at once, and this concept of multiple characters running at once moved over to what we know today as Pikmin. Pikmin is probably one of the more unique Nintendo series out there. There's your normal Mario's, Zelda's and Metroid's, as well Fire Emblem and Xenoblade for the weebs, but Pikmin as a series is kinda the middle child of Nintendo IPs. It's not as popular as Mario or Zelda, but it's not as niche as Fire Emblem or Xenoblade over here in the west. I initially knew Pikmin only as the series Olimar from Super Smash Bros was from, said 9-year-old me.

I remember trying out Pikmin before, I believe I played either Pikmin 1 or 2 on my old Wii before, I don't know which one exactly, but I never completed it, and I didn't like the controls. I was only a kid at the time, so it was only natural for me to be dogshit at games that weren't Mario or Pokemon. I decided to pick up Pikmin 1 + 2 on the Switch because this was the most accessible version available to me as a newcomer to the series. (I'm writing my review here because backloggd's system when it comes to ports/remasters is dogshit) I am able to play the Wii version of Pikmin 1 & 2, but I've heard about the mixed reception of the motion controls, and with a game like Pikmin, I didn't hate myself enough to subject myself to motion controls, so I got the Switch version. I'll be writing about Pikmin 1 here and Pikmin 2 later, for now, all I have to say about Pikmin 1 is that Pikmin 1 was such a nice change of pace from all the games I've played this year so far.

It was sorta calming to play this game, the soundtrack was composed by Hajime Wakai and adds so much to crafting the atmosphere when you explore this planet as Olimar. Olimar is a Hocotatian (I checked the Pikmin wiki to make sure before I made a fool of myself and say Olimar was human. Pikmin lore goes deep) who crashes his ship onto the planet where the Pikmin inhabit. Since Oilmar's ship is out of work, he befriends the Pikmin and uses them to collect the missing pieces of his ship on the planet to make sure he has all the pieces, or else in 30 days, the oxygen in his space helmet will run out, and he will die. You have limited time each day you play Pikmin, each day matters, and it's best to use each day to its best by either getting a missing piece of the ship or harvesting some more Pikmin. In Pikmin 1, there are only 3 types of Pikmin, Red Pikmin, Blue Pikmin, and Yellow Pikmin.

Red Pikmin are the first ones you get in the game and can withstand flames and anything similar to heat, Blue Pikmin can be brought underwater while the other ones melt to death, and Yellow Pikmin can withstand electricity. Compared to Pikmin 2, and the later games, this is quite basic, but as the first game in the series, it works and works perfectly for newcomers. This is the perfect entry point for me, I was able to understand the 3 basic Pikmin types perfectly, and going into Pikmin 2 after this game felt like a smooth transition. Pikmin isn't a game you play for a story, it's all about gameplay, and the gameplay is so satisfying. Compared to Pikmin 2, it's quite basic since this was the first game, but I still had a fun time with it. It was fun to explore the little planet with the Pikmin and explore to find treasure.

I found myself caring for the Pikmin I had around me, I felt like a guardian protecting its little ones, and whenever I lost one of them to an enemy, I made sure me and my children got sweet revenge by killing it and harvet its body to create more Pikmin. Surprisingly kinda dark for a Nintendo game. (insert Spongebob roller coaster meme here) To be honest, I don't have a lot to say here, because most of my praises are for Pikmin 2, but what I will say is that one of my issues with Pikmin 1, was that I felt that the Pikmin could just ignore you sometimes. Sometimes I threw a Pikmin at an enemy just for the Pikmin to walk around blind like they Stevie Wonder, but also another issue was that compared to Pikmin 2, there's not a lot of replay value. Of course, you can try to speed-run it, but everything after Pikmin 1 just does a better job. Overall, Pikmin 1 was a nice change of pace from what else I was playing this year. I believe this was the first RTS I ever played, and I loved it.

Stats:
8th Game I've Completed In 2024
Played on Nintendo Switch
Hours into Game: 10 hours
Score: 8/10 (4/5)
Last Statement: Red Pikmin best pikmin

Continuing my fervor for GameCube stuff during GameCube month, I hunted down an old favorite of mine~. It's been only a few years since I beat Pikmin, but that was on Wii. It's been a loooooong ol' time since I've played it on GameCube, and this seemed like as good a time as ever ^w^. Playing the Japanese version of the game, it took me about 6 or 7 hours to get all 30 ship parts in 19 in-game days.

Pikmin is the story of Captain Olimar, a pint-sized astronaut who crash-lands on a mysterious Earth-like planet. However, for Olimar, our precious oxygen is very toxic, and he only has 30 days to repair his ship before he does a big die. Thankfully, he has the help of eager and easily controlled little plant-like aliens: the Pikmin! The game is quite light on both story and premise outside of Olimar's logs, but they more than do the job of what the game needs for its narrative.

The mechanics and design of Pikmin are where it's at. Using Olimar, you can control your red (immune to fire and better fighters), yellow (can carry bombs and be thrown higher), and blue (don't drown in water) Pikmin to help you do everything from fight giant monsters to building bridges to destroying destructible walls. You can have 100 Pikmin out at a time, and you grow more by having them retrieve the bodies of monsters they kill and bringing them back to their little Onion homes. IF they are allowed to grow in the ground longer or find nectar to drink while they're out and about, the leaves on their heads will grow into buds and then flowers, allowing them to move more quickly.

The combat isn't super technical, and mostly just revolves around using red Pikmin (whenever possible, at least) to strategically maneuver around your large and often slow and lumbering opponent to hit their weakpoint until they're dead (while avoiding getting eaten yourself). You have 30 days to collect 30 ship pieces, and while it isn't the biggest time crunch in the world, it can certainly be stressful, so time management is the name of the game. Pikmin is a game more about gameplay and atmosphere than deep technical strategies. It's such a short game, in fact, that it even has scoreboards for how many Pikmin you had die, how long you took to get the ship pieces, how many Pikmin you grew, etc.. This makes it more of a time-attack challenge, in the long-run, and is definitely a game made with multiple playthroughs in mind.

That said, it isn't a game without flaws. Most of the issues I have with the game come from the Pikmins' AI, which can be very capricious at times. Certain objects such as little crust on the ground or grasses will hide nectar within them, and if a Pikmin passes by it at all (whether you directed them to or not), they will stop what they're doing to try and get the nectar. Additionally, Pikmin aren't the best runners, and they can trip fairly frequently, so waiting for your little guys to catch up with you is an annoyance that often eats up a fair bit of time. There are also issues with larger Pikmin swarms not packing together very nicely and leading to cases where they end up getting caught on rocks or falling off of bridges, leading to unintentionally leaving them behind or drowning just because you weren't paying attention enough. Admittedly, a lot of these things are bigger problems when viewed in the context of the sequel which fixes basically all of those problems in one way or another (sometimes AI fixes, sometimes via level design), but they're still annoyances here one way or the other.

The presentation is as excellent as you'd expect from a Nintendo first-party title. The Pikmin, Olimar, and all the creatures are unique and adorable in their own ways, and the world design really gives a great impression of being around an inch tall~. The music is also excellent, and adds to the atmosphere very nicely.

Verdict: Highly Recommended. It may be a bit on the short side and rough around the edges, but Pikmin still holds up excellently. I'll always prefer its sequel, but the whole nature of the smaller world and time management aspects make Pikmin 1 unique from its successors in a way that I think is still worth appreciating.

A very gentle strategy game.

You pick your Pikmin, and throw them at things you want them to attack or carry back to base. Red ones are immune to fire and do about 1.5 times the damage of the other 2, blue immune to water, and yellow are lighter and can be thrown higher and can carry around bombs.

That's it. There's nothing else to really think about. The levels are also laid out in such a straightforward way, and there's so little experimentation to do, that the basic pattern-recognition that anyone who's played games a while would have is enough to steamroll this. I got all 30 parts in 17 days blind, and by no means think I was particularly good at it.

That's ok though. This game isn't supposed to be a kick in the teeth. It's a brief relaxed trip through a little forest area. Despite how forward it is with its gameplay, it still reminds me of a Sunday stroll. I do think the atmosphere is relentlessly pleasant.

I tend to lean towards games that present me with a challenging set of restrictions that were playtested thoroughly before release, and that makes it mean-spirited of me to dock this down to a 2.5/5, but I did play it and it was billed to me as a game first and foremost. That's how I'd score it if I was reviewing it as a game. I do like things about it other than its gameplay though.

After having not beaten Pikmin as a child because Puffstool turned all of my darling boys into violent delinquents who beat me up and got eaten, and then I decided "that's enough" and never came back to it, going back to play it is a fascinating task. What I'm presented with is essentially a simplified RTS where you simply drag one of your three units to the proper location for them to be useful, fulfill their function, and then repeat across a map before a time limit runs out. But sometimes they get caught on geometry or drown for no reason, because they have no idea what a bridge is and choose to dive into lethal amounts of water instead of following safety regulations that they themselves established. And it's here where Pikmin is at its weakest - its environmental puzzles are fairly rudimentary, the Pikmin themselves are clumsy, your actual throw is clumsy because it's tied to your walk so sometimes you'll just toss boys directly into the mouth of a lil' dwarf bulborb, and the actual matter of traversal is solved as simply as "did you make all the bridges and bomb the walls that are in your way?" Or just by throwing boys at the problem, typically nothing - enemies or puzzles - knows what to do when you throw Pikmin on its backside.

But it's that element - the enemies - that brings Pikmin to life. Due to the combination of the constant time limit and the fact that you have such limited resources - and they're ALIVE and make sad noises when they die and it's your fault like 70% of the time - every encounter with a new enemy type is a nerve-racking experience. You need to properly discern their behavior before they end up killing the battalion of boys you brought with you, and often times, ANY form of aggression ends up being an incredibly scary prospect! Things can turn from bad to absolutely untennable in Pikmin with just a single move, and god help you if more than one enemy is coming at you! Bosses, likewise, become a wager on how quickly you can figure out their gimmick before they wipe your squad and make you completely ineffectual. And this level of anxiety, trying to prevent things from going from bad to worse and failing constantly, is the heart of what makes Pikmin such an engaging experience. When you finally learn an enemy's patterns and manage to take 'em down no problem, using them as fuel for the fire, THAT'S the best of the game.

Ultimately, Pikmin isn't quite sure what it wants to be at this stage. It's an ultimately survivalist narrative with fantastic characterization for Olimar as this bumbling salaryman who's easily scammed but earnestly fascinated by the world around him, but it's presented as a score attack game where you wanna get better to have awesome speedruns with minimal losses. It wants to pressure you with a constant time limit, but there's true beauty in its world to appreciate. It wants you to be able to multitask between squads for ideal set-ups, but the learning process of enemies is the most fun part about the game! Ultimately, I think that Pikmin needed to grow from this first title - and I know in the future it did grow out from what this game set out to do - but I appreciate the unique little adventure all the same. It's clunky, but oddly accessible; if it didn't end up as an entire series, it'd be this fascinatingly unique cult classic! As-is... it's kind of that within its own series, anyway! A fun time to learn, but I eagerly await what future games hold for this series!

I'm flabbergasted Nintendo keeps taking another roll at this god forsaken IP to see if the next one will be successful for once, but without addressing the root problems that make it fundamentally an awful videogame series.

It's all maidwork. The amount of little plant folk that you can have following you around seems impressive at first until you hit the unit cap before you know it and suddenly it seems like this oppressively limited amount. There can be red pills lying around every freakin where and thats when it becomes apparent that those are essentially health pickups and that the unit cap is essentially a health bar. The game ceases to seem unique or interesting at that point. It's about trading health to achieve tasks and then replenishing said health, and taking note of the locations of unneeded red pills so you know where to find them later, like it's a 90s PC FPS.

By tasks of course I mean gathering collectibles and killing enemies. (Very original!) How do you gather collectibles? Throw the plant folk at them until the gauge is filled. You're simply filling gauges in Pikmin. It's a gauge filling simulator. You defeat enemies the same way. It's not really clear how the plant folk actually attack the enemies since they have no teeth or claws or any visible means to damage enemies much larger than them, but you're not really paying attention to that. You're just looking at the gauge that appears onscreen to show how many plant folk to put in the cup to make the big bad go bye bye. Filling gauges. So quirky. Pure Nintendo. Brilliant.

And the sundown timer. That reminds me of when it was time for bed and my dad would count to 10 slowly before he would shut the console off, and that's how much time we had to reach a save point. That's literally what playing Pikmin is.

When night falls in game you know you're done playing Pikmin because instead of being able to start the next day immediately you have to read the main character monologue for like twenty minutes. ("Make 'em reeeead!!" -Miyamoto, probably) I think the final screen in the game occurrs when you have a choice between two levels to land into, which is a fantastic way of introducing our generation to the concept of choice paralysis. Either way you use up one of your remaining days of oxygen or whatever you have left to finish the game in. So BETTER NOT SQUANDER IT, IDIOT. Better make sure to play each day 100% optimally, not just stumble through. Definitely don't start this level or that one if you're just playing for fun. But it's not as if you're playing games for fun?? I mean who does that.

There were two things I did not expect from Pikmin. First, I didn't think playing an RTS with a controller would be a viable option. Second, I didn't expect I would ever enjoy doing it. I'm glad I was proven wrong on both counts.

Pikmin follows a spaceman who crashes on an alien planet (presumably a future Earth) and has thirty days to recover thirty missing pieces of his spaceship and return home. To accomplish this task, the player is given control of these tiny, omnivorous, plant-based monsters called Pikmin.

The Pikmin come in three varieties, each with unique abilities and weaknesses. They are loosely classified as grunts, specialists, and marines.

Finding all of the scattered ship pieces requires using the Pikmin's abilities to overcome enemies and puzzles and then carry the parts back to your ship. The gameplay loop is simplistic but fun and rewarding. However, it appeared that most parts only had one way to collect them. I can't see a lot of replay value here unless you really like beating your previous score.

The one area that I found lacking was the interface. It's tough to figure out where you are aiming your Pikmin (you often have to throw them), and getting them to hit things in the air presents an unnecessary challenge.

If you're a fan of RTS games or drafting tiny monsters into a colourful army bent on becoming the apex predator species, you cannot go wrong with Pikmin.

Despite growing up with its successor, I didn't actually play through the original Pikmin until my late teen years. I also played it again recently, and I think both times, it held up rather well. I'm not keen to replay it over and over in close proximity as I think the developers intended - the high score element is cool, but not really my interest. However, the shortness of Pikmin does mean that coming back to replay it once in a while is rather easily afforded. It's a classic, and the cave level is my favourite.

This is the best damn case study for video games being art. Seriously. Most of the imperfections that people complain about are what makes it so perfect, especially with the original Gamecube release. It's not an objectively flawless game or anything, but it gives the strongest account of the uniqueness of video games as an interactive media.

The controls and camera are clunky and unfamiliar, Pikmin don't go where you want them to and have a mind of their own. While occasionaly frustrating, these flaws are what provide the sense of immersion - you've crash landed on a foreign planet and have to command an army of sentient beings, of course it's going to be disorienting and awkward. The atmosphere of the game rhymes with it's control scheme in a way that no other game, Pikmin or not, has achieved since.