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.

pikmin 1 is a game i love dearly, but i feel like its a little overrated? i dunno, it never grabbed me quite as much as pikmin 2 did, although that could potentially just be because i played pikmin 2 first. i find the controls to be a little clunkier than they are in pikmin 2, where they nearly perfected it, pikmin tend to just not listen to you, crossing bridges can be really finnicky, among other things. with all that said, pikmin 1 is still a great game. i find it very satisfying to finish each day getting as much done as possible, and i think this game's areas are a little more interesting than pikmin 2's, specifically the forest navel. EXTREMELY cool and atmospheric area that no other game really captured the vibe of for me. i do think that my wishy-washy feelings on pikmin 1 are due in part to me having played pikmin 2 first, but i still really love the game, just not as much as the second one. overall, id say to absolutely check out pikmin, as long as you're able to deal with a little bit of 2001 game clunk

A friend said this is like gen 1 pokemon in how janky it gets.
And yeah, its REALLY janky, but in a very funny and charming way.
Start of a series I love, and even then its incredible and has aged very well.
If you think you can make it without pikmin dying.
Aha.
Ahaha.
Ahahahahahahahahahahaha.
I hope you enjoy your last moments of sanity.

(Review for the GameCube version, and thus the jank I complain about is probably something I voluntarily played with)

Pikmin is a game that's boring, until it's not. You go from thinking that the Pikmin are dumb and don't listen, the day cycle is pointless and just wastes time, and the world is some boring forest or whatever, to realizing that the Pikmin are the best minions in gaming, the day cycle is absolutely brilliant and allows for so much strategy on every playthough, and that the setting is genuinely stunning, and perfectly contrasts with the game's somewhat nihilistic tendencies. While there is some jank, being able to reset any day nearly eliminates it, and leaves behind one of the most replayable and relaxing experiences I've ever had.

9/10
Game #7 of 2024, January 24th

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.

One of the most lovely nature-focused atmospheres in any game I've played. While the 30 day timer does stress me out, it made for very unique gameplay where I don't really know if there is anything like it in the series. I love the feeling of the "race to the finish" gameplay and it makes this game feel incredibly fast paced. The final trial, while short, was a pretty cool puzzle that felt like a good conclusion to the journey. My only gripe with the game is mainly the pikmin AI, it got INCREDIBLY frustrating at some points, especially during the forest navel. Most of the time though, the AI is at least functional enough. Anyways, I'm really glad I checked out this entry in the series and I can't wait to play 2 and 3!

Was in a Pikmin mood and decided to replay Pikmin 1, this game is so fun and replayable, trying to go faster and faster on replay is so appealing for a game like this. I think generally this game's just really well designed, the way the game incetavises multitasking without being TOO punishing, fun secret bosses that didn't really need to be there but are welcome. The story is really charming being told exclusivley through the daily jorunal logs is really fun and charms you to Olimar as a character which incentivises you to play faster. Of any Pikmin games it's why I think this is my favorite structure wise, it's so satisfying putting the ship together because you see that tangible progress. One thing I miss about this game compared to future installments is how fucking brutal bosses were, one bad move and you could lose like half your squad, I have some small grips with the Pikmin AI, they go off on their own a bit too much for my liking and it was VERY common for them to just get stuck on walls. But those are mostly just nitpicks to an otherwise really solid first entry.