Pikmin 3 Deluxe might be the best introduction to the Pikmin series. It never felt like it was holding my hand and the normal difficulty was just difficult enough to not feel overly punishing for newcomers.

I like the fruit system, but maybe it's a little too forgiving. I was able to get a juice buffer going pretty easily even though I was mostly focusing on the story. There was only one time when I feared I would run out of juice and that was when all of my juice was stolen by Louie.

I thought that the story was just OK. Alph, Britanny, and Charlie are serviceable protagonists, but they don't really have any depth or charm. It felt like the story only existed to set up the gameplay sequences.

I've never really liked escort missions so I ended up kinda disliking the Formidable Oak. This part made me super anxious. Fun fact: this escort mission took longer for me to finish than the final boss.

Speaking of bosses, I guess it's time I talk about the excellent roster of bosses in Pikmin 3. They all feel appropriately large in scope and are satisfying to defeat. Though none of them felt like a real challenge, even the Quaggled Mireclops and the Plasm Wraith aren't all that difficult if you use the right type of Pikmin. I don't mind the easy difficulty though considering I'm a newcomer to the franchise. I'm afraid that Pikmin 2 is gonna kick my ass when I get to it.💀

Anyways, I'm excited to play Pikmin 4 and I plan on reviewing that so stay tuned!

Holy cow! Pikmin is as good as they say?!

It took me only a few minutes to fall in love with everything about this game. The level design is absolutely insane! Each stage is jam-packed with goodies, baddies, beautiful scenery, and most importantly, endlessly adorable Pikmin! Working your ass off (or more accurately, the Pikmin's asses off) to collect all of the various fruits might be the most fun I've ever had 100% completing a game, and I only wish there was a little bit more content. As it stands I completed everything in the base game in a little over eight hours, and while there's a lot of fun looking side stuff to do, the core gameplay is so perfect that I can't help but want more of it.

I suppose that means I should move on to the other games in the series, I've heard Pikmin 4 is pretty good!

I am 1 of the 37 Pikmin simps still alive on this Earth and I enjoy the heck out of these games. I think this game is very easy, so I'm glad that the Deluxe version introduces a Hard mode.

There is a pseudo-time limit but it's hard to fail, making it much more doable but also adds a little pressure to what you're doing. Nonetheless, the core gameplay mechanics of Pikmin will always shine to me despite difficulty settings. This is still one of the most creative puzzle and strategy series out there. Hundreds of Pikmin have still perished by my hands.

This game adds great QoL that the first two games lacked, where having control over certain groups of Pikmin and who you're throwing is better. They also introduced Rock Pikmin, BAYBEEE. ROCK PIKMIN SUPREMACY. (And also gave them many opportunities to shine.) I did not find much use for Winged Pikmin in my playthrough, but if you know how to use them right, they're so broken.

The environments are beautiful, the monsters are bigger and better. The FRUIT looks fantastic and are a nice addition towards making the plot make a little more sense.

As much as I love Rocks though, I wish the original 3 Pikmin were utilized a teeny bit more. You get Blues very late in the game, and most enemies can be defeated by pure boulder steel.

More people need to play these games though so that I don't have to wait another 200 years between games.

Cleared this the same day I started. Pikmin games really just pull you in don’t they?

I first beat this when it came out in I think 2013. It was my first Pikmin game and I had a pretty good time, but didn’t think much more than that. Playing back now, I have come to understand that Pikmin 3 is like Pikmin 1 where at its core is a perfect game with no fat on it.

It looks so dang good, and has such a nice whimsical style to it that is cute but almost looks like retro sci fi? The music is perfect and the characters are cute and fun.

As a Pikmin game, I like that Pikmin 3 was a straight up, mostly linear (but not too linear) action adventure game. I liked Pikmin 1/2 a lot (especially 1), but I think doing things simpler was the right play for Pikmin 3. The boss fights are fun, and Deluxe has a bunch of extra content that is fun but secondary.

HOWEVER, my big problem with Pikmin 3 Deluxe is that it doesn’t label the fact that Hard mode is actually the closest difficulty to base Pikmin 3. I mistakenly chose normal and had a campaign that was maybe a little (or a lot) breezier than it should have been.

Can’t wait for Pikmin 4, but I played so much Pikmin the last few days my head is spinning. I feel like I ate a pound of immaculately 3D-modeled cupcake frosting.

Waited on getting all the badges before writing this review, but now that I did I can say that Pikmin 3 Deluxe is definitely worth your time and money. There is just so much content packed into here that there is virtually no reason for you to play the inferior wii u version. While it isn't my favorite Pikmin game in the series, there's a lot of things this game does right and it's definitely still fun to play. This does feel like a beginner friendly Pikmin though despite it being the 3rd game but that's more of a nitpick than anything, getting more people into this series is what we fans want so we don't have to wait a decade for another game.
But yeah, after you buy Pikmin 4 (like you should) go back and give 3 Deluxe a chance if you haven't played it already, it's one you don't want to miss.

While Pikmin 3 Deluxe is outdone by other Pikmin games in specific areas, like 1's narrative, 2's sense of humor, or 4's level design, it remains my favorite in the series. There are a few reasons why, but more than anything I think it's easily the most fun to master.

Pikmin 3 is, in my opinion, the fully realized version of Pikmin 1's design ethos. It's an exercise in learning the mechanics, learning the levels, and finding out how to do everything as quickly and efficiently as possible. Every Pikmin type remains useful both when completing the main objectives and when revisiting areas for cleanup. The increased size of levels and variety of objectives gives the player plenty of room to figure out what to tackle and when (Tropical Wilds especially is really fun to optimize).

And of course, the introduction of the "Go Here" command is quite possibly the best thing to ever happen to the series, opening up a world of possibilities for multitasking. It allows for simultaneous completion of multiple objectives and management of special objectives requiring multiple captains. All this, on top of managing Pikmin counts and Spicy Spray, gives Pikmin 3 a feeling of "Dandori" its prequels couldn't match and its sequel ironically refused to. It's not perfect; the timer's very lax, the balance scale puzzle in Garden of Hope is a little annoying to speed through, and placing exactly two fruits underwater in Twilight River is a bit of a dick move. But I think it comes closer than any other game in the series.

On top of all that, it has some absolutely phenomenal extras. Mission Mode is a fantastic addition that pushes your time management skills to their absolute limits. Bingo Battle is a really fun multiplayer mode, though I haven't played much of it. The option to take photos is a neat extra, especially with a game this beautiful. And the stuff Deluxe adds is no slouch either. The Piklopedia's back, complete with Louie's cooking logs. Co-op in the main campaign is a blast to play with a buddy (and is such an obvious addition I question why it hasn't been a thing since Pikmin 2). And there are so many charming Easter Eggs and little bits of dialogue that add so much to the experience. It's really good! I don't know what else to say.

It seems the people at Nintendo heard the negative feedback about the second game, because Pikmin 3 is much more like the first game. Caves are gone, the focus on exploration is back, with the objective being collecting fruits, not unlike the ship parts from Pikmin 1, with those fruits being used to produce juice, the substitute for the day limit of the first game, seeing as the captains need juice to survive or else it’s a game over. That’ll hardly be an issue though, because this game is considerably easier than the previous two.

That was the thing that stood out the most to me on my first run, because I was coming right after two games where I had to carefully plan each step or else my precious little guys would end up being mauled by creatures or electrified to death (among many other horrid fates). But in Pikmin 3, the hazards aren’t nearly as deadly and the enemies come nowhere near close to the level of threat of those games, not even the bosses.

However, the game being easier didn’t take away from my enjoyment at all. Having almost a 10 year gap from the previous game, the gameplay got refined to a new level. The areas are much more expansive and delightful to explore, full of setpieces that show how gorgeous the scenery is; the Pikmin AI is more responsive and the combat is more intuitive, thanks to the new lock-in and charge mechanics; and despite the boss battles being much easier, they’re true spectacles, due to how massive some of them are (although some of them can feel a bit too scripted).

But just like the previous two games can be defined by a single aspect, with the first game’s being the atmosphere and Pikmin 2’s being the combat, Pikmin 3’s defining aspect is the multitasking. You can alternate between three captains and use the new “Go Here” feature to send each of them to a different place in the map to do different tasks simultaneously, that way you can optimize your efficiency in getting the collectibles back to the ship.

Mastering multitasking is CRUCIAL in this game’s side mode called Mission Mode, in which the objective is to collect all treasures or defeat all enemies within a time limit. This mode is where I spent more than half of my 75 hours playtime with this game, trying to get platinum medals on all 30 missions, whose timer is ABSURDLY strict for some of them - it forces you to be the master of planning and divide tasks between all three captains while making sure they’re taking the most optimal routes in each map. The Mission Mode is simply the best thing about this game.

Pikmin 3 is also more replayable than the second game due to it being shorter and nowhere near as stressful, but I’d say I like both of them equally. When I want to have some action, I might replay Pikmin 2, but when I want to chill and have a good time, I might replay Pikmin 3.

Pikmin 3 the best in the series:

> No caves
> Louie's cooking notes
> Introduction of rock pikmin, a gang of 100 of these can annihilate anything
> 6 types of pikmin of any given time in your crew (see and learn pikmin 4)
> Control three captains at the same time and maneuver them by selecting destinations on the map (the pinnacle of strategy games)
> Enjoying refreshing juice at the end of each day
> Maps are full of tiny secrets and puzzles
> Huge fauna variety for the pikmin to have fun

Maintaining the series' tradition: dialogues, items/enemys descriptions, logs, and the overall story is so charming as it can be.

If the Pikmin series is pure delight, Pikmin 3 is transcendent joy

Holy shit


After the nightmare of the caves in Pikmin 2, Pikmin 3 is such a breath of fresh air, it took nine years for this game to come out and man it shows.
Pikmin 3 basically improves on almost everything from the previous 2 games, ok yeah some small things the first two games did better, like the story and the characters I liked better in first two……….that’s about it.
Can I just say, the new Pikmin they added are excellent, I didn’t much care for the white and purple Pikmin in Pikmin 2, but I adore the rock and flying Pikmin in this game, they feel much more well rounded and are used more throughout the game, in fact unlike Pikmin 2 where a lot of things could be made obsolete by the purple Pikmin, in this game everything is balanced, rock Pikmin are powerful but they can’t latch onto things, and flying Pikmin can more easily traverse areas but are weak in combat, the balance here is wonderful.
Speaking of combat, it’s been greatly improved here, the lock on is nice and in general you have more control over your Pikmin, there’s a few new enemies to face off against, but what I really want to talk about are the bosses, holy fuck.
These bosses are great, the sheer scale and size of all of them makes the battles feel far more impactful, the first fight with the armored worm thing is so nice, the bat thing in the cave is admittedly pretty easy but also fun, the sandworm thing is a great use of area effects with the constantly changing terrain and it’s satisfying to see this thing launch out of the ground after hitting it enough, the flying bug thing is neat, the fucking plant rock boss in the mud is just gargantuan, like holy shit, I was taken aback by it, and then there’s the plasm wraith, I’ll get to this boss in a bit though.
Oh my god, can I just please talk about the graphics man, they’re fucking beautiful, the first two games look good but oh my goodness, this is next level shit, the way everything looks just immerses you more into the world, which just makes it even better.
I also did both of Olimar’s side adventures, these were pretty neat, Olimar’s assignment was a nice short and simple way of showing us how Olimar explored the planet and ended up getting captured by the Plasm Wraith, and Olimar’s comeback is a nice epilogue to close out the game on.
Before I move on to the final part, let me address my two problems with this game, 1. It’s a little too easy, I mean I know I complained about 2 being hard as shit, but like that was just bullshit difficulty with all the bombs and rocks falling from the ceiling, here though, man it’s just way too easy, even the bosses go down quick (plasm wraith being an exception of course), and this leads to my other problem, 2. The game is very short, it took me like maybe 4-5 hours to beat the main stuff, maybe an extra hour or two for the missing fruit I collected and the Olimar stuff, but it’s just short man, though I guess I prefer the short and sweet route compared to the overstays its welcome route (looking at you Pikmin 2).

Now, the final level, the formidable oak, easily the best part of the game and maybe the whole series, it blends everything we love about Pikmin perfectly together, it takes some of the good elements of the caves in Pikmin 2 like the multiple layers, but adds a lot more atmosphere here, the plasm wraith feels like an excellent upgrade from the water wraith, the puzzles are more complex than some of the ones seen before, it utilizes the three captains really well, it’s long enough to be challenging but doesn’t overstay its welcome, and it all caps off with a fantastic final boss, much like the titan dweevil, it uses all elements to combat you, but adds a twist with the whole bringing down the wraith into pieces and destroying the individual pieces, also electricity doesn’t insta kill every non yellow Pikmin in the game, so that’s a plus, made the titan dweevil fight very annoying.
After all that, you get a nice ending cutscene with Olimar thanking you for rescuing him, you leave as the plasm wraith screams at your ship, and that ends Pikmin 3………(also earlier there’s an extremely funny cutscene where Louie jumps out of your ship, steals all your food supply, runs offscreen, and fucking explodes, it’s so funny man).


So yeah, that’s Pikmin 3, an excellent adventure that just improves on everything the series has done, and it’s easily one of Nintendo’s best games, if Pikmin 4 can top this game, then holy fuck we’re in for something truly special.
Now one last thing before I finish this review off, I played this game once back in 2020 when it first came out on switch, and it’s weird cause I did not remember a fucking thing about the game when I replayed it this time, it’s kinda weird honestly, and since this basically a first playthrough for my brain, I’m just gonna put it on the 2023 list.


Now, we wait for Pikmin 4, just one more week and maybe the Pikmin subreddit will finally be normal again…………oh who am I kidding that place r/BatmanArkham on steroids.

On today's story of "how did I get here": Pikmin 4's demo was fine. I thought it was interesting, but I wasn't crazy about it. So I played Pikmin 3 Deluxe's demo as well because it was right there, and I had no choice but to continue in the full version. Never really been a big Pikmin fan, but this demo gave me enough of a push to follow through for once.

Our story begins with a crisis to end all crises: world hunger! Our trio sets sail to the farthest reaches of the universe in search of more foodstuffs, only to end up crash-landing on the surface, a fate that Pikmin protagonists cannot seem to avoid. Now stranded, they must rely on the assistance of Pikmin in order to escape PNF-404, foodstuffs in tow.

Your goals are simple. Collect fruit to survive, and track down strange wireless signals to discover new areas. Pikmin 3 aims for a happy medium between having a hard day limit and no day limit. As you collect hyperrealistic fruit, it's converted into juice rations with liquid physics that I want to chug. These bottles of juice represent your remaining days when totaled. As long as you keep collecting fruit, you increase the amount of days you have left to finish the game. Therein lies the problem, however. Fruit is everywhere, and it is pathetically easy to create a massive juice stockpile, rendering the day limit pretty moot. There's only one point in the game where it lights a fire under your ass by removing your supply, but that's only a temporary measure.

I don't really mind the time limit not being there, if only because the world of Pikmin 3 is one I want to stay in forever, territorial creatures and all. Being a tiny character in a comparitavely gigantic world is a concept I don't find explored in enough games. This game can also effectively be replayed forever, thanks to its extensive mission mode and ranking system. Pikmin 3's fantastic world design and atmosphere bring a flavor all their own. All the music dynamically changes depending on what you're doing (idling, fighting, ferrying items, etc). I wonder what flavor the Pikmin's onion tastes like. It looks like the world's most cracked fruit smoothie once you have all five types of Pikmin. I wanna ride down a river on a lilypad. Show me a Bulborb irl, I wanna throw hands.

It's hard to describe exactly why, but even in the most perilous situations, Pikmin 3 brings a smile to my face. Not many real-time strategy games are as approachable as Pikmin, nor as charming. This game has successfully Pikmin-pilled me. It's planted the seeds in my mind. Someday I'm truly going to lose it and try bossing the plants in my front yard around.

this game was pretty great, until it just ended. feels like it was just getting into this amazing groove and then it stopped way too early (with a pretty lackluster final boss as well).

controlling all the 3 little fellas is really fun. suprised they stripped it back to 2 in Pikmin 4 because three team members allows the concept of character switching to be fully realised.

the music is delightful, the world is beautiful, the pikmin are silly, there really is little to complain about. this is an easy recommendation, but it would be an all-time great if it carried it's momentum for a while longer.