In this title, Olimar's got 30 days to locate and retrieve all 30* (you can miss 5 but they're unspecified and you need all of them to reach the final boss) of his ship parts before he's forced to breathe the same shitty oxygen that we breathe too. In order to do so, he enlists the help of the Pikmin, zerg rushing his enemies with an army 100 strong.
The world of Pikmin incites curiosity. You don't know what creatures are out there, but most of them probably want you gone. The music is laid-back and atmospheric, but it has melodies intertwined at the core of each track, ones that stick with you long after a day is done. I love all of Olimar's end-of-day logs. He chronicles his experiences with the Pikmin, documents the local flora and fauna, and even misses his wife and kids. I don't mean that last one as a joke, by the way. Olimar may be a big-nosed spaceman ordering tiny plant people around, but mentioning things like his family give him a human element that the player can sympathize with. The dude named the Pikmin and their home after foods, for crying out loud.
Something important to keep in mind about Pikmin is that you cannot do everything in a single day. The 30-day limit and daily timer are the linchpins of Pikmin 1. It necessitates scouting out the area and planning in advance. Taking heavy losses in battle may necessitate taking a day solely to farm more Pikmin. Nabbing more than one ship part in a single day gives you a little bit of leeway, and so on. It's such a weird, charming game with so much to discover, even when condensed into 3 or so areas. I even saw several enemies that I never encountered in the post-credits roll call, each one receiving a louder "What the hell is that?!?" from me. Crass attitude aside, It just looks like there's more discoveries to be made, even after collecting all of the ship parts. I'll be back to play this game again for sure.
I've been spoiled by Pikmin 3, but the controls in this game take getting used to, and I still have my gripes beyond that. Not being able to switch what type of Pikmin you want to throw without disbanding your whole team is very unhelpful, especially when merely touching an idle Pikmin adds it back to your team. The part that keeps me from letting the Pikmin into my heart is their AI. Their pathfinding in The Forest Navel astounded me, as they seemed to approach every un-bombed rock wall just to check their integrity on the way back to base. Red and yellow Pikmin make no effort to stay away from water. The Pikmin also frequently gain free will, which is a big no-no. They gravitate towards whatever Olimar walks past, be it a Bulborb carcass, some grass, a pile of rubble, and even pellet flower stems that haven't fully bloomed yet. You guys realize that you need those pellets to reproduce, right? Stop nipping it in the bud! You wanna touch grass so bad? I'll make like a Swooping Snitchbug and put you back in the ground, ensuring you can touch grass forever.
Overall though? Yeah, this game's considered a classic for a reason. I wonder how many people discovered this title through the "Pikmin movie" included with Luigi's Mansion. Maybe GameCube players just didn't have much choice on what to play during this experimental time for Nintendo. Whatever caused it to take off, I'm glad that Shigeru Miyamoto got to share his vision with everyone. Now Shiggy, where's Super Mario 128?
The world of Pikmin incites curiosity. You don't know what creatures are out there, but most of them probably want you gone. The music is laid-back and atmospheric, but it has melodies intertwined at the core of each track, ones that stick with you long after a day is done. I love all of Olimar's end-of-day logs. He chronicles his experiences with the Pikmin, documents the local flora and fauna, and even misses his wife and kids. I don't mean that last one as a joke, by the way. Olimar may be a big-nosed spaceman ordering tiny plant people around, but mentioning things like his family give him a human element that the player can sympathize with. The dude named the Pikmin and their home after foods, for crying out loud.
Something important to keep in mind about Pikmin is that you cannot do everything in a single day. The 30-day limit and daily timer are the linchpins of Pikmin 1. It necessitates scouting out the area and planning in advance. Taking heavy losses in battle may necessitate taking a day solely to farm more Pikmin. Nabbing more than one ship part in a single day gives you a little bit of leeway, and so on. It's such a weird, charming game with so much to discover, even when condensed into 3 or so areas. I even saw several enemies that I never encountered in the post-credits roll call, each one receiving a louder "What the hell is that?!?" from me. Crass attitude aside, It just looks like there's more discoveries to be made, even after collecting all of the ship parts. I'll be back to play this game again for sure.
I've been spoiled by Pikmin 3, but the controls in this game take getting used to, and I still have my gripes beyond that. Not being able to switch what type of Pikmin you want to throw without disbanding your whole team is very unhelpful, especially when merely touching an idle Pikmin adds it back to your team. The part that keeps me from letting the Pikmin into my heart is their AI. Their pathfinding in The Forest Navel astounded me, as they seemed to approach every un-bombed rock wall just to check their integrity on the way back to base. Red and yellow Pikmin make no effort to stay away from water. The Pikmin also frequently gain free will, which is a big no-no. They gravitate towards whatever Olimar walks past, be it a Bulborb carcass, some grass, a pile of rubble, and even pellet flower stems that haven't fully bloomed yet. You guys realize that you need those pellets to reproduce, right? Stop nipping it in the bud! You wanna touch grass so bad? I'll make like a Swooping Snitchbug and put you back in the ground, ensuring you can touch grass forever.
Overall though? Yeah, this game's considered a classic for a reason. I wonder how many people discovered this title through the "Pikmin movie" included with Luigi's Mansion. Maybe GameCube players just didn't have much choice on what to play during this experimental time for Nintendo. Whatever caused it to take off, I'm glad that Shigeru Miyamoto got to share his vision with everyone. Now Shiggy, where's Super Mario 128?
Lunacial
9 months ago