I bought the physical release of this but don't intend to play the second game.
This run was 13 days, easily a personal best for this game after my half a dozen runs over the years up until now. Finishing it in one sitting was wild but a lot more doable than I expected.
I didn't expect Pikmin 1's ending segment to make me cry, but it did. A flood of emotions came to me during the final cutscene: seeing Olimar leave safely, confidently, and triumphantly, and then seeing the pikmin having learned to fight for themselves reminded me so much of what this game actually did for me when I was younger. It reminded me, too, of how I consider this game a 'Perfect Seven', and of how important that general concept to me is. Of greatness from major imperfection, of influence from the soul of a piece of art.
There's something powerful to me about the struggle in Pikmin, that fight in the face of a very big and living world that moves with or without you, one where you have to try hard to stay true to yourself even when you believe you're weak. I failed on my original run of this game as a child, and unlike most video games the consequence is across a whole run, not simply losing a life or respawning at the nearest spawn point after a single brutal death of some kind. Pikmin requires you to start over for real and do all that you can to truly put your experience and your efforts to the test. Getting up and trying again only to succeed from your own ability in that sort of environment is truly special even in the world of video games.
When I saw just how well I had finished this game without actively practicing it, just having gotten generally sharper at strategy and personal management, it began to seep into me until the ending made it all hit me hard. Seeing the pikmin fighting on their own terms and for themselves felt like me learning the same thing; seeing the planet from afar all shaded as the credits played made things all the more powerful to reflect on. I was reminded of how influential the world and atmosphere and scale were to me, and of my story with the game. And, like I said, I teared up from it all at several points. I had to stifle actual crying, but it was a lot and I can't say I expected it even remotely.
This game is incredibly important to me, even more than I'd previously given it credit for. It's the sort of game that I'd hope just about every dedicated gamer has an example of in terms of how it might have affected them in life.
This run was 13 days, easily a personal best for this game after my half a dozen runs over the years up until now. Finishing it in one sitting was wild but a lot more doable than I expected.
I didn't expect Pikmin 1's ending segment to make me cry, but it did. A flood of emotions came to me during the final cutscene: seeing Olimar leave safely, confidently, and triumphantly, and then seeing the pikmin having learned to fight for themselves reminded me so much of what this game actually did for me when I was younger. It reminded me, too, of how I consider this game a 'Perfect Seven', and of how important that general concept to me is. Of greatness from major imperfection, of influence from the soul of a piece of art.
There's something powerful to me about the struggle in Pikmin, that fight in the face of a very big and living world that moves with or without you, one where you have to try hard to stay true to yourself even when you believe you're weak. I failed on my original run of this game as a child, and unlike most video games the consequence is across a whole run, not simply losing a life or respawning at the nearest spawn point after a single brutal death of some kind. Pikmin requires you to start over for real and do all that you can to truly put your experience and your efforts to the test. Getting up and trying again only to succeed from your own ability in that sort of environment is truly special even in the world of video games.
When I saw just how well I had finished this game without actively practicing it, just having gotten generally sharper at strategy and personal management, it began to seep into me until the ending made it all hit me hard. Seeing the pikmin fighting on their own terms and for themselves felt like me learning the same thing; seeing the planet from afar all shaded as the credits played made things all the more powerful to reflect on. I was reminded of how influential the world and atmosphere and scale were to me, and of my story with the game. And, like I said, I teared up from it all at several points. I had to stifle actual crying, but it was a lot and I can't say I expected it even remotely.
This game is incredibly important to me, even more than I'd previously given it credit for. It's the sort of game that I'd hope just about every dedicated gamer has an example of in terms of how it might have affected them in life.
Lynxelot
7 months ago
It's an alright port that I wish more effort had been put into. Very little seems upscaled if anything, and the new controls are generally good but feel a bit tough to get used to from the original. The controls are a bit annoying at times, particularly for speed-throwing, and were the bane of my existence during the careful pikmin-directing challenges within the Distant Spring.
I have no idea if it was just my copy, my capture card, or my console (or something else entirely), but the audio throughout the game was sometimes a tiny bit distorted with a sort of slight warble resembling an old VHS tape. To be honest I actually really loved this, but I'd imagine if it's common to all copies it might be a bother to others. It helped set the tone of this run and absolutely affected how the music hit me in the end scenes, too.
Otherwise it's just good ol' Pikmin 1 again. It feels fairly good to play even with the new controls and the extended view you get from widescreen is quite nice. Nothing major seems to have been lost besides Attract Mode, and while I was disappointed in how lazy the port in general was (and hell, I wish this got a physical release without being paired with 2), I think I was generally satisfied with getting a version of the game to play on the go if I needed a way to spend a few hours on a given day. I don't think the port is really worth getting unless someone is a diehard fan of 1 or 2 or both, as just emulating the Gamecube version is more than sufficient. This port has fewer bugs as far as I know, but I don't think that justifies the price tag; at least getting this game on its own digitally isn't too pricey, though!