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ORIGINAL GGAPP.IO review:
Played on:
Gamecube
A classic that is emblematic of the experimentalism of the PS2/GameCube/X-Box era of the medium. The time limit system and Olimar's journal entries were an excellent use of dramatic tension to keep the player engaged in the story and themes of the game.
--
New Review:
(Author's note: This play-through was of the normal ending with 29/30 ships obtained. Any commentary on the challenge mode predates this play-through and stems more from owning the game for years. This run was done on Dolphin emulator version 5.0 - 18498 on native hardware graphical settings. Additionally I will note that nothing strange really happened that would notably change the experience from original hardware.)
Introduction
Pikmin 4 is coming out later this year and in anticipation I would like to look back on the three previous games with a clearer head and more depth compared to that frankly poorly written one sentence review from GGapp.io. For those unaware Pikmin is a series of real time strategy games by Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto inspired by his love of gardening. The series started with duology on the Nintendo Gamecube and has since become something of a rarity among modern Nintendo first party IP by having been one of four post 2000 IP launches to really succeed for the company (the other three being Xenoblade, "Wii __", and Splatoon if anyone is curious on my math) spawning an additional two sequels on Wii U + Switch, a short film, several ports, and a litany of merchandise. This begs the question is Captain Olimar worthy of being this statistical outlier standing over the bodies of Issac and Captain Falcon like its that Grant Gustin meme? Let's find out!
Gameplay
Pikmin's primary hook is a time limit of 30 days. Each day has roughly 15-20 minute window in which you can explore to find ship parts (the game's main collectable) with your army of up to 100 disposable (but replenishable with enemy kills) units. These units come in three varieties throughout the game. Fire resistant Red Pikmin that deal extra damage, aquatic Blue Pikmin, and acrobatic Yellow Pikmin that also serve as demolition experts. Ship parts are hidden behind environmental puzzles and significant enemy encounters in each of the game five locales. Most of these environmental puzzles are pretty often basic to the point of feeling "tech demoy" in nature. Part on a tall ledge? Throw Yellow Pikmin to reach it. Part in the water? Use Blue Pikmin. While there are a few parts that require some creative thinking (the analog computer for example requires you to carry it with blues initially and switch to reds after pulling it out of the water to avoid burning your Pikmin to a pile of ash) nothing really that complex is really asked of the player and much of the gameplay loop is really about balancing growing/upgrading your units and going after ship parts in the time limit rather than the struggle of getting the parts themselves. Given the strategy genre's tendency to skew towards very lengthy, micromanagement heavy experiences I actually think the choice to focus on a arcadey time trial centric experience was for the best to help the game standout from the crowd. Some folks might not care for the trial and error nature that comes with the time limit system but there is nothing like getting into a flow state of a perfectly executed day where you bring multiple part back,have time to farm more backup units and also plan out a route for the next day.
With that in mind I can certainly see why the dev team were going for with the choice to include the bonus challenge mode centered around maximizing the # of Pkmin you can grow in a day but I found it a tad too minimalist for my liking. I think even changing the layout of the selectable levels slightly and having some built in scores to beat could have gone a long way towards giving some value to that mode. As it stand it sorta just feels like something slapped together with some debug tools. Not impossible given the crunch that was common with Nintendo's early first party GameCube titles (Mashiro Sakurai infamously was hospitalized during the development of Super Smash Bros. Melee for example). That criticism aside the core content during the main campaign is more than enough to be satisfying in my opinion.
Graphics
Being a launch title meant that, in order to showcase what the purple lunchbox could do, Pikmin went with a unique art style by being a mash up of (at the time) realistic environments and cartoony characters models (this is a choice made more clear by promotional art). This leads to a game that rests in an interesting middle ground with its graphical age. The environments look a tad dated nearly 20 years later obviously but the character models fair a tad better (thought Olimar and the Pikmin can look a tad glossy at points). Stylistically speaking I like the art style mashup since it helps sell the idea of Captain Olimar as this outside to the planet but it clearly has a downside with dating the game long term but hey time rots everything eventually.
Story
Pikmin's story premise, like most Nintendo games, is simple. The tiny space alien Captain Olimar crash lands on planet earth and must work with a local tribe like mobile plant species to repair his spaceship in order to return home before he succumbs to the toxic atmosphere. This Castaway riff plot by itself would be serviceable enough to give the game dramatic tension but Pikmin has a brilliant narrative device that gives things a lot more flavor. During major tutorials and at the end of each day Olimar will write diary entries that flesh out his backstory and thoughts on what is going on. This does an excellent job of both justifying tutorial speak and getting you more invested in Olimar as a character. Pikmin probably has some of the best writing from the Big N's non-RPG output.
Music & Sound Design
While I find the music in this game mostly forgettable (but atmospheric enough for what the development team was going for) outside the main menu theme I think the actual sound design is incredibly well thought out. Since micromanging is such a big part of the game having audio ques for say an enemy ambushing a ship part being taken to base (Pikmin screaming) or a Pikmin drowing/burning are vital to allowing the player to keep in mind what their squad is doing while they attend to others things without needing to pull up the radar screen 24/7.
Conclusion
For strategy game fans Pikmin is a must play especially if you own a GameCube, Wii, or Wii U. Just be weary of how much you pay if your are are on limited gaming budget.
ORIGINAL GGAPP.IO review:
Played on:
Gamecube
A classic that is emblematic of the experimentalism of the PS2/GameCube/X-Box era of the medium. The time limit system and Olimar's journal entries were an excellent use of dramatic tension to keep the player engaged in the story and themes of the game.
--
New Review:
(Author's note: This play-through was of the normal ending with 29/30 ships obtained. Any commentary on the challenge mode predates this play-through and stems more from owning the game for years. This run was done on Dolphin emulator version 5.0 - 18498 on native hardware graphical settings. Additionally I will note that nothing strange really happened that would notably change the experience from original hardware.)
Introduction
Pikmin 4 is coming out later this year and in anticipation I would like to look back on the three previous games with a clearer head and more depth compared to that frankly poorly written one sentence review from GGapp.io. For those unaware Pikmin is a series of real time strategy games by Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto inspired by his love of gardening. The series started with duology on the Nintendo Gamecube and has since become something of a rarity among modern Nintendo first party IP by having been one of four post 2000 IP launches to really succeed for the company (the other three being Xenoblade, "Wii __", and Splatoon if anyone is curious on my math) spawning an additional two sequels on Wii U + Switch, a short film, several ports, and a litany of merchandise. This begs the question is Captain Olimar worthy of being this statistical outlier standing over the bodies of Issac and Captain Falcon like its that Grant Gustin meme? Let's find out!
Gameplay
Pikmin's primary hook is a time limit of 30 days. Each day has roughly 15-20 minute window in which you can explore to find ship parts (the game's main collectable) with your army of up to 100 disposable (but replenishable with enemy kills) units. These units come in three varieties throughout the game. Fire resistant Red Pikmin that deal extra damage, aquatic Blue Pikmin, and acrobatic Yellow Pikmin that also serve as demolition experts. Ship parts are hidden behind environmental puzzles and significant enemy encounters in each of the game five locales. Most of these environmental puzzles are pretty often basic to the point of feeling "tech demoy" in nature. Part on a tall ledge? Throw Yellow Pikmin to reach it. Part in the water? Use Blue Pikmin. While there are a few parts that require some creative thinking (the analog computer for example requires you to carry it with blues initially and switch to reds after pulling it out of the water to avoid burning your Pikmin to a pile of ash) nothing really that complex is really asked of the player and much of the gameplay loop is really about balancing growing/upgrading your units and going after ship parts in the time limit rather than the struggle of getting the parts themselves. Given the strategy genre's tendency to skew towards very lengthy, micromanagement heavy experiences I actually think the choice to focus on a arcadey time trial centric experience was for the best to help the game standout from the crowd. Some folks might not care for the trial and error nature that comes with the time limit system but there is nothing like getting into a flow state of a perfectly executed day where you bring multiple part back,have time to farm more backup units and also plan out a route for the next day.
With that in mind I can certainly see why the dev team were going for with the choice to include the bonus challenge mode centered around maximizing the # of Pkmin you can grow in a day but I found it a tad too minimalist for my liking. I think even changing the layout of the selectable levels slightly and having some built in scores to beat could have gone a long way towards giving some value to that mode. As it stand it sorta just feels like something slapped together with some debug tools. Not impossible given the crunch that was common with Nintendo's early first party GameCube titles (Mashiro Sakurai infamously was hospitalized during the development of Super Smash Bros. Melee for example). That criticism aside the core content during the main campaign is more than enough to be satisfying in my opinion.
Graphics
Being a launch title meant that, in order to showcase what the purple lunchbox could do, Pikmin went with a unique art style by being a mash up of (at the time) realistic environments and cartoony characters models (this is a choice made more clear by promotional art). This leads to a game that rests in an interesting middle ground with its graphical age. The environments look a tad dated nearly 20 years later obviously but the character models fair a tad better (thought Olimar and the Pikmin can look a tad glossy at points). Stylistically speaking I like the art style mashup since it helps sell the idea of Captain Olimar as this outside to the planet but it clearly has a downside with dating the game long term but hey time rots everything eventually.
Story
Pikmin's story premise, like most Nintendo games, is simple. The tiny space alien Captain Olimar crash lands on planet earth and must work with a local tribe like mobile plant species to repair his spaceship in order to return home before he succumbs to the toxic atmosphere. This Castaway riff plot by itself would be serviceable enough to give the game dramatic tension but Pikmin has a brilliant narrative device that gives things a lot more flavor. During major tutorials and at the end of each day Olimar will write diary entries that flesh out his backstory and thoughts on what is going on. This does an excellent job of both justifying tutorial speak and getting you more invested in Olimar as a character. Pikmin probably has some of the best writing from the Big N's non-RPG output.
Music & Sound Design
While I find the music in this game mostly forgettable (but atmospheric enough for what the development team was going for) outside the main menu theme I think the actual sound design is incredibly well thought out. Since micromanging is such a big part of the game having audio ques for say an enemy ambushing a ship part being taken to base (Pikmin screaming) or a Pikmin drowing/burning are vital to allowing the player to keep in mind what their squad is doing while they attend to others things without needing to pull up the radar screen 24/7.
Conclusion
For strategy game fans Pikmin is a must play especially if you own a GameCube, Wii, or Wii U. Just be weary of how much you pay if your are are on limited gaming budget.