This review contains spoilers
Pikmin is the black sheep of Nintendo. Despite being decently popular and always selling well, it feels like this series is rarely talked about. Even after the recent accountment of Pikmin 4, one of the most anticipated Nintendo games of all time that had been anticipated for nearly a decade at this point, didn't get much fanfare upon being revealed. This is especially painful when you realize that the original Pikmin is a genuine masterpiece.
Every single thing Pikmin does, I'd say it executes perfectly. It has this incredibly addictive gameplay loop featuring a world that's a lot grimmer and more down to earth than appearances would suggest, all while being motivated by a clock that's constantly ticking down to your demise.
The way the gameplay loop is designed is very clever. On the surface, it doesn't seem too complicated. You go around maps picking up parts to your ship, and that's it really. However the obstacles that get in your way are varied enough to where each location offers a surprise. You have to think about the routes, where you're Pikmin will walk through, what enemies they might encounter, and which Pikmin would be right for the job. Do you send your reds through the patch of Flaming Blowhogs to harm no one? Do you swap some reds for yellows in the event of a new part that requires them, or an unexpected enemy you need the red's strength for? And should you send your flowers to get your Pikmin to safety faster, or do you keep your flowers to kill enemies and carry heavy parts faster? Questions like this constantly come up and you have to think them through quick.
The story and tone of the game is incredible too. You play as a captain who's ship gets destroyed and crashes on Earth, and you have to pick up the pieces. However, you only have 30 days of air left, as your species dies in the presence of oxygen. I'll go over the time limit later, but for now, the way Olimar is presented in the game is very interesting. Compared to most Nintendo protagonists, he's very human and talkative. He has a wife and kids at home, and constantly reminisces about them. He's constantly evaluating his situation and it really immerses you into it. Nintendo loves its silent protagonists, however I think Olimar shows the strengths of a vocal one, because he's easily the best and most memorable. Even other talkative Nintendo protagonists like Fox McCloud don't hold a candle to Olimar's relatability. All of his worries and queries about his situation are all ones I could easily see making myself in the situation. It's a small bit of comfort in this world.
The tone is also super unique for Nintendo and genuinely fantastic. On the surface, Pikmin looks to be onpar with something like Animal Crossing or Kirby, being generally very relaxing and peaceful. However, Pikmin blasts literally every Nintendo game out of the water with stress and intensity. It does this in a lot of ways, however the biggest are the Pikmin. Pikmin aren't limited and you can always find plenty, however the game characterizes them incredibly well. Without them, you literally wouldn't be able to do anything. Sure, they need your command to do anything, but you're nothing alone. It establishes a tight co dependence that makes you grow close to them. They're also all full of personality and emotion. They get happy when they eat nectar and deliver parts, and they cry and scream when they're killed. Every time I fought an even slightly strong enemy, I hesitated throwing my Pikmin because the game does such an amazing job getting you attached to them and sad at the thought of losing them.
As an example of this extreme attachment, I almost cried due to nearly losing 2 yellow Pikmin. For context, I gave myself a self imposed challenge to not leave a SINGLE Pikmin to die at night. This caused me to go slightly slower, however it added an extra level of attachment. And on one day at midnight, I was cleaning up after a day in the cave area. I checked the map and just as the 10 second counter started, I realized that I had left 2 yellows stranded. Immediately, I rushed to go grab them. The idea of leaving them behind saddened me, however grabbing them and taking them up to the ship genuinely made me teary eyed. Just the mental image of these two Pikmin having no clue what could've happened to them and me carrying them up to safety hit me hard. It's stupid but I think it shows the great extent to which Pikmin can cause you to get attached to literal nameless soldiers.
And speaking of Pikmin death, there are the enemies and bosses in this game. The enemies in this game are extremely varied, and to figure out what they'll do, you have to test them out and see how they react to you and your Pikmin. Enemies are surprisingly dangerous, and can kill a lot of your Pikmin unexpectedly, however every enemy has a specific way of taking them out which you can take to your advantage. The bosses, while small in number, all fit very well. Almost all of them come out of nowhere, and can only be predicted by large empty spaces. However even then, you never have any idea WHAT is to come. And in 99% of these cases, you'll have a third of your Pikmin wiped out in a second before you can even react. It tenses up the gameplay heavily and causes you to always think twice before entering areas. I will never forget entering the rock beetle arena in the Garden of Hope and watching helplessly as 50 of my flower Pikmin were wiped out by a single boulder I didn't even see coming. Nearly every boss has a moment like this, and while it would feel annoying in most games, it feels much more depressing and motivating here.
One minor thing I couldn't really fit anywhere is the chart at the end of every day, which I think is great. It gives you a reminder of every Pikmin you gained and lost. Seeing the graph go down, especially because of your own fault, is always sad to see, but it's also equally motivating. Seeing the data at the end always strived me to push forward and to have a better tomorrow.
However, after all that, there is still 1 more feature I've neglected diving into. It's easily the best feature in the game, and caused this game to go from just perfect to a genuine masterpiece; the time limit. I've been accustomed to games with limited time and limited days. Outer Wilds gives you limited time each loop to piece together a story. Persona gives you limited days to beat dungeons and save people. However, Pikmin takes a step further to combine both of these into one game, and it's as stressful as it sounds. You can't fuck around on days, every single action matters. Even though there are plenty of days to get all the parts, the constant time reminders and the calender at the end of each day keep reminding you of your impending doom. You can escape it, but it won't be easy.
However, in spite of this incredibly stressful mechanic and surprisingly dark world, the game is also one of the most relaxing I've ever played. It's fantastic OST and beautiful environments being a huge amount of comfort. It creates this beautiful blend where, despite all these stressful things weighing on my back, this calming world full of interesting creatures and things to discover always calmed me down and pushed me forward. It's a genuinely masterful the way the game uses such contrasting elements to create this perfectly balanced mood.
And in the Final Trial, this mood is taken advantage of and pushed to it's extreme. Due to its really fucking great song, the level has a mix of motivation and dread, of upbeat and unsettling. There's a triumphant tune playing of flutes and trumpets at the foreground, a valiant end to your journey. However, there's also this dark undertone of discordant bells, strings, and piano constantly in the background, an unsettling reminded of the intensity of your situation and a hint at what's at the end. This level encapsulates the tone of the game perfectly, pushing the atmosphere to its limits.
And to cap it off, the final boss ends the game, say it with me, perfectly. It encapsulates Pikmin's core gameplay and combat loop in a simple but terrifying final boss. It presents a giant, shelled version of the first enemy you encountered in the game. The only spot you can throw your Pikmin is directly at its mouth, essentially to their doom. You can beat him this way, however just like with the rest of Pikmin, you can also beat him strategically. Behind him there is a gate, which gives you access to tons of bomb rocks. These will tear through his health, so grab your yellows and blow him away. Once again, a pretty simple final boss, however, as in the name, it's a final trial that puts your skills to the test. You can still beat it how you want, however there's always a better way.
Overall, Pikmin is just incredible. For what is essentially a tech demo, the quality of this game is immaculate. I think this game really shows the strengths of Nintendo as a developer, and how even on brand new hardware, they can create masterpieces such as this. Pikmin has a few issues, however they're all so minor that I simply do not care in comparison to the rest of the game's quality. Get this game or the Wii version, it absolutely needs more attention.
Every single thing Pikmin does, I'd say it executes perfectly. It has this incredibly addictive gameplay loop featuring a world that's a lot grimmer and more down to earth than appearances would suggest, all while being motivated by a clock that's constantly ticking down to your demise.
The way the gameplay loop is designed is very clever. On the surface, it doesn't seem too complicated. You go around maps picking up parts to your ship, and that's it really. However the obstacles that get in your way are varied enough to where each location offers a surprise. You have to think about the routes, where you're Pikmin will walk through, what enemies they might encounter, and which Pikmin would be right for the job. Do you send your reds through the patch of Flaming Blowhogs to harm no one? Do you swap some reds for yellows in the event of a new part that requires them, or an unexpected enemy you need the red's strength for? And should you send your flowers to get your Pikmin to safety faster, or do you keep your flowers to kill enemies and carry heavy parts faster? Questions like this constantly come up and you have to think them through quick.
The story and tone of the game is incredible too. You play as a captain who's ship gets destroyed and crashes on Earth, and you have to pick up the pieces. However, you only have 30 days of air left, as your species dies in the presence of oxygen. I'll go over the time limit later, but for now, the way Olimar is presented in the game is very interesting. Compared to most Nintendo protagonists, he's very human and talkative. He has a wife and kids at home, and constantly reminisces about them. He's constantly evaluating his situation and it really immerses you into it. Nintendo loves its silent protagonists, however I think Olimar shows the strengths of a vocal one, because he's easily the best and most memorable. Even other talkative Nintendo protagonists like Fox McCloud don't hold a candle to Olimar's relatability. All of his worries and queries about his situation are all ones I could easily see making myself in the situation. It's a small bit of comfort in this world.
The tone is also super unique for Nintendo and genuinely fantastic. On the surface, Pikmin looks to be onpar with something like Animal Crossing or Kirby, being generally very relaxing and peaceful. However, Pikmin blasts literally every Nintendo game out of the water with stress and intensity. It does this in a lot of ways, however the biggest are the Pikmin. Pikmin aren't limited and you can always find plenty, however the game characterizes them incredibly well. Without them, you literally wouldn't be able to do anything. Sure, they need your command to do anything, but you're nothing alone. It establishes a tight co dependence that makes you grow close to them. They're also all full of personality and emotion. They get happy when they eat nectar and deliver parts, and they cry and scream when they're killed. Every time I fought an even slightly strong enemy, I hesitated throwing my Pikmin because the game does such an amazing job getting you attached to them and sad at the thought of losing them.
As an example of this extreme attachment, I almost cried due to nearly losing 2 yellow Pikmin. For context, I gave myself a self imposed challenge to not leave a SINGLE Pikmin to die at night. This caused me to go slightly slower, however it added an extra level of attachment. And on one day at midnight, I was cleaning up after a day in the cave area. I checked the map and just as the 10 second counter started, I realized that I had left 2 yellows stranded. Immediately, I rushed to go grab them. The idea of leaving them behind saddened me, however grabbing them and taking them up to the ship genuinely made me teary eyed. Just the mental image of these two Pikmin having no clue what could've happened to them and me carrying them up to safety hit me hard. It's stupid but I think it shows the great extent to which Pikmin can cause you to get attached to literal nameless soldiers.
And speaking of Pikmin death, there are the enemies and bosses in this game. The enemies in this game are extremely varied, and to figure out what they'll do, you have to test them out and see how they react to you and your Pikmin. Enemies are surprisingly dangerous, and can kill a lot of your Pikmin unexpectedly, however every enemy has a specific way of taking them out which you can take to your advantage. The bosses, while small in number, all fit very well. Almost all of them come out of nowhere, and can only be predicted by large empty spaces. However even then, you never have any idea WHAT is to come. And in 99% of these cases, you'll have a third of your Pikmin wiped out in a second before you can even react. It tenses up the gameplay heavily and causes you to always think twice before entering areas. I will never forget entering the rock beetle arena in the Garden of Hope and watching helplessly as 50 of my flower Pikmin were wiped out by a single boulder I didn't even see coming. Nearly every boss has a moment like this, and while it would feel annoying in most games, it feels much more depressing and motivating here.
One minor thing I couldn't really fit anywhere is the chart at the end of every day, which I think is great. It gives you a reminder of every Pikmin you gained and lost. Seeing the graph go down, especially because of your own fault, is always sad to see, but it's also equally motivating. Seeing the data at the end always strived me to push forward and to have a better tomorrow.
However, after all that, there is still 1 more feature I've neglected diving into. It's easily the best feature in the game, and caused this game to go from just perfect to a genuine masterpiece; the time limit. I've been accustomed to games with limited time and limited days. Outer Wilds gives you limited time each loop to piece together a story. Persona gives you limited days to beat dungeons and save people. However, Pikmin takes a step further to combine both of these into one game, and it's as stressful as it sounds. You can't fuck around on days, every single action matters. Even though there are plenty of days to get all the parts, the constant time reminders and the calender at the end of each day keep reminding you of your impending doom. You can escape it, but it won't be easy.
However, in spite of this incredibly stressful mechanic and surprisingly dark world, the game is also one of the most relaxing I've ever played. It's fantastic OST and beautiful environments being a huge amount of comfort. It creates this beautiful blend where, despite all these stressful things weighing on my back, this calming world full of interesting creatures and things to discover always calmed me down and pushed me forward. It's a genuinely masterful the way the game uses such contrasting elements to create this perfectly balanced mood.
And in the Final Trial, this mood is taken advantage of and pushed to it's extreme. Due to its really fucking great song, the level has a mix of motivation and dread, of upbeat and unsettling. There's a triumphant tune playing of flutes and trumpets at the foreground, a valiant end to your journey. However, there's also this dark undertone of discordant bells, strings, and piano constantly in the background, an unsettling reminded of the intensity of your situation and a hint at what's at the end. This level encapsulates the tone of the game perfectly, pushing the atmosphere to its limits.
And to cap it off, the final boss ends the game, say it with me, perfectly. It encapsulates Pikmin's core gameplay and combat loop in a simple but terrifying final boss. It presents a giant, shelled version of the first enemy you encountered in the game. The only spot you can throw your Pikmin is directly at its mouth, essentially to their doom. You can beat him this way, however just like with the rest of Pikmin, you can also beat him strategically. Behind him there is a gate, which gives you access to tons of bomb rocks. These will tear through his health, so grab your yellows and blow him away. Once again, a pretty simple final boss, however, as in the name, it's a final trial that puts your skills to the test. You can still beat it how you want, however there's always a better way.
Overall, Pikmin is just incredible. For what is essentially a tech demo, the quality of this game is immaculate. I think this game really shows the strengths of Nintendo as a developer, and how even on brand new hardware, they can create masterpieces such as this. Pikmin has a few issues, however they're all so minor that I simply do not care in comparison to the rest of the game's quality. Get this game or the Wii version, it absolutely needs more attention.