Miyamoto is back with his latest creation, and he’s brought some friends.
The GameCube was the biggest console launch in the history of Nintendo. They shipped more of the little cubes on day one than they did Game Boy Advance and according to Nintendo they virtually sold out in a few days. Part of this is due to the hype surrounding the console, but playing a more important role in its success over the past few weeks has been the excellent and diverse software available on the platform. Looking back at the launch and playing the games I couldn’t help but feel something was missing. Sure, Luigi’s Mansion was fun and Wave Race offered up some new gameplay, but both titles don’t seem to possess the Nintendo magic. Perhaps it’s because Luigi’s Mansion is too linear or because Wave Race’s controls weren’t as simple to master, but whatever the case may be, both titles lacked all of the ingredients needed to produce a “AAA” title. And that’s where Pikmin comes in.
While Mr. Miyamoto did have a hand in Luigi’s Mansion, his real focus was placed with Pikmin, Nintendo’s most original game released thus far on the Cube. The game represents everything that is Nintendo. It’s difficult to explain, but from the moment you turn the game on you’ll be instantly captivated. In Pikmin our friendly spaceman, Olimar, has collided with an asteroid, sending him and his ship spiraling through space and onto an alien planet. His ship (which is called, get this, the Dolphin) breaks up into 30 different pieces upon entering the atmosphere, but luckily Olimar is able to walk away from the crash. However, there is one slight problem. His spacesuit only has 30 days before it powers down and stops working. Thus, his quest begins to find all of the parts to his spacecraft so he can continue on his journey. Luckily for him he’ll have some help. Upon looking around the crash site he comes across what looks like a giant onion resting on a tripod. A seed shoots out of the top and nestles itself in the ground. After a few seconds a sprout appears in the dirt. Olimar decides to pick it out of the ground, and lo and behold a small red creature with a leaf on the top of its head stares back at him in wonder. Olimar decides to call this new creature Pikmin and sets out to explore his surroundings, with the little red creature following his every move.
The planet that Olimar landed on is densely covered with all sorts of plant life as well as other creatures that have nothing better to do than eat your beloved Pikmin. Some of the flowers scattered about the field can be chopped down with a Pikmin and a pellet will fall to the ground. The number on the pellet signifies how many Pikmin it will take to move the pellet back to the onion. Once this is accomplished, the onion will suck the pellet into its center and more seeds will pop out, falling to the ground below. There are three different stages of Pikmin growth. If you leave the new seeds in the ground they will eventually grow a bulb on the top of their heads. Leave them a little longer and the bulb will form a flower. The flower Pikmin are quicker and can defeat the other creatures much easier. You can have up to 100 Pikmin active in the field at any one time. They will become useful to you in ways that you can’t imagine. Suffice to say, they do more than just build bridges and knock down walls.
Most of the excitement from this game comes from the natural wonder of what’s to come next. What lies around the next corner? How do I get across the water to grab that ship part? Why can’t my Pikmin knock down this wall? The game requires you to utilize trial and error and to experiment in order to obtain all of the ship parts and to increase your Pikmin population. However, it must be said that you have to manage your time well. As was mentioned above, you only have 30 days to complete your quest. Each day is comprised of about 15 real-time minutes. It’s a constraint that is required in order to make this game challenging. As the end of the day approaches you will be warned to gather your Pikmin. This can be tricky to do since you may have multiple sets of Pikmin scattered about performing different tasks. If you fail to collect all of your Pikmin by dusk, they will be left behind and eaten by the creatures in that area. It’s definitely not a pretty sight.
Controlling the game is very simple. The analog control stick is used to move Olimar around. The “A” button allows you to pick the Pikmin and well as throw them at objects or toward an enemy. The “B” button blows your whistle and sends out a circle of dots in the direction you’re currently facing. Any Pikmin that are touched by the dots will stop what they’re currently doing and come to Olimar’s side. The yellow C-Stick allows you to control the Pikmin to an extent. For example, say you’re trying to avoid an enemy. Normally the Pikmin will follow directly behind Olimar, but if there are a bunch of them the group spreads out and if they were to come in contact with one of the creatures they’d automatically begin to attack it. To prevent this you can move Olimar with the control stick and keep the Pikmin to one side with the C-Stick. You can adjust the camera with the shoulder buttons to obtain a better view of the action. The “X” button will separate all your current Pikmin by color so you can specifically choose the best color for the task. I realize I haven’t mentioned anything about different colored Pikmin. The reason is because I hate reading reviews that give away specific details that are fun to learn on my own. Thus, if this is the only review you’ve read or are going to read, you now know there are more than one color of Pikmin, but how many colors and what the colors mean is up to you to discover on your own. That being said, the control is classic Miyamoto in every way and won’t take any time at all to figure out.
The graphics in the game are stunning. If you have a television with progressive scan you won’t believe how detailed some of the environments are. The surroundings look convincing, but it’s the lighting that really sells the visuals. As the day progresses the light gradually shifts, casting shadows realistically. In addition, leaves from trees and plants hanging above are constantly flowing in the wind, thus casting shadows on the ground level making the graphics look even more convincing. Then there’s the water, which looks absolutely marvelous as well. There’s never a stutter in the frame rate, despite the fact that you can have 100 Pikmin running around the screen at any one time. Little details, like the Pikmin kicking up dust as they scamper about, or the randomness of one of the little guys tripping and falling to the ground, only to get back up and run to try and catch up to the rest of the group, are what give this game character appeal. The graphics are so convincing that you actually feel like you’ve crash-landed on this mysterious planet. There are so many things to discover and new terrain and enemies to encounter that as each day passes by you can’t help but play another.
The music is difficult to explain, but if you’ve seen the commercial or viewed movies of it in the past you know what to expect. It’s very well done and fits each location perfectly. Some tracks have sort of a jungle beat to them, and others are extremely soothing and laid back. Sound effects are all spot-on and the Pikmin’s squeaky voices never seem to get old.
Pikmin is the best one player game on the GameCube this year. It’s got originality, great graphics, and a certain charm to it that makes it so much fun to play. Don’t let the cuteness factor turn you away from this game. It has some difficult challenges for you along the way and it’s one game that you won’t soon forget. As you play through the game on your first try you probably will be unsuccessful in obtaining all of the ship parts. It’s one of the few games out there that right when you’re done playing, you start back up again anew in hopes of finding all the pieces you missed. If you want only the best games in your GameCube collection, make sure Pikmin has a spot in it. Mr. Miyamoto has commented that a sequel would be very easy to do and could be done in a relatively short time. Let’s hope that confirms that the sequel is coming soon because if any game deserves one, this is it.
