It's been a while since I've bought a physical game for my Switch. This time around, I picked up the Pikmin 1 + 2 bundle, which I'll talk about across two blog entries per game. BACKGROUND:
Though not as obscure as Earthbound or F-Zero, I only really know of Pikmin through Smash Bros. due to not owning a GameCube as a kid. The closest I've ever got to playing any game in the series was the Pikmin 3 demo for Switch, which I never got around to getting (certainly not during its original release on the Wii U). Fast forward to the middle of 2023, and to my delight, Nintendo revealed that they were porting the first two Pikmin games to Switch alongside releasing the highly anticipated Pikmin 4. I just had to get the bundle to fulfill my quest of playing every single game represented as a character in Smash, and I was doubly excited because I did like what I played of Pikmin 3's demo. PLOT: Captain Olimar is flying around in space when an asteroid hits his ship, the Dolphin, and sends it crashing into an unknown world. To Olimar's dismay, the crash scatters the parts of his ship across the planet, and what's worse, the planet's atmosphere is poisonous to him (odd, as the main gas is oxygen). Olimar learns that his life support can only keep him alive for 30 days, so he has that long to find his ship's parts, rebuild the Dolphin, and get back home to his planet Hocotate. On his first day exploring, Olimar discovers plant-like creatures he dubs Pikmin, who start following him around. He quickly finds that the Pikmin will work together to accomplish tasks, so he enlists their help to retrieve his ship's parts. As he scours the planet, Olimar learns that the Pikmin grow in numbers when they bring dead creatures and pellets to their homes (which he calls Onions), and that there are three Pikmin varieties with different traits that can help Olimar deal with specific obstacles. After the end of each day, Olimar has to spend the night in low-planet orbit, as the surface becomes overrun by dangerous creatures. It's during this time that Olimar maintains his captain's log, where you get the bulk of his character. You learn that Olimar has a family back home that he's determined to return to, and you see Olimar's fascination towards this strange new world grow as he ponders the true nature of the Pikmin and their struggle to survive in such hostile conditions. You also get a sense of Olimar's character through the entries of the ship parts and the planet's flora/fauna, as you can see that he's knowledgeable on some things and hilariously not in others. It's a simple story overall, but I was quickly invested in getting Olimar back home. I also enjoyed how his view of the Pikmin develops over time, as he quickly develops quite the respect for their capabilities despite their seeming weakness. The planet also strikes a solid balance between feeling like an inhospitable place (at least for Olimar) and having its own beauty (which Olimar himself expresses appreciation for), though there are small hints that there's more to this place than meets the eye. There are three endings for the game, determined by your overall progress in collecting the Dolphin's parts. The "best" ending is obviously acquired by collecting all parts, and I think it's easily the most satisfying of the three given that both Olimar and the Pikmin get a happy ending. PRESENTATION: The Switch version of Pikmin 1 sadly isn't a from-the-ground-up remaster, so you'll be treated to some early-2000s 3D graphics simply upscaled for high-definition screens. The age will certainly show when you take a long look at the textures and compare the polish of the 3D models to modern releases, but the bright colors, varied locales, impressive level of detail (for the time, anyway), and goofy-looking creatures do a lot to keep the game a visual delight over 20 years later. The music is more on the cheery, quirky side, which fits the cartoony vibe of the visuals and offsets the inherent horror of being stranded on a planet with only a limited chance of survival. Helping with that are the adorable sounds the Pikmin make, which goes along quite well with their cute designs. GAMEPLAY: Pikmin is a game where you, as Olimar, explore a 3D environment and command the eponymous creatures in order to overcome obstacles, defeat enemies, and bring back the parts of the Dolphin. You can't do much without the Pikmin, so your first order of business is amassing a squad of them. Your deployed Pikmin will follow you automatically as you explore, but they can lag behind, get stuck behind walls, or unwittingly get themselves in dangerous situations (note: the Pikmin don't exactly have fine-tuned survival instincts). There is an input for keeping the group in formation as you move, and you can use Olimar's whistle to rein in stragglers who aren't following along or are distracted by other tasks. It can be frustrating or even potentially catastrophic to manage a large group of Pikmin, so it's probably a better idea to figure out what a manageable number is every time you go exploring. Most of the action in this game involves throwing your Pikmin at objects in order to perform tasks. They can clear obstructions, build bridges, carry objects back to base (most importantly, the ship parts), and gang up on enemies. And as you may have guessed, the more Pikmin you throw at a problem, the more efficient they'll be overall. A lot of objects have a minimum number of Pikmin required before they can be moved, and the quota for the ship parts (which are the most important thing you need to be picking up) have rather demanding requirements. That alone is good reason to maintain your army, but a lot of other tasks will be easier with greater numbers. At the beginning of the game, your first Pikmin is free, but for the remainder of the game, you'll have to take great care managing their numbers. In order to grow more Pikmin, you can have your troops carry numbered pellets or the carcasses of dead enemies back to their Onion, where they will be converted to a given number of Pikmin (typically the number of Pikmin it took to carry the object). Don't get too carried away, however, as only 100 Pikmin at a time can be out in the field at once. Still, it's worth getting extras, as you can have Pikmin wait in reserve in the Onion and only have what you need out with you. You can also power up Pikmin by having them eat nectar (found through various means), which will cause them to sprout a flower on their head. These guys move and act faster, making them more efficient overall in their tasks. You don't really need to work towards a full army of jacked up Pikmin since there's enough strength in numbers, but it doesn't hurt to have a bunch of them. Dealing with enemies (of which there is a decent variety behavior-wise) is vital to success, as even the least threatening ones can eat through your army if left unchecked. Some enemies are straightforward to deal with (just overwhelm them with sheer numbers), but others will require you to exploit weak spots by throwing Pikmin at them (though exposing/aiming for these may be a challenge depending on the enemy) or to juggle between throwing Pikmin to deal damage and recalling them with your whistle to keep them away from devastating attacks. The tougher enemies will demand more of the last bit, and for those, killing them is more a war of attrition more than anything. You also have to worry about hazards like fire and water, as those can kill Pikmin if you leave them be. This is where the color varieties of Pikmin come in, as red Pikmin are immune to fire, and blue Pikmin are the only ones that don't drown. This game doesn't really go too crazy when it comes to these hazards, so there's not many opportunities to make use of Pikmin immunities outside where they're absolutely needed. It would be cool if there were more of these environmental hurdles that only specific Pikmin can overcome (especially considering the yellow ones don't get any). The differences between the Pikmin varieties don't end there. Red Pikmin are your best bet for combat as they deal the most damage, yellow Pikmin are the ones you can throw the farthest (allowing them to reach faraway places, though this fact is only used sparingly), and blue Pikmin can ferry other colors across bodies of water so they don't die. Again, I wish there were more differences overall to give you incentive to constantly keep a diverse army, but the game as it is gives you a fair number of situations to keep swapping out your troops. The main gimmick of the yellow Pikmin is their ability to carry bomb rocks, which are used to break down stone walls and deal massive damage to enemies. Sadly, there are extremely few places to pick up bomb rocks, and they're not a renewable resource, so yellow Pikmin don't really have a niche outside of their greater range. I also found them unwieldy to use, as yellow Pikmin holding bombs count as a different Pikmin type, so you have to manually switch to them if you want to have them use the bomb. I hope the sequels give them more to do so they don't feel so situational (whether by adding more out-of-reach spots to throw them at or by giving them additional properties). Keeping a balanced number of each Pikmin type is something you'll have to manage manually by specifically ordering one color to carry stuff to their Onion, but some levels have special flowers you can throw Pikmin into to convert them into the color of the flower. These aren't common, however, but they're in places where you may need them to solve a problem or retrieve a ship part. Managing an army with all Pikmin varieties is where things can get overwhelming, as you'll need to hold the throw button and cycle through the type if you want to throw a specific color at something. Alternatively, you can order your current troops to group themselves by their type so you can manage them one by one, which helps in situations where multiple Pikmin types are needed to solve a problem. In my experience, just swapping out between a full army of a single Pikmin type worked for me just fine for most of the game, and like I said before, incentivizing having a diverse roster is something I hope the sequels improve upon. There are four main levels in the game (the fifth is a small bonus area), each with multiple ship parts to find. Exploring everything isn't too difficult, as even the largest level isn't all that massive, and nothing is hidden. That works perfectly fine for this game in particular, as there is a time limit you're working with. You'll need to get as much done as you can before sundown, as once the sun sets, Olimar will automatically return to orbit. You'll also want to make sure that any Pikmin out in the field are following you before then, as anyone left behind will be devoured in upsetting fashion as the night sets in. Once the next day rolls in, you can go back to a level and pick up where you left off. Thankfully, progress persists in most respects, as moved ship parts will stay where they are, finished bridges and broken walls remain so (even retaining progress if they're only partially done), and enemies will stay dead for at least the first few revisits. However, you must keep in mind that you only have 30 in-game days in total to get most of the parts (only 25 are actually required to escape the planet), so you'll want to make the most out of each day by trying to go for multiple parts at once, having a squad of Pikmin take care of a task while you go elsewhere, or dedicating time to opening up as much of the level as you can. Take care not to let Olimar's health drop to zero or allow your army of Pikmin to be completely wiped out, as both events will end the day prematurely. In my experience, I never ran into any of these problems, so as long as you aren't being completely reckless, you'll be fine. In the case of Olimar's health, you can return to the Dolphin to repair your suit. On the flip side, there may be situations where you've done everything you can do in a level (like collected all the ship parts). You can automatically end the day in situations like this, though I usually take the time to replenish my Pikmin during the spare time. Juggling the main goal and maintaining the army might be challenging depending on how far along you are, so moments like this are worth taking advantage of. If the 30-day time limit stresses you out, the game actually retains the saves for each day, allowing you to turn back the clock on the save screen back to a particular day if you need to. I didn't need to use this in my playthrough, but I'm really glad this is here to allow a level of leniency for mistakes. It may probably feel like a lot of lost progress if you decide to go back, like, a week in in-game time, but being able to replay earlier days and potentially come in with a better plan may end up being beneficial in the long run. Once you've beaten the game, you can take on Challenge Mode, which lets you play through one of the levels in an attempt to grow as many Pikmin as you can before the day ends. It's an interesting remix of the gameplay as your focus now is more to seek out and eliminate enemies while also gathering pellets, though the appeal is mostly just for the thrill of getting a high score. VERDICT: I'm very glad to have finally played the original Pikmin. I enjoyed its quirky take on real-time strategy, which emphasized solving puzzles with your army, fully utilizing the niches of each Pikmin variety, and alternating between attacking and recalling in order to deal with challenging enemies. I also enjoyed the strategic aspect of planning out what to do in a level to maximize each in-game day, though the fact that there are only 30 days was a bit stressful. Nintendo had a solid foundation with this game, and I hope that the sequels improve upon the aspects that I thought had untapped potential. I'll be back with a blog on Pikmin 2 soon, where I hope to see some of these improvements. Since I'm only just starting my Pikmin journey, I can't yet say for certain if you can come into any of the four games with no prior knowledge of the story, or which one is the "definitive" experience. What I can say is that compared to what I've seen of the sequels, this game keeps it simple with its mechanics, so in terms of the gameplay, this is a logical entry point if you're curious about the series but are wary of things getting too complex. My standard recommendation may change if I find that the sequels ease you into new mechanics well, or if there are overall improvements like the controls. Outside of that, Pikmin has a storied history as one of the most notable offerings of the GameCube and a strong connection to gaming industry legend Shigeru Miyamoto, so this definitely qualifies as an "essential" game in my eyes. As usual, that means I urge people with an interest with exploring games to play this at least once. - end -
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June 2024
Derryck
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