Pikmin (game)

Pikmin
North American boxart
Japanese name	ピクミン?
Console	Nintendo GameCube
Developer	Nintendo EAD
Publisher	Nintendo
Genre	Real-time strategy
Players	Single-player
Saved game size	19 blocks
Release date
Japan	October 26th, 2001
North America	December 2nd, 2001
Europe	June 14th, 2002
Australia	June 14th, 2002
South Korea	N/A

Pikmin is the first game in the Pikmin series. It was released on the GameCube as a launch title, and came out on October 26^th, 2001 in Japan, December 2^nd, 2001 in North America, and June 14^th, 2002 in Europe and Australia.

In it, Captain Olimar crash-lands on an unknown planet with indigenous creatures he calls Pikmin. They have the ability to take down obstacles, carry objects, and battle enemies. The gameplay revolves around the player controlling Olimar and managing the Pikmin so that he can recover his lost ship parts.

The game received a sequel under the title Pikmin 2, and was later remade on the Wii under the name New Play Control! Pikmin. Chronologically, this is the first game in the series.

Plot

Captain Olimar, exhausted from working hard, goes on vacation, only to get hit by an asteroid and land on the mysterious planet of the Pikmin, which bears many resemblances to Earth. His ship, the S.S. Dolphin, is now an absolute wreck, with its parts scattered about. To further complicate matters, he finds out that the planet's atmosphere contains oxygen, an element incredibly deadly to the inhabitants of the planet Hocotate. Olimar has only 30 days to live, after which complete battery failure of his life-support system will occur.

After exploring a bit on The Impact Site, Olimar finds a dormant Onion. Upon approaching it, it springs to life, and out comes a seed. Upon plucking it and experimenting with the creature by throwing it, dismissing it, etc., he learns about the Pikmin and their abilities. With the help of the Red Pikmin he raises, Olimar recovers the Main Engine, which allows him to at least hover above the surface during the night, which he later learns is too dangerous.

Olimar and the Pikmin then discover a new area, The Forest of Hope and the Onion within: the Yellow Pikmin's Onion. In addition, he gradually learns more about the various enemies and quirks of the planet, and how to use each Pikmin type's abilities to their full potential. As he gathers more parts, he eventually manages to discover The Forest Navel, the Blue Pikmin, The Distant Spring, and The Final Trial. After defeating the Emperor Bulblax and recovering the final ship part, Olimar sails back to Hocotate.

Endings

Click [show] to display the image.
The bad ending of Pikmin.

There are three possible ways for Olimar's adventure to end, which depend on the ship parts the player can gather before the days run out. Videos of each ending can be found on the external links section of this article.

The canon ending is the best one; this is when all thirty ship parts are recovered within the thirty day time limit. After the Secret Safe is gathered, the camera zooms into the Dolphin and Captain Olimar jumps with joy. Then the scene darkens, becoming night, Olimar walks to his ship and stops to look at the Pikmin one last time. The Pikmin tilt their heads in curiosity. Olimar gives the Pikmin a short wave good-bye, to which the Pikmin tilt their heads in the opposite direction. With a sigh, Olimar looks down and shakes his head. He then boards the Dolphin and lifts off successfully, and the Pikmin attack a nearby Spotty Bulborb on their own. Next, the ship is seen flying away, with Onions of many, unseen colors following him. After the credits, the enemy reel is shown.

The average ending is when the time runs out, but Olimar manages to escape with the ship parts he collected. Out of the 30 parts, only 25 specific ones are necessary for the captain to return to Hocotate. The five optional parts are the Nova Blaster, the Space Float, the Massage Machine, the UV Lamp and the Secret Safe. With this ending, at the night of the final day, Captain Olimar walks towards the Dolphin and takes a quick glance back before entering the cockpit of his ship and attempting to blast off. He successfully flies off while three Pikmin (one red, one yellow, and one blue) look up into the sky with curiosity.

The bad ending takes place when Olimar does not manage to retrieve the 25 mandatory parts. On his last day, he realizes that time has run up and attempts to lift off. Immediately after taking off, the engine explodes and his ship crashes back onto the planet. The Pikmin carry his unconscious body to an Onion, making Olimar pop out as a Pikmin-like creature, having his normal head, but the sprout of a Pikmin with a black stem, and without his spacesuit helmet.

It is known that the best ending is the canon one, seeing as in Pikmin 2, Olimar has brought a souvenir home for his son, and the best ending is the only one where he would have time to pick one up. In addition, it's revealed that Olimar's wife eventually finds the Secret Safe during his absence, and that ship part can only be retrieved after all other 29 were. Naturally, the worst ending is not canon, as Olimar is known to return safely to Hocotate at the start of the second game.

Gameplay

Pikmin is a three-dimensional strategy-based game, in which the player is given control of Olimar, who in turn has control over the Pikmin that follow him. The whole point of the game is to find and collect as many of his lost ship parts as possible, up to the maximum of 30, in fewer than the 30 days Olimar has to live, so that he can escape the grasp of the planet before his life-support system fails. This is achieved by directing Pikmin to carry the parts to Olimar's ship. Approximately 15 minutes are spent on its surface each day; as nightfall approaches, he must gather stray and toiling Pikmin so that they don't fall victim to the voracious nocturnal predators, such as the Red Bulborb.

In Pikmin, players will face many obstacles in order to secure the parts required to rebuild the ship. This must be done with care, as many obstacles are hazardous to the Pikmin, such as water, fire and explosions. There are also other things that block the way, such as walls, bridges and gaps. Many different animal species on the planet hinder the progress of working Pikmin. However, the forces are limited; Olimar can only have up to 100 Pikmin out in the field and no more under any circumstances. The rest are stored in the Onions, considered by Olimar to be some sort of motherships for the species.

The primary way to control Pikmin is to throw them at targets, although they can also be issued to them. By gathering resources back into the Onions, new seeds will pop out, which increase the supply of Pikmin. The creatures can also mature with the likes of nectar.

Challenge Mode

Main article: Challenge Mode in Pikmin.

In addition to the regular story mode, there is an alternate game mode where players are challenged to grow the most Pikmin they can in a single day, with slightly different rules from the norm. The best results are kept in record.

Content

Pikmin

These Pikmin are destroying a wall to clear a path for Olimar.

Main article: Pikmin family.

Pikmin are the plant/animal hybrids that are discovered by Captain Olimar when he crash-landed on the planet. The Pikmin willingly follow his orders and imitate his movements, despite whatever fate may await them. Each species of Pikmin has weaknesses and strengths and all Pikmin must be used in cooperation in order to collect all of the missing ship parts. These are the types of Pikmin encountered in this game.

Red Pikmin

File:PikRedPikWave.jpg

A Red Pikmin waving.

Main article: Red Pikmin.

Red Pikmin are the first type of Pikmin encountered by Captain Olimar, at The Impact Site. They are used to retrieve the Main Engine, since they are the only Pikmin he has at the time. Red Pikmin are resistant to fire and are the strongest of all the Pikmin found in the game. Besides their color, they can also distinguished from other Pikmin types with their pointed nose-like growth.

Yellow Pikmin

A Yellow Pikmin laying down.

Main article: Yellow Pikmin.

Yellow Pikmin are the second Pikmin discovered by Olimar, found in the The Forest of Hope. Yellow Pikmin are the only Pikmin with the ability to carry bomb-rocks (in this game), and can be thrown higher than normal. The Yellow Pikmin's defining physical characteristic is their large ears.

Blue Pikmin

File:PikThrowBluePik.jpg

A Blue Pikmin being thrown.

Main article: Blue Pikmin.

Blue Pikmin are the third and last kind of Pikmin found in the game. They are located in The Forest Navel. Blue Pikmin are the only species of Pikmin that can move around in bodies of water, thanks to their gills. When non-blue Pikmin fall in the water, blue Pikmin will run to them and throw them out of the water, saving their lives.

Areas

The overworld, as seen in game.

The game is split into five different areas. After 1, 5, 12 and 29 ship parts are recovered, the S.S. Dolphin receives an upgrade, which allows it to fly to a different area.

• The Impact Site – the landing site. It has very few enemies and plenty of sources to grow more Pikmin with.
• The Forest of Hope – a forest.
• The Forest Navel – an underground cove.
• The Distant Spring – a piece of land mostly covered in water.
• The Final Trial – a large challenge-like level where the player's skills and knowledge are put to the test.

Ship parts

See: Ship part

Ship parts are what the player needs to collect in order to advance with the game. There are thirty in total, and they can upgrade the S.S. Dolphin once certain amounts of parts are recovered. Each ship part is unique, and five of them are not mandatory for Olimar to succeed in his escape.

Enemies

See: Enemies in Pikmin

There are a number of creatures in the planet that are enemies to the Pikmin. They are mostly predators, although almost all of them can be killed by large armies of Pikmin.

Controls

See: Controls in Pikmin

History

Development

During development of the GameCube, a tech demo was created that showed off multiple Marios, under the title Super Mario 128. This demo demonstrated the console's ability to have several dozens of individual objects on-screen at once. This concept was later recycled and lead to the creation of Pikmin.

While experimenting with the idea for a game, Nintendo came up with a concept with the tentative title Adam and Eve. It would feature two humans that would develop by themselves, but when it was deemed too uninteractive, Pikmin were added. Soon after, the whole idea was scrapped, and development for Pikmin began. The Red Bulborb, which originated as a mammoth-like creature in that game, was re-used for Pikmin.

The first reveal of the Pikmin project came on E3 2002, where Shigeru Miyamoto played the game live. By that point, the general mechanics resembled the final product, but several assets, resources and quirks were different.

Release

The game was eventually released on October 26^th, 2001 in Japan, December 2^nd, 2001 in North America, and June 14^th, 2002 in Europe and Australia. Later, in 2004, the sequel, Pikmin 2, was released. Later still in 2008, a remake for the Wii, titled New Play Control! Pikmin was launched.

Reception

Pikmin received mostly positive reviews. Sites like IGN and GameSpot gave it scores close to 90%, praising its uniqueness and visuals, but complaining about the camera. On its first week, it sold over 100,000 copies, although the numbers started decreasing in the following weeks. Ai no Uta helped boost sales, but became an unexpected hit, even surpassing the sales for the game itself.

Lists

Glitches

See: Glitches in Pikmin

Mistakes

See: Mistakes

Prototype information

See: Prototype information

Regional differences

See: Region

Unused content

See: Unused content in Pikmin

Easter eggs and secrets

See: Easter eggs

Quotes

See: Olimar's Voyage Log

See: Olimar's monologs in Pikmin

Credits

See: Pikmin credits

Gallery

• Olimarpromotional.jpg

  A promotional picture, advertising Pikmin.

• 

  Player's Choice box art.

• 

  Japanese box art.

• 

  European box art.

• 

  German Player's Choice box art.

• 

  Early North American box art.

• 

  Logo.

Trivia

• Page 23 of the instruction manual describes a strategy against Red Bulborbs, but contains a typo: it has "holdung on to the feet" instead of "holding on to the feet".
• During the game's development, it was originally planned to be a different game, called Adam and Eve, featuring elements from a canceled Mario game, Super Mario 128. This idea was canceled because Miyamoto couldn't think of a storyline.
• Some of the resources used for the scenery in the game come from the mountains and the gardens around Shigeru Miyamoto's house.
• It is possible to collect all 30 ship parts in 6 in-game days. Such a playthrough is known as a 6-day run.

See also

• Pikmin series
• Pikmin 2
• Adam and Eve

External links

• Article on StrategyWiki
• Wikipedia's article on Pikmin
• Pikmin game manual
• YouTube video of the good ending
• YouTube video of the neutral ending
• YouTube video of the bad ending