Editing Pikmin.com SpaceForce

{{page title|''Pikmin.com SpaceForce''}}
{{game icons|p=y}}
'''''Pikmin.com SpaceForce''''' is a partially lost browser {{w|advergame}} made by Nintendo of America to promote [[Pikmin (game)|the first ''Pikmin'' game]]. Not much is known about its gameplay, and while archives of the website do exist, it's not clear if the game itself is contained within these archives. The game was developed by the Seattle-based digital media company Martini Design, using the now-discontinued {{w|Adobe Flash}} (known as Macromedia Flash at the time), and was accessed from [http://www.pikmin.com www.pikmin.com]. It was released during November 2001, and taken offline a few months into 2002.

==Menu screens==
[[File:PikminSpaceforceRegistration.png|thumb|250px|The homepage.]]

The homepage at www.pikmin.com featured some promotional art for ''Pikmin'', and various links related to the game. These included links to a few Nintendo websites, a button to enter the main page of the game itself, and links to download the browser plugins required to play the game (Macromedia Flash Player and Apple's QuickTime).{{cite web|https://web.archive.org/web/20020328220708/http://www.pikmin.com/|pikmin.com homepage, 28 March 2002|the Wayback Machine}}

[[File:PikminSpaceforceHome.jpg|thumb|left|250px|The main page.]]

The main page featured a similar background to the homepage, with some additional game-related graphics. There was a ''Pikmin''-style day counter and sun meter, which appear to have shown the number of days until the game released. On the right side there were a few buttons, one of which says that the game would be coming soon. It is presumed this would turn into a play button, but there is no archive showing the button looking like this. Below that were buttons to access a "Leaderboards" page and a "Tips & Info" page. To the left of that bubble was another one which has a log-in area with the title "My Team Headquarters"; it is unknown exactly what this refers to. In the bottom right corner, there were buttons to get email updates, view parental info, and read an FAQ.{{cite web|https://web.archive.org/web/20020206100735/http://www.pikmin.com/flash.jsp|Main page of Pikmin.com SpaceForce, 6 February 2002|the Wayback Machine}}

[[File:PikminSpaceforceOverview.png|thumb|250px|The overview page.]]

Clicking the "Game Overview" link on the main page led to a page with different background artwork, where an overview of {{p1}} was written. The buttons on the right side still remained, but there were 4 additional buttons to view videos explaining [[Red Pikmin]], [[Yellow Pikmin]], [[Blue Pikmin]], and [[Olimar]]. These videos cannot be found in any archive of the site.

The website featured several Flash animations. When opening the website a short animation would play, that had the camera pan onto the screen from the right, Blue Pikmin falling from the top left, landing on the GameCube logo, causing the Pikmin to bounce off and the logo to shake. A Yellow Pikmin would then slide in from the right, while the Blue Pikmin that fell began running back and forth in the background.{{cite web|https://twitter.com/thecallmeout/status/1570907643786723329|Twitter post with a video of the site|Twitter}}

{{clear}}
==Gameplay==
The precise nature of the gameplay of ''Pikmin.com SpaceForce'' is unknown. However, from what remains in the archives and the few forum posts talking about it, it seems that game would have had players take the role of a Pikmin and help "a Space Explorer" escape a planet.{{cite web|https://web.archive.org/web/20011210093747/http://www.pikmin.com/DefaultJoin.jsp|Signup page of pikmin.com, 10 December 2001|the Wayback Machine}} To start, players would have to create an account{{cite web|https://web.archive.org/web/20011209160639/http://pikmin.com/SignUp.jsp|Source code for signup page on pikmin.com, 9 December 2001|the Wayback Machine}} and complete a personality test asking some questions that would determine the Pikmin type they would play as.{{cite web|https://web.archive.org/web/20020215223631/http://pikmin.com/DefaultQuiz.jsp|Quiz page on pikmin.com, 15 February 2002|the Wayback Machine}} Players would group into teams, and would try to find food in the form of [[pellet]]s that would increase the team's score.{{cite web|https://web.archive.org/web/20020205110804/http://www.pikmin.com/FoodSignin.jsp?pikminfoodcolor{{=}}yellow|Finding a yellow pellet on pikmin.com, 5 February 2002|the Wayback Machine}} This food was often found on other websites,{{cite web|https://web.archive.org/web/20020120002444/http://ridgeracer64.com/|Ridge Racer 64 website homepage, 20 January 2002|Red food pellet \/| https://web.archive.org/web/20020213035208/http://www.datadyne.com/datadyne/tourschedule.html|
the Wayback Machine}}{{cite web|https://web.archive.org/web/20020204121208/http://www.pokemon.com/games/index.html|List of games on the Pokémon website, 4 February 2002|the Wayback Machine}}{{cite web|https://web.archive.org/web/20020118045504/http://nintendopower.com/|Nintendo Power website homepage, 18 January 2002|the Wayback Machine}}{{cite web|https://web.archive.org/web/20020127080806/http://www.yoshisstory.com/pet.html|Yoshi the Web Pet on the Yoshi's Story website, 27 January 2002|the Wayback Machine}}{{cite web|https://web.archive.org/web/20011208211355/http://www.datadyne.com/datadyne/careers.htm|DataDyne careers page (this website was made to promote the game ''Perfect Dark''), 8 December 2001|the Wayback Machine}}{{cite web|https://www.neoseeker.com/forums/1909/t46660-someone-know-on-which-site-to-go-to-find-pikmin-food-for-pikmin-com/|Forum post from January 2002|the Neoseeker forums}} mostly ones owned by Nintendo, which featured hidden buttons that could be clicked to collect food for the game.{{cite web|https://www.reddit.com/r/lostmedia/comments/xhah42/partially_lost_pikmincom_spaceforce_a_flash_game/|Reddit post asking about the game|Reddit}} This indicates that ''Pikmin.com SpaceForce'' was part of a larger cross-promotional marketing strategy by Nintendo of America, encouraging players to explore the internet to find these pellets,{{cite web|https://web.archive.org/web/20011209105910/http://pikmin.com/DefaultCongrats.jsp|Source code for a congratulations page on pikmin.com, 9 December 2001|the Wayback Machine}} and encouraging people visiting those websites for other reasons to visit the ''Pikmin'' website. Each pellet collected would give between 1 and 20 points, with pellets of the same color as the player's Pikmin type giving more points. There was a leaderboard, which probably tracked the number of points obtained by each team of players.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
PikminSpaceforceQuizStart.png|Presumably the screen after signing in. It has a description of the story.
PikminSpaceforceQuiz.png|A personality test to determine the Pikmin type of the player.
PikminSpaceforceYou.gif|Image from the game files, which could be showing the Pikmin type the player was assigned.
PikminSpaceforceLeave.png|Image from the game files, which shows up if the player tries to exit mid-game.
PikminSpaceforceFood2.jpg|A button which could be hidden on another website, showing a blue pellet that adds to the player's points.
PikminSpaceforceFood3.jpg|A button which could be hidden on another website, showing a yellow pellet that adds to the player's points.
PikminSpaceforceRPellet.gif|A red pellet worth 10 points.
PikminSpaceforceYPellet.gif|A yellow pellet worth 10 points.
PikminSpaceforceFood.jpg|A page displayed when food is found on another website.
ErrorPromptSpaceForceGameFiles.png|An error message that can be seen offscreen in the game files.
PikminSpaceforcePromo.png|Advertisement for the game in a [[Nintendo Power]] ''Pikmin'' promotional booklet.{{cite web|https://archive.org/details/pikminpromobook_201906/page/n11/mode/2up|Page 13 of a Nintendo Power ''Pikmin'' promotional booklet|the Internet Archive}}
NintendoPowerSpaceForce1.jpg|Image of a Nintendo Power article showcasing the developers of the game.
NintendoPowerSpaceForce2.jpg|Image of a Nintendo Power article announcing that the game can be played.
</gallery>

==See also==
*[[Stage Debut]]
*[[Promotional material]]

==References==
{{refs}}

{{games}}
[[Category:Games]]
[[Category:Spin-offs]]
[[Category:Websites]]