PNF-404

File:Planet (Pikmin 2 end).png

The planet as seen in the ending cut-scene of Pikmin 2. Australia, Southeastern Asia, and Japan are clearly visible.

The planet that Olimar lands on, in both Pikmin 1 and Pikmin 2, is the natural habitat of Pikmin as well as many other lifeforms, many of them predators of the Pikmin. The planet is known as the planet of the Pikmin or the Pikmin planet in both games. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl it is known as Distant Planet.

In the first Pikmin game Olimar crash lands on this uncharted planet during his vacation after his ship is struck by a micrometeor (most people refer to the rock as a meteor, but due to the size of the S.S. Dolphin it is most likely a micrometeor); Olimar must escape the planet before his life support system fails because the atmosphere is composed largely of oxygen which is toxic to Olimar's people.

In Pikmin 2 Olimar returns to the planet with his new companion, Louie, in search of treasure, in order to rescue the company he works for, Hocotate Freight, from bankruptcy.

The planet appears in Super Smash Bros. Brawl as a fighting stage under the name Distant Planet. It features a forested section of the planet, similar to the Awakening Wood or Forest of Hope.

The planet as Earth

Althoughextremely blatant, the Pikmin planet is at least very Earth-like with similar geography. It is unknown if there is still a human presence on the planet at the time of the Pikmin story; it may take place some time after a human exodus from the planet, or even the extinction of humans. Since Pikmin 2's areas are comparable to those in its prequel, and there are new human objects,one possible explanation is that the items were blown into the areas from other places while Olimar was away.

Tin cans as well as many other man-made objects and structures from modern times can be found lying around in the first game (for example, parts of Perplexing Pool and The Distant Spring appear to be the remains of a bathroom), and all the 'treasures' found in the second game are man-made or objects natural to Earth. These even include many items that are registered trademarks of existing companies.

During the second game, this statement is supported: when Olimar lands on or leaves the planet his ship is shown to be heading towards or coming from Africa. Most of the planet's geography has been shown to match Earth's, the Ship even stating at the time of the discovery of the Spherical Atlas that it exhibits the planet's geography as seen from space: both this and the Geographic Projection are two halves to a globe that clearly shows Earth and its countries.

Also in the first game, cardboard boxes scattered across the areas with 10s on them indicate that humans were living or had lived at that time. However, the proportion of these objects compared to Olimar's size in the instruction manual make this a bit unjustified, as the cardboard box would be the size of a matchbox at most which do infact exist in our current society.

Analysis of data in Super Smash Bros. Brawl has yielded the information that the Distant Planet stage is also referred to by the name Earth. This is deemed comparable to a debug name, only used in programming the game, but it makes clear that Nintendo designers see the planet as Earth.

• 

  The planet as seen in Pikmin 1

• 

  The planet as seen in the Pikmin 2 intro cut-scene. The Ship's engine glows over what appears to be somewhere in Africa as it lands.

• Distantplanet1.PNG

  In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the Planet of the Pikmin is a stage known as Distant Planet.

This article was a featured article from 18th August 2009 to 24th March 2010.