Pikmin: The PT History Lesson Vol. 6

A group of little animals reside at the base of the garden, surrounded by birds and bees. No, it's not the Poddington Peas (I may be getting old). Pikmin are a little species that resemble a cross between a vegetable and an animal, and they are really cute. October 26, 2001 saw their debut in the GameCube title Pikmin, and Pikmin 4 marked the series' victorious comeback on the Nintendo Switch.

In addition to the plethora of Nintendo icons such as Mario, Zelda, Donkey Kong, and even Pokémon, many players see the vegetable-themed Pikmin series as somewhat subterranean, a niche property with a dedicated following but little general appeal. Today, we'll examine the more than 20-year history of the franchise and discover why players—as well as Nintendo itself—still like picking up those tenacious Pikmin.

In case you didn't know, the first-party Nintendo franchise Pikmin combines puzzles with real-time strategy (RTS) features. The objective is to lead a little army of Pikmin to carry out your orders. In the first Pikmin game, you take on the role of Captain Olimar, who crashes on the planet PNF-404. Your task is to find ship parts so that you may put your spacecraft back together. But he can't do it alone, so he makes friends with the adorable local Pikmin and gives them missions to find and gather ship parts as he travels the globe like a veggie Pied Piper.

It's not quite that easy, however, since PNF-404 is teeming with creatures that would be only too delighted to devour those adorable little Pikmin, and things only grow worse at night. Thus, Captain Olimar has to work quickly to finish things before dusk. In addition, Olimar must to rebuild his spacecraft within the allotted 30 days or else he would perish in the toxic atmosphere of PNF-404, an alien planet known for its hazardous air.

You're correct if all of that seems a little dramatic for a kid's game, but Pikmin constantly walks the tightrope between sweet and scary as the cuddly Pikmin are often eaten by the ferocious monsters on their home world. I will always remember the melancholic sound of a Pikmin spirit "oOoOoOoOh" as it unfurls from its mortal coil and the unnerving image of its little ghost ascending into the vast beyond.

The fact that there are several endings in the original Pikmin depending on how you play adds to this gloomy atmosphere. You receive the happy ending if you can locate all 30 ship parts in the allotted 30 days. If you discover 25 ship parts before day 30, you'll get a regular ending; if not, you'll go through a dreadful ending where Olimar, the main character, dies. There are several indications, both implicit and explicit, suggesting that PNF-404 is, in fact, a post-apocalyptic Earth. In Pikmin 2, you have a task where you have to gather a lot of relics from our world, including real branded products like bottle caps from Snapple, peanut butter from Skippy, and Duracell batteries.

When you discover where the original Pikmin idea originated, these eerie undertones take on even more intrigue. Nintendo held their yearly Nintendo Space World convention in Japan back in August 2000. In an attempt to arouse curiosity about the capabilities of the GameCube, Shigeru Miyamoto made an appearance on stage and showed the crowd a Mario 128 demo. In this tech demonstration, 128 Mario figurines were seen navigating about a spherical level and carrying out various duties, such shifting boxes.

It seems that the notion of commanding many characters simultaneously gave rise to the Pikmin concept, even if it is evident that some of these ideas eventually developed into Super Mario Galaxy. When Miyamoto gave a keynote address at GDC in 2007, many years later, he said, "The one question I'm always asked is, 'What happened to Mario 128?'" The majority of you have previously experienced it in the Pikmin game.

Pikmin on the Nintendo GameCube was a critical success when it was first released, and its graphics served as a fantastic showcase for the system. As a result, Nintendo quickly moved on to creating Pikmin 2, which was published in 2004 for the Nintendo GameCube by the same developer. A few complaints about the first game were addressed by this sequel, Pikmin 2, which removes the time constraint and lets players explore at their leisure while also lengthening the game considerably.

Pikmin 2 significantly broadens the Pikmin franchise by adding caverns, a ton of new Pikmin, and even a multiplayer option. In the sequel, in addition to the parasitic Bulbmin that can only be used in caves, purple and white Pikmin are included, since the original only had red, blue, and yellow Pikmin. Even though the new purple Pikmin are more potent, the little white friends can withstand poison, which adds even more entertaining twists to problems.

Captain Olimar returns to his home planet following the events of Pikmin 1, only to discover that his employer is deeply in debt. But one of the PikPik carrots he returned with is worth a lot of cash. In an effort to pay off their debt, Olimar's employer assigns him and his new companion Louie to return to PNF-404 and discover more trinkets and riches.

Similar to its predecessor, Pikmin 2 was a huge hit. Many even gave it a better score than the original, pointing out that the game's length and variety were significantly increased with the addition of the new Pikmin and the removal of the time constraint. So, Pikmin 3 will go without a hitch, right? Not exactly, however. The years that follow are peculiar for Pikmin as, while there are undoubtedly some fresh developments for the series, it will be a bit before a new entry eventually appears.

Before Pikmin 3, Masahiro Sakurai introduced Olimar to Super Smash Bros. Brawl. In this game, the captain would pick up Pikmin from the ground and use them to fight Mario and his friends. Additionally, Pikmin and Pikmin 2: New Play Control! versions for the Nintendo Wii are available. These editions come with widescreen compatibility, a few minor gameplay tweaks (such the ability to save on certain days in Pikmin), and of course Wii controller compatibility. While some gamers expressed frustration with the controls on the GameCube versions, the Wii controller provides a degree of accuracy akin to a computer mouse since it lets users control Pikmin with a pointer rather than an analog stick.

Sadly, Nintendo decided to shift the production of the threequel onto their next system, the Wii U, and never released Pikmin on the Wii. Fortunately, this change resulted in the inclusion of HD graphics, giving excited fans a new release that exceeded their very high expectations. In Pikmin 3, the player takes control of three separate captains simultaneously when Charlie, Brittany, and Alph, three space explorers, depart from the planet Koppai in a desperate attempt to find supplies. In an attempt to bring fruit back to their home planet and species, they have to search PNF-404 for it.

In 2013, Nintendo launched Pikmin 3 on the Wii U. This third installment adds Winged Pikmin and Rock Pikmin to the mix, along with even more new Pikmin. Since you may toss them to take on big opponents and burst through breakable obstacles, Rock Pikmin function similarly to the muscle. Winged Pikmin, on the other hand, can traverse any terrain and get objects and return them to your spacecraft without having to worry about drowning.

Using your finest Pikmin controlling abilities, you and a buddy race to acquire objects to fill a bingo sheet in the third entry's entertaining two-player game dubbed bingo battle. The goal is to be the first to cross out a line and declare bingo. Even after Pikmin 3's release, further levels were introduced as DLC. Both critics and fans lauded Pikmin 3, saying that Nintendo's switch to HD graphics did wonders for the series' lush, green environments, which featured a plethora of intricate visual detail in its compact stages., Because to each item's exquisite visual clarity, the in-game fruit even started to become something of a meme.

A Pikmin 4 would have been released much sooner if the Wii U hadn't failed, since Miyamoto himself disclosed in an interview with Eurogamer a few years later that a new game was being developed. When questioned about a new Pikmin entry, Miyamoto told Tom Philips, the then-news editor of Eurogamer, in a 2015 interview, "It's actually very close to completion, Pikmin teams are always working on the next one." You can probably tell, reader, that something wasn't quite right.

The next few years are even more peculiar as in 2017 Nintendo produced Hey! Pikmin, a 2D side scrolling game, for the Nintendo 3DS. Removing a lot of fan favorites from the series, Hey! Pikmin's worst transgression is just being okay. With its straightforward level design and gameplay, it doesn't really seem like a Pikmin game, but it also falls short as a platformer to be enjoyable on its own. It is remembered as one of the most forgettable events in the history of the Pikmin series, and for a very long time, fans were worried that this was the "Pikmin 4" that Miyamoto had been mentioning. After all, Nintendo did later announce that Hey! Pikmin was not Pikmin 4, so we were back to waiting.

Fans of Pikmin saw some optimism in 2020 when Pikmin 3 Deluxe joined the lengthy list of Wii U titles that were transferred to the wildly successful Nintendo Switch, helping to recoup some of the development expenditures that had been incurred. However, Pikmin 4 remained elusive. This updated release included all of the previous DLC, additional objectives with Olimar, and a cooperative mode for the main campaign, in addition to adding new control choices including the ability to utilize a Joy-Con much like a Wii controller pointer. All things considered, it's the greatest method to play what may be the finest game in the series, and Nintendo was probably counting on it to rekindle the long-dormant Pikmin fandom.

On September 13, 2022, about 10 years after Pikmin 3, Nintendo eventually made Pikmin 4 available to the public after an extremely lengthy wait. While fans awaited further information and the game's eventual release in 2023, Nintendo showered Pikmin love elsewhere. The cute veggies can be seen in Universal Studios Japan's and Hollywood's Super Nintendo World parks, and there's even a fleeting appearance from a Pikmin-shaped vase in The Super Mario Bros. Movie. It's evident that many employees at Nintendo Towers have a special place in their hearts for this series, regardless of whether a game is ever being developed.

We have now arrived to the summer of 2023, or as I like to refer to it, the Summer of Pikmin. On June 21, 2023, Nintendo had a Nintendo Direct presentation where they finally revealed a lot of information about Pikmin 4. They also unveiled the Nintendo Switch versions of Pikmin 1 (I really don't like that the name was changed to Pikmin 1) and Pikmin 2. This implies that, in addition to Pikmin 4, you can purchase any Nintendo Switch mainline title—something that neither Mario nor Zelda can claim. But Pikmin does have a lot less entries to be concerned about.

On July 21, 2023, Nintendo eventually published Pikmin 4, to widespread praise from critics. In the most recent game in the series, you may make up your own player character and set off to explore a distant planet in an attempt to locate and recover many of the missing members of the Rescue Corps crew. Like the previous time, you manage a large number of Pikmin to locate and gather objects. However, this time around, you also have the assistance of Oatchi, a canine-like creature that you can ride, control, and teach a variety of new talents to aid in your exploration of this weird new environment.

I won't go into too much detail about Pikmin 4 since you should play it yourself. However, it's a great way to introduce new players to the series while also giving fans of older games some amusing references. Along with throwing up new challenges, levels to explore, and even new Dandori matches where you compete against a timer to recover as many objects as you can to defeat your opponent, it also simplifies much of the series' administration procedures.

Although fans like the Pikmin series, its more complex gameplay and peculiar characters may prevent it from enjoying the same level of mass popularity as characters like Mario. However, the Pikmin fandom is robust and will only become larger as long as Nintendo keeps working to produce new games while still maintaining the legacy of the original ones. It is obvious that Miyamoto and many other Nintendo employees will always be pushing to create the next Pikmin series, even if it takes ten years to come to fruition. However, they will make sure to only do so when they have fresh and exciting ideas that will add to the series rather than letting it become stale.

In a fantastic full-circle moment, Tom Philips, editor-in-chief of Eurogamer, evaluated Pikmin 4 upon its eventual release. This marked the fulfillment of his prophecy from 2015. When we contacted Tom Phillips about his thoughts on Pikmin 4's eventual release, he said, "To me, Pikmin has always been a secret I've been bursting to share." I wasn't sure whether this excellent little series would ever have a chance to continue for a while since it has been disregarded for far too long. That's why it was necessary for me to question Shigeru Miyamoto about it during our first interview, and why it was so satisfying to see the realization of the long-awaited Pikmin 4 development promise. It was the cherry on top to be able to look back on it and see that it wasn't just another fantastic Pikmin game, but rather the finest of the series.

With the release of Pikmin 4 and the Switch versions of Pikmin 1, 2, and 3 Deluxe, there has never been a better moment to dive into this peculiar, eerily rewarding, and very entertaining series. It must be fantastic if Miyamoto himself thinks so highly of it, so perhaps Pikmin 5 won't be delayed for another ten years.

Check out our Pikmin 4 review and Pikmin 1+2 review for additional stuff similar to this, and then visit our guide for the top new Switch games of the year.