is a 2001 real-time strategy puzzle video game developed and published by
Nintendo
is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles.
Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...
for the
GameCube
The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the Wii ...
. The game was created and produced by
Shigeru Miyamoto
is a Japanese video game designer, producer and game director at Nintendo, where he serves as one of its representative directors. Widely regarded as one of the most accomplished and influential designers in the history of video games, he is ...
, and is the first entry in the ''
Pikmin
is a real-time strategy and puzzle video game series created by Shigeru Miyamoto, and published by Nintendo. The games focus on directing a horde of plant-like creatures called Pikmin in order to collect items by destroying obstacles, avoiding ...
'' series. The game's story focuses on an alien pilot,
Captain Olimar
is a main character from Nintendo's ''Pikmin'' video game series created by Shigeru Miyamoto. He first appeared in ''Pikmin'' (2001), which led to the development of three additional games; two of them featuring Olimar as the protagonist.
Olimar ...
, who crash lands on a mysterious planet and must make use of a native species called "Pikmin" to find his ship's missing parts in order to escape within 30 days. Players take control of Olimar and in directing the different varieties of Pikmin to exploring the game's various levels, overcoming obstacles and hostile creatures, in order to find and recover the missing ship parts.
The game was a critical and commercial success and spawned a series of sequels, starting with ''
Pikmin 2
is a 2004 real-time strategy puzzle video game developed and published by Nintendo for the GameCube home video game console. It is the direct sequel to the 2001 game ''Pikmin'' and is the second game in the ''Pikmin'' series.
Like its predecesso ...
'', which was released in 2004.
Gameplay
The main goal in the game is to retrieve ship parts by using the three varieties of Pikmin available in different combinations. Captain Olimar discovers multi-colored plant-animal
hybrids that willingly follow his orders and help him recover the parts. All three of the Pikmin colors that Olimar discovers must be used in order to overcome various obstacles and complete the game. The Pikmin creatures come in three colors, including red, yellow and blue. Red Pikmin are the first type found in the game, resistant to fire and the strongest type of Pikmin with respect to combat. Yellow Pikmin can be thrown higher than the other two and can carry
explosive
An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An expl ...
s called "bomb rocks" . They are utilized in various tasks, including carrying objects and enemies, breaking down walls, and defeating enemies. Blue Pikmin are the only ones that are able to survive in water and throw Pikmin of other colors across it. Objects that can be carried vary between ship parts, enemy carcasses and pellets, which are brought back to a base camp established in the current zone, containing Olimar's ship and apparati representative of each kind of Pikmin called Onions, the latter which can convert carcasses and pellets to Pikmin seeds. Only one hundred Pikmin, whether planted or plucked, can be on the ground at a time.
The time limit is divided into thirty days. With the exception of the first day, which lasts until the player finds the first ship part, all days in the game are about thirteen minutes in length, which can prematurely end at the player's request or if Olimar's
health
Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organiza ...
, replenished at his spacecraft, is depleted from attacks by native creatures. The day also ends prematurely if all Pikmin in the zone go
extinct
Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...
, and the next day will begin with one new seed of every discovered kind of Pikmin. By the end of each day, Olimar needs to stop all work and bring back as many Pikmin back to the base camp so that they can flee the planet's nocturnal predators in the safety of their Onions, as they also provide Pikmin shelter and transportation between zones; any Pikmin who do not make it back to base are eaten by said predators on each night prior to Olimar's last day on the planet. At such time, Olimar will write a daily update to his ship log, which may be affected by events on that particular day, reflect on his efforts to escape, or provide useful gameplay hints. As more parts are recovered, the ship regains functionality and can bring Olimar to up to four new zones on the planet to find the remaining parts. The game has three different endings, depending on Olimar's progress in collecting ship parts. Collecting all thirty grants the best ending, while collecting at least the twenty-five mandatory parts within the 30-day time limit grants the normal ending. Failing to do so results in Olimar's ship's life support system failing and Olimar will die from oxygen poisoning.
Apart from the main gameplay, ''Pikmin'' also contains a Challenge Mode that is unlocked once Olimar gets all three types of Pikmin. Each of the five zones in the main game are available for play. The object of Challenge Mode is to grow the greatest number of Pikmin in one day as is possible.
At the final trial area there is the final boss, known as the “Emperor Bulbax”. You can beat this boss by throwing yellow bomb rock Pikmin into their mouth, and stunning them. They attack by using their large tongue, and jumping on to the Pikmin, killing several.
Plot
In ''Pikmin'', the main protagonist is
Captain Olimar
is a main character from Nintendo's ''Pikmin'' video game series created by Shigeru Miyamoto. He first appeared in ''Pikmin'' (2001), which led to the development of three additional games; two of them featuring Olimar as the protagonist.
Olimar ...
, a tiny, one-inch tall humanoid extraterrestrial from the planet Hocotate. The story starts when Olimar is taking an intergalactic vacation in
outer space
Outer space, commonly shortened to space, is the expanse that exists beyond Earth and its atmosphere and between celestial bodies. Outer space is not completely empty—it is a near-perfect vacuum containing a low density of particles, pred ...
. However, during his flight, a
comet
A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena ar ...
hits his
spacecraft
A spacecraft is a vehicle or machine designed to fly in outer space. A type of artificial satellite, spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, Earth observation, meteorology, navigation, space colonization, p ...
, the S.S. ''Dolphin'' (a reference to the
GameCube
The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the Wii ...
's codename, "Project Dolphin"), which is then pulled into the gravity field of an uncharted planet. Parts of the spaceship fall off as it plummets to the ground and crashes.
When he regains consciousness, Olimar finds out that the planet's
atmosphere
An atmosphere () is a layer of gas or layers of gases that envelop a planet, and is held in place by the gravity of the planetary body. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A s ...
contains high levels of poisonous
oxygen
Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as wel ...
and he can stay on the planet for only thirty days before his life support system stops functioning. Olimar must retrieve all 30 of his lost spaceship parts so he can rebuild his spaceship and return to Hocotate. Although Olimar initially states in his journal entries that he needs all thirty parts, as the game progresses, it is hinted that some parts might not be needed to actually lift off and, indeed, one can successfully complete the game with only 25 parts rather than all 30.
To help Olimar are indigenous creatures called Pikmin, which are nearly extinct and unable to survive in the environment without direct leadership. As this element of
symbiosis
Symbiosis (from Greek , , "living together", from , , "together", and , bíōsis, "living") is any type of a close and long-term biological interaction between two different biological organisms, be it mutualistic, commensalistic, or parasit ...
develops, Olimar discovers parts of the ''Dolphin'' and travels across the Pikmin Planet, which is assumed to be
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...
, albeit with fictional fauna and far after the extinction of humans. The game has three endings depending upon how many ship parts the player successfully reacquires. Two good endings occur should the player retrieve all thirty parts or twenty-five necessary parts, and a bad ending occurs should the player fail to find twenty-five parts.
Development
''Pikmin'' was developed by
Nintendo EAD
commonly abbreviated as Nintendo EAD and formerly known as Nintendo Research & Development No.4 Department (abbreviated as Nintendo R&D4), was the largest software development division within the Japanese video game company Nintendo. It was pr ...
and directed by
Shigefumi Hino
Shigefumi Hino (日野 重文 ''Hino Shigefumi'', born 1963) is a Japanese graphics designer, game director and planner from Nintendo. He is the creator of Yoshi from the ''Yoshi'' franchise. Hino later served as the director of the ''Pikmin'' ...
and Masamichi Abe (who had directed
1080° Snowboarding
is a snowboarding video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64 in 1998. In the game, the player controls one of five snowboarders from a Virtual camera system#Third-person view, third-person perspective, using a combinati ...
) and produced by
Shigeru Miyamoto
is a Japanese video game designer, producer and game director at Nintendo, where he serves as one of its representative directors. Widely regarded as one of the most accomplished and influential designers in the history of video games, he is ...
and Hiroyuki Kimura as one of the first
Nintendo GameCube
The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the Wii ...
games. Miyamoto sketched the game as an idea centering around two characters called "
Adam and Eve
Adam and Eve, according to the creation myth of the Abrahamic religions, were the first man and woman. They are central to the belief that humanity is in essence a single family, with everyone descended from a single pair of original ancestors. ...
". They lived in a prehistoric world and players would observe their lives, with Miyamoto stating that players could "pretend to be God" and "give them love or make them fight". Players could make Adam and Eve build a nest and have children, eventually forming a village and increasing the number of controllable characters who could then be used to fight off giant creatures such as mammoths.
Colin Reed, who had programmed 1080° Snowboarding, programmed Pikmin. The foundation of ''Pikmin'' technology is in the animation and agency of a multitude of interacting characters. A technical demonstration called ''
Super Mario 128
''Super Mario 128'' was a codename for two different development projects at Nintendo. The name was first used in 1997 for a sequel to '' Super Mario 64'' for the 64DD, which was canceled. The name was reused for a GameCube tech demo at the N ...
'' was shown at
Nintendo Space World
formerly named and was an annual video game trade show hosted by Nintendo from 1989 to 2001. Its three days of high-energy party atmosphere was the primary venue for Nintendo and its licensees to announce and demonstrate new consoles and game ...
2000, showing the performance of the prototype GameCube hardware by animating up to 128 copies of Mario at once. Miyamoto stated in 2007 that "most of you have already played
'Super Mario 128''- but you played it in a game called ''Pikmin''."
The development team of ''Pikmin'' expressed their initial trouble finding the game's direction. Hino explains:
The score was composed by Hajime Wakai, who composed the music for ''
Star Fox 64
known as ''Lylat Wars'' in the PAL regions, is a 3D rail shooter video game developed by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It is the second installment in the ''Star Fox'' series and a reboot of the original ''Star Fox'' for the Super Nintendo Ente ...
''.
''Pikmin'' was developed on
Microsoft Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
. A Windows version of the game with
debugging
In computer programming and software development, debugging is the process of finding and resolving '' bugs'' (defects or problems that prevent correct operation) within computer programs, software, or systems.
Debugging tactics can involve in ...
features is hidden on the GameCube version's disc.
Reception
Upon being revealed at
E3 2001
E3 (short for Electronic Entertainment Expo or Electronic Entertainment Experience in 2021) is a trade event for the video game industry. The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) organizes and presents E3, which many developers, publishe ...
, ''Pikmin'' garnered positive reception. ''
IGN
''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
'' praised it for its uniqueness and its stunning graphics, with only a few negative points such as a poor camera. It was awarded the title of "Best Puzzle/Trivia/Parlor Game" from the Game Critics Awards, beating out ''
ChuChu Rocket!
is an action puzzle game developed by Sonic Team and published by Sega. Released for the Dreamcast in 1999, it was the first game for the system to support online console gaming. Players must place arrows on a board to lead mice into escap ...
'' for the
Game Boy Advance
The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo as the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, in North America on June 11, 2001, in the PAL region on June 22, 2 ...
. It was also runner-up for "Most Original Game", losing out to ''
Majestic''.
It was a nominee for ''GameSpot''s annual "Best GameCube Game" and, among
console game
A console game is a type of video game consisting of images and often sounds generated by a video game console, which are displayed on a television or similar audio-video system, and that can be manipulated by a player. This manipulation usually ...
s, "Most Innovative" awards. These went respectively to ''
Super Smash Bros. Melee'' and ''
Grand Theft Auto III''.
Since its release for the
Nintendo GameCube
The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the Wii ...
, ''Pikmin'' has received positive reception. It holds an average score of 89/100 from
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
.
It was given the award for interactivity from the
British Academy of Film and Television Arts
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
.
''Pikmin'' has received significant praise for its graphics, in particular the design of the surrounding environment. Gaming Age editor Craig Majaski described ''Pikmin'' as both stunning and having a detailed environment. Brian McTaggart of the
Houston Chronicle
The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With it ...
praised it for its graphics, gameplay, and originality, but criticized for being short. As of March 31, 2002, ''Pikmin'' has sold over one million copies.
Chris Slate reviewed the GameCube version of the game for ''
Next Generation'', rating it four stars out of five, and stated that "A charming, addictive game that backs up Nintendo's promise to innovate on GameCube. If you like puzzles, then get your thinking cap on and put those Pikmin to work."
The Wii re-release of ''Pikmin'' was not as well-received as the GameCube version, though it still had mostly positive reception; it holds an average score of 77/100 from Metacritic.
Sales
In its first week, ''Pikmin'' sold more than 101,000 copies. However, sales fell to only between 10,000 and 15,000 copies in the weeks following. Following the release of "
Ai no Uta" by
Strawberry Flower
The garden strawberry (or simply strawberry; ''Fragaria × ananassa'') is a widely grown hybrid species of the genus ''Fragaria'', collectively known as the strawberries, which are cultivated worldwide for their fruit. The fruit is widely app ...
, an
image song
An image song or character song is a song on a tie-in single or album (often called an image album or character album) for an anime, game, '' dorama'', manga, or commercial product that is sometimes sung by the voice actor or actor of a characte ...
related to ''Pikmin'', its sales recovered slightly to about 22,000 copies in a week. The song appeared in the Japanese commercials for the game, but soon became an unexpected hit song, eventually eclipsing ''Pikmin''s sales. In the weeks of December 24, 2001 and January 6, 2002, ''Pikmin'' sold approximately 53,000 copies and 102,000 copies respectively. To date, ''Pikmin'' has sold at least 1.19 million copies worldwide; 680,000 in the United States and 507,011 in Japan. By January 3, 2010, the
Wii
The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other Regional lockout, regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major ho ...
version of ''Pikmin'' had sold 169,036 copies in Japan. Since its release, ''Pikmin'' has developed a vocal and devoted fanbase.
Re-release
''Pikmin'' and its sequel ''
Pikmin 2
is a 2004 real-time strategy puzzle video game developed and published by Nintendo for the GameCube home video game console. It is the direct sequel to the 2001 game ''Pikmin'' and is the second game in the ''Pikmin'' series.
Like its predecesso ...
'' are part of the ''
New Play Control'' series, a selection of GameCube
video game remake
A video game remake is a video game closely adapted from an earlier title, usually for the purpose of modernizing a game with updated graphics for newer hardware and gameplay for contemporary audiences. Typically, a remake of such game software sh ...
s with additional support for features of the
Wii
The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other Regional lockout, regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major ho ...
. It was released on December 25, 2008 in Japan,
February 6, 2009 in Europe and March 9, 2009 in North America (original version only). ''New Play Control! Pikmin'' uses the
Wii Remote
The Wii Remote, also known colloquially as the Wiimote, is the primary game controller for Nintendo's Wii home video game console. An essential capability of the Wii Remote is its motion sensing capability, which allows the user to interact with ...
, and requires the player to point and click on the screen to do various tasks instead of manually moving a cursor with a control stick. It was also announced that the game saves day-by-day records of the player's playthrough, allowing the player to restart from any recorded day of their choice.
In an interview, director Shigefumi Hino stated that besides adding motion controls, they wanted to include the ability to go back to saves they have made in the past, allowing players to replay all 30 days one by one in order to improve.
References
External links
*
*
''Pikmin'' on Play.Nintendo.com
{{Portal bar, Video games
New Play Control! games
2001 video games
Interactive Achievement Award winners
GameCube games
Cancelled Nintendo 64 games
Pikmin
Wii games
Wii games re-released on the Nintendo eShop
Real-time strategy video games
Video games developed in Japan
Video games with alternate endings
Video games set on fictional planets
Works about vacationing
Single-player video games