Until now, I never really played pikmin long enough to appreciate the series. The first time I played it was back when I first got my gamecube, and I rented it from Blockbuster for the weekend. That was the only time, and I had never bothered to pick it up again, not even the sequel.

Now, with New Play Control! Pikmin, I decided to rent it and this time play through it all the way. And it was worth it, especially with the wii controls.

I had litterally forgotten what the game was like, so it all felt new to me, and the controls, work like a dream. Well for the most part.

I liked the pointer controls and being able to simultaneously move both Olimar and your cursor independantly, making it not so much of a problem when needing to avoid enemies and use your pikmin to attack. Everything was conviently placed, and although using the camera was a little tough to use at first, I got used to it. Just wish that pressing left or right wouldn't just zoom out. Should've been press left to zoom out and right to zoom in.

Another thing that I did find a little tough to get used to, and apparently a criticism I've seen from others who played the gamecube original, was the substitution of the C stick with down on the D-pad in conjunction with the pointer. When it came to narrow paths with water on both sides, I had to split up my pikmin into groups of 10 or 15 just so I could order them into a line. While it does help making your pikmin attack enemies quicker or gather around an object and carry it, just those little instances where you need to direct your Pikmin around hazards, just isn't the best.

But what I also like the most is the save day feature, where you can go back to any day you made throughout the save file and essentially rewind time. I'll say, this has helped save me several times as I learned abit on how to go into the game with the right resources.

Still, I had a VERY good time with it. I'm already looking towards PIkmin 2, which again, I've heard from fans that it is the best out of the series so far.

Of course, there's 2, but I'm also interested in what Pikmin 3 will have in store. Pikmin 2 from what I saw sure did do alot to improve on the formula estabilished in the first game. It got rid of the time limit, and added underground cave challenges, two new pikmin types, and cooperative play. There could be some new ideas already, but one thing I think would be benefit, actually goes back to my criticisms about the D-pad and pointer control.

What would you think if the D-Pad was reserved for different formations the pikmin could take. Many other RTS games have this function where you can line up or arrange your group or army or whatever into different formations, whether they were offensive, defensive, or all in a simple line. That's what I think, and whether or not Nintendo hasn't added something like that into the next game, I'm not gonna expect it, but just a little wishful thinking.

Right now, I'm gonna play through the game again, now that I know what to do in every situation, so I will try and complete it at a faster rate.

Love this game.

Until now, I never really played pikmin long enough to appreciate the series. The first time I played it was back when I first got my gamecube, and I rented it from Blockbuster for the weekend. That was the only time, and I had never bothered to pick it up again, not even the sequel.

Now, with New Play Control! Pikmin, I decided to rent it and this time play through it all the way. And it was worth it, especially with the wii controls.

I had litterally forgotten what the game was like, so it all felt new to me, and the controls, work like a dream. Well for the most part.

I liked the pointer controls and being able to simultaneously move both Olimar and your cursor independantly, making it not so much of a problem when needing to avoid enemies and use your pikmin to attack. Everything was conviently placed, and although using the camera was a little tough to use at first, I got used to it. Just wish that pressing left or right wouldn't just zoom out. Should've been press left to zoom out and right to zoom in.

Another thing that I did find a little tough to get used to, and apparently a criticism I've seen from others who played the gamecube original, was the substitution of the C stick with down on the D-pad in conjunction with the pointer. When it came to narrow paths with water on both sides, I had to split up my pikmin into groups of 10 or 15 just so I could order them into a line. While it does help making your pikmin attack enemies quicker or gather around an object and carry it, just those little instances where you need to direct your Pikmin around hazards, just isn't the best.

But what I also like the most is the save day feature, where you can go back to any day you made throughout the save file and essentially rewind time. I'll say, this has helped save me several times as I learned abit on how to go into the game with the right resources.

Still, I had a VERY good time with it. I'm already looking towards PIkmin 2, which again, I've heard from fans that it is the best out of the series so far.

Of course, there's 2, but I'm also interested in what Pikmin 3 will have in store. Pikmin 2 from what I saw sure did do alot to improve on the formula estabilished in the first game. It got rid of the time limit, and added underground cave challenges, two new pikmin types, and cooperative play. There could be some new ideas already, but one thing I think would be benefit, actually goes back to my criticisms about the D-pad and pointer control.

What would you think if the D-Pad was reserved for different formations the pikmin could take. Many other RTS games have this function where you can line up or arrange your group or army or whatever into different formations, whether they were offensive, defensive, or all in a simple line. That's what I think, and whether or not Nintendo hasn't added something like that into the next game, I'm not gonna expect it, but just a little wishful thinking.

Right now, I'm gonna play through the game again, now that I know what to do in every situation, so I will try and complete it at a faster rate.

Love this game.

Pikmin is one of my favorite games on Gamecube. I absolutely love it and have beaten it 3 different times. Really, I'm not so sure about the New Play Control version. I thought the controls were just fine on the Gamecube, and if other games on the Wii are any indication, I imagine the Wii controller is going to do more harm than good. However, I'd need to get my hands on it myself to be certain. Also, to be fair, I do like that the New Play Control releases are going to bring a lot of great Gamecube games to people who play have missed them.

Yeah, in some cases, there are narrow paths you need to take your Pikmin across and you'll need to split them up into smaller groups for them to safely get across, but in many of those instances, I believe that there would often be one side that would have a wall you could have them pressed up against while they cross to keep them from falling to their deaths. Also, I'm worried about how that would control with the d-pad opposed to the c-stick. I never found it to be much of a problem in the original game. By the way, don't you love that final level and boss in Pikmin? It's quite a puzzle to even get to the boss, and man, even when you do, you can literally fight the guy for a whole day and still you're not gonna have much time left over.

I have no idea what this save day feature is you're talking about. It must be a new thing they instituted, and from the sound of it, it seems like a horrible idea to me. I think part of what made Pikmin so great was that you really had to think quickly as you worked against the clock. Screwing up and wasting a few days could easily prevent you from collecting all the different ship parts. Having a "save day" feature kind of removes any penalty for your mistakes. I thought Pikmin was all about surviving. There shouldn't be second chances like that.

Personally, I think the original is a better game. I felt that some of the changes made in Pikmin 2 gave up a lot of the creativity of the original. The timer counting down on you in the original really helped push you. A lot of times you'd have to take risks and try to finish up things in the last couple minutes. Sometimes it wouldn't work out so well and you'd lose a lot of Pikmin, or you'd find that you just didn't have enough time, but I really think that helped create a greater gaming experience. In Pikmin 2, you can play at the pace you want. Why bother tackling an obstacle if 3/4 of the day is over? You might not have enough time, so let's just go back to the ship, prepare, and go there first thing tomorrow. It's a much more passive approach. Where's the fun in that? Also, in the original Pikmin, the yellow Pikmin were refreshingly unique. Their special ability involved using bomb rocks, which created some cool little obstacles and walls you had to take down. In the sequel, they totally simplify it and change the interesting yellow Pikmin into a totally predictable, lame type that is immune to electricity. That's kind of what you'd expect most games to do originally, you know? Red being fire, blue being water, yellow being electricity. But instead, in the original, Nintendo went a different direction with the yellow Pikmin and it was a great idea that worked wonderfully in the game. It's very disappointing they changed them to such a dull, predictable Pikmin type. I don't really think the two new Pikmin types added much to the gameplay. The caves weren't so bad, though I do think a lot of them dragged on for freaking ever. Overall, I just felt Pikmin 2 sacrificed a lot of the charm of the original. Plus having a second character to control didn't seem to be of much use. It would have come in real handy like when spending all that time taking down walls, for instance, however unlike in the original, you'll drop any wall very quickly in the sequel.

I'm not too sure what I want from Pikmin 3, except clearly I guess you could say I want it to go back to the original game's more clever roots. As for the different formations, I don't think that's such a bad idea. Hopefully we'll hear something about the game soon.

Well, the save day features does let you redo a particular day, but when you chose that day, it over writes everything else you did after that particular day, so you can't go back to, for example, day 5, fix any mistakes, and go back forward to day 8.

Atleast it's not required, so, in a way, it can help new players out (like me), but if you ever try it, you can simply ignore it.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, though.

I played the first two Pikmin games on the gamecube, and I'm eagerly waiting for more news of Pikmin 3. I don't think I'm going to pick up the remake for 1 and 2, but you never know. Nice thoughts thanks for posting.

Yeah, Pikmin is a great series. I picked up the New Play Control version and found it to be one of the most refreshing experiences I've had in gaming in a long time. I can't wait to play the second. Hopefully the third will be announced shortly.