Pikmin

Pikmin is a video game that consists of 0 releases

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Captain Olimar crashes on a strange planet, and must get off of it within 30 days. With the help of strange creatures he calls Pikmin, he just might be able to do that.

Overview

Pikmin is a real-time strategy game for the Gamecube released by Nintendo on December 3rd, 2001. It was a brand new franchise by Shigeru Miyamoto and was very well received by critics. They praised the games unique use of cutesy visuals but darker themes, calling it "the game Tim Burton would make if he made video games". When your cute little Pikmin die, they yelp in pain and you see a little soul fly up slowly.

Plot

Olimar's ship and the Onions

The game takes place when the main character, Captain Olimar, is on a space vacation when his ship is suddenly hit by a meteorite. He crash lands on a strange planet (we're led to believe it's Earth. This becomes more apparent in Pikmin 2).

When Olimar awakens, he finds his ship has been completely destroyed and is missing many parts. He also finds that the strange planet has an oxygen filled atmosphere, which is deadly to his race. He takes a look around the area and happens upon an onion shaped ship, the ship plants a seed into the ground. After a few seconds the seed sprouts, so Olimar goes and plucks it from the ground. A little creature is standing in front of Olimar now, looking around curiously, it reminds Olimar of a brand of carrots from his home planet, PikPik brand carrots. He names this creature, Pikmin.

As Olimar sprouts more and more Pikmin, them constantly following him and dedicated to what he says and does, he finds that they help him search for and carry his various ship parts. He realizes now that he may stand a chance of getting off this planet before his life support system fails in 30 days.

Gameplay

Player's assume the role of Captain Olimar, and it takes place from a top-down, almost isometric view point. They have 30 days to complete the game before Olimar's life support system runs out. The gameplay is broken up into days, which each run for 15 minutes. You choose a level to spend that day at, and from there you explore the world looking for enemies to kill, and ship parts to collect. You can also gain more Pikmin by taking special pellets or dead enemies to your Pikmin's Onions.

Pikmin can be dismissed, either by direct means from the player or getting too far away from Olimar. While dismissed, they stand around aimlessly and not doing anything. However if something they can interact with comes close to them while dismissed, they will go over to it and interact with it. This is useful for picking up dead enemy bodies, just make the Pikmin stand around it then dismiss. The majority of Pikmin should pick it up.

Three types of Pikmin

Three different colors of Pikmin standing around Olimar

There are three types of Pikmin in this game, each with their own unique abilities.

Red - They are resistant to fire, and are the strongest when it comes to dealing damage.
Yellow - They are the weakest and are resistant to nothing. They are lighter than the other and therefore can be thrown higher, this is used to reach different areas. They can also carry Bomb-Rocks, which are special rocks that can explode and destroy certain obstacles.
Blue - They have gills, so they can go into water without drowning.

There is also a Challenge Mode where players can try and sprout as many Pikmin as they can before the day ends.

Controls

Camera

Even though it's an RTS, you are controlling Olimar directly, unlike tradition where you control the action with a cursor. The camera is controlled with the L, R, and Z buttons. L swings the camera to Olimar's back, R zooms in and out, and Z switches from an isometric to completely top-down viewpoint. This gives the player a great range of viewpoints to play the game from. This is expanded further in it's sequel, Pikmin 2, where the player can hold down the R button and go into a very close third-person view.

Movement and gameplay

Using the whistle.

Since you control Olimar directly, you use the control stick to move him around the world. More precisely, you're controlling a small marker on the ground, and as the marker moves away from Olimar and gets far enough away, Olimar will start moving in that direction. You can bring the marker closer and closer to Olimar without making him move, and as soon as it goes behind him hewill turn around. The A button is used to throw any nearby Pikmin, they will be thrown to wherever that marker is.

The B button controls your whistle, which starts out with a small radius and expands the longer you hold down the button. Any Pikmin within that radius will stop whatever they're doing and comeback to your side. Whether they are dismissed, attacking, carrying something, etc.

The Y button brings up your in-game menu, it will show the amount of Pikmin at your side, and back at the Onion, and will show a map of the area (with stars representing ship parts) once you've gotten your Radar ship part.

The X button will dismiss any Pikmin currently following you.

The D-pad only has one function. When you press down on the D-pad Olimar will lay down, causing nearby Pikmin to pick him up and carry him to their Onion. Once there the Onion will try to suck him up like any other thing brought by the Pikmin, he bounces off when he hits the Onion and falls back to the ground. Fireworks then come out of the Onions flower. This won't effect anything and was obviously added a little joke.

General Information Edit

Game Name	Pikmin
Platform(s)	GameCube Wii
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Developer(s)	Nintendo EAD
Genres	Add a new genre Adventure Real-Time Strategy Strategy
Themes	Add a new theme Fantasy Sci-Fi
Original US Release	Dec. 3, 2001 need a fuzzy date?
Original US Release	know the real date?
Aliases