I have been playing a bunch of Pikmin 3 today (my first Wii U game) and have a few quick thoughts on the four or so hours I have put into it. I have not played any of the Pikmin games before so I have no idea if they have made any huge changes to the gameplay.

The first thing that grabbed me was how pretty it looks. The monsters and scenery can be gorgeous at times, with only the grass in some areas looking a little rough. I like the depth of field stuff they do and the contrast of these really alien and cartoony creatures running around a realistic garden/planet. I absolutely adore the way the monsters wobble and slide about the scenery, full of character and in some cases I feel like a total dick for murdering something while it's just trying to have a little nap.

I think they explain all the mechanics pretty well, but the SD cards laying around can be slightly annoying pushing you to the controller screen to tell you things you will already know and have used many times before. I also chose the Nunchuk/Wii Remote to control my space people and Pikmin because it seems far quicker and easier than using the sticks.

My biggest issue is the time limit on the days, especially as I'm in bigger areas with two people to control and bigger enemies to fight. I just find that I either have no time and am scrambling back to my spaceship without losing Pikmin that get stuck on the scenery or I have a bunch of time to wait around (but not enough to explore more of the map) at the end of each day. I assume this is to stop people from just exploring most of the map in one sitting, but it can be a little frustrating to spend a whole day creating units and fighting a boss, but not having enough to time to drag back the fruit/carcass/item that you have found after the battle. I'm ok with there being a time limit, but I can't help but wish there was a good 5-10 minutes more in each day.

The things I do really like outside of the lovely visuals are the puzzles that require you to shift between your space people by throwing your Pikmin back and forth and watching them pick up tiles like a bunch of worker ants. It took a while for me to accept that I have to let some of them go... there's nothing quite as heartbreaking as watching two stranded Pikmin freaking out as they're chased by monsters while your spaceship takes off. I also like how there's a sort of personalized feel to the end of mission notes where they might comment that you lost a bunch of your little dudes or read you a silly poem about how you hope your captain likes you.

I will probably add some more thoughts once I've played some more, but I really am enjoying its strange and charming ways despite a few little issues here and there. It's a really nice looking, and for the most part well controlling game. Probably not a game you'd want to rush out and buy a Wii U for, but it is a bunch of fun.

Anyone else played it yet and have any thoughts on the game?

Finished it earlier today, collected all the fruit and as many secret messages I could find. It's what I expected, I found it super charming and relaxing to play and after 12 or so hours of it - I've had my fill of Pikmin for a while.

I agree with the visuals, though its flat textures can stand out at times the perspective Pikmin has on scenery makes it. By this I mean, the scale of the characters against the world.

I think without what felt like a reduced daytime cycle, the game would be far too easy. Up until the end I had a steady run with the multi-tasking of characters and clocked in 35 days of exploration to finish the game/gather all fruit. It wasn't until the end that I really wish I used the Wii Remote (I won't spoil anything). Using the gamepad is so-so, I'd have preferred a selection of the characters on the touch screen to switch to. Cycling through each character and to then plotting a path felt a bit lackluster when you consider the possibilities of drawing paths on the touch screen. Though that's a minor point in comparison to how it controls with two analogue sticks. It works! ... but I fumbled so much and the last part of the game pointed that out to me in a huge way, it's where direct control of the cursor on screen with the Wii remote would work way better.

So yeah; great game and test out the Wii remote, you'll likely have a better time managing your Pikmin in fights and hitting enemy weak points.

That sounds exactly like the original Pikmin. I got better at managing time as it went on though... ended up with a good sense of how to fill a day without any excess waiting or frenzied rushing.

Thanks for the write-up, I enjoyed it. When you find yourself with more thoughts, indeed share them!

@superkenon said:

I don't know if Pikmin 3 is clear on this, but historically the series has not stressed something that I think is fairly important:

The only way Pikmin die at the end of the day is if they are unattended and outside the ship landing zone area. If they carried something back to your ship, and are then just idling around near your ship, they're safe. If you just left a bunch of them in the landing zone for some reason, they're safe. If they're directly under the control of a captain within the landing zone, they're safe. If they're directly under the control of a captain NOT near the landing zone, they're safe (you can't leave captains behind, so the ending cutscene will always show all your captains returning, with whatever Pikmin they have under their control).

So don't sweat the end of the day, unless you have a bunch of Pikmin still carrying an object that is miles from the landing zone, in which case all you need to do is make sure you run up to them and call them over to that captain, at which point you don't even need to worry about that captain being anywhere near the landing zone.

The biggest thing that stands out to me playing for a bit is that the Pikmin in this game feel so excruciatingly slow (or perhaps it is the player-characters that are too fast for the Pikmin) compared to the older games. The Pikmin used to keep up better and use of the C stick in the GC games helped even more and gave you better control over the pack. I'm missing that extra control when the Pikmin trail off in a long conga line, making annoying pathing losses more likely, or simply trail behind so far that you have to wait for them to catch up before you can do anything else. Perhaps it will become less of a problem later as I multitask more.

So I'm about to download it now (after this dumb Wii U update)...I really wanna use the Gamepad because...ya know...that's like the point of the Wii U, but all I hear is how much better the Wiimote is for this game. Is the Gamepad really that bad to use? Major bummer if it is.

Has this justified the WiiU purchase?

As someone who isn't a Pikmin fan at all, I enjoyed the 2-3 hours I've played thus far. Sucks that the Wiimote is so much better then the Gamepad though. I've been using the Gamepad regardless, due to the map and other features though. I already feel like I'm getting overwhelmed and I'm only on Day 7. I just tend to lose track of things easily. Gonna be madness when I get more Pikmin types and find the Captain finally.

I think so, but then I was already relatively happy with my purchase. Pikmin 3 is an excellent Nintendo game, it's exactly the kind of game you own a Nintendo system to play, it was great to finally get to play through it. I loved it.

It's not a game that demands you rush out and buy a WiiU (I don't think there ever really is any single game that can do that for any system, personally), but if you own a WiiU I think you'd be pretty happy to own one right about now.

@kishinfoulux The Wii Remote is definitely the superior way to control the game, I think, the precision is extremely welcome. I found that you got the best of both worlds by using the Wii Remote and having the Gamepad in your lap to access the extra features the touch screen provides, plus, while using the Wii Remote/Nunchuk incoming messages and such show up on the Gamepad (and aren't so readable on the KopPad on the TV - something that's actually kind of annoying, no idea if that's something you can change).

This is the first game (that's been released) for the wiiU that made me go "hummmmm.... maybe I should....".

Then I see that price tag.

I would really love to see a 3ds pikmin but I doubt that will ever happen.

Am I right in thinking that there are no caves in Pikmin 3? Although their visual design was a little bland, I really enjoyed progressing through the caves in Pikmin 2 and planning my days around doing as much as possible on the surface before jumping into a cave at the very last minute.

There are ZERO caves. Not Pikmin 2-style caves anyway. There are "caves" as in indoor environments that you can walk into inside the huge levels but they are NOTHING like the annoying Pikmin 2 caves. And the game is way better for it. You'll need to spend all your brainpower on the actual levels instead of crawling through combat-focused dungeons in this one. (EU player, 12-game days in)

@kishinfoulux: Cool thanks for the insight.

I've been using the gamepad instead of the wiimote and haven't really had any issues. You are able to lock onto specific areas which makes up for not having precise aiming controls. Having the map on the gamepad is a huge help and being about to rotate your view instead of snapping it constantly behind your character is nice. Both sets of controls work well, and can be used simultaneously. I'm mainly using the gamepad because it rarely gets any use other than NintendoLand.

Also, when you lock onto an enemy or object, press B to make all your pikmin charge at it.

Yeah lock on has helped a bit. Also holding one of the top shoulder buttons (like ZR or whatever) lets you stand still and aim a bit more precisely. I keep forgetting about the charge option.

I'm really loving it. Goddamn, this is the best of Pikmin 1 and Pikmin 2 remixed smartly. My only complaints are a minor nitpick (no Pikminpedia so no bios on the enemies which I loved in Pikmin 2) and a control issue (wherein sometimes instead of charging they release because apparently not all L Targets are equal). Otherwise I'm having a fantastic fucking time.

This works great, except for on the last boss =/ I enjoyed the game greatly up until that point and have yet to go back and finish it. It's sorta unfortunate that the main controller for the console doesn't really give you the fidelity you want to play the game well.