Pikmin—Not Just for Kids
Chad Lennon
January 2002
The new game Pikmin for the Nintendo Gamecube is quite an amazing little gem for the system. At first glance it seems a little childish but soon enough the adorable little plant-like creatures called Pikmin will find a way to your inner child. The level of skill required to play the game is greater than I anticipated, but Nintendo did a great job of creating a usable control scheme as you can (and will) control up to 100 Pikmin at a time. The Pikmin are found by Captain Olimar, a space pilot who crashed his rocketship on a mysterious planet. He soon discovers that parts to his ship are scattered all over the planet after his collision with a rogue asteroid. Upon finding the Pikmin he is intrigued and finds that when working together the little creatures can perform a great many tasks.
Pikmin—Not like your average house plant
When enough Pikmin are together, they can perform many tasks. Captain Olimar can attain more Pikmin by sending those in his command to attack creatures or chop down plants with pellets and the Pikmin instinctively take it back to their “Onion.” After being beamed up into the onion, sprouts shoot out the top creating more Pikmin to command. In groups the little creatures can perform tasks that require the strength of all of them working together. Pikmin can evolve into “Bud Pikmin” and “Flower Pikmin,” either through keeping them planted in the ground or finding a special dew from grass. Pikmin have minds of their own and once set to a task will carry it out without supervision. This reduces the need for painful micromanagement of seperate groups of Pikmin.
Primary Colors
Pikmin come in red, blue, and yellow varieties each with their own little “onion” spaceship. The red, which are the strongest fighters can also withstand fire. The blue ones are moderate fighters that can go into water (which kills the other varieties), and the yellow pikmin can pick up bomb rocks and also fly the highest when thrown. Each type has it's own use and all of them will have to be used to make your way through a level.
Blast-off
After finding more parts Captain Olimar and his Pikmin can fly to other regions of the planet and collect more parts to his ship, the game gets tedious at times but overall is a very enjoyable experience. The game also takes advantage of the Gamecube's massive processing power as can be seen by how many things the Pikmin can do at one time without a bit of slow down to ruin your fun. I give the game 4 out of 5.
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