With Pikmin 3 coming up for Wii U this summer, I thought it would be a good time to go back and play some of the original Pikmin on Nintendo GameCube.
I started up a new game and I took control of Captain Olimar. After crash landing on a strange planet, he conveniently finds an “Onion” full of plant-like creatures named Pikmin that seemingly exist only to help him. By commanding these Pikmin and assigning them to various tasks, Olimar must recover the missing pieces of his spaceship within 30 days. Of course there are enemies to fight, abilities to learn, and puzzles to solve along the way.
You start the game just with red Pikmin, but you’ll soon discover yellow and blue Pikmin as well. The red Pikmin are fireproof, which are particularly useful against fire-breathing enemies. The yellow Pikmin are lighter, which allows Olimar to throw them to higher locations that other Pikmin can’t reach. They can also use explosive rocks (bombs essentially) to break down particularly strong walls. The blue Pikmin have the ability to walk through water, which is extremely useful in some worlds.
Even today, the game is just as fun and addictive as it was years ago. The pleasant surroundings and peaceful music make the world of Pikmin a good place to escape to. And it’s also amusing to see the little Pikmin all working together to carry a large enemy back to their ship. Here’s a gameplay video showing a few minutes of gameplay: