Review by: Matthew Dujnic
Published: February 28, 2002

Historically, most console real-time strategy games have been lackluster ports of PC franchises. Developers did decent work in shoehorning complex keyboard configurations onto handheld controllers, but the results were always second best to their PC parents. Now we have Pikmin. It’s also an RTS, inasmuch as you command an army strategically, in real-time. This time, however, the console world is not stuck with second-generation software. Shigeru Miyamoto’s latest opus was built around GameCube, with console sensibilities in mind, and the result is quite a different breed of game.

Pikmin‘s story follows the adventure of a tiny hero, Captain Olimar. On one fateful flight, his spacecraft runs afoul of a wayward meteor. The ship is dashed to pieces (30, to be exact) and sent hurtling toward a strange blue planet. Miraculously, the good captain survives impact, but the pieces of his vessel have been scattered across the planet. In addition, sensors show the planet’s atmosphere contains oxygen, which, alas, is poisonous to our hero. His suit can only provide life support for 30 days, so he must get his ship repaired in time. How will he do it?

Olimar’s salvation comes in the form of the titular characters, the pikmin. After looking over his damaged ship, Olimar grows curious about a strange plant stuck in the ground. He gives the stem one hard pull, and up from the soil erupts an enormous onion-like pod. From the pod flutters a single seed; a pikmin seed. The seed plants itself in the ground, and after a moment, a leaf pops up. Having already uprooted one plant, there’s no reason for our hero to stop now. He pulls on the leaf, and out pops a cute, two-legged ant-like creature, leaf fluttering atop its head. Olimar dubs it a “pikmin.” The pikmin seems attracted to the bobbing light on his helmet, and thus it follows him everywhere. With a little more experimentation, Olimar realizes it can be taught to breed more pikmin, so soon he has a little army that can break down walls, build bridges, and most importantly, carry large objects. Objects like his missing ship parts! So begins the game.

After the opening cinematic, Pikmin automatically walks you through the first day as an orientation. You’ll learn the basic gameplay and finally retrieve your ship’s engine, which allows you to take off, though you can’t fly far, yet. After that, each day begins by choosing an area of the planet to land on. At first, there are only two areas, but three more will open as you recover more parts of the spaceship. Once on the ground, the analog pad controls Olimar. Unlike most strategy titles, you do not control an omniscient cursor. This aspect of the game adds a few interesting wrinkles. First of all, if you overhear pikmin falling victim to enemy attacks while you’re far away, you cannot simply scroll your view to the disaster. Olimar must hike across the terrain to get there. If you play it safe, and only do one task at a time, you’ll never get much done. Instead, you must weigh the time limit against the dangers of leaving pikmin to their own devices. Also, Olimar can be hurt by enemies, just as the pikmin can. If he sustains too much damage, he must rest in his ship until the next day, which can put you behind schedule. Moreover, it’s too dangerous to work at night, so anything you do must be done by sundown, and predators will eat any pikmin you do not gather up at nightfall.