Pikmin was a great game on the GameCube, with games on the system even making references to it before it even came out, such as Luigi's Mansion and Super Smash Bros. Melee. Shigeru Miyamoto was very excited to release it, as with all the future Pikmin games. However, he felt that wasn't enough. He thought Pikmin would work perfectly on the Wii, so he gave us the New Play Control version of Pikmin in 2008.
Overall - 9.2 Pikmin was already a great game, but with enhanced controls and fixed glitches? I'm surprised it didn't sell extremely well. You follow the story of Captain Olimar, deserted on what would become Planet Earth years after our extinction, with his only hope against the creatures who inhabit the planet, the Pikmin. Olimar shows an enormous amount of character, and manages to direct the Pikmin in such a way that each of the 100 Pikmin in your group seems worth your time.
Graphics - 9 The graphics improved through the GameCube to Wii transition, but they have always been nice. With the three distinct types of Pikmin, red, yellow, and blue, you would need colorful graphics to tell them apart. Most of the natural looking graphics in the game make you wish you could just take a nap inside of it, while being surrounded by little Pikmin swarming around you. The enemies, such as Wollywogs, Bulborbs, Puffstools, combined with fitting habitats creates a very natural feeling.
Sound - 9 The music in this game is amazing. It's not all orchestrated like Super Mario Galaxy, but it still manages to be very soothing to the ear. As the song fades away into the night (which is when you must return to your ship), it gives you a feeling. A feeling which says: What a horrible night to have a broken ship. Which is the goal of this game: find the 30 (or at least 25) parts of your ship with the help of your Pikmin.
Addictiveness - 10 This game can keep you playing for hours. It's overall fun, exciting, and the challenge overall enhances it. The different dialogue from Olimar lets you know exactly what he's thinking. Finding all of the 30parts can take you a while, but you just want to keep playing. You don't want to let the Pikmin die to the nocturnal creatures. You don't want Olimar to suffocate after the 30 days that his life support lasts.
Story - 9 Olimar was taking a vacation in his ship, when an asteroid hit it, and the parts all flew into the Planet of the Pikmin (Earth). Olimar than finds a mysterious machine called an Onion, containing a single Pikmin sprout. The Pikmin reproduces by absorbing the nutrients of a pellet into the Onion. Eventually, Olimar gets enough Pikmin and parts to travel from region to region. The story can branch off into 3 different endings, a bad ending, an average ending, and an excellent ending. I won't spoil what happens, but let's say you really want at least average.
Depth - 7 The game is disappointingly short. It probably won't take longer than 4 hours to beat. With most of the 5 levels being small, this game could easily be speed-runned by anybody who's good at it. It does, however, have much more too it. The three different kinds of Pikmin have to help you in different ways. Red Pikmin are immune to fire, and are the strongest type of Pikmin (in this game). Yellow Pikmin be thrown high, and can carry Bomb Rocks. Blue Pikmin can go in water, and an save drowning Pikmin. There's quite a few enemies throughout the game, and it has tons of reply value.
Difficulty - 8 I am not good at at this game. I have trouble fitting in time to get lots of parts within the 11 minutes of a day, and enemies such as Yellow Wollywogs can be really hard. The 30 day timelimit can be hard to deal with. It's fun sure, but the difficulty could be a bit more lenient.
Conclusion This game is great. It has a few problems that could be fixed, and they were in the sequel, but otherwise this game is a masterpiece, and even if you own it on GameCube, you should get this next time you get the chance.
Pikmin was a great game on the GameCube, with games on the system even making references to it before it even came out, such as Luigi's Mansion and Super Smash Bros. Melee. Shigeru Miyamoto was very excited to release it, as with all the future Pikmin games. However, he felt that wasn't enough. He thought Pikmin would work perfectly on the Wii, so he gave us the New Play Control version of Pikmin in 2008.
Overall - 9.2 Pikmin was already a great game, but with enhanced controls and fixed glitches? I'm surprised it didn't sell extremely well. You follow the story of Captain Olimar, deserted on what would become Planet Earth years after our extinction, with his only hope against the creatures who inhabit the planet, the Pikmin. Olimar shows an enormous amount of character, and manages to direct the Pikmin in such a way that each of the 100 Pikmin in your group seems worth your time.
Graphics - 9 The graphics improved through the GameCube to Wii transition, but they have always been nice. With the three distinct types of Pikmin, red, yellow, and blue, you would need colorful graphics to tell them apart. Most of the natural looking graphics in the game make you wish you could just take a nap inside of it, while being surrounded by little Pikmin swarming around you. The enemies, such as Wollywogs, Bulborbs, Puffstools, combined with fitting habitats creates a very natural feeling.
Sound - 9 The music in this game is amazing. It's not all orchestrated like Super Mario Galaxy, but it still manages to be very soothing to the ear. As the song fades away into the night (which is when you must return to your ship), it gives you a feeling. A feeling which says: What a horrible night to have a broken ship. Which is the goal of this game: find the 30 (or at least 25) parts of your ship with the help of your Pikmin.
Addictiveness - 10 This game can keep you playing for hours. It's overall fun, exciting, and the challenge overall enhances it. The different dialogue from Olimar lets you know exactly what he's thinking. Finding all of the 30parts can take you a while, but you just want to keep playing. You don't want to let the Pikmin die to the nocturnal creatures. You don't want Olimar to suffocate after the 30 days that his life support lasts.
Story - 9 Olimar was taking a vacation in his ship, when an asteroid hit it, and the parts all flew into the Planet of the Pikmin (Earth). Olimar than finds a mysterious machine called an Onion, containing a single Pikmin sprout. The Pikmin reproduces by absorbing the nutrients of a pellet into the Onion. Eventually, Olimar gets enough Pikmin and parts to travel from region to region. The story can branch off into 3 different endings, a bad ending, an average ending, and an excellent ending. I won't spoil what happens, but let's say you really want at least average.
Depth - 7 The game is disappointingly short. It probably won't take longer than 4 hours to beat. With most of the 5 levels being small, this game could easily be speed-runned by anybody who's good at it. It does, however, have much more too it. The three different kinds of Pikmin have to help you in different ways. Red Pikmin are immune to fire, and are the strongest type of Pikmin (in this game). Yellow Pikmin be thrown high, and can carry Bomb Rocks. Blue Pikmin can go in water, and an save drowning Pikmin. There's quite a few enemies throughout the game, and it has tons of reply value.
Difficulty - 8 I am not good at at this game. I have trouble fitting in time to get lots of parts within the 11 minutes of a day, and enemies such as Yellow Wollywogs can be really hard. The 30 day timelimit can be hard to deal with. It's fun sure, but the difficulty could be a bit more lenient.
Conclusion This game is great. It has a few problems that could be fixed, and they were in the sequel, but otherwise this game is a masterpiece, and even if you own it on GameCube, you should get this next time you get the chance.
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