GENRE
	Strategy
	DEVELOPER
	Nintendo
	PUBLISHER
	Nintendo
	NUMBER OF PLAYERS
	1
	CONNECTIVITY
	no
	BUY NOW AT

When Shigeru Miyamoto reached his 49th year this November, his birthday was drummed off radar by the launch of Nintendo's new baby, the GameCube. Miyamoto's almost half a century old. Since the early 1980s, he's created genres, redefined them, and directed the course of an entire industry. He's the Master, as acknowledged by certain other masters, from Will Wright (The Sims) to Metal Gear Solid's Hideo Kojima. What's left for Miyamoto to do?

Pikmin.

Pikmin is a unique hybrid of strategy and adventure, twisted together with a little chia-pet. The narrative here is predictably shallow: tiny space man Captain Olimar has crash-landed on a planet with "poisonous" oxygen in its atmosphere. He has thirty days to collect the scattered pieces of his space craft before his life-support fails. Fortunately, Olimar discovers native ant-flowers-- semi-intelligent weeds with the power of locomotion Olimar calls Pikmin-- that follow the Captain's commands intuitively and act cooperatively to fend off predators and reassemble Olimar's ship. Thirty days left. Go!

visuals

There is a paradox in Pikmin's graphics. Nothing in the game's visual design admits to system-straining graphics; however, the organic setting is so painstakingly detailed and realized, that after several hours of play, the environments in other games feel inexplicably vacant. Unfortunately, like Luigi's Mansion, Pikmin's textures are somewhat blurry when viewed too closely. So, while the small details of Pikmin's world reveal the game's true beauty, looking too closely at those details ruins their charm: hence, the sad paradox.

Still, Pikmin is a beautiful sight. Miyamoto has said that much of Pikmin's visual design was inspired by settings in and around his own neighborhood: look quickly, and the game almost looks like an intimate photograph of your local tiny wildlife.

If Miyamoto set out to create a world that looked authentic, with living, breathing inhabitants and very real danger, he succeeded. Whether idle or in action, the Pikmin are cleverly animated. Predators bound towards the Pikmin according to their body structure. Water ripples and leaves sway.

But there's more to Pikmin's visual world than its naturalistic verisimilitude: a wry, almost dark humor. Predators devour the adorable Pikmin in grotesque fashion, chewing once or twice, then swallowing whole. The Pikmin's anguished souls drift skyward. I can even admit to "accidentally" destroying a whole company of Pikmin by tossing them directly into a Bulborb's mouth, or sending a bomb-carrying Yellow Pikmin too close to his cohorts.

Typical of Miyamoto titles, Pikmin has an excellent 3D engine and camera system interface that rarely inhibits gameplay. There is no draw-in, no flicker, no clipping, and a smooth, smooth framerate. As ND's Eric joked recently, aside from the lighting effects, Pikmin almost looks as if it could have been released on the N64. At first it does look that way. But upon reflection, it's hard to imagine Pikmin looking much better than it does.

audio

Though it lacks the dynamics of Rogue Leader, or even Rogue's action-oriented setting, Pikmin's soundscape is impressive. It's suitably naturalistic. Chimes announce midday and sundown like the passing of a school day. Olimar whistles to command the Pikmin, and marching horns sound when he commands a group of them. The Pikmin grunt, squeak, scream and cheer just as I'd imagine tiny ant-flower things would.

Hajime Wakai, who composed Pikmin's score, is no Koji Kondo; but the few themes dedicated to each area are pleasant and never irksome.

gameplay

In May 2001, Miyamoto took the stage at Nintendo's pre-E3 conference and introduced his new franchise:

"We've been challenging ourselves in many ways lately to come up with something that's truly unique. But that's really difficult. While today, I don't think I can show you something that's totally unique, I think this is at least something that's kind of new."
-Shigeru Miyamoto, May 2001

"Kind of new" indeed. When the curtain went up on Pikmin, the first thing that occurred to me (and several others in the audience) was "3D Lemmings." While that may be an unfair simplification of Miyamoto's new game, it is a suitable analogy. Captain Olimar commands small creatures of several classes to complete his objectives; each class of Pikmin is suited to a particular set of tasks.

Other than throwing the occasional punch at encroaching enemies, Olimar does very little directly. The Pikmin do his grunt work. There are three primary Pikmin classes, as distinguished by color: Red are resistant to fire, the Blue can swim, and the Yellow can be thrown the highest. Yellow Pikmin can also carry explosive rocks, and use them to kill predators and demolish barriers. The Pikmin can evolve from leaves to buds, and finally to flowers, gaining speed at every generation.

Olimar's first and constant responsibility is the maintenance and cultivation of his Pikmin population. When destroyed, plants and enemies leave behind nutritious deposits. The Pikmin carry these deposits back to their flying nests, or "onions," thereby generating further Pikmin sprouts. Olimar can command as many as 100 Pikmin in the field simultaneously. Surplus Pikmin are stored within the onions.

Once in the field, Olimar can instruct the Pikmin to carry nutritional deposits or ship parts, to destroy obstacles or enemies, or even to build bridges. These various tasks are all accomplished through Pikmin's simple and intuitive control scheme. Olimar tosses Pikmin at a target individually, or can sweep them en masse, and they automatically begin whichever operation is required in that context.

The delicate balance between simple controls and puzzling objectives keeps Pikmin entertaining throughout the entire adventure. Unfortunately for some gamers, that entire adventure will be all too short. Olimar has only 30 days to rebuild his ship. At roughly 20 minutes per day (give or take a cut scene), Pikmin is a quick ride. The gameplay is decidedly focused on completing the objectives. Pikmin doesn't give players much time to run around, and just enjoy being in Miyamoto's world, as Mario or Zelda might. Still, long games are overrated: I'd rather play a twelve to sixteen hour adventure, with enough replay value that I'll enjoy it again and again, than trudge once through a sixty-five hour RPG. Pikmin has this replayability.

If you walk away from your game for a week or two (perhaps obsessed with that new copy of Final Fantasy X you found Christmas morning), Pikmin will welcome you back. If you complete the game without finding all thirty pieces, Pikmin will welcome you back. Starting anew isn't intimidating, as it would be with a Final Fantasy. There's also a Challenge Mode to unlock once the primary adventure is completed. Pikmin's simple, elegant design and compact structure redeem its brevity.

multiplayer

N/A

overall

Shigeru Miyamoto has invested much in this new franchise. He recently remarked to Nintendo Power magazine, "I would like to raise Pikmin to the same level of popularity as Mario." Based on this first game, I don't think Pikmin will ever achieve Mario's icon status, or Pikachu's otherworldly capacity to enlarge Nintendo's bank accounts. That doesn't mean that Pikmin isn't an extraordinary game.

While Miyamoto did not direct Pikmin himself, it is perhaps his most personal game to date, showing how powerfully he can still shape development, even from his supervisory overlord position on Nintendo's executive board. He's had his hands in so many projects, it seemed unlikely he'd be able to leave fingerprints on any single title. Pikmin won't win any Game of Year awards -- it isn't Metal Gear Solid 2, or Halo, or even Rogue Leader. This game simply isn't in the same league. But there is something very palpable, however intangible, about Miyamoto games. Pikmin proves Miyamoto still has it. Hopefully, he'll infuse something more substantial with that intangible in 2002.

Don't let Pikmin's typical Nintendo-cuddly look deter you. Pikmin isn't for every gamer, but this game is worthy of your and should be in your library. Cheers to a new Nintendo franchise. Long live the Pikmin.

8.6/10