Pikmin 3 (and 4) 🌸

[wourme]

Pikmin 3 and Rayman Legends were two of the main reasons I’d thought I might pick up a Wii U eventually. When Rayman Legends was ported to PlayStation, I kind of gave up on the idea of getting a Wii U and just hoped I would get to play Pikmin 3 eventually one way or another.

A Wii U recently came into my possession, and although I got a pile of games with it, I immediately ordered Pikmin 3. I finished the story mode the other night. Although the game didn’t do much that was terribly new, it was just as impressive and entertaining as I’d hoped it might be. I’d forgotten how much Nintendo likes to interrupt you with talking and tips these days, but fortunately that sort of thing was mostly confined to the initial segments. I realized only after finishing the game that I had not even tried the motion controls. I used the Classic Controller Pro, which worked just fine.

I thought the original Pikmin was excellent. Pikmin 2, while introducing a lot of fun new elements, bothered me in that the characters were now using and sacrificing the Pikmin for money rather than survival. Fortunately, the third game returns to a survival theme.

One of my favorite things about the Pikmin series is the obvious but unstated fact that humans are extinct. I’m glad the games do not comment on this in any direct way. That and some of the sound design offer a nice, melancholy tone that contrasts well with the colorful and playful aspects.

I remember when things like the water effects in Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance and ICO used to really stand out and impress me. I guess I have come to take graphical advances for granted these days. But there were a few things in Pikmin 3 that I could not help but notice, such as the detailed models and a certain reflective surface near the end of the game.

[BustedAstromech]

@wourme

Pikmin 2, while introducing a lot of fun new elements, bothered me in that the characters were now using and sacrificing the Pikmin for money rather than survival

Pikmin 2 was a pretty dark game for Nintendo. I suppose it came out in a similar timeframe as Tingle’s Rosy Rupeeland, huh?

[Mikey]

Mechanically I also thought Pikmin 2 suffered a bit because it removed the time limit. The original had great pacing, because even though you had to haul ass to win, you still found moments to just sort of take it all in.

[username]

I didn’t really like Pikmin 2 all that much as I felt it shifted too much of its focus onto fighting enemies. Fighting enemies in Pikmin isn’t that great but works fine when it is an element in racing towards a goal before the clock expires. The caves removed that and that was a dramatic misstep to me.

[r-i]

@wourme

I thought the original Pikmin was excellent. Pikmin 2, while introducing a lot of fun new elements, bothered me in that the characters were now using and sacrificing the Pikmin for money rather than survival. Fortunately, the third game returns to a survival theme.

always good to just quote others phrasing things better than I could

The thing that’s amazing about Pikmin as a series is it manages to be a neat little sci fi story, and one in which, ultimately, the protagonists come off rather poorly

Olimar’s first time on PNF 404 was a matter of survival. He had to exploit the planet and its inhabitants because otherwise he would suffocate. His second trip, though, was spurred on by the President of Hocotate Freight to pay off his company’s debt. So he exploited the native’s and ransacked the planet for personal gain. But he’d lose his job otherwise, so it was still a matter of survival, right? Right?

Olimar’s third trip, though, happens because Olimar himself is in debt, and needs to find more treasure. He’s begun to view the planet as a personal piggy bank, something to be mined whenever he needs a quick buck. His survival instinct has turned into greed.

Except now he’s excavated so much treasure that he can’t find anymore. His personal logs get more and more desperate, because he knows there has to be some treasure out there, because this is the Pikmin planet, and it’s always come through for him. So he claws at all that glitters, and eventually awakens a wraith with a bizarre vendetta against him, keeping him trapped and starving in a nightmare tree filled with doppelganger horrors. A vengeful spirit, Mononoke-style? It clearly only cares about Olimar.

The Koppaians, meanwhile, are in the first phase of their own relationship with PNF 404. Their planet is starving, and they need to find food. So the expedition is a matter of survival. They have to find food or they’ll die.

Except their planet is starving because of rampant consumption, poor planning, and a refusal to face reality. Oh and look at this tropical paradise over here, wouldn’t it make a nice tourist destination (Captain Charlie says as much in one of the “Check In” conversations)? What if we just stayed here, and drank juice all day? But we have the seeds we need, so we shouldn’t have to come back here again, right?

The post-credits stinger implies that someone does go back. So…

Louie is the hilarious extreme of all this. He immediately exploits the people who rescue him by stealing all their food, which is such an appalling thing to do! Except the Koppaians are exploiting the crap out of the Pikmin, and have no qualms about excavating and using detritus from Olimar’s mission for their own needs.

Before finishing the game I figured the series had nowhere left to go, mechanically or plot-wise. The more I think about it, though, the more I wonder if a game with rival colonies would work, pitting Pikmin against Pikmin. Colonization seems the logical next step in PNF 404’s exploitation.

[robo]

I’ve said this before, but Pikmin 3’s cooperative mission mode is something special. It’s very easy to breeze through all of them but it takes some real planning and coordination to get the platinum medals or whatever the highest rank is on most. Probably my favorite teamwork thing in any videogame.

[robo]

I downloaded the Pikmin 4 demo. I was excited for this one until they updated the website to admit there’s not much in the way of co-op. Pikmin is charming as heck, but I want to get into a shouting match with my partner as time expires because we put the blue guys on a gold pile when we needed them to carry a bug corpse out of the water.

Anyway, this one seems alright. You get a dog that acts as a mount because every game needs a horse now, I guess, and it’s also basically a super Pikmin because it can do most of what they do but better or more safely.

I didn’t get too far in the demo during my lunch break, but I was super impressed by this map feature they added: you can hover your cursor anywhere on the map and press ZL to “Look This Way” which will automatically close the map and turn your character toward whatever you pressed on. I don’t play a lot of exploration-based games so maybe they lifted it from somewhere, but it’s perfect for the directionally-challenged.

[wourme]

For several years I’ve been wanting to make a serious run at the Pikmin 3 co-op stages. One day.

I may need to make a deal where I buy Pikmin 4 and borrow someone’s Switch and then let them keep the game when I’m done.

Come to think of it, maybe I can pull that off with Dragon’s Dogma 2 as well so I don’t have to get a PS5.

[HOBO]

Recently learned there’s some Action Replay code that lets you co-op all of Pikmin 2 and have been interested in trying it. Wasn’t as big on it as the first one when it came out – I really missed the time limit – but playing it with someone else might be fun.

[WarpZone]

I haven’t played 4’s demo, but if Pikmin 3 was a follow-up to 1, this looks like a follow-up to 2?

I prefer 1 & 3, but also feel 3 explored that direction about as far as you can reasonably go by the time you get to the extra missions* (without just making the next game ‘3 with more’) so I’m interested in what they’re doing here.

Pikmin generally works well with compact environments where you spread out from the center and these look comparatively expansive, but it seems you may be able to relocate your base or choose a different landing point (?) which could be neat in planning efficient ways to do things?

*I remember playing 3’s Christmas map over and over until I finally pulled off a carefully timed plan that retrieved every item in the stage… only to realize not only is that possible but it gives you bonus points for remaining time. Okay, maybe I could do it 10 seconds faster, but this is getting a little tight… Then I looked online and watched a very different inside-out strategy that broke my brain a bit and ended with a couple minutes to spare. The real Pikmin 3 starts here.

[captainlove]

Played the demo for 4.

Not sure I’m in for this one initially. I never played 2 and this feels very level-y with all the caves. Not a bad thing but it feels like doing a Sudoku a little bit. The caves floating in a black void space also gives me very strong abstract 3D Mario level vibes.

Moving bases around is kinda cool, can’t remember if that was in 3 but feels a bit more agile for managing resources and efficient routs.

The worst thing about the game is that no-one can shut up for more than 5 minutes and there are far too many characters who wanna jabber in my ear.

[wourme]

@captainlove

The worst thing about the game is that no-one can shut up for more than 5 minutes and there are far too many characters who wanna jabber in my ear.

This is such a plague in modern Nintendo games (and games that want to be modern Nintendo games, like Okami). I’m actually kind of glad to hear this, and also that 4 feels like a series of “levels,” because those things make it a lot less tempting to me.

It’s probably been long enough now that I can play the original game and have it feel new again. I do own that “New Play Control!” version.

[robo]

I bought this. It’s OK. With no real time constraints, a bunch of general “quality of life” improvements, and some really busted upgrades, it’s too easy to manage the Pikmin and there’s nothing particularly challenging to do. So, outside of a few special caves that replicate the timed missions from 3, you’re just kinda walkin’ around and doin’ stuff.

But it’s very pretty, especially the water areas, and I’m perfectly happy to mess around in these sandboxes because they feel like vacation.

[MintyJuffowup]

Right? As big fans of 3, my wife and I are ultimately walking away from it a bit disappointed. The worst thing about it is that they didn’t put nearly as much thought into this dandori battle idea as they did Bingo Battle. The stages in Bingo Battle were amazing! And a bingo card calling for strings of specific items is so much better than Dandori’s anything goes approach.

The lack of urgency makes sense for a game on the Switch, but it doesn’t work when applied to Pikmin.

[HOBO]

Simply doin’ thangs was pleasant enough to keep me going until I hit the house and I just stopped there. I don’t care about this house!! I only want to explore dirt and holes! It’s a nice time but the first one is still king. Though I still haven’t played 3…

[robo]

Yeah if I’m gonna be a little spaceman in a normal guy’s house I’d better be able to roll it up with a katamari.

[MintyJuffowup]

I’m talking with my wife and sister. Drinks have been drunk “Dandori sucks.” “It’s nowhere near as good as Bingo Battle. Even Miyamoto was up there saying how good Bingo Battle was. If he were dead, he’d be rolling in his grave.” “Did he die? I thought that might have been why this one was so bad.”

[robo]

Damn yeah this is like when George Lucas died.

[bib]

i admit my mind raced when i considered the logistics of getting pikmin up a flight of human stairs… sadly this didn’t really materialize

just got credits though and the postgame here suddenly looks pretty hot… besides some new areas and who knows what else, it also opens up a separate olimar flashback campaign where he starts from scratch alone and has to collect ship parts with a 15-day time limit…

[VastleCania]

oh whoops i didn’t realize this was a thread,i would have been pikmin-posting here