Flower Power
Few games have been known to be as original and witty as the upcoming release Pikmin for Nintendo GameCube. Yet, for most Americans (and even for some Japanese) the game has not surfaced. Still lying beneath the soil, this title has grown enough to be ready for mass-market launch. Its time to educate yourself about all things Pikmin, in hopes of trying to see what all the fuss is about.
100 Marios
While continuing development for N64, Shigeru Miyamoto and a group of team members set forth to create a completely unique game. Miyamoto had ideas of a premise based on power in numbers. What starts as a completely singular entity, is grouped with many other similar entities to become more powerful. The team began testing with ideas and controls for such a game and even had a demo running at one point. The demo showed numerous miniature Marios in a now large-scale house. In one instance, the mob of Marios would try to go to the washroom but there were too many going at one time. So they had to form a queue, and each Mario would have to find his place in that queue. This all happened automatically without need for player interference.
So was born the concept for Pikmin. The demo was of course later scrapped and many ideas shifted to the design model for Pikmin. However, the same basic idea was retained. The main idea behind 100 Marios was that you, as a player, had a limited amount of control. You can direct your mob in many ways but in truth they had a mind of their own as well. Once you tell a group what to do they go about their orders in the only manner they know how. As you will see, many of these ideas are still alive and flourishing today. So, what is Pikmin all about then?
In Pikmin We Trust
You had been flying through space gracefully until something went terribly wrong. Your rocket ship came screaming from the heavens and smashed into an alien planet. At the very least, you can be thankful that you made it alive. Now you are on a forest-like alien planet with pieces of your rocket trailing the countryside. "How are you going to get home to see the wife and kids?" you ask yourself. You soon discover what could be your only way out of this mess. The answer comes in the form of a tiny (even smaller then you) plant-like being that comes draped in bright colors. Soon you realize that there are many of these little guys around. And like plants, seeds can be planted to almost instantly grow more of them. They begin treating you like their leader, and start obeying your commands if you use your whistle. Perhaps these guys will be your answer to get your rocket pieces so you can fly home. You have no choice but to trust the pikmin. Like you though, these little guys are putting their utmost faith in their leader as well. Perhaps if you work together you can make a better life for the pikmin by cleaning up the planet, and in return you get to go home.
Now using these pikmin are the key to finding you rocket ship pieces. Tell them to defend you and complete various tasks along the way. You will have to be prepared for some casualties because these parts are dangerous. Beasts the size of office buildings are scattered all over this planet and are looking for their next meal. Remember, even though one pikmin on its own is pretty weak; together they are an unstoppable force. Lets take a look at what goes on during a typical day in the life of the spaceman.
A Day In the Life of
As the pikmins leader you have the responsibility of managing your troops and making vital decisions. Your goal is to find and retrieve missing spaceship parts. Getting them wont be an easy task though as youll need cunning strategy and lots of pikmin to do it.
You dont just manufacture pikmin either. You have to go out and cut down plants or kill monsters/aliens that stand in your way. Once the object is destroyed a little tablet is put in its place. Each tablet has a number on top of it signifying the amount of pikmin it will take to carry this thing back. Eventually you get tablets that require 20 pikmin to carry back to your base. Once you bring it back you have the choice of placing it in one of three pods. Each one will give you a different color of pikmin (well tell you about that later) in exchange for the tablet. This is the basic way of multiplying in this game. Youll need to keep a healthy supply of these little guys to make sure you can get past the perils ahead.
If the pikmin are outside at night they will be eaten by the nocturnal nightlife. So time is of grave importance and getting these guys to do their tasks while the sun is shining is harder than you might think. Every time you make a decision you have to try and think of how much time it will take to complete. The game uses a real time countdown until the end of a day so you get an idea of how much time you have left. At the top of the screen a sun meter slowly moves towards sundown so you can gauge the remaining time for that particular day. Any pikmin that you can round up before nightfall will be at your dispense for the next day. Unfortunately though, if you fall short and cant get the pikmin back to their shelter pods then you will lose them.
Certain other tasks must be performed as well such as building bridges, knocking down walls, and supposedly even building forts. As you can see, there is quite an array of abilities that the pikmin have. The focus is to try and surprise the player with different things that they can interact with.
Controlling the Pikmin
While playing the game at the Electronics Entertainment Exposition 2001, the N-sider staff couldnt stop commenting at the intuitive control setup. Instead of controlling the action similar to a typical PC real-time strategy game, it takes a completely new but effective approach. The main reason why controlling was so intuitive is that the action is actually coordinated and directed completely through the spaceman. By moving the main analog stick you move the spaceman around the 3D terrain. In front of the little spaceman is a target used for throwing pikmin. Instead of using a point and click interface, the entire game is controlled through the spaceman and his target. Luckily the pikmin stick close by you so you have instant access to their abilities.
To call your pikmin to be under your command you just press the A button and a circle will form around the target. Any pikmin that are in this target will instantly jump to command and start following you. This is a great way to select men, and is a lot faster then using a cursor and dragging a box around units If you dont want those specific units to follow you anymore you can press the cancel button (presumably Z-trigger) and the pikmin will sit down and fade to a pastel shade of their color. This way you can tell they are ones told to stop. The attendant at E3 also told us there may be a way to choose what color of pikmin you would like selected. This would help in assembling specialized parties for tasks.
One of the most intuitive uses for controls is the use of the secondary analog stick (C-stick). By pushing this stick in any direction, the pikmin will form a line in that direction. Lets say you needed to walk to the left side of an enemy, but you dont want to bump into him and wake him up. Well this would be a perfect time to shift the formation of the pikmin using the C-stick. By holding the C-stick left and running forward your pikmin will stick to the left side of you. This becomes a vital feature so that you have better control of your men. There will be times that you must dodge enemy attacks using the C-stick, then attack when the time is right. Luckily, the controls for the game feel appropriate as well as responsive.
Picking your pikmin is said to be a key aspect to the game. Supposedly, keeping pikmin planted (after the seed is planted) will make them take on different abilities. To pluck the pikmin from the ground you just use the B button. In essence, you choose when you want to harvest your pikmin by pulling them from the ground. If you need to see the action from a better perspective you use the L and R trigger buttons to zoom and rotate the camera. It is surprisingly easy to find a perspective that will work. By tapping the rotate button the camera goes directly behind the spaceman and looks completely forward (reminiscent of the z-button from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time). The other button will zoom in and out. Brilliantly, the zooming feature works differently from existing games. Instead of just shifting the field-of-view and slightly stretching the landscape, it keeps the field of view intact. In games like Perfect dark and Goldeneye, the zoom function really just stretched your surroundings so that you had a closer look at the center of the screen. However, in Pikmin it feels like the camera is floating towards or away the action as if it were a real life camera capturing the miniature action.
Choices, Choices
Heres where the decision of pikmin breeding comes in. As you may recall, we showed that bringing back the large tablets with the numbers on them will give the player more pikmin of a specified color. What is also known is that each color and each type of pikmin holds different abilities. Now while not all of the information has been disclosed (and some has been in other languages!), we can formulate theories based on speculation alone.
First lets take a look at the different colors of pikmin. So far we have seen 4 kinds of colored pikmin. We have seen blue, red, yellow, and purple. The red color is said to grant that pikmin immunity against fire. The blue lets that pikmin resist drowning. This has been semi-confirmed by the most recent video released to the public showing footage. Blue pikmin can be seen thrown into the water after a water enemy and surviving. The yellow we are told can carry bombs. This was a loose translation from Japanese and could also mean that they could carry anything better. Perhaps they are better workers so to speak. A mysterious photo of purple pikmin was also shown with a really funny look on their faces. They looked like a zombie/Egyptian style pikmin. Our guess is that these pikmin could be the elite war party pikmin. Or, even simpler, pikmin that are amazing at fighting.
How about the types of pikmin? So far we know of 3 kinds, plus a strange 4th kind that showed up on the purple pikmin. The 3 standard evolution of pikmin seem to be leaf, bud, and flower. Flower pikmin are said to be regenerating pikmin (or perhaps they just drop a 1 tablet for an indirect regeneration). Leaf pikmin are most probably pikmin that are good at hitting things since their leaf could be seen as a sharp weapon. When it comes to buds, your guess is as good as any of ours. As for the 4th mysterious type, it looks like a mushroom looking top. It has only been spotted once, and it was on top of the odd purple pikmin. Well have to wait to find out.
The brilliance will lie in the combination of pikmin. How about a fire resistant pikmin that can regenerate? Just bring a tablet to the red pod and let the seed grow into a flower. Using different combinations of colors and types will be the fun of the title. Perhaps there will be many instances where if you create a whole lot of specialized pikmin it will benefit you. Perhaps an area filled with water would be best navigating with a blue pikmin by your side. Should you put a bud or leaf on the blue pikmin? Its up to you to decide.
Enemies
To date there has been a large amount of enemies shown for the game. Each one seems to hold a strength and weakness. Learning how to defeat these enemies will help you traverse the lands without losing too many of your troops. Not all enemies are known at this time, but we can show you what there is so far.
Lady Bug:
- Behavior: There is a standard lady bug looking creature that seems to be quite common. It has two legs and waddles along quite slowly. Its two fanged mouth seems to be able to garble down enough pikmin to bring you to your knees.
- Weakness: These seem to be some lazy fellows. They can be seen sleeping around all day, which is the perfect time to strike. Attacking from the back while they are sleeping is the best idea. Though sometimes avoiding the fight altogether works best.
Frog Alien:
- Behavior: This seems to be something similar to a standard earth frog. Once it sees you it will jump in the air and hover for a second with its little wings, then flop. Its flop move will crush your pikmin and can be devastating to your army.
- Weakness: His attack is also his greatest weakness. Using the c-stick you can maneuver your pikmin out of harms way for a second then unleash hell once he plops on the ground. Its fun trying to get the timing right for such a strategy.
Rock Monster
- Behavior: this gargantuan creature seems to be made of rock and coincidentally looks to throw them as well. Using his snout he rolls huge rocks at you in the hopes of flattening your pesky pikmin.
- Weakness: He looks to be static in terms of physically moving around. However his rocks are fast and can easily wipe your entire army out if youre not quick on your toes. Like the frog creature, it looks as if timing must be key. Presumably if you can dodge his attacks to get close enough you can launch your pikmin on him to slow him down. Though you may not be able to defeat him at all.
Mechanical Spider:
- Behavior: Probably the largest enemy witnessed so far, the spider creature looks incredibly menacing. It walks in circles with huge circle like feet in the hopes of stomping your pikmin to death in the confusion. It does a good job of it too. How the heck do you take this thing down?
- Weakness: If you throw enough pikmin on its feet it will weigh that foot down. This will slow him down since he needs to move one foot first before he can move on to the others. Once you slow him down start throwing pikmin at his underbelly orb. They can latch on and start beating the crap out of him.
Bird Worm:
- Behavior: Pops out of the ground unexpectedly and devours your party. This thing has a scaly body but a head very similar to an eagle.
- Weakness: Unknown if this enemy can even be defeated.
There are still a lot of enemies that we probably havent discovered yet. Each one should be a treat to try and defeat and figure out its pattern. As you can see, Pikmin is a deep game involving a lot of strategy and variety. As far as we have gone to try and describe the game in detail there are assuredly even more surprises awaiting you at the store come this holiday season. Take a pointer from us and devote some serious game time to a title that is destined to become a classic. Who knows, if the game is popular enough it could spawn a sequel and a long running series to keep us happy for years to come.