Pikmin

_Pikmin_ is one of those games – like the original _Pokemon_ games, or _Super Mario 64_ – that I go back to every couple of years and play again, just for the hell of it, and something has got to be said for a game that came out nearly a decade ago but is still just as awesome to play today.

The undeniable charm of the _Pikmin_ game comes from a key property that is a rarity these
days – its originality. Never before had I played a game quite like it, and I doubt if I ever will again. The story is heart-rending, told not in the epic cinematic of games of today but in the honest words of the game’s protagonist, Captain Olimar, as he writes about his ordeal in his journal. After an impact with a meteorite, the Captain’s spaceship was left to veer towards the strange planet on which the game takes place, breaking up on entering the atmosphere and scattering its various components every which way. The task now at hand is to recover these lost parts before Olimar’s oxygen supplies run out and he is left to die on this toxic planet.

The _Pikmin_ are the helpful tool provided with which to work towards this goal. Olimar – luckily enough – discovers them (or at least one variant of them) on his first day, and the player learns how to put them to use through the Captain’s curiosity of this bizarre species. The game makes the best use of the Gamecube’s (sometimes confusing) controller that I have ever experienced – every button has some function in commanding your troop of _Pikmin_, and you can very quickly have them doing your bidding.

The game is definitely a challenge. You start off relatively easily, moving a few things around, breaking down a few barriers, generally not having much trouble making your way to
the next spaceship part, but it soon gets more difficult. There are 30 game days in which to
find 30 missing parts, and as you discover more areas of the hostile planet and more varieties
of _Pikmin_ (such as yellow ones that can handle explosives and blue ones that can survive in the water), it can be quite tricky to make your way to even one part in a day. The challenge, however, is well worth it. Working against the clock, trying to avoid the unnecessary deaths of too many of the cute little aliens, figuring out the best path to your particular goal in a variety of environments, all of these add up to make a surprisingly meaty game.

The Gamecube is not known for its library of games, but _Pikmin_ is a real gem. Sadly, the
game only ever sold just over a million copies, a small number when compared to the seven million copies of _Mario Kart: Double Dash_. With the re-release of _Pikmin_ and _Pikmin 2_ on the Wii, however, and the promise from Shigeru Miyamoto of a new _Pikmin_ game coming to the console, hopefully its relatively unknown status will change.