I Didn’t Pick Up Pikmin; Did I Miss Out?

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Here you are, nearly a quarter of a century after the release of the first game in the Pikmin franchise, and you’re wondering, “What was that game even about? Should I have picked it up? What even are Pikmin?”. Well, here I am to tell you about the fantastic puzzle game that shaped my childhood.
Please note that I was six years old when this game was released. I didn’t know what I was doing back then, and I barely have a clue now, but we move.

The Story of the Game

Pikmin (later named Pikmin 1) is an adorable game in which you, Captain Olimar, crash land on an unknown planet after being hit by a comet. Unfortunately, due to this crash, your ship, the S.S. Dolphin, is in a state of ruin. Your goal is to find the 30 missing parts in 30 days, but how can one small Hocotatian find and move all these parts alone? And what’s worse: this air is toxic to little Olimar.

Running around the crash landing site, you discover a growth on the ground. Upon further inspection, this growth jets out of the dirt, extends its long legs, and spits out a seed. The seed quickly sprouts a leaf and is ready to be plucked. This is when you pull it from the ground and hear a cheerful yell—WAHOO—a Pikmin. Quickly discovering that this creature will follow Olimar and listen to his every command, you have found your means to gather your ship’s parts and keep yourself safe from the menagerie of hostile beasties.

By raising your army, you can traverse various areas, expanding your footprint as ship parts are collected, and helping the Pikmin repopulate. Building bridges, knocking down walls, and pushing obstacles out of the way has never been easier than with Pikmin. Each night, the Pikmin re-enter their ship by climbing the long legs—the ship then flies above the planet’s surface, only landing when the S.S. Dolphin is also landing. Oops, you’ve accidentally adopted 100s of Pikmin. I hope you have snacks to share.

Pikmin will give you one of three different endings depending on how well you collect your ship parts. The best ending happens when you collect every part of your ship; it is considered the canon ending of the game. There is a normal ending for collecting at least 25 parts of your ship and a bad ending for collecting any less than 25.

Who is Captain Olimar?

Reaching the astonishing height of 1.9cm—most of which is his head—Olimar is an alien space traveller hailing from the planet Hocotate. He is a family man with a wife, two children, and a pet space dog named Bulbie. His family is materialistic and therefore asks a lot from Olimar, so as a senior employee for Hocotate Freight, Olimar spends his holidays delivering cargo to support them. He is a bad luck magnet, this is what causes him to crash-land on the planet he discovered and named PNF-404.

Throughout the Pikmin series, we learn that he is intellectual, as seen in his vocabulary and log-keeping. A lot of what we know about Olimar is derived from his logs and journal entries; we see that Olimar enjoys biology and engineering, and designed the face for his ship, which provides its unique shape. We also learn that he has a short temper toward mundane things, is becoming grumpier with age, has a close bond with animals and has always loved them, and is an avid gardener.

Olimar’s name in Japanese is オリマ (Orima), an anagram of Mario. 

What are Pikmin?

Pikmin are small, seed-like creatures who resemble Hocotate’s native Pikpik Carrots. They seem to be some kind of plant, sprouting a stem atop their head with a leaf jutting out at the tip. This leaf eventually transforms into a bud and then a flower, either by the Pikmin slurping up some nectar or if they’re still in the ground, maturing for a little longer before being plucked.

Pikmin come in three variations in this game: Red, Yellow, and Blue.

The Red Pikmin are strong fighters who excel in battle and are immune to fire. This makes them great warriors, especially against the Fiery Blowhogs seen in ‘The Forest Navel’. The feature that makes them distinct from other species of Pikmin (besides their red colouring) is their nose-like growths on their faces. These are the first Pikmin you encounter and are most likely to be fighting in high numbers. The Red Pikmin are Olimar’s favourite. (How dare you pick a favourite child?)

Yellow Pikmin are very versatile, being the lightest of the three variants, immune to electricity and, um… well, they kind of bomb things. They can only wield bomb rocks in the first game, but boy, do they keep the attitude throughout the series. The Pikmin have large ear-like lamella, which they use to fly higher when thrown; this is helpful when reaching high places to retrieve out-of-reach ship parts. These Pikmin are little arseholes who like to laze off, drop out of your party at random times, bomb your other Pikmin, and get lost in the last 10 seconds of the day. Horrors.

Blue Pikmin survive underwater. That’s it.

I jest, they also help your other Pikmin if they’re drowning… But only in Pikmin 1. Yeah, they didn’t give much to the Blue Pikmin, but regardless, they’re still my favourite. (They’re not my children, I’m allowed to pick a favourite.) Luckily, they are still useful, as many of the ship parts have landed in pools of water. They have a small mouth-like gill on their face, and they’re the final Pikmin you encounter in this game.

Alone, these guys probably aren’t the strongest or most helpful, but in a group and with a bit of guidance, there is nothing they can’t achieve; whether it’s breaking down walls or transporting an item with a carry weight of 100, the Pikmin are sure to get the job done. It’s great that each Pikmin seems to have their own personality, letting you really get attached to them. Whether it’s getting distracted by grass, falling down whilst trying to keep up, or lounging while waiting for you to give them orders, you will absolutely adore these little guys’ attitudes. They also like to sing.

The Music

If you’re looking for a calm soundtrack, Pikmin has you covered. The sole composer, Hajime Wakai, is very clearly a master in the art of cosiness in mind andbody—he also voiced the titular creatures. The soundtrack all but physically transports you to the world of Pikmin, making you feel small but mighty and allowing you to spend the entire day running around doing what feels like simple errands.

Because the music is so calm, it can be detrimental to your gameplay, making you forget you have a time limit. Once you realise that it’s mid-afternoon and you’ve got groups of Pikmin all over the map and you’ve got to collect them and make sure they’re safe and get back to base and… Uh, anyway, the tracks are also chilled enough to stop you from stressing out, it makes the game much more enjoyable. Also, there’s something crazy about fighting giant beasties whilst cute little jingles play in the background.

I also have a special song to mention, ‘Ai no Uta’ by Strawberry Flower, which was used for the Japanese adverts for the game. This single also out-sold the game in Japan, which is kinda wild. Unfortunately, this song wasn’t included in the game, but was later added to Super Smash Bros. Brawl. This song has lyrics—in Japanese—which are sung from the point of view of the Pikmin. It is truly very beautiful, and I will admit, the song has made me cry multiple times. I highly recommend listening to the song with the English translation of the lyrics pulled up.

On the B-side of the single, we got to hear ‘Namida ga Afureta’, also by Strawberry Flower, which is sung from the perspective of Olimar, which, guys, I’m not ready to discuss this one. ToT I implore you to go listen to this single and read the lyrics as you do. You won’t regret it.

The Games Influence

Whilst not the first game mentioned when someone asks a random person on the street to name a Nintendo game, Pikmin really did make a name for itself, carving a path for a new style of puzzle gaming. It amassed a large fan base and showed girls like me at a young age that games aren’t all shooting and swords, they can be cute too! I’m not saying it was the first game to do this, as there are definitely older games and franchises to show a sweeter side to gaming, but as someone who grew up with an older brother, Pikmin catered to both of us.

With the combat that appealed to him and the adorable creatures that caught my eye, this game was a regular in our gaming roster. The Pikmin themselves are also a whole genre of memes. The internet absolutely loves these guys; one of my favourites is the ‘Piss‘ image.

It’s clear to see that it has inspired numerous later games such as Overlord, Tinykin, Little King’s Story, and The Wild at Heart. Maybe I’ll get around to playing these games myself one day.

Pikmin has a cult-like following. One of our newest members is Underlevelled’s very own Riley. We recently converted them from a Pikmin nay-sayer (maybe not a nay-sayer, but they never played it) to a Pikmin advocate by bullying them to play it on stream.

So, Did I Miss Out By Not Picking It Up?

Absolutely not! But if you’re still not planning on picking it up, then yes, you will miss out.
Thankfully, Pikmin 1 is readily available on the Nintendo Switch, as are the other main games in the series. It is currently £24.99 in the Nintendo Store, which, in my opinion, is absolutely worth your cash. Pikmin is one of the only games that I am 100% okay with paying full price for, even if it is almost 25 years old. If you want to be a bit more authentic and old-school, Pikmin on the GameCube is currently being resold at shops like CeX for around £18, and a bit more expensive at around £27 on eBay for the Wii.

I’d love to know your opinion on Pikmin! Did you love the game? Are you not interested in the slightest? Is it… just ok? Let me know in the comments below.

Riley will be playing Pikmin 2 for the first time over on our Twitch soon, so join our Discord to keep up to date.