Pikmin 2

Written by Chris Reiter  on July 29, 2004

Final Glimpse: I wonder what Shiggy was doing when he came up with Pikmin. Oh yeah, weeds and mushrooms.

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Known for their creativity and brilliance in video game engineering, Nintendo went for something very odd and unfamiliar at the GameCube's launch time. In the way Pac-Man was brought to life when his creator stared at a partially eaten C-shaped pizza pie, Shigeru Miyamoto gave birth to the Pikmin people in a similar fashion. Revered for his hand with Mario, Link, Samus, and other popular creations, Shigeru Miyamoto was working in his garden one day when it struck him: the idea to establish a garden-based strategy adventure. Pikmin from then on out was born to become one of the most peculiar favorites for new GameCube owners, as the game challenged its players to seed out color-coded plant-like beings to do your dirty work. Nintendo's goal for this year is to return to the world that launched one of the only really "unique" next-gen franchises for the company in next month's upcoming Pikmin 2.

Captain Olimar, the spaceman protagonist of the first Pikmin, is back at home, sweet home. After having crashed his ship into the Pikmin's planet, discovering and commanding these things to help him fix his ship, and returning to his normal life, Olimar's business has gone sour. Losing money and his ship, Olimar decides it's time to trek to the surface of the previous Pikmin world in order to harvest the planet's hidden gems. With the help of a partner this time, Louie, the two reach the planet, only in another failed landing effort to find that they are separated. It'll be up to Olimar once again to nurture the skills of those more-than-willing Pikmin, along with his assistant Louie, to find and bring back home the treasures that'll await them within.

While an interesting game to play, Pikmin was flawed in such a way that made it a lot less fun that it really should have been. This was due to the title's rules for completion. You had 30 days in all, count them 30 days to play Pikmin. But, in game land, one day only counted for about fifteen whole minutes. This restricted players, forcing them to rush through the open world of Pikmin. If you're someone like me who despised these unwanted limits, you're in luck. Nintendo is removing that nasty, 30-day span to allow Pikmin 2 to be completed at your own pace. Those day and night slots will still be around, but without the worry of how many days long you'll actually need to complete each and every given task.

Same as before, Pikmin 2 counts on exploration of an unspoken planet with the aid of the Pikmin inhabitants. Collecting the multicolored Pikmin of yellow, blue, and red colors are getting two new shades this time: purple and white. Purple is for "PP," or Power-hungry Pikmin as I'm calling them. They're basically to be Pikmin scaled to a rotund size that with the bigness in them, add ten times the strength of a normal Pikmin. Just like in the first game, you'll strategically require a certain number of Pikmin to complete certain objectives -- be it to carry things like parts back to the ship, to access obstacles, or to beat insect enemies to a pulp. Say it took ten regular Pikmin to heave one object in the past. Now, just one PP will get the same job done all on its own. White Pikmin, on the other hand, is to be a breed of Pikmin both resistant and infectious from poison. Venomous traps (like smoke ventilated from out of jets) won't hurt these little guys, and enemies immune to toxins will be diseased from chewing down on them. It's also that white Pikmin's red eyes will serve as treasure seekers, able to spot unseen objects within the ground.

Speaking of treasure seeking, Captain Olimar's new teammate Louie will also be along for the ride. Either Olimar or Louie can take the lead in the game, guiding Pikmin to cooperate with the orders you've provided, or both protagonists can be operated simultaneously. There'll be times when each of these gameplay occurrences will figure their way into the game's strategic turns. What's interesting about this team togetherness though, is that if for example Olimar is the one you're controlling at the moment, Louie will be right behind you, acting on his own. If Olimar's spawning more Pikmin with his spaceship (a.k.a. the Pikmin regenerator) then Louie will be doing the same exact thing, creating a faster and more sufficient order of operations.

Not the most graphically impressive game now or back then, Pikmin wasn't made to set standards or anything -- it was made to have a good time with. But for those graphic-nuts anyway, Nintendo's been doing a little remodeling since that time to show off a new Pikmin that's not going to be a hundred times better than its previous offering, but instead just somewhat improved. More differential terrain set in aqua-surrounded areas, snow and forest fields will give the game some more flavor over the older release. Tinier, subtle touches like mirrored reflections, particle effects, and environmental differences -- from snowflakes to leaves dropping in the distance -- should all be able to integrate a closer sense of realism into the game's outline.