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Pikmin

by Billy Berghammer - August 25, 2001, 9:29 am EDT

What happens when you dump 40 Pikmin into the river? They scream! Word! Billy takes on Shiggy's new garden fest....

Pikmin was a title that truly took me by surprise at E3. It's cute, and definitely quirky, but was a heck of a lot of fun, even if we got to see very little of an early build. There's been a lot of progress made on Shiggy's garden title, and I for one was very impressed and intrigued by what I played today. We barely got a taste of what Pikmin is all about at E3.

Basically you have 30 days to repair your space ship. The space ship parts are strewn across each of the levels, and you need the help of Pikmin to get these parts to repair your ship and get off the planet. You'll have to solve puzzles, nab more Pikmin, kill enemies, and gather the parts before you can complete the level. Even if you don't get all the space ship parts in one day, you can come back the next day and finish up. Since all your Pikmin die at the end of the day (unless you load them on their ships), the game's intensity rises as the day grows to an end. I found myself frantically working to save the Pikmin once again.

One of the new puzzles that we saw was an unfinished bridge going over a river. If you sent the pikmin over the river before it's fixed, they'll fall in and die. They actually scream while they are drowning. It's sad and hilarious at the same time. What you need to do is point them to the edge of the bridge and they will repair it, and then you can get to the other side.

At E3, I thought Pikmin was already beautifully detailed, but now, it's even more impressive. There's a lot more going on in this demo. Everything is highly detailed. Even though this demo is only 80% completed it still looks fantastic. It looks deliciously more organic. There's a lot more enemies, more plants, and even crop circles burned into the grass by the ships.

Japanese people seemed to be entertained by this game, but I'm curious what the rest of the world will think. At E3 it was easy to get on the machine and play, but here at Spaceworld there was at least a 45 minute wait. Pikmin is one of my most desired games for GameCube. From what little I've gotten to play so far, and what I've seen in screen shots and movies, I'm hungry for the final game. So far it's looking like another Miyamoto masterpiece.

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GC

Game Profile

Pikmin Box Art

Genre Strategy
Developer Nintendo
Players1

Worldwide Releases

na: Pikmin
Release Dec 02, 2001
PublisherNintendo
RatingEveryone
jpn: Pikmin
Release Oct 26, 2001
PublisherNintendo
RatingAll Ages
eu: Pikmin
Release Jun 14, 2002
PublisherNintendo
Rating3+

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