Pikmin (Series)

Pikmin is a series of real-time strategy and puzzle video games created by Miyamoto and owned by Nintendo, built around directing swarms of small plantlike creatures called Pikmin to carry objects, overcome obstacles, and fight the fauna of a mysterious planet.¹³¹⁴ The creatures are described as a mysterious mix of plant and animal, about the size of a cherry tomato, loyal, clever, and ready to follow the player’s commands.¹² Players can lead up to 100 Pikmin at once, choosing the type suited to a given task.¹² The series consists of four main games alongside re-releases, spin-offs, and other media.¹⁴¹⁶

Origins and creator

The series was created by Miyamoto, the designer also responsible for the Mario and The Legend of Zelda franchises.¹³²⁴ A development team under his instruction began work on the game at roughly the same period as a large Mario sequel project.²⁴ Popular accounts hold that the concept was inspired by the flowers in Miyamoto’s own garden.²³

Gameplay

Play centers on growing and directing Pikmin, which come in colored types with distinct abilities.¹² Red Pikmin withstand heat and fire and are the strongest attackers; Blue Pikmin are water-safe and can attack underwater; and Yellow Pikmin are easy to throw high, are unharmed by electricity, and are excellent diggers.¹²⁷ Later types expanded the roster: Rock Pikmin smash through obstacles and resist being crushed, Winged Pikmin fly and carry items over hazards, White Pikmin are small, nimble, and poisonous, and Purple Pikmin are big and strong, suited to carrying heavy objects.¹²⁶ Pikmin 4 introduced Ice Pikmin, which freeze enemies and the environment.⁷

Pikmin are grown from seeds and evolve as they mature: an unpicked sprout becomes a bud and then a flower, and more evolved Pikmin move faster.¹² The player throws them at enemies and obstacles, calls them back, and directs where they go.¹² Their labors include gathering food, breaking down walls, digging, moving obstacles, and building bridges, while contending with predators and a day-based time limit.¹⁰⁹ The player harvests strange, gigantic fruit both for juice to live on and for seeds to carry back to a starving homeworld.¹⁰ Squads can be divided among multiple explorers so that one group builds a bridge while another gathers fruit or attacks a creature, with each squad tracked on the Wii U GamePad.¹⁰

Main games and spin-offs

The first game, Pikmin, was released in 2001, followed by Pikmin 2 in 2004, Pikmin 3 in 2013, and Pikmin 4 in 2023.¹⁴ Pikmin 3 was later reissued as Pikmin 3 Deluxe in 2020 for the Nintendo Switch, adding a crop of new content and new ways to play together.⁸¹⁴ The Deluxe edition offered a free demo whose progress carried over to the full game and, on defeating its boss, unlocked an Ultra-Spicy difficulty and five additional Mission Mode stages.⁸ In 2023 the original two games were re-released on Switch as Pikmin 1 and Pikmin 2, individually and in a Pikmin 1+2 bundle.¹⁵¹⁴ In Pikmin 2, the player swaps between the returning Olimar and a new character, Louie, to help pay off an intergalactic debt.¹⁵

Pikmin 3 follows three explorers—Alph, Brittany, and Charlie—who crash-land on the planet PNF-404 while searching for food to save their depleted home planet, Koppai, and become separated after the crash of their ship, the S.S. Drake.⁹ Alph is a mechanical wiz whose grandfather designed the S.S. Drake, Brittany is an expert on plant life and the crew’s most enthusiastic eater, and Charlie is its most seasoned member.⁹ The game’s story revives Olimar, the original Pikmin protagonist, whose Hocotatian crew appears in ten hidden video logs; collecting all ten yields a ten-digit code that unlocks secret Expedition Logs, a feature Miyamoto detailed on the Wii U’s Miiverse network.⁴ Pikmin 3 also featured a Mission Mode of short, time-based challenges—collecting treasure, battling enemies, or defeating bosses—with global rankings, cooperative play, and downloadable map packs that later players received free through a software update.⁶

Pikmin 4 casts the player as a rescuer searching a mysterious planet for a stranded crew, aided by Oatchi, a dog that can smash obstacles and carry Pikmin throughout the adventure.⁷¹⁵ The game runs under 15 hours for players focused on the main story, and after rescuing Captain Olimar it unlocks substantial post-game content, including the Giant’s Hearth and Primordial Thicket areas, the “Olimar’s Shipwreck Tale” side quest, and the Trial of the Sage Leaf, a set of ten Dandori Challenges.²¹¹ Olimar’s Shipwreck Tale requires the player to collect all thirty ship parts within fifteen days using only Red, Blue, and Yellow Pikmin, and completing the Trial of the Sage Leaf rewards the White and Purple Onions.²¹¹ Across its four main and two bonus stages the game contains 45 castaways, 22 Onions and Flarlics, and more than 200 treasures; it has no New Game Plus mode or difficulty settings.²¹¹ Additional endgame content includes Night Expeditions and replayable Dandori Battles pursued for Platinum medals.¹¹

Pikmin 4 - Official Gameplay Trailer | Nintendo Direct 2023IGN

Spin-offs broadened the franchise beyond the main strategy games. Hey! Pikmin, a side-scrolling title, was released in 2017 for the Nintendo 3DS.¹⁴ Pikmin Bloom, a mobile augmented-reality game developed by Niantic, launched in 2021 and turns walking into gameplay: players grow and pluck Pikmin, plant flowers, and log their steps, collecting over 150 kinds of costumed Decor Pikmin.¹⁸¹⁹¹⁴ In Pikmin Bloom, Pikmin grow friendlier as they are fed nectar and sent on Expeditions, eventually returning with gifts that they wear to become Decor Pikmin, and a daily lifelog records steps and locations that players can turn into a scrapbook.¹⁸ The game is free-to-play with in-app purchases and, on the Google Play store, holds a 4.6 rating across more than 233,000 reviews.¹⁹

Reception and cultural presence

The four main games have been received well by critics, with Metacritic averages between 87 and 90, while Hey! Pikmin drew more mixed reviews with criticism of its simplistic puzzles.¹⁴ Total series sales stood at roughly 9.27 million as of February 2024, with Pikmin 4 the best-selling entry.¹⁴ Pikmin 4 was named best simulation/strategy game of 2023 in Nintendo’s awards promotion.¹

Series elements recur across other Nintendo games, most notably the Super Smash Bros. series, in which Olimar is a playable fighter and two Pikmin-themed stages, Distant Planet and Garden of Hope, appear.¹⁴ Pikmin have also made cameo appearances in games such as WarioWare: Smooth Moves and in the Nintendo DSi and 3DS software-transfer animation, while Pikmin-themed items have appeared in Nintendogs and the Animal Crossing series.¹⁴ Beyond the games, the franchise supports a body of secondary media, including a manga-style comic strip and a run of Pikmin Short Movies.¹⁵