The Gamecube classic finds new life (and controls) in this updated Wii re-release of an underappreciated gem.

Game Summary

Popzara Rating

For owners of the Gamecube version, this buy would only be a curiosity or collector’s whim. Mainly they would ask, “How do the Wii controls work on this?” For others who missed it the first time around, it’s a brand new adventure free from the confinements of the overlooked Gamecube. Its asking price at $30 ($29.99) may be a little steep for a 7 ½ year old game with no bonus features but the game was exceptional the first time around and it needs the spotlight of the Wii to give the title commercial (not just critical) justice. Might not be everyone’s cup of coffee but this remake is a satisfying sip for those who take time to enjoy the aroma. Release Date: March 9, 2009 ESRB Rating: E Publisher: Nintendo

Written by John Lucas

In 2001, a novel new game named Pikmin was released to the public near the beginning of the Nintendo Gamecube era. From the fertile imagination of the legendary Shigeru Miyamoto, the endearing adventure redefined what the real-time strategy genre stood for. The flowery Pikmin and the beautiful natural environments they trek through were inspired by Miyamoto working in his personal garden. It was yet another example of Miyamoto’s real life experiences coming to life on the videogame screen much like his childhood explorations in The Legend of Zelda, his love of the family dog in Nintendogs, his gym excursions in Wii Fit. With the elements of the once-planned Super Mario 128 put into the gameplay of Pikmin, yet another new Nintendo franchise was born for their formidable library.

However, the Gamecube ended up the odd man out on the marketplace during the 6th generation of videogame consoles and not as many people got to experience Nintendo’s version of real-time strategy. This is where the Wii comes in! The New Play Control! series represents what I call ‘The Revenge of the Gamecube’ bringing back choice Gamecube titles for a broader audience. For May Flowers let’s explore the flora of New Play Control! Pikmin for Wii.

You have just 30 days to get stranded astronaut/space trucker Captain Olimar (check him out in Super Smash Bros. Brawl!) back to his home planet of Hocotate using the 3 varieties of the plant/animal Pikmin species that befriended him to repair the Dolphin, his shattered spaceship, part by part. Each day shows a sun meter at the top of the screen showing the passing of time from break of dawn (6 A.M.) to sunset (6 P.M.). Just 12 hours a day for 30 days to trek through the tricky terrain to find each scattered part. Why? Because when the sun sets the freaks come out at night, the freaks come out at night! And a lesson on the level of The Discovery Channel is taught as nature shows the beasts eating any Pikmin who are not safe and sound in their aerial-able Onion pods. These mysterious Onions have the power to spread the Pikmin seed in the grounds below when fed with nutritiously numbered pellets (available at your nearest flower or patch of random dirt). Captain Olimar must manage his Pikmin friends (slaves?) balancing recovery of ship parts with amassing manpower (Pikmin power) in order to get his ship restored as quickly as possible before time is up. Oxygen supplies don’t last forever.

The main difference between the original Gamecube version of Pikmin and its Wii version is that the Wii one seeks to make the Pikmin experience easier to access. It uses the "Broken Plank" style of control which allows you to sit back on the couch and relax with independently placed hands instead of being hunched over at attention with pre-Wii controls. This style with the Wiimote’s pointer abilities makes it easier to select, gather, and direct your Pikmin with the alert of Olimar’s whistle (this was done through the control stick before). No more struggling to get the cursor over to the other side of the screen only to mistakenly point out the wrong Pikmin. It makes for a faster more productive day when the Pikmin go to work.

Though not a minus in my book, some people lamented that the 30 day limit was too constricting when the original on Gamecube came out. “Just a little more time and I would’ve broken through that wall o’ sticks! GRAAGGH!” You could go through the whole 30 days without completing your ship and have to start the adventure all over from the beginning to get it right. In the Wii edition, you now have the option to cycle through and replay previously played days in order to get your strategies just right (wherever you replay from then becomes newest day). Never again will you have to regret what you did the day before. If only real life was like that.

Other than that, a graphical touchup, and the now white opening Nintendo logo, New Play Control! Pikmin is the same as before. You still get sentimentally attached to your little Pikmin fellows getting vengeance-level mad when they get eaten up by the beasts and creatures. You worry yourself sick when you can’t find that one Pikmin who got separated from the group. You mourn when they drown in lakes and streams, get burnt up in fires, or get blown up in bomb blasts. The deceptively and seductively serene surroundings still lure you into a false sense of security while the giant animals (to Olimar and the Pikmin anyway) rest and roam the countryside as the brief calendar pages by. You still curse at the screen when you come THIS CLOSE to finishing a complicated task only being forced to quit for another day because of the coming nightfall.

For owners of the Gamecube version, this buy would only be a curiosity or collector’s whim. Mainly they would ask, “How do the Wii controls work on this?” For others who missed it the first time around, it’s a brand new adventure free from the confinements of the overlooked Gamecube. Its asking price at $30 ($29.99) may be a little steep for a 7 ½ year old game with no bonus features but the game was exceptional the first time around and it needs the spotlight of the Wii to give the title commercial (not just critical) justice. Might not be everyone’s cup of coffee but this remake is a satisfying sip for those who take time to enjoy the aroma.