Pikmin was always a bit of an outlier in the Nintendo gaming universe. Not as mainstream as Mario, far quirkier than Zelda, Pikmin was a game for the uber-strategy nerds, the die-hard fans.
With that in mind, this is a new type of Pikmin game entirely: an accessible one. A soft reboot, if you will, that ditches most of the plot from games two and three in favour of a new storyline, and new hero.
Who is this hero? Well, you. The player is the newest member of the Rescue Corps, a sort of semi-incompetent astronaut RNLI, who sets out on a mission to rescue the team in charge of rescuing Captain Olimar (they’ve crash-landed on a hostile planet).
Over the course of the game, you must traverse a series of hostile environments to retrieve the members of the Rescue Corps from wherever they’ve become stuck, with the eventual aim of locating Olimar — and yes, he is that one from Pikmin 2.
In doing so, you will gradually unlock more skills and abilities that will help you retrieve more of that sweet shiny loot (which, in turn, will help fix the Rescue Corps’ battered airship). And of course, the friendly local Pikmin are always ready and willing to help out.
One thing that’s evident from the start of this soft reboot is how much Nintendo has toned down the complexity of Pikmin’s controls. Whereas beforehand, controlling your little flower-headed minions was a rather complicated affair, involving multiple controls, line of sight, and straight lines, now it’s fairly easy.
You can order them to charge and attack enemies, whistle them back to your side, or direct them to transport loot to your spaceship. As somebody who’s not played all that much Pikmin in the past, it was refreshingly simple and should work as an excellent jumping-on point for new fans.
Which brings us to the Pikmin themselves. There are the brawny red ones; the fragile ice ones (capable of freezing water, or enemies); the zappy yellow ones (which can jump high and dig remarkably well); brawny purple ones, and glowing night-time ones; and of course, there are endless combinations of ways to use them. Fighting a tough foe? Freeze them with the blue Pikmin, then order your red ones to charge. A shiny bit of loot stuck on high? Order your yellow pals to jump up and carry it down.
Pikmin aside, my favourite addition to the franchise has to be Oatchi. This bug-eyed, quasi-canine companion will be your best friend over the course of the game — permanently glued to your side, it can barrel through obstacles, chomp through enemies, and even carry Pikmin around like an adorable hop-on, hop-off bus.
The majority of your upskilling is done via Oatchi — improving his attack, health, or charge — via some skill trees that are rudimentary at best. But that’s fine, because Pikmin 4 isn’t really about upskilling, it’s about exploring.
Over the course of the game, players will explore a series of Honey I Shrunk the Kids-style locations that have definitely been toned down from the abstract wackiness of previous game instalments. There’s the back garden (whimsically called the Sun-Speckled Terrace), a living room (a first for the Pikmin franchise), the garden proper — a treasure trove of things waiting to be discovered and come back to in the hopes of unlocking new areas.
I could have spent hours grinding these areas to discover every last bit of loot, but Pikmin 4 also has some fun mini-quests to get stuck into. Now, you have subterranean mini-levels with Zelda-esque puzzles that range from simple to fiendish to solve — and, more excitingly, Dandori battles, where you can go head to head in co-op or against mini-bosses to collect the most resources within a given time limit.
This is all good fun, but the best thing about Pikmin is how versatile it all is. Kids could definitely play it but, at the same time, it’s complicated enough to keep adults engaged, too.
Plus, the sheer cuteness of both the Pikmin and Oatchi cannot be denied. Grab your spade: there’s gardening to do.
