If you’re like me (and I hope for your sake you aren’t), you played through Pikmin 3 Deluxe and/or Pikmin 4 and found yourself hooked on the Pikmin formula. You, like myself, may have subsequently found yourself curious about the humble series roots. Fortunately for me, and possibly you depending on how you related to those prior two statements, Nintendo has decided to bundle and rerelease the series’ first two games with Pikmin 1+2 on the Switch, and it’s with this collection that I began my playthrough of Pikmin 1.
A Sight For Sore Eyes?
To begin, it needs to be said that Pikmin 1+2 is a “simple port job” in the truest sense of the term. There aren’t any special features, gameplay updates, or significant graphical improvements other than a basic HD treatment. The lack of any additional upgrades to these games is disappointing to say the least, and it would have been awesome to get something comparable to February 2023’s Metroid Prime Remaster, but alas we did not, so players will have to work with the retro, GameCube-era tools they’re given.
All of that said, for a 22 year old game, Pikmin 1 is still pleasing to the eye, and would have been downright mind-blowing in 2001. The way the game visually captures the organic warmth of the natural environment while managing to make the player feel alone and insect-esque with its camera perspective is an experience to be had. It confirms to me that, ever since their first entry, the visual team behind the Pikmin franchise has been laser-focused on evoking a sense of scope and wonder through their artistic choices and environmental settings, and Pikmin 1 proves that that laser-focus yielded a success right from the jump.
Starting with the Basics
Pikmin 1 keeps it relatively simple in the gameplay department, especially when compared to the series’ later entries, by including only three Pikmin types: the fireproof, battle-hardened red Pikmin, the bomb rock-carrying, far-flinging yellow Pikmin, and the amphibious, versatile blue Pikmin. Keeping with the stripped-back gameplay approach, there are no items in Pikmin 1, other than the aforementioned bomb rocks, and no commanders other than our boy, Captain Olimar.
Going into the game, I was curious as to how this entry would keep the gameplay loop interesting given the relatively limited set of tools, but I was surprised to see just how well Pikmin 1 managed to craft it’s environmental puzzles and resource-management challenges in a manner that took full advantage of the limited varieties of Pikmin. These puzzles never felt less-than or underdeveloped but rather intricately placed and designed with the intent to stretch the given Pikmin options to their creative limits. In a way, it was refreshing to experience a Pikmin game without these more complex additions, and I found that it serves to prove how reliably enjoyable the core Pikmin real-time-strategy formula is, even when shed of the additional gameplay features that would arrive with later games in the series.
It’s fair to point out that this minimalist version of the Pikmin gameplay formula naturally lends itself better to a shorter experience, and fortunately that’s exactly what you’re going to get here. Pikmin 1 took me right at ten hours to beat, and I would have likely completed it in seven or eight if I’d prioritized my time more efficiently (I like to wander around in Pikmin games, and I refuse to apologize for it). In a day-and-age when games seem to treat total playtime like a scoreboard and boast about how long it will take the player to reach the ending credits, being able to start and finish a game in a few days is incredibly refreshing!
Pikmin 1 is made better by having such a short runtime. Though the ideas, game-feel, and puzzles presented with this title are all incredibly fun, I’m not sure the relatively limited options and tools would be able to sustain that same level of fun consistently across a longer playtime, one more similar to what is seen in the series’ later entries.
But like I said before, a ten hour total playtime in 2023? SIGN ME UP!
More Than a Feeling
The gameplay in Pikmin 1 is definitely not as polished as it would eventually become later in the series, and this has to be my greatest gripe with the game overall. In general, controlling, leading, aiming, and especially in my experience, switching between different Pikmin types, are all significantly more difficult and less intuitive than in newer Pikmin entries. I can’t begin to count the number of times I had to retrace my steps and find missing Pikmin because they had simply fallen behind and stopped following Olimar or the amount of times I had to retreat from an intense battle just to switch Pikmin types before charging back in. In addition to this, Pikmin generally just seem to get lost in or stuck behind environmental obstacles extremely often, and it’s painfully made obvious that the programming behind their actions wasn’t nearly as advanced as it would later go on to be. There were several times when I would end a day of exploration just to discover that I had left 10+ Pikmin unaccounted for simply because they were unable to follow Olimar efficiently.
Because of this, I found Pikmin 1 to be generally much harder than Pikmin 3 Deluxe or Pikmin 4. Let it be stated that difficulty isn’t a bad thing at all, but in this instance, when it’s due to less-than-optimal controls and frustratingly limited AI, it is. This game’s hardest moments come in its combat sequences, and I found that the difficulty level comes not from the enemies themselves, but rather from the obtuse controls and the inability to effectively get the Pikmin to do what I’ve directed them to do. Combine that with a clunky and unintuitive Pikmin-type switching system, and you’re in for several less-than-fun combat encounters. In fact, the final boss took me several tries to beat, and most of those failed attempts felt as though they weren’t my fault but rather the result of an unfortunate AI dice roll.
This where I’m forced to point out that some of this is to be expected, of course. This game is over 20 years old and was the first of its kind, but the aforementioned control and AI issues are still pain-points worth mentioning, especially for newer players that are just now diving into Pikmin 1+2. These pain-points were a big frustration for me but didn’t significantly hinder my enjoyment of the gameplay, and I saw these issues merely as relics of game development past. However, I could imagine this game’s shortcomings to be a sizeable nuisance to other players, even to a point where they may not wish to continue their playthrough, which I would consider a completely valid decision.
But Did You Have Fun?
Ok, so I’ve lodged my complaints about Pikmin 1 and stated how those complaints could potentially be significant enough for some players to put the game down. That begs the question, though: Why didn’t I put the game down? Was it due to its relatively short duration? Was it because I was able to justify its flaws given the game’s age? Was it down to the simple fact that I have mild to moderate Obsessive Compulsive Disorder?
No. None of those are correct. I kept playing the game because I was having an absolute blast with it.
Despite its flaws and occasional obstinance, Pikmin 1 establishes so well the core RTS gameplay that the series would only go on to refine. There’s something about the gentle time crunch provided by the “daylight” system, the satisfaction of managing to return a missing spaceship part (the game’s progression collectable) to my base, and even the sacrifice of innumerable Pikmin in order to defeat a difficult boss, that just seems to magnetically lock-step with my brain. This game is about using resources to strategize how to get things done and check to-do items off of lists, and I know that both inside and outside of gaming, “getting things done” is a dopamine wellspring that never seems to run dry for me.
The Verdict
I really enjoyed the opportunity to go back to Pikmin 1 and uncover the roots of this underrated series, and I walked away with my belief further cemented that Pikmin may be Nintendo’s most consistently fun franchise. Charm, adventure, and wonder were all evoked in spades during my time with this game, and its abundantly clear that the Pikmin team within Nintendo struck a gold nugget when designing their first entry, and they’ve only continued to refine and polish it since through further sequels. This is definitely NOT the place to start if you’re looking to get into the Pikmin series: the controls can be frustrating and the Pikmin AI isn’t particularly well tuned, and as a result it can be a less-than-refined experience on the whole, but if you’ve played one of the newer titles and are curious to explore the origin of the series, then I would highly recommend giving this thing a go!