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Pikmin is the name of a video game series developed by Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto, and released exclusively for the Nintendo GameCube platform. The series features two video games; Pikmin and Pikmin 2. The first video game starred Captain Olimar solely, while the second game also incorporated Louie, a co-worker who can be used in conjunction with Captain Olimar in order to command two groups of Pikmin at once. The names "Olimar" and "Louie" are based on Mario and Luigi, which are also developed by Shigeru Miyamoto. The name "Olimar" (オリマー) is a partial anagram of "Mario" (マリオ) in both the English and Japanese language. Likewise, "Louie" is derived from "Luigi". In some translated versions of Pikmin, the name is translated into the equivalent of "Louie" in that language - for example, in the Spanish translation of Pikmin 2, he is called "Luís".

According to an interview with Shigeru Miyamoto, the original plans for Pikmin were to be a game where one could watch the development of two human beings. That game's working title was "Adam and Eve". Eventually, this idea was found to be far too uninteractive and thus Pikmin were introduced as well as the other concepts found in the game, and most of the original plans were scrapped.

Game play

The games feature small, multi-colored creatures known as Pikmin. Pikmin are tiny, brightly-colored and intelligent creatures. A stalk protrudes from their head, topped by a symbol of rank: a leaf, bud, or a flower. The hero of the games, Captain Olimar, with his partner in the second game, Louie, commands the Pikmin in battle against the larger creatures of the planet. The advantage of Pikmin comes in numbers, as a single Pikmin can easily be defeated by a larger foe.

Pikmin grow, like plants, from sprouts in the ground. Before a Pikmin can grow, a seed must be first planted. Seeds usually come from the insertion of objects called pellets, into a Pikmin storage device known as an Onion. It can store an unlimited amount of Pikmin. The pellets are acquired when an enemy is successfully defeated, or obtained from flowers known as Pellet Posies. When an enemy dies, it releases the pellets which can then be carried back to the Onion by a group of Pikmin The amount of Pikmin needed to carry the pellet back depends on the size of the pellet, and this number appears on the pellet itself. The Onion then releases Pikmin seeds into the ground below, which then take about 10 seconds to mature into full-fledged Pikmin that can be picked from the ground by Captain Olimar. The carcasses of enemies can also be picked up and brought to the Onion to be turned into seeds. At night, Pikmin retreat into the Onions for safety;if they are left out at night, they are devoured by nocturnal predators.

The games take place on a planet that is not given a name, but is presumably Earth. Garbage and other human waste is strewn throughout the areas in the games, and in Pikmin 2 many of these objects are brand name products (such as Duracell batteries and old 7-Up bottlecaps) to heighten the connection. The landscapes are said to be inspired by gardens belonging to the developer of the games, Shigeru Miyamoto. Further evidence is found in the first Pikmin game in one of Olimar's Journal Entries, stating "the creatures of this planet breath a deadly poison: oxygen". Also in Pikmin 2 there are two items that resemble the north and south hemispheres of the globe. The ship states that "it resembles the surface of this planet."

Captain Olimar and Louie are both from the fictional planet Hocotate, which is named after the address of Nintendo’s Japan headquarters. They also both work for a company called The Hocotate Freight Company, which, in the second game, is in a state of bankruptcy, which is the reason Olimar and Louie are forced to return to the Pikmin planet, as they must collect objects to sell and restore their employer's financial well-being. At the end of Pikmin, continents that look like North America and Africa can be seen. At the end of Pikmin 2 when Olimar and Louie leave, it seems that Australia, Indonesia, Asia, and Japan are visible, although it is still unclear whether or not the Pikmin world is Earth.

Whether or not the alien planet Olimar initially landed on is actually Earth, it has been confirmed that the Pikmin series characters are indeed on a very tiny scale; for example, Captain Olimar is only about the size of a quarter (or in Japan, a 100 yen piece), and the Pikmin themselves are even smaller, roughly the size of a dime.

Characters

The main character of the series is Captain Olimar, an employee of Hocotate Freight Company, that flies a ship known as the Dolphin. He has a wife, son, and daughter that he communicates with often. Pikmin 2 introduces Louie, a co-worker of Olimar, who places the Hocotate Freight Company in debt after losing a shipment of carrots, and the President of Hocotate Freight, a large man that runs the company and keeps debt collectors away. The president is forced to sell the Dolphin, and it is replaced by a unnamed ship that is able to speak and value the treasure on the planet.

After becoming stranded on the "Distant Planet" in the first game, Olimar becomes acquainted with the species of plant-like beings that he names "Pikmin" because they resemble the "Pikpik" brand of carrots on his homeworld. They are small, brightly colored creatures who stand only an inch tall. They follow any command from attacking and defending their masters to retrieving large artifacts. Pikmin are generally very weak, unless they are used in teams, as the Pikmin are excellent at working together. Pikmin speak only strange, foreign squeak noises to each other. Simple commands can, however, be communicated to them by the use of a whistle or any other device capable of producing high-pitched noises.

Pikmin come in several colors, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. In the original Pikmin, there are three types of Pikmin; red Pikmin, who are better in combat and can withstand extreme heat; yellow Pikmin, who can be thrown higher and can carry bomb-rocks; and blue Pikmin, which have gills and can walk in water without drowning. However, in the second game, yellow Pikmin can no longer throw bomb-rocks, as the bomb-rocks are much larger now, and can instead withstand electricity. In the second game, two new species of Pikmin were introduced. The first are white Pikmin, who, when ingested by enemies, deliver a fatal poison to the enemy. Additionally, the white Pikmin are immune to poison, can locate buried treasure with their special eyes, and can run faster than other Pikmin. The second species introduced are the purple Pikmin, who move slower than normal Pikmin, but have ten times the strength and weight of other Pikmin, giving them the ability to pick up much heavier objects and attack and destroy obstacles and other enemies with fewer numbers.

Settings

Distant Planet

In the first Pikmin game, the Pikmin homeworld is presumed to be the planet Earth, and Pikmin 2 affirms this assumption; the treasures salvaged by the Pikmin through the course of the game include batteries, dentures, doll-heads and even old Nintendo console components. Familiar plants like weeds, clovers and dandelions are also observed during the course of the game. Also, when leaving the planet, the player can see the outlines of North America and Africa. Two treasures look like a half-globe of Earth, with seven continents the shape of Earth's continents. In Pikmin 2, each of the four playable areas is experiencing a different season, corresponding to the four seasons on Earth and when leaving the planet there are landmasses that match the outlines of the continents of Asia and Australasia. When the timeline of the series is actually set is unknown, though the planet appears to be set in the present day.

Hocotate

Hocotate is the home world of Olimar, Louie, and the other characters. Hocotate is essentially a world whose society and biology mirrors that of present-day Earth, albeit on a very small level. For example, animals, such as dogs and birds, plants, such as onions and carrots, and objects, such as streetlights and bridges, all exist, except are proportional to the quarter-sized humanoid inhabitants. Other charted planets exist in this society, as Olimar travels to them. While in Pikmin this background is only described by Olimar, Pikmin 2 shows Hocotate and other planets in cut-scenes. Hocotate is portrayed as a desert-like, rocky planet with two perpendicular planetary rings.

The Hocotate Freight Company is an interstellar transportation company, headquartered on Hocotate. Both Captain Olimar and Louie are employed by the Hocotate Freight Company. At the beginning of Pikmin 2, the company was over 10,000 "Pokos" (Hocotate's currency) in debt, and thus sent Captain Olimar and Louie to retrieve artifacts to sell from the distant planet in an attempt to get the company out of bankruptcy.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

It was revealed on Wednesday, January 9th 2008 that Pikmin and Olimar would be a new playable character for the latest entry in the popular Super Smash Bros. series, Super Smash Bros. Brawl. The player predominantly controls Olimar, although he's much weaker without having a readily available handful of Pikmin nearby, having a very limited number of moves without them. Olimar may have a total of six Pikmin with him at a time, and their color specifies what strengths and actions they are capable of. They can be thrown at an opponent to latch on and slowly increase their damage, or they can be used as a chain specifically useful to grab a ledge when falling. A Bulborb trophy can also be spotted in the Coin Launcher update.

The Pikmin stage for the game is named "Distant Planet" (Announced Tuesday, January 15th), which is where the Pikmin games takes place. The official site seems to state that they are 'calling it' Distant planet 'for now'. However, a look into the games coding reveals that the stage's filename is 'earth', proving that the series takes place on Earth. Pikmin onions and player-eating Bulborbs make an appearance in this level as well. One song for this stage is the World Map theme, arranged by Yasunori Mitsuda of Chrono and Xenogears/Xenosaga fame and composed by Hajime Wakai.

Pikmin 3

Nintendo has not said anything about a new Pikmin game for the Wii, however Shigeru Miyamoto has hinted about the possibilities of one in a recent IGN interview.

External links

• Pikmin.com

References

1. Sakurai, Masahiro (January 9th, 2008). "Pikmin & Olimar". Nintendo. Retrieved 2008-01-09. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
2. Sakurai, Masahiro (December 27th, 2007). "Coin Launcher". Nintendo. Retrieved 2008-01-15. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
3. Sakurai, Masahiro (January 15th, 2008). "Distant Planet". Nintendo. Retrieved 2008-01-15. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
4. Sakurai, Masahiro (January 9th, 2008). "Pikmin: World Map". Nintendo. Retrieved 2008-01-09. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
5. IGN interview with Miyamoto

• Pikmin
• Video game franchises