Pikmin (universe)

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The Pikmin universe (ピクミン, pikumin) refers to the Super Smash Bros. series' collection of characters, stages, and other properties that hail from the popular Nintendo series of colorful real-time strategy games, Pikmin. The series was personally developed by Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto and is one of the GameCube's notable standout franchises. The series, which contributed minor content in Super Smash Bros. Melee, was established as a major franchise in Super Smash Bros. Brawl with the inclusion of its main characters, Captain Olimar and the Pikmin, as a playable character entity (registered as "Pikmin & Olimar").

Franchise description

When Nintendo and Shigeru Miyamoto were in the testing stages of the Nintendo GameCube, one of their aims was to project the system's processing power as part of the system's appeal, which was how the Space World tech demo depicting 128 simultaneous separate Marios (titled "Super Mario 128") came to be. They wanted to have a physical game that would achieve this aim, so Miyamoto brought together the development teams for Yoshi's Story and 1080 Snowboarding to start developing a game whose working title was Adam & Eve. The original plans for this title was to have the player start out with two characters resembling spheres with eyes and noses, and the player essentially plays God as he watches and influences the characters' development and increasing numbers. But this was found to have a general lack of actual gameplay, so the game moved in a completely different thematic and gameplay direction to eventually become the familiar Pikmin characters and setup (the name "Pikmin", incidentally, came from the name of Miyamoto's sheepdog, Pikku).

Pikmin was released in North America in December 2001 early in the GameCube's lifespan, right before the release of Super Smash Bros. Melee, and it garnered favorable reviews for being a completely fresh new game to accompany a system's recent launch. It got accolades for its charming characters and story, effective graphics and audio, and gameplay comprising a unique blend of strategy and action, though it was far from perfect; It is very short, and it is a timed game which the player must complete in 30 in-game "days". Issues were also found with aspects of the control scheme which made some parts slow and contributed to accidental harm and death. These issues were fully addressed in the hit sequel Pikmin 2 for GameCube in 2004, where there was no overall timer to limit a far larger game experience with expanded depth, as well as a functional multiplayer mode. The game scored near-universally strong reviews and remains one of the GameCube's standout titles.

The general gameplay behind both current games in the series is a blend of light strategy and light action in which the player plays as a tiny astronaut named Captain Olimar (as well as his partner Louie in the second game) who ends up on an Earth-like planet and befriends swarms of even smaller ant-like plant creatures called Pikmin. Both games task the player to grow platoons of Pikmin and have them follow Olimar around each environment, completing tasks and solving puzzles in order to bring back to your "home base" game-critical objects such as pieces to your rocket, and wild animals such as the Bulborbs will attack and try to eat the Pikmin if they are disturbed. Strategy manifests in deciding how many of which colors and ranks of Pikmin should comprise Olimar's army, because each Pikmin individual has special traits based on its body color, and different Pikmin types in your army will help you achieve different goals and solve different puzzles in each stage. An enemy creature is generally defeated by Olimar throwing Pikmin at it so that they will automatically attack it to lower its health meter to zero, with boss monsters requiring more elaborate methods of attacks such as setting off bombs, and once the enemy is defeated the Pikmin can carry its body back to base and "cash it in" for new seeds to sprout new Pikmin and replenish your forces.

The story of the two games is centered on Captain Olimar, one of a sentient race who is extremely small; Olimar is ordinarily the size of a quarter, and the Pikmin each are the size of a dime. Olimar's race (Hocotatians) breathes methane and hails from a proportionally small desert-like planet named Hocotate. In the first Pikmin, Olimar is flying his little spaceship (named the Dolphin, which was an old code name for the Nintendo GameCube) through space when a comet causes him to crash-land in a forested section of real-world Earth (as fans argue the planet is). The ship badly damaged, Olimar befriends the native Pikmin and has only thirty days to have them help him put his 30 space ship pieces back together before his life support system runs out. (The planet's oxygen is toxic for Hocotatians.) Eventually Olimar is successful in repairing his rocket and returns home. In Pikmin 2, the Hocotate Freight Company which Olimar works at is in serious debt, and it is up to Olimar and his partner Louie to return to Earth and collect all sorts of junk littered around the forest that would sell well back home to get the company out of debt. Louie himself becomes an aspect of the main story, however, when he is left on Earth as Olimar returns to Hocotate with the valuables, and Olimar and a third character, the President of Hocotate Freight, must go back to Earth to find him along with the remaining treasure.

Pikmin is a more "modern" Nintendo franchise in the same vein as Animal Crossing. Since both Pikmin games thus far have been very successful (partially due to Pikmin cameoing in Super Smash Bros. Melee), the whimsical series has a strong fanbase and was one of the franchises many fans hoped to appear in a primary role in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. The Pikmin & Olimar are now a playable character in the game. Also indicative of the series' popularity is the formation of a Japanese band named Strawberry Flower, who have composed singles for Pikmin commercials (one of the singles, "Ai No Uta", meaning "song of love", was an unexpected hit that sold more than the first Pikmin game itself), and each band member represents one of the five colors of Pikmin. While there hasn't been any official confirmation of a third Pikmin game in development since Pikmin 2's 2004 release, a new game has been confirmed. No real information about the game has been released yet, however.

In Super Smash Bros. Melee

Pikmin, having been released right before Melee, cameos as a pair of collectible trophies, but is not a full-fledged universe. However, in fact, the original Pikmin is the only title in existence that Melee actually features connectivity with; the Captain Olimar trophy is acquired if you start up your Melee game while the memory card being used has a Pikmin save on it.

Trophies

• Captain Olimar
• Pikmin

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Some content of the Pikmin series from Brawl include: one playable character, a stage, some music, and a decent amount of trophies.

Character

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• Olimar: The protoganist of the Pikmin series, Captain Olimar has been greatly graphically enhanced, like the other characters of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. However, he's quite weak on his own -- without Pikmin, he can't even do a Smash Attack. All his special moves involve the Pikmin that he plucks from the ground. There are five different types: Red (which have high attack power, burning properties in their attacks), and immunity to all fire-based attacks), Yellow (with a slightly larger range of attack, making it easier to hit opponents with, travel in slight arcs when thrown, and have electrical properties in their attacks), Blue (which are stronger when thrown and slightly more durable than average, and the only Pikmin type that can enter water without dying), Purple (which are heavy and do not fly far, slow, have high attack power, and slam into opponents instead of latching on to them), and White (which are light and quick, as well as poisonous to opponents when latched on). He can have up to six different Pikmin at once. He can use them to attack and latch on to opponents, draining their health, use them as a life-saving Tether Recovery, and call them back if separated. He can also alter their order by whistling. Whichever Pikmin is following him first is the one he will use first in combat.

Stages

• 
  Distant Planet: Based off The Forest of Hope and The Awakening Wood from Pikmin and Pikmin 2 respectively. Technically, all the fighters will be under an inch tall when they are fighting on this stage. The stage has a slope on the left hand side, three leaves in the center which act as platforms, and another larger platform beneath the leaves, which is bouncy. A gigantic Bulborb appears at the right hand side of the stage, serving as both a platform and stage hazard. It occasionally rains, and the slope on the left hand side becomes a hazard as water gushes down it. Characters can also pick up pellets that fall from Pellet Posies and throw them into Onions that appear on the stage to get items.

Music

• Main Theme (Pikmin) - Taken directly from the original Pikmin, it is the title screen music from said game. It is used on the Distant Planet stage.
• World Map (Pikmin 2) - A completely redone orchestrated version of the map screen from Pikmin 2. It is the theme of the Distant Planet stage.
• Stage Clear/Title (Pikmin) - A medley of both the End of Day music from Pikmin, as well as a remix of the title screen theme. It is used on the Distant Planet stage. This song is also played during Olimar's Classic Mode credits.
• Forest of Hope - Taken directly from the original Pikmin, this was the background music to the Forest of Hope, the first area that Olimar could explore. It is used on the Distant Planet stage.
• Ai no Uta - A promotional image song performed by the Japanese band Strawberry Flower that was used in commercials for the original game. It is used on the Distant Planet stage.
• Ai no Uta (French version) - A French version of the previously mentioned image song. It is used on the Distant Planet stage.
• Tane no Uta - Similar to Ai no Uta, this was an image song performed by the Japanese band Strawberry Flower that was used in commercials for the second title, Pikmin 2. It is used on the Distant Planet stage.
• Environmental Noises - Not an actual song, per se, but basic environmental noises giving the impression of being in a vast wilderness. It is used on the Distant Planet stage.
• Olimar's victory theme - Derived from the Pikmin main theme.

Trophy

• Captain Olimar
• End of Day
• Red Pikmin
• Yellow Pikmin
• Blue Pikmin
• Purple Pikmin
• White Pikmin
• Louie
• The President
• Hocotate Ship
• Onions
• Creeping Chrysanthemum
• Red Bulborb
• Empress Bulblax
• Fiery Blowhog
• Careening Dirigibug
• Burrowing Snagret
• Iridescent Flint Beetle
• Wollywog
• Swooping Snitchbug
• Pellets

Stickers

• Blue Pellet
• Blue Pikmin
• Bulborb
• Crimson Candypop Bud
• Louie
• Olimar & Louie's Ship
• Olimar's Daughter
• Onion
• Reclining Red Pikmin
• Red Pikmin
• Red Pellet
• The President
• Yellow Pellet
• Yellow Pikmin

External Links

Pikipedia, a Pikmin Wiki.