Partridge Senpai's 2021 Beaten Games:Previously:
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020* indicates a repeat
Games 1~5152.
Wai Wai World 2 (Famicom)
53.
Tiny Toon Adventures (Famicom)
54.
King Kong 2: Ikari No Megaton Punch (Famicom)
55.
Yume Pengin Monogatari (Famicom)
56.
Rock Man & Forte (SFC)
57.
Rock Man X2 (Switch)
58.
Rock Man X3 (Switch)
59.
Rock Man X4 (Switch)
60.
Rock Man X5 (Switch)
61.
Rock Man X6 (Switch)
62.
Rock Man X7 (Switch)
63.
Rock Man X8 (Switch)
64.
Mega Man: Powered Up (PSP)
65.
Magical Taruruuto Kun: FANTASTIC WORLD!! (Famicom)
66.
Maken Shao (PS2)
67.
Getsu Fuuma Den (Famicom)
68.
Rock Man D.A.S.H (PSP)
69.
Brave Fencer Musashi (PS1)
70.
Joe & Mac (SFC) *
71.
Atelier Lilie: The Alchemist of Salburg 3 (PS2)
72.
Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link (Famicom)
73.
The Bouncer (PS2)
74.
Rapid Angel (PS1)
75.
Atelier Totori: The Alchemist of Arland 2 (PS3)
76.
Drakengard 3 (PS3)
77.
Alwa's Awakening (Switch)
78.
Hermina & Culus (PS2)
79.
Atelier Meruru: The Alchemist of Arland 3 (PS3)
80.
Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Graffiti (Switch)
81.
Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana (PS2)
82.
Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana 2 (PS2)
83.
Mario Kart 64 (N64)
84.
Super Mario Kart (SFC)
85.
Mario Kart Super Circuit (3DS)
86.
Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time (N64) *
87.
Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (N64) *
88.
Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap (3DS) *
89.
Rock Man X: Command Mission (GC)
90. Pikmin (GC) *
Continuing my fervor for GameCube stuff during GameCube month, I hunted down an old favorite of mine~. It's been only a few years since I beat Pikmin, but that was on Wii. It's been a loooooong ol' time since I've played it on GameCube, and this seemed like as good a time as ever ^w^. Playing the Japanese version of the game, it took me about 6 or 7 hours to get all 30 ship parts in 19 in-game days.
Pikmin is the story of Captain Olimar, a pint-sized astronaut who crash-lands on a mysterious Earth-like planet. However, for Olimar, our precious oxygen is very toxic, and he only has 30 days to repair his ship before he does a big die. Thankfully, he has the help of eager and easily controlled little plant-like aliens: the Pikmin! The game is quite light on both story and premise outside of Olimar's logs, but they more than do the job of what the game needs for its narrative.
The mechanics and design of Pikmin are where it's at. Using Olimar, you can control your red (immune to fire and better fighters), yellow (can carry bombs and be thrown higher), and blue (don't drown in water) Pikmin to help you do everything from fight giant monsters to building bridges to destroying destructible walls. You can have 100 Pikmin out at a time, and you grow more by having them retrieve the bodies of monsters they kill and bringing them back to their little Onion homes. IF they are allowed to grow in the ground longer or find nectar to drink while they're out and about, the leaves on their heads will grow into buds and then flowers, allowing them to move more quickly.
The combat isn't super technical, and mostly just revolves around using red Pikmin (whenever possible, at least) to strategically maneuver around your large and often slow and lumbering opponent to hit their weakpoint until they're dead (while avoiding getting eaten yourself). You have 30 days to collect 30 ship pieces, and while it isn't the biggest time crunch in the world, it can certainly be stressful, so time management is the name of the game. Pikmin is a game more about gameplay and atmosphere than deep technical strategies. It's such a short game, in fact, that it even has scoreboards for how many Pikmin you had die, how long you took to get the ship pieces, how many Pikmin you grew, etc.. This makes it more of a time-attack challenge, in the long-run, and is definitely a game made with multiple playthroughs in mind.
That said, it isn't a game without flaws. Most of the issues I have with the game come from the Pikmins' AI, which can be very capricious at times. Certain objects such as little crust on the ground or grasses will hide nectar within them, and if a Pikmin passes by it at all (whether you directed them to or not), they will stop what they're doing to try and get the nectar. Additionally, Pikmin aren't the best runners, and they can trip fairly frequently, so waiting for your little guys to catch up with you is an annoyance that often eats up a fair bit of time. There are also issues with larger Pikmin swarms not packing together very nicely and leading to cases where they end up getting caught on rocks or falling off of bridges, leading to unintentionally leaving them behind or drowning just because you weren't paying attention enough. Admittedly, a lot of these things are bigger problems when viewed in the context of the sequel which fixes basically all of those problems in one way or another (sometimes AI fixes, sometimes via level design), but they're still annoyances here one way or the other.
The presentation is as excellent as you'd expect from a Nintendo first-party title. The Pikmin, Olimar, and all the creatures are unique and adorable in their own ways, and the world design really gives a great impression of being around an inch tall~. The music is also excellent, and adds to the atmosphere very nicely.
Verdict: Highly Recommended. It may be a bit on the short side and rough around the edges, but Pikmin still holds up excellently. I'll always prefer its sequel, but the whole nature of the smaller world and time management aspects make Pikmin 1 unique from its successors in a way that I think is still worth appreciating.
I identify everyone via avatar, so if you change your avatar, I genuinely might completely forget who you are. -- Me
