More than a thousand tiny creatures died under my command, and I failed my mission. My crew was left with no resources, starving on an alien planet. Underneath its cute and charming exterior, the Pikmin series is about survival and the cruelty of nature. It’s also one of Nintendo’s last great original ideas: a simple yet addictive strategy game. Pikmin 3 arrives nearly 10 years after its predecessor, and while it has been a long wait for fans of the series, this latest entry is the best of the bunch.
Featuring an all-new premise and characters, Pikmin 3 follows the adventures of three explorers from Koppai, a planet that has exhausted its food supply due to overpopulation, increasing appetites, and poor planning. Aboard the S.S. Drake, Alph, Brittany, and Charlie discover a planet (PNF-404) that promises food, but they crash land and must find each other and a crucial part of their ship before they can depart with any food they discover. The story is just substantial enough to lend context and urgency to the gameplay.
If you’ve played a Pikmin game before, the gameplay will feel familiar with some notable changes. You directly control the explorer and build and command an army of tiny creatures called Pikmin. You use the Pikmin to gather resources and treasures and to battle larger native creatures of the planet. Different types of Pikmin have different characteristics. For instance, red Pikmin are tough fighters and can withstand fire without taking damage, and yellow Pikmin can be thrown higher and don’t take electric damage. The strategy comes in trying to decide how many of each type of Pikmin to take on a particular task and then managing them on the field. As usual, Nintendo does a great job of introducing the intricacies of the game to new players, giving information in small doses so as not to overwhelm them.
The white and purple Pikmin types introduced in Pikmin 2 are absent from story mode, but they have been replaced by two new types. Rock Pikmin are particularly tough fighters, and they can break glass. Pink Pikmin are weak, but they can fly. They are both fine additions to the series that I imagine will stick around in future entries. It’s very useful to have at least a handful of rock Pikmin for battle and breaking glass walls, but I especially liked the pink Pikmin for retrieving items and bringing them back to the base. The fact that they can fly allows them to avoid most enemies and obstacles such as water (although they do have a tendency to navigate toward pesky spider webs filled with lethal spiders).
Having three explorers and the ability to switch between them on the fly allows you to multitask, but more importantly, it allows for more creative puzzles. Throughout the game, there are instances where you’ll need to use all three explorers to reach an object. For example, if there is a fruit that can only be reached by throwing Pikmin from a higher ledge, you can throw one of your explorers up on that ledge and then throw some Pikmin up for him to command. I rarely used the ability to multitask, because the game can get hectic enough as it is, and if my Pikmin are getting annihilated by an enemy, I want to be aware of it instead of distracted by events at two other locations on the map. I liked the puzzles involving all three explorers, though. Most of the times I got stumped were at these puzzles, because thinking with three explorers is new to the series and a new experience for me.
The most jarring change for Pikmin veterans may be what Nintendo has done with the controls, specifically regarding the right stick. In previous entries, the right stick controlled your horde of Pikmin. Moving it around was useful for dodging an attack, and moving it forward made your Pikmin swarm an enemy as one large group instead of throwing them individually. In Pikmin 3, the right stick rotates the camera. To dodge an attack, you have to hit left or right on the D-pad, which is awkward in the heat of battle. To swarm an enemy, you have to do a charge attack by locking on the enemy and then pressing the B button. Neither of these solutions are as convenient as using the right stick for dodging or swarming. I would have gladly kept the camera controls mapped to the shoulder buttons.
And unfortunately, locking on to enemies can prove difficult in battle because the cursor has a tendency to be over-sensitive, making it difficult to target an enemy. This control issue became very evident during my multiple attempts to beat the fourth main boss. I should note that I play exclusively using Wii U’s gamepad. Nintendo insists that the Wii remote and nunchuk is the way to go, but I don’t like the original Wii’s controller.
Back to the positive, another change I really appreciated was the introduction of the juice system in Pikmin 3. Each day, your crew consumes one bottle of juice to stay alive. By collecting fruit throughout the game, you will make more juice, and for the majority of the game, you will have plenty of spare juice and nothing to fear. However, Pikmin 3 features a very long and challenging final boss battle that is clearly meant to span days. As I said in the opening of this review, I eventually ran out of juice (and Pikmin) and reached a game over screen that showed my stranded and starving crew. I had to go back to a previous area, and try to build my Pikmin army back up so that it was large enough to carry a single fruit back to my ship before sunset. In the final days of Pikmin 3, I felt a sense of urgency that I hadn’t felt since the original Pikmin, in which you ran out of oxygen after 30 days. Both games allow for the possibility of failing the entire campaign, an extremely rare design choice that I love.
Pikmin 3 is roughly the same length as previous entries, which is somewhere around 8-10 hours, but that’s only if you avoid optional bosses and treasures. I highly suggest taking your time, thoroughly exploring each area, and building up your army and fruit supply so you don’t run into the same end game predicament that I did. The length and the amount of optional exploring are also perfect for multiple playthroughs.
Once you’re done with the campaign, there are two other modes. One is Bingo Battle, which I didn’t play for review, because it’s a local, competitive multiplayer mode, and again, I didn’t feel like digging through boxes to look for Wii controllers and forcing one of my friends to play. It’s too bad that there isn’t some sort of online multiplayer, because the series is practically begging for it at this point. The other mode is Mission Mode, a fun diversion that challenges you to reach high scores within a time limit by killing enemies or collecting treasures. If you reach a high enough score, you open more missions. Mission Mode also includes the white and purple Pikmin that aren’t in Pikmin 3’s campaign.
There is a lot to like here. In terms of level design, Nintendo has delivered the most polished Pikmin experience yet. Pikmin 3 strikes a balance somewhere between Pikmin and Pikmin 2, allowing you to explore at your own pace while still feeling a sense of urgency to find enough fruit to survive. (It also removes the cave system from Pikmin 2, which I didn’t like.) The exploration is also made more interesting with the ability to switch between the three crew members. The boss design is more varied and clever than ever, especially the punishingly long final boss battle, in which you get chased through a maze with dozens of smaller enemies in your way. (Remember what I said. Stock up on on juice and Pikmin.) And although you can beat the campaign relatively quickly, there is a lot of content if you take your time and enjoy the extra modes. The music and visuals set a new bar for Nintendo and the Pikmin series. And as a final bonus, you can switch to off-screen play (gamepad only) with the touch of a button, which is always nice.
Despite control issues, Pikmin 3 is one of the very best games from Nintendo in many years and easily the best title available for Wii U. Once I beat the campaign, I immediately started a second playthrough, something I don’t do often these days. This is a must buy for fans and newcomers alike. The tiny, adorable Pikmin will find their way into your heart, and then your heart will sink as they die fighting for you.
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