#i designed... its a rock pikmin :3

[pikkissis]

i was hired!!!! i have a job!!!! gosh!! after a year of looking and applying!! PRAISE GOD!

now..... who to yap about pikmin to first.....

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Pyroclasmic Slooch (Sulucina vulcanis)

Debut: Pikmin 3

I think Pyroclasmic Slooch has one of the best names of any Pikmin creature! This is the one I break out if I ever need to explain what a Pikmin name feels like. A large scientific jargon-y sounding word, followed by a single silly little syllable it's perfect! And it IS meaningful, because Pyroclasmic is only one letter away from Pyroclastic, as in pyroclastic flow, a hot volcanic gas/rock current. And Slooch is just, look at this thing! It's what "slooch" looks like! Both as a noun AND a verb!

Fire in video game and monster design is usually pretty boring to me, just for how common it is. I get it, since it is pretty much the most "yeowch! don't touch" thing everyone is familiar with, but I have had enough of Charizardlikes bloating my media! Thank goodness, then, for Pikmin, which implements "conventional" elemental properties into fun, pseudoscientific speculative creatures! It may often be a big load of nonsense, but they explain the nonsense so confidently. Yeah alright. Whatever you say! Maybe a slug could be on fire.

Hello Slooch! What a nice smile you have, framed by your oral tentacles! I wonder if Pyroclasmic Slooch's eyes are useful at all. A regular slug's eyes are mostly just for sensing light and dark, but that doesn't seem practical for a creature that makes its own light that would constantly be in view! Just to be safe, you should give this Slooch a thumbs up, in case it can indeed see you! (computer screen is a real portal to another world where pretend creatures live)

So yeah, Pyroclasmic Slooch is a slug on fire, or maybe a snail whose shell IS fire. It doesn't really matter, either way, the DESIGN is fire! The vibrant orangish stripes on its black body evoke flowing and cooling lava! Lava joke: I bet it was a real "aa moment" when they came up with that design quirk!

As much as I love Pyroclasmic Slooch, it is a wild animal! And it will try to eat the min that you picked, with its funny blue tongue! Louie, everyone's favorite menace Louie, recommends cooking this tongue and no other part of the creature. Would You Eat? I wouldn't, but I wouldn't judge you for doing it. If you have plenty of Red Pikmin, though, their fire immunity makes Slooches very easy to deal with.

You know, real slugs like mold! Do you think Pyroclasmic Slooch likes mold? Maybe it could be friends, with mold. Let's introduce them!

Name: Moldy Slooch (Parasitus pseudofungi elasticis hostus)

Debut: Pikmin 4

Hooray! Now they're inseparable! You may notice that Moldy Slooch's scientific name differs greatly from that of Pyroclasmic Slooch, and that is because the Slooch is no longer in control. It is being puppeted by a fungus! Its nervous system and slime organs have been entirely taken over. Isn't that nice? Now the Slooch doesn't have to do any work, because the fungus does all of that for it! This slug can just relax for the rest of its life, because it is not dead! A dried-up corpse wouldn't be useful a very good friend, would it? In fact, if the Moldy Slooch does die, it can be instantly revived by a phallic, yet kindly Toxstool! The gift of eternal life!

Moldy Slooch's description by Dalmo (the animal enthusiast who could have been writing for this blog the whole time and you would be none the wiser includes the incredible line "Slugga slugga choo choo! Here comes the fungal spore train." So fun! Whee! I want to ride the train!

Moldy Slooch is really the best friend someone could ask for. After I met it in person, and it introduced me to Toxstool, I've never felt better! So what are you waiting for, fellow living animals? Come visit our damp cave sometime! You are always welcome :)

[questionablepiklopedia]

Shellcake family - Questionable Pikmin Lore

I love the Shellcakes. From the moment I laid eyes on them in the Pikmin 4 demo, I knew they��d be a personal favorite of mine. Let’s take this moment to appreciate their lore.

Specimen 1: Scorchcake (conchcrustus emberio)

Apparently, it's a bivalve, like clams and oysters. It's also a predator, primarily targeting small plantlike creatures such as Pikmin, as well as eggs. However, it doesn't eat them. Instead, it squashes its prey so their nutrients seep into the ground. This allows moss and microorganisms to grow in the soil, which it then feeds on. To speed up this growth, it secretes a flammable oil and ignites it, somehow acting as fertilizer. It can also ignite this oil as a self-defense mechanism, setting its own body on fire. According to Louie, it smells and tastes quite good when cooked. Red Pikmin are the best choice to fight these, just remember to call them back since all shellcakes can actually kill pikmin even after they die by falling on them.

Specimen 2: Shockcake (conchcrustus ampero)

This one is a similar case, but it lacks the natural fertilizer. Instead, it can generate an electric charge with its muscular organs. The glowing bulbs on its body conduct this charge to paralyze prey and make it easier to crush. According to Dalmo, it can zap away shoulder stiffness and fatigue. It tastes slightly bitter and is best sautéed in butter. Yellows are the obvious choice here, but for some reason, there's only one of these in the entire game, and it's not given any kind of special attention beyond guarding a random base location in a random cave. Their design is interesting to me, as the electric nodes on its shell don't look natural. Perhaps it's part mechanical, similar to the Man-At-Legs or Gatling Groink.

Specimen 3: Freezecake (conchcrustus kryonae)

This species dwells in freezing climates, where food is scarce. It has evolved the ability to emit frigid air from its shell, freezing its prey to store for later use. Ice Pikmin are immune to their freeze, but likewise Freezecakes can't be frozen themselves. That's kind of all there is to this one.

Conclusion

Shellcakes are far from the strangest creatures Pikmin has to offer, but I wish we had a bit more info on these lil guys, and that they were more common in the game. All shellcakes are currently found underground and in small quantities. Notably, all shellcakes can crush Rock Pikmin, as being burned, shocked or frozen disables the Rock Pikmin's crushing immunity.

Perhaps the next Pikmin game will expand on these goofy goobers. Staying in the elemental theme, there's still no poison or water-based shellcake. If they're feeling really spicy, maybe a Gloomcake? That could make for a fun boss fight.

[bapzap]

so im watching pikmin 4 and i havent seen 3 but from my understanding the ice and fly pikmin were added there. i dont like it. pikmin 1 and 2 had red blue yellow purple white pikmin. each with their specialities based off color. and then with 3 theres rock pikmin. and flymin. they just completely threw out the keeping the designs simple and having small changes between them all in exchange for making them all cisually unique and having unique names and its stupid. the ice pikmin should have been cyan pikmin. the flymin should have been pinkmin. look at that they even get to have a cute little name thats pronounced as one word. and they could be a brand new just barely evolved type of branch off of red pikmin. fitting in with the games themes of change which pikmin 2 is based around. the rock pikmin could have been black or grey pikmin and could have been noticably blockier than the others keeping with the simple design while also setting them apart. but no they just had to make everything look incredibly different and unique and completely throw out everything the first two games were built on. only the first two games are good anyway. every other game has strayed too far from what pikmin is to the point that theres too much other stuff mixed in. first of something is rougher but is always the best creation in terms of portraying the concept. second is smoother and has ironed out all the problems only noticable once its created and gets to try adding in some spice to make it unique and seperate from the first without straying too far. and the third and beyond just cant be the same thing anymore and almost always ends up being bad because its still trying to stick with the original instead of just beint a completely new thing. i call it the rule of threes :) i always end up explaining it slighrly differently each time </3

im learning so much about pikmin. i never actually knew there were these unique kinds i only knew about the funny differently colored normal ones apparently from the first two games.

i googled ice pikmin and i was surprised. that doesnt look like a pikmin. i thought they were plants. i was expecting a funny plant looking guy adapted for winter or something.

rule of threes... so true.

[laurarolla]

When I don't want to take the time to play more marathon length missions in the game I'm usually playing, I tend to watch youtube videos while doing my Arknights or Destiny gaming/farming for the day. Recently been watching a lot of Pikmin gameplay, especially Pikmin 2. Never really played the games but always wanted to, and I do have a Switch for Pikmin 4 and 3 Deluxe and Dolphin on my PC for 1 and 2 (if I don't eventually buy them for Switch). Some random thoughts about Pikmin:

-The only game where there isn't really a good reason to be exploiting the Pikmin's labor and risking their lives is Pikmin 2, as you're basically fixing your boss's mistake of hiring one of Nintendo's shadiest characters and trusting him with valuable objects.

-On the other hand, said boss does actually go with you to get more treasure when he's out of debt after Louie gets left behind, so I guess he's somewhat less crappy than the usual capitalist.

-The Pikmin 3 captains are wonderful and I will not hear any statements to the contrary. Aleph is just adorable, especially, and it's interesting to see someone who has a more militaristic mindset with Charlie as we haven't seen something quite like that up to that point the series. I do also like Brittney a lot, I just don't have a specific trait to point to.

-Pikmin 4 has possibly the best narrative idea for its kitchen sink approach to the Pikmin gameplay experience, but from what I've seen, the time management/dandori aspect of the game only really shines during the actual dandori battles and challenge caves.

-Blue Pikmin are the best Pikmin, followed by Rock Pikmin. This is my objectively correct opinion based on how much I love their cute designs.

Pikmin is fun to watch and I do hope to set aside time to play it someday. X3

[bikwin5]

pikmin 4 thouts

i haven't actually posted that much about pikmin 4 now that i think about it but i finished it a while ago. as close to 100% as i think it can be. i don't have the drive to make a complete review so i just wrote down a list of things i liked and didn't like. there are no huge spoilers in this until the very end

THINGS I LIKED -adding a marketable dog is usually a sign of getting desperate. the simpsons did a whole episode about it. even in the ask the devs interview they were like yeah we added a dog to create appeal. but despite all that i ended up warming up to oatchi not just as a character but his gameplay as well. letting him swim, carry, attack, and act as a second leader all works very natural in pikmin's world and he basically acts like a very big and powerful pikmin. it takes a bit of getting used to learning the new mechanics but i think it was a good idea overall. still kind of wish they went with the playable bulborb idea instead. -the biodiversity is kind of ridiculous in this one. pikmin 4 has 100+ different creatures and a piklopedia to interact with them all, making for endless hours of fun without even playing the game. in fact there are so many creatures it felt like some had a pikmin 3 problem where they weren't used enough even though this is a big ass game!! i also like the return of pikmin 2 styled bosses in contrast to 3's where most of them felt very scripted. -the selection of things to collect is no doubt the best in this one. i like that completing a set of treasures lets you look at everything at once. -i like the hub area. its nice to walk around a bit. -having 8 pikmin types is a bold move but they pulled it off pretty well. the 3 types limit on the surface actually works well. i like that each area has "recommended" types but allows you to swap out others regardless. it makes it so advanced players can do more tag barrel switching if they want to. -the level design feels a bit of a departure from past games with how expansive each area is but i do like it, it keeps things fresh. there's still a lot of depth to clearing out each area and cave efficiently. -it was at least harder than pikmin 3!!!! yippee!!!!!! -the gwafics are goregous in this one. pikmin is one of those series that only looks better with visual fidelity. -i like the equipment upgrading system. i enjoy how it allows certain equipment to be optional even after you already make it. this lets me get rid of the power whistle because i don't like it.

THINGS I DIDNT LIKE -my #1 complaint is the auto-lockon feature. i desperately wish i could turn it off. i think they intend you to have motion controls on for more precise aiming but i don't want that. i just want to aim with the stick. the lockon makes some things trivial and some unnecessarily frustrating. there's a FUN to be had in trying to get perfect aim with pikmin! it's a BALANCE!!!!!!!!! but maybe nintendo doesn't realize that… nintendo if you patch this game to give me an option to turn off auto lockon i'll be a good kid and buy your new mario. -pikmin 4 has the best pikmin AI in the series but there some small changes are so frustrating. in particular they REALLY hate the idea of using more than the minimum number of pikmin to carry something. they physically stop you from throwing for a bit and then pikmin that are already idle don't even bother. it's a small thing but it's persistent and it drives me insane. -balancing 8 types of pikmin is not easy. that being said i think pikmin 3's types in particular got shafted a bit. rock pikmin have a weird nerf where they can die from crushing but only on hard surfaces? i guess it's to prevent trivializing certain bosses. winged pikmin don't act much different but they feel like what blue pikmin were to 3 in that they barely get a chance to shine. it's fucked because all the earlier areas probably have winged pikmin paths programmed in that most people will never see… it breaks my heart just thinking about it -ALSO the white pikmin damage nerf was totally unneccessary. as a result all the poison themed enemies are so weak and oatchi can dispatch them easily with the poison upgrade so its like why are these guys still candypop bud exclusive -the controls might be almost TOO tight. particularly the oatchi bunchup is really OP when it comes to fights. i think this game throws a lot of tough situations at you but jumping on oatchi trivializes them a lot of the time. -enemies not respawning is really weird. particularly on the surface where they NEVER respawn. it kind of strips the organic feeling of pikmin away. -everyone says this but too much tutorial. please stop making the characters talk to me every time a pikmin dies on screen. i'd say it feels like nintendo is regressing to the skyward sword era but not quite, if they did then then there would be a cutscene every time you break down a wall.

looking back at this section i sure did CAPITALIZE a bunch of arbitrary words. i think shepherd was right when she said bernard's speaking style rubs off on you.

VERY MINOR NITPICKS -i wish my man hajime wakai was still doing the soundtrack cause you can tell he didnt. pikmin 4's soundtrack isn't bad it's still pretty "pikminlike" but i think you can tell its not the same as it was -for having a "dandori" theme pikmin 4 doesn't feel nearly as incentivized to be efficient as much as 3 or even 1. the fact that night expeditions take up full days bothers me and i can't help but wonder how much replays will be affected with how much stuff they crammed in the main game.

BIG SPOILERS AFTER THIS POINT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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-i think olimar and louie got a lot of fun exposition but the new characters not so much. it feels like they got disregarded later in the story. -final boss was the easiest in the whole series. yes even more than hey! to me. i lost like maybe 5 pikmin total. i think what makes it so easy is that there is very little risk in engaging, you throw 2 purple pikmin on the tail and when it falls over you rush with oatchi and that's it. the one scary thing about it is the final phase where it can do the roar that scatters pikmin into death pits but i didn't get hit by it because i'm epic and awesome like that. even then having one difficult thing at the end of an otherwise easy final boss just feels kind of cheap. -i wish the lineup trumpet wasn't a secret late game upgrade because i would have liked to play the rest of the game with it.

[detournementarc]

Thoughts on Pikmin 4 so far

As of being halfway into Giant's Hearth

POSITIVES

Dog good! Dog cute! Good boy!!! Yes!

There's a sense of intentional design in the Caves that Pikmin 2's procedural generation lacked.

The Night Exploration is a fun concept!

It's really fun to have this campsite that iteratively expands as you progress.

Regions like Serene Shore doing interesting things with the clock-based tide is neat! (I missed 3, so unclear if this is new)

I was skeptical about limiting the Pikmin capacity at first, but seeking out flarlics gives a great sense of progression.

It's also kind of fun unlocking different landing zones as you clear out surface zones.

I'm always here for new critters, love the flapjack snails.

NEGATIVES

I'm loath to say it... but there are too many Pikmin types. Combined with limiting you to three of six Pikmin types that can be out at a time, it's starting to feel Donkey Kong 64-ish in its coded obstacles; but even DK64 didn't demand such time management.

I am SICK, and TIRED, of collecting Generic Blue Chunks!!! Replacing Pikmin 2's Cave-based unlocks with a generic Item Shop earned by scooping up more piles of aquarium rocks just cheapens the experience.

The Red Lid Dandori Fights are an insufferable cluster fuck of visual overload on a Switch Lite screen. I understand it's intended to emulate the versus mode I remember all the way back to 2; but we don't need to be shoving splitscreen on a handheld.

Not the biggest fan of the control changes I've missed over 3. I miss my swarm commands, the Charge mechanism is nice, but it's very indelicate. To say nothing of the camera changes, relegating commands like Disband to either a popout menu or a bewildering set of hot keys (no Right Control Stick Click??)

The experience of fighting against the mercurial behavior of the Pikmin is as old as the series itself; but insisting on herky-jerky Snap To Aim that discourages sending extra carrier pikmin, and will even Stay Locked An Inch Off Target, feels like I've gone from coralling the unruly plant critters to just Fighting The Game Itself.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I'm always here for funky genre hybrids, but... I really think Pikmin needs to pick a lane between a stripped down action/adventure/puzzle game or a full bore RTS (or at least folding the scout drone and map commands into something more streamlined). I honestly think the fandom's bile for spinoffs like Hey! Pikmin forcing all these genres to try to coexist in One Game is just getting clunky.

It's time to cut back on Pikmin types. Give the original three extra powers on Flowering, start making more types Cave exclusive, etc.

For the love of God no more aquarium rocks this sucks. I only ever experienced the BotW Zelda Duology through roommates, but my initial astonished conviction that Nintendo was doing the open-ended Ubisoft ass sandbox formula right has been eclipsed by a sense that this is all becoming unfocused and tedious. I feel the same thing from Animal Crossing New Horizons.

[pillatedcompills]

THE FETISH FAT

I HATE FAT FETISH PPL AND HOW THEY FAT FETISH THE FETISH FAT. AND THEY FAT THE FAT AND DO THE THINGS THAT ARE THE FETISH FAT. THE FAT TO THE FETISH DA DING DONG FAT FETISH FAT. I TALK TO MY GIRFLRIEND AND SHES LIKE I HATE THE FAT TO THE FETISH FAT AND IM LIKE WHAT THE HECK IS THAT AND SHES LIKE GRR. AND IM LIKE HOW DO YOU FAT FETISH THE FAT AND NOW I KEEP SAYING THE SAME STUPID LINE BECAUSE I THINK ITS FUNNY AND I CANT STOP SAYING IT. GRR I HATE THEY THEM HIM HAM POLY PAN PICKLE PEOPLE , I HATE THEM. TOO MANY PRONOUNS TOO MANY POLY PIPPER PETTER PIKER PEPPER POPPER SUMTHING, I AM GRAND WIZARD MAN- OKAY I CANT SAY THAT ALTHOUGH I AM A MONKEY., OKAY ERM I HATE THE POLY PEPPER PETER PIKER HOT TOMATO PICKLE PEOPLE. IM LIKE CHRIS CHAN I HATE THE PICKLE PEOPL. I HATE PICKLE MEN. NOT THE PICKLED MEN FROM PIKMIN THO THEY ARE COOL. GRR GRR GRR I LIKE SPORTS AND FUCKING SOMETHING SOMETHING ( I DONT LIKE SPORTS) MWHAHAHWAWHHA SPORTS AND FUCKING GRAHHH. I HATE SEX I HATE DRUGS AND I HATE ROCK AND ROLLL. DID YOU COLAPSE WITH STEVEN JOHNSNONS SYDROME ON THE ER FLOOR!??!??! IDK I DONT HAVE STEVEN JOHNSONS SYDROME AND I HAVEN'T BEEN TO THE EMERGANCY ROOM IN A YEAR NOW., I HATE THE PEOPLE, HATE THE PLAYER NOT THE GAME. MY BRAIN HAS CLAIMED ITS GLORY OVER ME WAHHH. I SEE ART I DONT LIKE ONE MORE TIME AND IM GOING TO CUT DEEP DOWN INTO MY STOMACH AND REMOVE A GOOD BIT OF MY FAT BECAUSE I WANT TO. I HATE ROLE MODEL CITIZENS. I HATE DRUGS I HATE GUNS. PEOPLE SHALL DIE. I WILL BURN THEIR CITIES TO THE GROUND, TRY ME TRY ME, I WILL GO BANANNAS , DO YOU WANT A BANANNA PEEL IT DOWN AND GO MHM MHM MHM. ADULTS WILL SEE A MINOR POST A PERSON WITHOUT A SHIRT ON AND GGO " POORNNNN THEY'RE DRAWING PORRNN, THEY'RE DRAWING PORNNNN THEY ARENT ADULT AND THEY'RE POSTING POOOORRNNNN CANCEL THEM TAKE AWAY THEIR PHONE SLIT THEIR THROAT, OFF WITH THEIR HEAD !!! SEND THEM TO THE GULLITENE. I LOVE ZUBIN I PAINTED THE ZUBIN FLOWER IN MY SKETCHBOOK. YAYAYAYAYAY OKAY I REMEMBER A TIME WHERE I LITERALLY HATED CHICKEN AND NOW I LIKE CHICKEN FOR SOME REASON. I LOVE CHICKEN BECAUSE IM A BLACK FUCKING MONKEY OOHH OOH AA AAA. THIS IS CRAZY IM SO SILLY WILLY. I HAVE 6 NARRATOR DESIGNS NOW, PUT THEM IN A ROOM WITH STANLEY AND THEY EITHER FIGHT TO THE DEATH OR PRISON ACTIVITES INSUE. WE THINK WE'RE PLAYING IN A BAND, BUT WE'D LOVE TO GIVE YOU ALL A HAND <3 . RAGRHURUHSJBDHFFVSJFFJVNSJ KFNJVF

[saihahas]

The sheer brilliance of the Pikmin shorts

And how their success shows that a cartoon with no dialog can excel in quality.

This is going to be seperated into three portions, for each short! Short 1 will be titled in RED. Short 2 will be titled in BLUE. Short 3 will be titled in PURPLE.

SHORT 1

Short one, The Night Juicer, is my least favorite out of the three. Granted, I still really enjoy the short! But it's not memorable in comparison to the other two. It's the shortest, and plays off of what Pikmin are named after! For those not aware of Pikmin lore or the games, Pikmin were named based off of Pikpik Carrots, which are very popular on Capitan Olimar's home planet, Hocotate.

This short begins with a very cute title sequence, showing Pikmin just doing Pikmin things! Which the series is exceptional at.

The first short starts with a Red, Blue and Yellow Pikmin watching Olimar make himself an unassuming red smoothie.

A lil squeaky sound effect is made when Oli puts his hands on his hips, thats all.

ANYWAYS-

The Primary Pikmin trio all run up to Olimar as he finishes up his cup, but stop after glancing over to the side of the blender, seeing a cut up Pikpik carrot they mistake for a Red Pikmin.

This sends the trio into a frenzy, freaking out and running away from Olimar.

Oh and this

Consider my timbers, shivered. Olimar creepily walks towards them, as if it was a horror movie. The trio fantasize what will become of them once Olimar catches them, while trying to get as far away from him as possible.

Olimar corners them in the storage closet, and the trio fear the worst. Only for Olimar to daintily push them to the side, and pick up two pikpik carrots for another smoothie.

All in all, this short isn't bad! It's cute and simple, a jokey horror trope. It simply suffers the fate most pilot episodes do. The other two are much less Olimar centered, and shine as a result.

SHORT 2

Short 2, Treasure in a Bottle, is my second favorite of the trio, but it definitely is close to overtaking short 3. This series is devoid of Olimar entirely, focused on Pikmin interacting with eachother. (And our protag, a Red Pikmin's desire for the shiny)

Short 2 starts out with a Red Pikmin, lets call him Steve, in a field chasing a butterfly. He gets distracted by a bottle, and proceeds to stare at his reflection in the glass.

The ramune is giant in comparison to Steve, and then he notices the shine of the marble inside. He screams in excitement, before scaling multiple objects to reach the top of the ramune bottle. (After falling off a grass blade gently)

Steve marvels at the marble, and hops into the bottle. He notices the long way down from where the marble lies and shudders, determined to roll the marble out. He attempts several times to do so, and on his last attempt, the marble gets stuck. After a few seconds, the marble falls and steve lands at the bottom of the bottle, and can't get out. While stuck, a trio of a single red, blue and yellow Pikmin come across Steve!

After laughing about how silly he looks inside the bottle, the trio tries to come up with a plan to break Steve out. Blue suggests filling the bottle with water, so Steve floats to the top and can be pulled off. Steve quickly shuts the idea down, as all Pikmin aside from blue Pikmin can't swim. Yellow has a much more direct approach, grabbing a bomb rock and allowing it to detonate, launching the bottle into the air. Steve flies out of the bottle, but as the bottle lands on the ground, Steve falls back into the bottle.

The three watch a trio of blue pikmin latched to eachother trying to pull down a butterfly, before a purple adds too much weight and the butterfly gets away. The trio has an idea, and like that Steve is saved!!!!

But not without taking the ramune with him ;)

SHORT 3

The final and longest Pikmin short, Occupational Hazard, is easily the best of the three in my opinion. It has Olimar present, but he isn't the focus of the short, the pikmin doing their thing are!

The short starts off showing some Pikmin taking apart pieces of a large machine, carrying bits ans pieces along, with come cute slapstick type comedy throughout. The camera pans out, showing how small the pikmin are compared to PNF-404 (Earth)

A quick pan later, and Olimar appears! He's using his whistle to direct Pikmin on where to go, much like in the games. The Pikmin are catapulting eachother, two go down, one comes up. They all carry the bits of metal to the Reasearch Pod, which assesses value. The Pod takes a brief leave, panning over Olimar and the Pikmin.

What a great shot

A yellow pikmin gets catapulted, offering a bent nail, which Olimar declines. The pikmin tosses the nail over the edge, hitting a white pikmin on the head. (Which they are VERY angry about) Two blue attempt to pull up a purple Pikmin, which was definitely unsuccessful, followed by a very angry white Pikmin yelling and taking his spot, only to be flung into the stratosphere after two purple Pikmin come down the catapult.

Back to business as usual.

The camera pans to some yellow Pikmin making their way inside the machine itself! Some yellows are carrying materials, but two stop and notice a small bolt. One touches it and gets shocked, followed by both touching it, and their leaves sprout into bulbs and flash, as they made a current! A blue tries to join in on the fun, but dies, as they can't conduct electricity. Poor guy :(

A small group of Pikmin sneak off to some pipes, ready to go have some fun! A blue Pikmin kicks a red through a pipe, and we get a cute transition to the other side of the pipes! A yellow pulls out a mushroom, a red and blue pull out screws and, there's a cute mario reference with a red Pikmin! Our lovely gang finds an odd looking pipe and decide to check it out, only for it to have been the snout of a Blowhog! It spews fire before emerging from the pipes, nearly burning the group. Luckily for them, some red Pikmin take on the Blowhog, because they're fire resistant. The red Pikmin are playing with thr Blowhog, despite it still chasing their friends around breathing fire. Luckily AGAIN, the Blowhog trips, and lands in the mud, its snout being filled with it. Naturally, they decide to have fun with the mud.

Back to Olimar and the construction site, my absolute favorite piece of pikmin media occurs. (Spliced 4 convenience, sound on!!!)

Something very big in these shorts are exaggerated reactions as well as music and sound effects playing to convey a specific feeling. Pikmin do not speak, and neither does Olimar. But in these shorts, their small soundbytes are able to convey what the pikmin are saying to eachother. This method of sound design is done extremely well, and I would argue to say that if these shorts prove anything at all, it's that nintendo could make a TV series that has no dialog whatsoever, and still have the audience rolling on thr floor laughing.

Back to the mud buds, we get a few more shots of them playing before yellow gets distracted. The shiny strikes again. Yellow walks into a large oil drum, and picks up a screw. Deeper in the drum, another sparkle catches his attention. Yellow picks the second up, and finds himself at a place with several odd colored objects. One of which he kicks.

It's a Bulborb!!! And its MAD. The mud buds are in trouble, and they're running as fast as they can from the Bulborb, who gets a red and blue Pikmin into its mouth. The two manage to get out through its nostrils, giving the others enough time to make a plan to outsmart the Bulborb.

A giant glove comes out of nowhere, halting the Bulborb and hypnotizing it, before flinging itself onto its backside. The glove was being controlled by an entourage of Pikmin, and the Bulborb catches on rather quickly, biting the glove and flinging the mud buds out. They all hide in a wheel rim(?) and some slapstick ensues.

Fed up with the mud bud's antics, the Bulborb kicks the rim, but hurts his toe instead. Poor guy,,, but he had it coming.

With a cute fanfare, we quickly return to Olimar, who has scaled the machine! But now his attention turns to the Bulborb that has been oddly fascinated with the rim.

The Bulborb finally manages to free the car wheel, throwing it into the air! Once it hits the ground, the mud buds all fall out, much to Olimar's dismay. And the way he struggles while whistling for the pikmin's attention is a BIG mood for people who've played the game before.

The mud buds start running to Olimar after hearing his call, much to the Bulborb's dismay. A chase ensues, and the Blowhog appears again, with its fire abilities regained. Rhe Bulborb continues to give chase, with two Pikmin meeting their demise. Everything seems hopeless, as the buds and Bulborb are huddled into the scoop of the machine.

And we get thrown back to the yellow Pikmin's party, with several linking to eachother and sparkling. One's foot touches the other's head, completing the current and turning the machine on.

The scoop gets sent upwards, as Olimar falls and lands on a lever, causing the scoop to let loose the contents inside. Right when it seems the buds are going to hit the ground along with the Bulborb, their leaves sprout into flowers! They gently float to the ground, while the Bulborb was.... not so lucky. A heavenly light shines as the gang ascend, with triumphant music in the background.

Oh and then all 97 pikmin left go ham on the bulborb.

The machine begins to deconstruct, and fall apart. More sadly relatable whistles from Olimar ensue, and uh

This happens.

After clearing the explosion, Olimar and the Pikmin look upon the wreckage, as the Pod reappears, and takes a value of the entire machine. The Pod asseses that the wreck is 100,000,000,007 pokos, and Olimar makes a triumphant pose. The white pikmin from earlier comes crashing down during the Fin. screen.

Now for my personal thoughts, while I have had some spread throughout, my final cohesive thoughts are as stated down below. Pikmin as a franchise has been dead for a while. We got a reboot of Pikmin 3 this year, and these were reuploaded from the WiiU era. The overwhelmingly positive response from the community as well as non-pikmin fans is second to none. These short style, no dialog cartoons have worked for Nintendo for years. (If anyone remembers the Yoshi and Poochy shorts I love you) This series is phenomenal at conceying emotion, or the volume of the situation, without saying a single word. The pikmin scream in excitement, they make their little noises in anger, dings and drones are placed perfectly, so EVERYONE can understand the situation. I fully believe that more companies should view these cartoons as cartoons, and give them the spotlight as well. Each short remains the length it has to be, and shows some fun content at that. The Pikmin interacting with eachother and behaving the way they do is adorable, especially when in the Pikilopedia from the games, Olimar mentions specifically they act like toddlers. Toddlers who help him not miss his own kids as much, while stranded on PNF-404.

If you wanna give the series a view for yourself, I'll provide the thinks below!!

[elijahwrites]

The Great Video Game Creator: Shigeru Miyamoto

Shigeru Miyamoto and his greatest creation.

Shigeru Miyamoto is the creator of some of the best video games in history. He is the creator of Super Mario Bros., The Legend Of Zelda, Kirby, and the very first Nintendo game, Sheriff. 

Over time, he has also been involved in so many Nintendo games, from Super Mario 64, to Smash Bros. Melee, to The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, all the way to Pikmin 3 Deluxe, which came out recently in 2020. He helped Nintendo become the gaming giant that it is today. He is the main reason we have games like The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild.

A lot of Shigeru’s inspiration comes from real life, such as his gardening, which was the inspiration for Pikmin.  But before we talk about Shigeru himself, let's talk about some of his work.

Nintendo at first was a small trading card company. However, when they started going into the gaming industry, they made a lot of really bad games. But Shigeru started working there in 1977 and so on, but then made a game that started a long line of well acclaimed games. It was known as Donkey Kong.

Originally, Donkey Kong was going to be a game based off of the Popeye series, but they replaced the characters (Bluto turned to Donkey Kong, Olive Oyl became Pauline, and Popeye became Mario). The “Donkey” in Donkey Kong was used to portray a short temper or anger. However, this led to the creation of one the best video game series ever, Super Mario Bros..

The original Super Mario Bros.

Mario was first introduced in Donkey Kong, and then became wildly popular when Super Mario Bros. was released worldwide. He has not only become one of the most popular game characters, but has a movie in the works, a manga, and more than one game on each Nintendo system. Had he not been invented, Nintendo of America would not exist. He basically is the Avengers of the gaming industry. When it comes to his games, he is inevitable.

Speaking of inevitable Nintendo games, The Legend of Zelda is another one of Nintendo’s biggest franchises, and like Pikmin, it had inspiration from Miyamoto’s childhood. He bravely explored a cave in Sonobe, Kyoto when he was about seven or eight, and this was the beginning of The Legend of Zelda. These adventures spawned some of the best games ever. It took a while to release, but it was very well received with its great dramatic music and storyline. 

Like with most games back then, The Legend of Zelda had a manual only for use if you were having a hard time, which was almost always disregarded. Honestly, I’ve played it, and I really enjoy it. It shows me that even back then, games were still super cool. But enough about games. Let's talk about the main focus of this article, Shigeru Miyamoto.

The award-winning The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Shigeru Miyamoto has been and is one of the most important game designers in history. When he made Donkey Kong, there was a lot of weight on him, the main reason being that Nintendo of America's fate rested on his shoulders. Radar Scope, an old Nintendo game, wasn’t selling well, which could have pushed Nintendo to the brink of bankruptcy. 

However, when it came out in arcades, Donkey Kong was a big hit, saving Nintendo of America from bankruptcy. From then on, he made more games that would continue to impress the world. However, one of the main games that he made that helped Nintendo skyrocket to where it is now is Super Mario Bros for the Nintendo Entertainment System. That's why Nintendo is the gaming giant it is, because of him. He makes some of the most enjoyable games ever, and as gamers and non-gamers, we can be thankful of that. 

He has been working at Nintendo for forty-three years and while he isn’t working on other Nintendo games currently, he is doing work on the upcoming Super Mario Movie by Illumination. One of his famous quotes is, "Video games are bad for you? That's what they said about rock and roll."

He has two adult children, 26 and 28 and a wife.

Fin.

References: 

The Legend Of Zelda Developer Interview by Akinori Sao, 2016

Super Mario Bros Interview by Akinori Sao, 2016

Shigeru Miyamoto Article on the FANDOM Nintendo Wiki