User:Oven Fresh/Pikmin series

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Pikmin is the name of a video game series developed by Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto exclusively for the Nintendo GameCube platform. The games feature small, multi-colored creatures known as Pikmin which vaguely resemble carrots. The hero of the games, Captain Olimar, in addition to his partner in the second game, Louie, command the Pikmin in battles with larger creatures residing on the same planet. The advantage to the Pikmin usually comes in numbers, as a single Pikmin can easily be defeated by a larger foe, and the Pikmin stand little chance without a commander.

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 resembling bottle caps into a large Pikmin storage device known as an Onion. The bottle caps are acquired when an enemy is successfully defeated. When the enemy dies, it releases the bottle caps which can then be carried back to the onion by a group of Pikmin (the amount of Pikmin needed to carry the bottle cap back depends on the size of the bottle cap). The Onion then releases Pikmin seeds into the ground below which take about 10 seconds to mature into full-fledged Pikmin that can be picked from the ground by Captain Olimar. The Onion can also be used to store the Pikmin for the night when the day is over, for if they were left out at night they would probably be devoured by stray Bulborbs.

Two video games have been released in the Pikmin series thus far; Pikmin and Pikmin 2. The first video game starred Captain Olimar solely, although the second game also incorporated Louie, who can be used in conjunction with Captain Olimar in order to command two groups of Pikmin at once. It is interesting to note that the names "Olimar" and "Louie" were probably based off of Mario and Luigi, which are also developed by Shigeru Miyamoto. The name "Olimar" is a partial anagram of Mario in English (though it has an extra L), while in Japanese it's a perfect anagram. "Louie" simply sounds simular to Luigi.

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 games 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.

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[edit] Game play

Several colors of Pikmin exist in the games, each with their own powers. For example, red Pikmin can withstand extreme heat, while yellow Pikmin can carry and throw Bomb rocks, or, in the second game, withstand electricity.

The games have also all taken place on the fictional planet that has not been given a name, which bares a striking resemblance to a gigantic version of the factual planet Earth. Garbage and other human waste is riddled through-out the levels of the games. The landscapes are said to be inspired by gardens belonging to the developer of the games, Shigeru Miyamoto.

Captain Olimar and Louie are both from the fictional planet Hocotate. 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 (to collect objects to sell).

The Pikmin series characters are all on a very tiny scale; for example, Captain Olimar is only about the size of a quarter. The Pikmin are about the same size, although slightly smaller.

[edit] Pikmin characters

[edit] Captain Olimar

Captain Olimar is the main character of both Pikmin and Pikmin 2. In the original Pikmin, Olimar was on vacation from his workplace, commanding a space ship, before an asteroid struck his ship, causing it to crash land on the mysterious planet where the Pikmin reside. In the second, Olimar returns to the mysterious planet to collect artifacts to sell in an attempt to free his company from bankruptcy.

Olimar was born on the planet Hocotate, where he is employed in high position at the Hocotate Freight Company, alongside Louie.

Olimar wears an entirely yellow space suit, with the exception of having red gloves, and has a silver, dangling wire spurting out of his space helmet. It is notable that Olimar could be an intentional partial anagram of Mario.

[edit] Louie

Louie, introduced in the second Pikmin game, is a co-worker of Olimar. He joined Olimar in the second game to try to help collect funds for the Hocotate Freight Company on the mysterious Pikmin planet. Louie is employed at Hocotate Freight.

Louie is slightly skinnier and taller than Olimar and also wears a mostly yellow suit, except with blue gloves. Louie has a small amount of yellow hair, as well as the silver wire spurting out of his space helmet.

[edit] Pikmin

Pikmin are small, brightly colored creatures standing at only an inch tall. The Pikmin games all revolve around Olimar's strategic manipulation of these creatures, who, for an unknown reason, follow his or Louie's every command. It is because of this that the Pikmin are extremely useful to Olimar and Louie — they can be used to defend their masters, or they can be used to retrieve large artifacts that could otherwise not be transported. Pikmin are generally very weak (and useless) 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 were three types of Pikmin; red Pikmin, who were better warriors than the rest and could withstand extreme heat, yellow Pikmin, who could be thrown higher than the rest of the Pikmin, as well as carrying the unique ability to throw Bomb-rocks, and blue Pikmin, who had gills and could therefor walk in water without drowning. In the second game, two new species of Pikmin were introduced: white Pikmin, who, when ingested by enemies, deliver a fatal poison to the enemy, plus they are immune to poison, can locate buried treasure with their special eyes, and can run faster than other pikmin, and purple Pikmin, who are much stronger than normal Pikmin, although they are very slow and each one counts as if ten Pikmin were on the field. In the second game, yellow Pikmin's special ability was also changed; they can no longer throw bomb-rocks, and can instead withstand electricity.

[edit] Other characters

  • Bulborbs

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

----------Category:Computer and video game franchises

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