Today’s entry is less about me running the memory tap on full blast about something from child hood, but more of a suggestion for a wonderful game(s) for you to acquaint yourself with over the colder side of winter.
If you’re reading this on a browser that can background Youtube then here below is the very winter-esque music to put on in the background taken from the featured stage of this article.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUT6OtEiy6Q
To the general gaming masses, Pikmin comes as a very refreshing franchise when compared to it’s video game peers.
At least unless you’re an avid PC gamer, or a player who’s long served their time within gaming and loves strategy games of yore…
See Pikmin is a real time strategy game, for consoles. This in itself is a rarity. You can equate this partly because PC’s are far better suited for miscro managing numerous things at once (through mouse clicks and quick keyboard commands), and I’d assume market research shows that strategy games have an audience, but not big enough an audience for every games developer to feel the need to give the genre a try.
Well thanks to Shigeru Miyamoto and his very creative way of thinking he managed to take his real life affection for gardening and run with that notion and thus find the roots for the game Pikmin, and landing Nintendo with yet another critically acclaimed franchise and universe of characters, and in the process open a lot of new gamers eyes to a strategy game, were perhaps once before they’d of never look into it.
Furthermore. Miyamoto and the Nintendo EAD team managed to make controlling these games on a Gamecube controller a relatively easy task, which would make or break this type of game.
Controlling the tiny little plant creatures known as Pikmin, traversing the worlds from the perspective of such minuscule characters and overcoming numerous puzzles is a constantly engaging experience. You can’t help but start to feel an attachment to your Pikmin helpers too. Whilst they can be quite disposable in theory, it is to your best advantage to keep as many of them alive as possible.
Pikmin 2 starts off with the snowy “Valley of Repose” stage as your setting which is why it’s made this “Winter in Gaming” daily feature. Speaking more candidly though. I’ve not played a Pikmin game in quite some time. Writing this article is making me feel bad for that, but at the same time I feel super keen on replaying the Pikmin series again (all 3) once I’ve tackled some other games on my current agenda.
I can only speak for myself, but personally I always find it so much more invigorating when talking to open minded gamers. Sure I can hold a great conversation with someone who just wants to talk about FPS games if need be, but appreciating the games industry for it’s broad coverage of genres is a much better way for you to get fulfillment and enlightenment out of your gaming hobby. I feel the same way about movies, music, and reading too.
Anyway. If you still own a Nintendo Gamecube or Nintendo Wii you can get both the first 2 Pikmin games either in their original Gamecube format, or the “New Play Control” ports for Wii.
The New Play Control ports allow you to use pointer controls which a lot of people now prefer (given that it more closely resembles the pointing aspects of a mouse for selecting specific things). You can also download the first 2 games in their Wii editions on a Nintendo WiiU. Thankfully due to multiple availability the Pikmin games aren’t too pricey.
To play the third installment you’ll need a WiiU, although I wouldn’t be too surprised if it somehow found it’s way onto the upcoming Nintendo Switch console (along with any future installments).
Long story short. Find a means to play Pikmin. Make yourself a warm hot chocolate or a cup of tea, get comfortable, and please enjoy the game.