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Hey! Pikmin |OT| Hey! Listen! Now you can hear Pikmin dying wherever you go!

TheMoon

Member
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Graphics by Kindekuma! Big thanks!​
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Developed by: Arzest
Published by: Nintendo
Platform: Nintendo 3DS
Release Dates: July 13, 2017 (JP) | July 28, 2017 (NA/PAL)
Genre: 2D Dual-Screen Exploration Puzzler aka Pikmin Pocket Murder Sim
Stereoscopic 3D: No
amiibo: Yes
New Nintendo 3DS enhanced: no? (game runs a little better)
Multiplayer: No
Demo: Yes (EU) | (NA) |
eShop download file size in blocks: ????? blocks
Game Download/Official Site: Europe | North America | Japan
Game manual PDF: English | Japanese
Reviews: Here
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Guess what! Olimar got shipwrecked again! No way, you say? Yes way! And he meets Pikmin on this curiously unexplored planet! And he has to collect random trash from the world to repair his ship! 30k Sparklium Seeds are needed to fix up his trash can of a ship. Wowza. Are you up for this? Ready to get the death wails of the cute little carrot creatures stuck in your ears again as you flail them at blobby bugs and whatever environmental hazards you might come across? Then buckle up!
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Okay, get this. It's basically Pikmin in 2D but without the crazy multitasking and oh my stars, the sun is setting! It's a sidescrolling, two-screen-spanning, touch-controlled, linear level-based exploration puzzle game with some mild platforming thrown in for good measure. Bite-sized levels, lots of stuff to collect, wildlife to avoid, you know the drill.

You play this on the bottom-screen, by the way. With the touch-screen. Yup, like a DS game. Stuff happens spanning both screens, hence no 3D!

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This is your squad.
Red Pikmin, likes it hot, fights dirty.
Yellow Pikmin, likes to get high, digs the electric bogaloo.
Blue Pikmin, never gets sad, loves to bathe in your salty tears.
Rock Pikmin, smash.
Flying Pikmin, they so fly.

Olimar whistles when he wants his little moneymakers to come back and hand over their profits.

Any of them you bring home after a hard day's work will hang out in your Pikmin Park and literally dig for more scraps. They love it.

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If you pause the game during a stage and tap the Pikmin amiibo (Pikmin series), you can call in reinforcements to even the odds! If you level up the Pikmin amiibo by bringing more of your colorful new friends to the Pikmin Park, you can call up to 20 additional little helpers during a stage.
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You can call in more Pikmin to help Captain Olimar on his adventure by using the Olimar amiibo (Smash Bros. Series)! If you pause the game during a stage and tap the Olimar amiibo, you can call up to four additional Pikmin.

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You can tap amiibo from the Super Mario Collection, Splatoon Collection and Animal Crossing Collection on the world map to unlock statues to collect during bonus levels. You'll receive 200 Sparklium Seeds for each statue you collect!

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Lift-Off Trailer
Introduction Trailer
Launch Trailer (NA)
Launch Trailer (EU)
Helper Trailer

Item Log Description Compilation Project
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Megatron

Member
I didn't love the demo, and it comes the week AFTER my long flights to Switzerland, so I will probably pass. I will listen to the feedback though.
 

maxcriden

Member
Great OT, my friend, thanks for your hard work, but terrible terrible cruel vile title (and the other bit I just saw). -___- (as you knew I'd say)
 

Zonic

Gives all the fucks
I look forward to playing this after paying only $6ish thanks to the Amazon Prime Day glitch.

How many amiibo work with the game? They made it seem like a good majority work/let you collect an in-game version, or you can get a random one via the Pikmin amiibo.
 

TheMoon

Member
I look forward to playing this after paying only $6ish thanks to the Amazon Prime Day glitch.

How many amiibo work with the game? They made it seem like a good majority work/let you collect an in-game version, or you can get a random one via the Pikmin amiibo.

Why don't you look at the amiibo section in the OP :)

Mario, AC, Splat series.
 

Zonic

Gives all the fucks
Ah, okay. Nintendo's amiibo site mentioned other amiibo like Fire Emblem & Pokemon, so I wasn't sure if they were a random bonus or actually added every amiibo to collect in-game.

I look forward to reading the descriptions for them.
 

TheMoon

Member
Ah, okay. Nintendo's amiibo site mentioned other amiibo like Fire Emblem & Pokemon, so I wasn't sure if they were a random bonus or actually added every amiibo to collect in-game.

I look forward to reading the descriptions for them.

haven't seen that about the other ones. they're probably just sparklething money drops or whatever and not in-game figures. fluff basically.
 

TheMoon

Member
No 3D? Could have looked awesome.

I surprises me that this keeps surprising people. This is a two-screen game, you play it on the bottom screen. Everything is touch-based. How would you even make use of 3D? Do you want to glance upwards at a thing the pikmin are carrying and have your eyes adjust to 3D every time you do that, then look back down for the majority of the time to play the actual thing? There is no scenario in which this game having 3D support would make any kind of sense. Unless it were a different game, of course. Designed as a single-screen game played on the top-screen with buttons only.
 
I surprises me that this keeps surprising people. This is a two-screen game, you play it on the bottom screen. Everything is touch-based. How would you even make use of 3D? Do you want to glance upwards at a thing the pikmin are carrying and have your eyes adjust to 3D every time you do that, then look back down for the majority of the time to play the actual thing? There is no scenario in which this game having 3D support would make any kind of sense. Unless it were a different game, of course. Designed as a single-screen game played on the top-screen with buttons only.

Ah, thanks for the info. Wasn't aware that you play on the bottom screen. Gonna download the demo and try it out.
 

Zonic

Gives all the fucks
haven't seen that about the other ones. they're probably just sparklething money drops or whatever and not in-game figures. fluff basically.
Aaah, okay. That's what I was confused about. Considering I'm at 80 amiibo, I didn't want to have to figure out which ones gave me new items to collect & which were just the random drops.
 

GeekyDad

Member
Hmph...guess I wasn't paying close enough attention. I didn't realize there was no 3D in the game. Side-scrolling games (especially this one, since the backgrounds appear to be hand-drawn), to me, seem to be the perfect fit for the 3D effect. Ah well...still looks cute and fun. Will likely check it out.
 

Zonic

Gives all the fucks
Considering most of the gameplay is on the bottom screen, I understand why there's no 3D.

Is there any reward/point for clearing levels without having any of your pikmin die? I didn't seem to get any bonus aside from a little gold icon on the stage icon.
 

maxcriden

Member
Considering most of the gameplay is on the bottom screen, I understand why there's no 3D.

Is there any reward/point for clearing levels without having any of your pikmin die? I didn't seem to get any bonus aside from a little gold icon on the stage icon.

So far just the gold icon from what I've seen. I'm liking these
alternate exits
and
secret areas
, though.

Unfortunately, the poor performance is pretty notable on my OG 3DS and I'm not one usually aware of such things. It's nothing like the .gifs in the OT, that's for sure.
 

Zonic

Gives all the fucks
Bummer, if you find a hidden exit, you still have to go back & clear the stage the normal way in order to progress.

I also think you can only scan amiibo after certain stages are cleared. I beat the 2nd stage & 2 amiibo icons appeared on the stage, but once they're cleared, I couldn't scan anymore.

I got 10 sparklium for scanning a "non-compatible" amiibo, but you can only scan 1 per day, I guess as to not break the game. But what sucks is that it seems you need very specific versions of characters. For example, I have 3 Marios, 1 SSB & the two pixel ones, but I don't have the one from the Super Mario line, meaning I'll have to earn him randomly by scanning the Pikmin amiibo (which I recall will randomly let you earn an amiibo replica as to let you earn them all without having to buy the amiibo you don't have)
 

TheMoon

Member
Hmph...guess I wasn't paying close enough attention. I didn't realize there was no 3D in the game. Side-scrolling games (especially this one, since the backgrounds appear to be hand-drawn), to me, seem to be the perfect fit for the 3D effect. Ah well...still looks cute and fun. Will likely check it out.

This might enlighten you in that regard:

I surprises me that this keeps surprising people. This is a two-screen game, you play it on the bottom screen. Everything is touch-based. How would you even make use of 3D? Do you want to glance upwards at a thing the pikmin are carrying and have your eyes adjust to 3D every time you do that, then look back down for the majority of the time to play the actual thing? There is no scenario in which this game having 3D support would make any kind of sense. Unless it were a different game, of course. Designed as a single-screen game played on the top-screen with buttons only.
 

Zonic

Gives all the fucks
So is there no icon for beating #-X stages with all Pikmin alive? I'm pretty sure I didn't lose any, but got no indicator like the other stages.

Edit: Oh, maybe it was because the pikmin # was greyed out, so perhaps that was the reason.
 

maxcriden

Member
So is there no icon for beating #-X stages with all Pikmin alive? I'm pretty sure I didn't lose any, but got no indicator like the other stages.

Edit: Oh, maybe it was because the pikmin # was greyed out, so perhaps that was the reason.

So there is no indicator on those stages?
 

Zonic

Gives all the fucks
I'll go back & check, I think the game only counts it if they're all actually together. I still got 16 Pikmin for the park, which was the same amount I had in the stage, but I guess since the number was greyed out/they were separated(?), it didn't count.

So this is slightly annoying. There's a "retry stage" option for the main stages, but not the Secret Spots. Even worse, if you try to earn a replica of an amiibo you scanned, IT'S GONE IF YOU EXIT THE STAGE.

Now thankfully, you can rescan the amiibo, but that's just annoying, especially when it's for a difficult Secret Spot & need to retry because you lost the Pikmin required to lift the object. Though it seems secret spots can spawn more than one amiibo, so just stick with the first world & its super easy stages to earn 200 sparklings for each amiibo you collect.

Scanning the Pikmin amiibo, it seems you need to earn a set of 5 replicas (no idea if it's random) before you can use the Pikmin amiibo to earn a new set of 5.

Edit: So it's 5 amiibo per "sector", but I don't know if that includes the ones you've already unlocked via already having the amiibo.
 

kubus

Member
So is there no icon for beating #-X stages with all Pikmin alive? I'm pretty sure I didn't lose any, but got no indicator like the other stages.

Edit: Oh, maybe it was because the pikmin # was greyed out, so perhaps that was the reason.
The requirements for the gold icon for stages is:
- Find and "recruit" all 20 Pikmin hidden in the stage
- Have none of them die, bringing them all safely to the exit

So if you only found 16 Pikmin and brought them safely to the exit, that's not enough to get the gold icon.
 

Zonic

Gives all the fucks
Yeah, I realized that as I replayed the stage, didn't get the final 4 Pikmin.

Also noticed that the boss stages have the same requirement. At least you don't have to replay an entire stage & redo all the puzzles just because of ONE Pikmin getting eaten.
 

maxcriden

Member
The requirements for the gold icon for stages is:
- Find and "recruit" all 20 Pikmin hidden in the stage
- Have none of them die, bringing them all safely to the exit

So if you only found 16 Pikmin and brought them safely to the exit, that's not enough to get the gold icon.

Yeah, I realized that as I replayed the stage, didn't get the final 4 Pikmin.

Also noticed that the boss stages have the same requirement. At least you don't have to replay an entire stage & redo all the puzzles just because of ONE Pikmin getting eaten.

Thanks to you both for this info! It's a bit odd to me that the game doesn't seem to let you know this (unless I missed it).
 

Zonic

Gives all the fucks
It seems the real challenge is doing a no-death run for all the stages, especially if you get all 3 treasures at the same time. If you just blast through the level without bothering to search around, then yeah, this game will be very easy.

Granted, so far, most of the stages have been easy keeping all pikmin alive & finding all 3 treasures, but there was a few stages it took a few tries because I tried to figure out the best timing for the bigger enemies.
 
Thanks to you both for this info! It's a bit odd to me that the game doesn't seem to let you know this (unless I missed it).

I think it only really becomes apparent /informally tells you when you achieve it. It kind of points put what you did at the result screen then you get your gold thing. I've only got one left so far :(

Played a bunch today, what a wonderful chill game, really nice for winding down and relaxing with. All the visuals and sound effects feel very authentic. I actually grabbed the new theme to go with my new 2ds, give it full fresh coat of paint kind of thing and I love that every time I open the console, I get Olimar's "Hey!". The log entries are absolutely hilarious. I spent ages scanning in my compatible Amiibo just to see what their files say. The title for Lottie is brilliant.
 
Played this for over the past hour and...yeah, I'm in love. Really amazing how this is by a different development team and yet they nailed that chill, ambient feel from the original series. Title Theme and Brilliant Garden's Map theme are bliss.

The Pikmin antics are also very charming. Smart of Arzest to skip them upon revisiting levels, too.

I can spot a couple nitpicks here and there (what's up with Pikmin not having eyes in Pikmin Park?), but so far it's about the same quality I expected, so I'm certain to enjoy it down the road.

Just one question: how do you log enemies? So far, it's unlike Pikmin 2 where they don't get in simply by encountering/defeating them.
 

1upsuper

Member
I'm having a really hard time deciding whether to get this. I'm a huuuuuuuge Pikmin fan. But Arzest has yet to impress me, and I've heard the level design is middling. But I kinda feel like I should pick it up just cuz it's more Pikmin...
 

Zonic

Gives all the fucks
Just one question: how do you log enemies? So far, it's unlike Pikmin 2 where they don't get in simply by encountering/defeating them.
Earn 10,000 Sparklings. Each milestone you reach will earn you a new reward, like more HP or the enemy database.
 

Zonic

Gives all the fucks
Weird, so I did everything there is to do in Sector 2, but it's not letting me scan the Pikmin amiibo to earn more replicas. Just continues to tell me "you cannot use that amiibo in this sector right now"

I unlocked another space with Inkling Girl since it was part of the 5 that were random in the first sector, but still nothing. Maybe tomorrow, I'll have to scan one I've already done, then I can use the Pikmin amiibo to unlock another 5 more.
 
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