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It should be no surprise that the 9-year gap between Pikmin 2 and Pikmin 3 led to massive visual and technical improvement. Not only does the game look better and feel smoother to play than its predecessors, but it further enables one of the best aspects of the Pikmin series: multitasking. What makes me excited about the Pikmin series is that the games aren’t necessarily iterative sequels. Each one of the games has its own unique structure that places emphasis on different aspects of the series. The first Pikmin was all about time management, Pikmin 2 focused more on combat and reacting to sticky situations, and Pikmin 3 hones in on multitasking. For full context, you can read my reviews of Pikmin and Pikmin 2.

The game begins not with our beloved Captain Olimar, but instead we follow the story of a crew of 3 new characters. Alph, Brittany, and Charlie have been tasked with searching the galaxy for a new source of food as their planet faces starvation. They crash land on Earth and lose critical ship parts that they need to get back home. As they track down the ship parts, they also discover the bounty of fruit that grows on Earth and set out to collect all the seeds that they can to revitalize their own planet.

The structure of Pikmin 3 is more objective based than its predecessors. You are often given an obvious goal to pursue whether it be tracking down a signal to a ship part or trying to rescue a crew member. There’s no looming 30-day limit like in the original Pikmin, but you do need a steady supply of fruit juice to stay alive. As you explore the world you collect fruit, partly to bring the seeds back home, but also to turn into juice for immediate nourishment. It’s more lenient than a set day limit, but I do appreciate that there was some form of time limit. Even if you’ll probably have way more fruit than you need, having that motivation to maximize every day is a good thing.

Having 3 crew members to control is just the beginning of how Pikmin 3 emphasizes multitasking. You can switch between them freely and have each character control their own horde of Pikmin. You often need to solve puzzles that require you to toss the crew across gaps or on higher up platforms. But the big addition is the “go here” functionality. When you open the map, you can click on a spot and command the character that you are controlling to walk there automatically with their horde of Pikmin. This enables the player to have all 3 characters be actively doing something and allows them to optimize for speed. You could be fighting enemies with Alph, have Charlie walk back to the base to pluck Pikmin, and have Brittany lead her horde to a new location all at the same time.

I also enjoyed the addition of both new Pikmin types. Pikmin 3 excludes the Purple and White Pikmin from Pikmin 2 and replaces them with Rock and Flying Pikmin. Not only are they adorable, but they have distinct strengths and weaknesses. Rock Pikmin can shatter crystals and do a ton of damage if thrown on an enemy, but they cannot latch onto enemies for repeated hits like other Pikmin types. Flying Pikmin can soar over terrain to carry objects and are great at dealing with airborne enemies, but they deal low damage overall. Both these new types are useful without being overwhelmingly powerful like the Purple Pikmin were.

There is also a plethora of quality-of-life improvements that make Pikmin 3 a much smoother experience than its predecessors. The Pikmin AI is much better in general and they rarely, if ever, get caught on terrain or fall off ledges. Instead of haphazardly swarming you can now use the specialized charge attack to order your Pikmin to rush at an enemy or item. But one of the bigger changes is the lock-on functionality. In previous games you constantly had to be aiming your cursor at whatever you were tossing your Pikmin at. In Pikmin 3, you can just lock onto your target and throw with confidence knowing your Pikmin would land on target.

The downside of having so many quality-of-life improvements is that it also results in the game being significantly easier than its predecessors. Without worrying about Pikmin killing themselves in frustrating fashion you can command your Pikmin with much more confidence. The charge attack makes it simple to burst down enemies quickly. The lock-on functionality makes it exceptionally easy to run circles around enemies. While I don’t think aiming should be the primary focus of a real-time strategy game, I do think it was a meaningful skill expression to keep the cursor on enemies as you kited. I’m torn on the inclusion of lock on because of this. Moreover, I feel like Pikmin 3 enemies have reduced health for whatever reason, making the game even easier. Basic enemies are just too easy to takedown and don’t pose much of a threat.

Even though regular enemies were a bit too easy, I did enjoy the dynamic boss battles that Pikmin 3 offers. They aren’t super challenging by any means, but they are fantastic spectacles with interesting arenas and mechanics. Figuring out how to exploit the boss’ weakness is an enjoyable experience, and it can be a little tense if you are running out of time during the day. Even if they are easy, I had fun with them. But if you are looking for a real challenge, you’ll have to look towards the mission mode.

The mission mode in Pikmin 3 is additional content outside of the campaign. These are timed challenges with a few variations: treasure hunt, battling enemies, and boss battles. These are specifically tailored maps that you really have to plan out routes and optimize if you want to get a platinum medal. I spent a good amount of time getting a handful of platinum medals on the treasure hunt missions. I think this was an excellent inclusion because it lets players play around with optimization, time management, and multitasking without having to replay the entire game.

Pikmin 3 is one of the best-looking games of its generation with wonderfully detailed microbiomes. It hones in on one of my favorite aspects of the Pikmin aesthetic: miniature naturescapes. Every level is like a little terrarium to explore with towering foliage, streams with lily pads to hop across, and dark caverns filled with bioluminescent plants. The visual fidelity and environmental design are absolutely superb. And I love that there is an occasional rainy day to add some ambiance even if it doesn’t have any gameplay implications.

I personally played Pikmin 3 on Nintendo Switch with the remastered Pikmin 3 Deluxe edition. Aside from being graphically enhanced, it has some gameplay changes like having a bigger whistle radius, being able to call loose Pikmin back to the ship, and the charge attack only using the Pikmin type that you have currently selected. The game originally was designed for the Wii U and made use of the gamepad for the map, but I didn’t have any frustrations with having to open the map separately. There are also some new additions such as the Piklopedia and new side stories for Olimar and Louie. Overall, this is the best way to play the game.

I don’t think Pikmin 3 is my favorite in the series. It may be because of nostalgia, but the structure of the original Pikmin was just so compelling. The tense 30-day limit to find all your critical ship parts provided a real sense of urgency. I do appreciate that Pikmin 3 did reintroduce some time limit with the juice system. The focus on multitasking and the ability to order all 3 characters at the same time is superb. And of course, Pikmin 3 is technically and visually impressive. It certainly has my favorite environments, levels, and bosses of the series thus far. I will always vividly remember riding a lily pad downstream on a rainy day as dandelions tower overhead. I can’t wait to finally give Pikmin 4 a try.

Growing up I loved Pikmin. I never beat the game until I was older, but I loved playing it nonetheless. Real-time strategy (RTS) games can be intimidating as they have steep learning curves and can brutally punish the player for mistakes. But not Pikmin. This is an approachable RTS, so much so that it’s accessible for children. Yet there were plenty of bold design decisions that shaped how Pikmin is played, and I think those risky choices ultimately are what make the game so fantastic.

You play as Captain Olimar, a funky little spaceman who crash landed on an alien planet. He only has 30 days of life support to sustain himself and you need to recover 30 missing spaceship components. Captain Olimar discovers a creature that he dubs Pikmin and he learns how to command and lead them so he can fix his ship and return home. It’s a simple premise, but there’s a few key aspects to take note of.

One of the first things that any player will notice about Pikmin is its setting. While Captain Olimar says he has landed on an alien planet, you’ll realize that the planet is only alien to him. The foliage and environmental design of Pikmin is obviously Earth from a microscopic perspective. Grass, stumps, and flowers tower over the player. Empty bottles and cardboard boxes are common obstacles. Most of the threatening fauna seem like evolved versions of common worms, flies, and ladybugs. I love this setting because it is immediately recognizable, but it does feel remarkably alien. Being scaled down makes the world feel monumentally different, and you have to learn how to survive.

A key component to survival in this alien setting is learning how to utilize Pikmin. The game frames this excellently to compliment the context of learning how to persevere in an unfamiliar environment. There are three types of Pikmin, each with their own properties and niches to understand. The world is rife with hazards such as fire, water, and of course various enemies. I love how Captain Olimar makes observations like how the Pikmin respond to the whistle, or that the blue Pikmin have gills and may be able to swim. While it seems tempting to just bring a bunch of each type of Pikmin everywhere you go for every situation, that can be a risky proposition.

I love how many subtle decisions go into playing Pikmin. You can have 100 Pikmin in your legion at any time, but controlling a big group can be massively unwieldy. It’s easy for them to get caught going through corridors, get picked off by roaming enemies, or accidentally fall into a pit of water. There’s a sort of parental instinct that kicks in when you play Pikmin, they are cute little guys who you planted and raised, there’s no way you want to risk a single death if you can help it. I often only explored with smaller groups of Pikmin so that I could always account for each and every one of them.

While the primary objective of the game is to recover ship parts, there’s a lot of preparatory work to achieve that goal. Walls need to be knocked down, bridges need to be built, you need to build up a force of Pikmin, you need to feed nectar to your Pikmin to empower them, and enemies need to be cleared out of the way. The game is a constant juggling act of small objectives, and it’s easy to feel accomplished with how quickly you progress.

Part of what fuels the rapid decision making of Pikmin is its most risky aspect: the time limit. It’s intimidating at first. 30 days to recover 30 parts. 1 part per day. And each day is only 13 minutes long. Truthfully, it’s a pretty generous limit. It’s often feasible to recover multiple parts every day, or at least make progress towards the next one. Nevertheless, the pressure of a time limit fuels the player to work quickly and attempt to multitask and make risky decisions. You can leave Pikmin to their own devices to take down walls or carry things back to base, but they are extremely vulnerable to predators. Moreover, any Pikmin left alone at the end of the day will be eaten. But if you want to get multiple parts in a day, you have to take that risk.

Time limits can often be off-putting by putting pressure on the player. But the time-crunch serves Pikmin well. You have to make decisions on the fly about what to do with your limited time. Whether it be planting new Pikmin, knocking down walls to serve as shortcuts, or just defeating enemies so they aren’t an issue for a few days, there’s always something to do. The time limit provides real tension and a sense of stake. But it isn’t oppressive as there’s an abundance of time to fully restore Olimar’s ship.

If I had to complain about something about Pikmin, itis the artificial intelligence for the Pikmin themselves. I think it’s ok that they’re kind of dumb, as it contextually makes sense. They have a symbiotic relationship with Captain Olimar. They can use their overwhelming numbers to assist him, and he can use his brain to tell them what to do and help them reproduce. But at times they are just a little too dumb. Enough to be frustrating. It’s a pain to wrangle suicidal Pikmin who got distracted by grass or nectar. Or when throwing them at enemies to engage in combat I often found that the Pikmin would prioritize picking stuff up to carry home rather than attacking. I think it’s fine that they have a one-track mind, but when they actively ignore the player’s direction it can be frustrating.

Ultimately, Pikmin expertly marries its gameplay and narrative. From the somewhat-familiar alien setting, to the learning process of commanding Pikmin, to the parental responsibility that you feel for the titular creatures, to the impending doom that the time limit imparts, the game really does put the player in the shoes of Captain Olimar. And it does all this while remaining fun and accessible for all audiences. Pikmin has always been overlooked compared to other Nintendo juggernauts such as Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda, but in my opinion it’s just as classic.

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Pikmin 3 (2013)

Pikmin (2001)