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Pikmin's stranded, miniature spaceperson Olimar, you must find the missing 30 parts your spaceship needs to get you back home; these parts are scattered across a forested area that is crowded with giant (when compared to our hero's size) animals and other hazards. Olimar stumbles across the part animal, part plant, all bizarre creatures he names Pikmin, and will have to learn how to lead the Pikmin around the forest as he uses the abilities of the different coloured creatures to overcome the many obstacles in his path.
Learning when and how to make the best use of your Pikmin's skills and traits is the essence of the game. You can control up to 100 Pikmin at a time while figuring out which are best suited for a particular task. Some are better fighters, while others can survive in water or handle explosive bomb rocks. However, even the best Pikmin herder will have to sacrifice a few of the plant-headed beasts for the greater good. It's this constant need to refine and create strategies to minimise losses that makes Pikmin challenging and always fun.
For a first generation GameCube title, the graphics, sounds, and music are fantastic and show an awesome amount of detail. Though it's no Pokémon, this game should an appeal to wide-eyed younger gamers as well as seasoned veterans. The controls are intuitive and feel perfect for the standard GameCube controller; however, learning to position the camera can be a tad frustrating during some of the more tense moments, as it has only a few magnification levels and needs constant adjustment.
The biggest obstacle you face is time; you have only 30 days (each day is about 15 minutes in real time) in which to find the necessary parts. While this keeps the pace of the game up, some may find such limits to be somewhat frustrating, as it means there will be a lot of repetition and rethinking of strategy. It also means that diligent gamers may find Pikmin to be rather a short game. At the end of your gaming day, though, Pikmin is one of the best games the GameCube will have for quite some time. --Mark Brooks