I’m finally righting a wrong and playing the original Pikmin. I’m loving it so far, but I have to say, I’m terrible at it. I screwed up my final day in my first playthrough here, so I’ll have to retry it and see if I can at least see some kind of good ending.

I’ve played Pikmin 3 but this is my first time playing the original. Part of me wants to say the third game is better, though I can absolutely make the case as to why the original is still the best. I think the time limit here actually does make the game better, and it’s just that kind of pressure that helps make the game so tense and exciting.

And I’ve now completed it! I feel like I’ve righted some great wrong in my Nintendo fandom. I’m struggling to think if there are any other Nintendo milestone games I never saw to completion.

I actually wound up playing this through twice this week. On my first attempt, I made it to day 30 but STILL missed an important ship part. This version of the game lets you rewind back to previous days in your run…but honestly that kind of felt like it defeated the purpose of the game.

Sooo, last night, I started a new game, and was surprised at how quickly I got through everything on my second try. I can definitely see how people would try to master this game. A YouTuber I saw today said his record was 7 days, and even that sounded nuts to me.

I found all the ship pieces on day 25 this time. Sadly, I lost a LOT of Pikmin. This version of the game sounds more forgiving than the original, since dead enemies can’t fall on your Pikmin and kill them, but even so…those freaking jumping guys would just get me every time. I couldn’t figure out a good rhythm for them at all.

I also never realized I could just swarm to have the Pikmin pick things up faster? Am I correct there?

This really is a great game. I can see some people being disappointed with it as a GameCube launch game, due to its length, but it really does feel a lot like Star Fox 64 in that regard. My memory is that I liked Pikmin 3 more, but I suppose a lot of people’s favorite Pikmin game is the first one they played.

I can finally scratch this one off my Gaming Bucket List (TM).

Pikmin was such a strange game for my young mind. The sound design! The Dolphin being named after the GameCube's code name! That first year of the GameCube was weird, weird. I don't think Pikmin 1 would be as fun to play today as 3 or 4, but it certainly felt alien.