Pikmin is a Real-time strategy series with 5 different games ranging between multiple consoles with even a mobile app. It is a fascinating franchise I never really paid attention to until the year 2023, in which once I played the demo to Pikmin 4, I was addicted. Buying the game on day 1 and 100%ing the game in less than a month proved that I was starting to get obsessed with pikmin. Then after playing through that game with a regular + no deaths run, I decided to begin Pikmin 1 and it was haaard. And so begins the shrine from a beginner's point of view (me.)
Okay so Pikmin 1, you are on a 30 day time limit before Olimar DIES, he discovers the pikmin, red blue yellow, and goes through the land to hunt for his missing ship parts. Olimar is a father of 2 kids, a little doggie woggie named bulbie that he names the bulborbs after, and a wife that loves jewelery a little too much. The gameplay is a mix between early 2000s jank and yet can still be satisfying to DANDORI RIGHT! The ai of the pikmin in this game are super dumb, do not let any of your pikmin near a puddle of water, they will ALL die. I love the older graphics and how dark the game actually is, I love the music, I especially love the silly little pikmin's animation. Overall, it's decent nowadays but I am still very into Pikmin 1, but.... there is another Gamecube Pikmin game... one with the 2 best characters
THE LOUIE-ING (Pikmin 2 Part 1)
Pikmin 2.... It's... amazing... If you thought pikmin 2 was going to be like the first then you are WAY WRONG! Pikmin 2 is a collectathon, with more areas to go to and instead a ship to fix, we need to fix the company's debt! Collecting treasure is the main gimmick of the game, you can also play for as long as you want since Olimar and Louie won't die. Oh yeah, Louie, I'll get back to that. There are now two new types of pikmin, White and Purple pikmin, purples are absolutely broken in this game so use them to stun the enemy completely! The AI this time around is smarter, pikmin will actually stay on bridges now and are less likely to gleefully run into their deaths (specifically water). You also get emails at the end of the day where the president talks about being homeless but he's chill with it. Don't get too attached to Louie after you repay your debt because...
Louie, the idea, VS Louie, the man. (Pikmin 2 Part 2)
When you repay your debt, Olimar blasts off back to his company's home planet, Hocotate. Sounds nice but HE FORGOT LOUIE! Louie is, a weird guy, he eats bugs and he's a little suspicious... The President made Louie go with Olimar in the first place because Louie lost all of the carrots he was supposed to transport due to a "space bunny" and it caused the company to go into debt. Olimar doesn't pay too much mind to Louie until once they complete the debt and Olimar blasts back to Hocotate on his ship, and then forgot Louie. So now with Louie on Earth, getting to kill as many bugs as he wants, he shall become the king of bugs! Olimar and the president come back to Earth right after and spend the rest of the game on the hunt for Louie. They don't know that Louie has gained control of a Titan Dweevil, the final boss of Pikmin 2 and the beginning of Louie's true antagonist role in the franchise as he'll be a important villain in both Pikman 3 AND 4!
This may all be awful but...there's a sad story about Louie. In the emails in the original release of Pikmin 2, removed in the ports, is a story from Louie's granny talking about the abuse she did to Louie. He was forced to eat bugs by his Granny, really explains why he eats basically anything he could get his hands on. This leads to the truth of the lost carrots, he ate it all. Yeah. God damnit Louie, you're my favorite Nintendo character, best character ever. This paragraph about Louie isn't enough to explain how funny this guy is.
