Plot. Olimar is flying in space on his new ship, the S.S. Dolphin II, when he hits an asteroid and crash-lands on an unknown planet. He learns that in order to bring his ship back in working order, he must collect 30,000 of the substance known as Sparklium.

The Pikmin games focus on exploring an Earth-like planet named PNF-404, and controlling a crowd of the titular Pikmin. Pikmin are intelligent, loyal, multicolored, plant-animal hybrids that follow the orders of their leader.

Pikmin are tiny, mysterious plant-like animals. In this world, they have been transformed into Seedlings and are dormant. Your goal is to return Pikmin to their original form and make this world where Pikmin thrive.

Pikmin (sometimes written as Hey! PIKMIN) is a spin-off game in the Pikmin series, released in 2017 for the Nintendo 3DS.

If you haven't played a Pikmin game before, you might be surprised to learn that the series can get quite dark. Sure, it stars a bunch of adorable plant-like beings - the titular pikmin - who navigate a huge world full of similarly cute creatures.

It's sweltering outside, which is perfect weather for staying indoors and firing up a fun video game for the whole family. Nintendo's Pikmin 4, available on the Nintendo Switch on July 21, is the kind of game we haven't seen a lot of this year: something safe for kids that doesn't feel too simple for adults.

The selling point is the gameplay. This is Nintendo's real-time strategy game series and it's the first brand new Pikmin game in over 10 years. At the start of your day, you have to explore the area as much as possible before the sun goes down. Give or take, about 20–30 minutes.

You can use your Pikmin to carry treasure back to your base, battle creatures, assist with growing more Pikmin, and find new paths by smashing walls or building bridges. You will also come across underground caves that have interesting contraptions and puzzles to figure out.

Pikmin are plants and plants have no gender. Originally, older generations of Pikmin stuck to a sort of brother-ship, with primarily male and gender neutral archetypes overtaking the pikmin population. Later generations began to adopt more Human culture, and many Pikmin began to consider themselves male or female.

Again, Pikmin as a family-friendly horror game isn't entirely new as a concept. It's been there, at least in small doses, since the very beginning.

Pikmin 4 is mostly a puzzle game with a bit of action here and there.

Pikmin 4 is positive in that it encourages strategy and tactics, as you aim to stay alive on a hostile planet and can be played by kids aged 10 and up for its cartoon-like presentation.

The one stumbling block for younger kids is that characters talk with each other and with you in an alien language, so you have to rely on subtitles to follow the action. Kids will also need some help navigating the menus and tutorials before they'll be able to spend time with Pikmin 4 unattended.

Yellow Pikmin are the best of the best, and this is why: in the original game, they were the only type that could carry bomb rocks. That changed in Pikmin 2, but instead, they gained the ability to resist and conduct electricity.

Another possible explanation for the missing members of humanity is the quickly changing tectonic plates that PNF-404 seems to show. Across the first two games of the Pikmin series, the continent's placement and shape seem to be exceptionally close to that of a modern-day Earth.

Great game for kids-but be careful You also collect small creatures called Pikmin, which you can send on expeditions to obtain out-of-reach items and “seedlings”, which when they're planted in the character's backpack, sprout into Pikmin after a set amount of steps.