by jester-race » 04 May 2012 19:25
Hey all,
A little while ago, I was getting real excited about the possibility of seeing Pikmin 3 at E3 this year (as I do every year) and so I ended up with this list of things that I truly expect to see in Pikmin 3. With a few small exceptions, these aren't my original ideas. Instead, these are things that, if they were not included to some degree, I'd be a little bit disappointed.
All three of the original pikmin return
I’d prefer if the whites and purples also returned, but it would be O.K. if they were sort of “special” and exclusive to Pikmin 2.
The main story should be 2-player co-op.
Versus mode from Pikmin 2 should return with more features and online play. Without online play, I won’t get to experience it much.
Entirely new areas: It was neat in Pikmin 2 when you realize that the areas are the very same as the ones in the first game, however this would not be as exciting the second time around. I’m confident that the areas will be new. I understand the need for/advantage of a relatively small number of main areas compared to many other games out there, but it would be cool if Pikmin 3 had 5-7 full-sized over-worlds instead of just 4.
Dungeons must return: Randomly-generated areas are awesome and make Pikmin 2 a lot of fun to re-play.
As much as I loved the caves in Pikmin 2 though, I would like it if Pikmin 3’s progression made it necessary to spend more time above ground compared to Pikmin 2. This could be done by making the maps even bigger (possibly with two different landing sites).
I want to see lots of new enemies with a wide variety of shapes and sizes. Pikmin 2 had scores more than the first game did, and I loved it. However, I hope that there are less colour-swap enemies (such as the bulborbs and the dweevils).
Piklopedia: Bring it back! It could be better organized. Allow players to sort them by family, number, alphabetical, number of them killed, number of pikmin lost to them, etc. The already-familiar creatures should have entirely new/updated entries. The Wii U controller would make sorting and searching a breeze.
Olimar’s journal: This is very important to me. Like Pikmin 2, I want Pikmin 3 to have lots and lots of notes to read. I want Olimar’s character to be the same as he was in Pikmin 2: self-indulgent, endlessly curious, funny without knowing it, a dreamer, etc.
SS Dolphin: I really want it to return in some way. It only has one seat, so maybe it’ll be some post-main-game thing, like the President in the Whistful Wild. Or maybe the second pilot (assuming that there is one) will have his own ship and his own landing site.
High production: I want this thing to shine. It started as a Wii game, but I really hope it doesn’t look like it. It’s got to get the attention of people who may not normally care about a new Pikmin game.
Music: I don’t expect or even want anything on Super Mario Galaxy’s scale. After all, Pikmin is all about small-scale. I’d like the music to really stand out. Boss fights are a great opportunity for some more epic tunes. It would be cool if each boss had its own theme too.
Something scary: Pikmin had the Smoky Progg and Pikmin 2 had the Waterwraith. What will scare the pants off of players this time?
Using the Wii U’s screen: There are many interesting things that could be done with this controller, but one thing that I am nearly positive will be a feature is the ability to somehow tune your whistle to a particular pikmin type. If the screen has icons of each pikmin type’s face, perhaps you can touch them to highlight them. When highlighted, your whistle will only call these types. This would make it much easier to sort pikmin. Ideally, there would be a button to quickly tune your whistle to all types.
Easter eggs: Pikmin 1 had a few (such as the fireworks display) and Pikmin 2 had many (20,20,20,20,20 song, “mysterious insects”, beady long legs in the Perplexing Pool ever third day, unmarked spectralids appearing in the Piklopedia & landing on Mamutas, etc)