Pikmin
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Dojo update: Lift off!
It's been just over a week since we discovered Captain Olimar would be making his presence felt in Brawl, yet already we've learned more about his capabilities and his stage (which, by the way, looks pretty great). Today, we got the skinny on his Final Smash, titled "End of Day."Grab the Smash Ball as Olimar, and night immediately sets in. As in the Pikmin games, that's the signal for the diminutive cosmonaut to head to the safety of his ramshackle spaceship, so he can take to the night sky and avoid the vicious beasts that lurk about on the ground below. Of course, his opponents won't have the same privilege, meaning they'll get chomped on by hungry Bulborbs, and suffer considerable damage in the process. There's even a spectacular coup de grâce to this Final Smash, with Olimar's ship crashing back to the stage seconds later with a bang, hurting any brawlers who are close by.Sakurai notes that End of Day won't deal as much damage in one-on-one scraps, but also points out that you're less likely to have your KO stolen in such a match (which seems pretty obvious, really, but we're not going to question the man).Anyway, that should be pretty much it for Olimar and his Pikmin chums; anybody else get the feeling that we're closing in on the end of dojo updates? We do, and this makes us sad pandas.%Gallery-10206%%Gallery-6869%
Dojo update: Distant Planet
We've already been introduced to Olimar and his Pikmin buddies and shown the kind of stuff they can pull off when working together, so today's update focuses on Olimar's stage. Predictably enough, it's the very same planet that the intrepid astronaut was forced to make an emergency landing on in the Pikmin games. It comes complete with Onions that will produce items if you throw a numbered Pellet into them, as well as some pretty inclement weather. And if you're wondering what Onions and Pellets are, we advise you go hunt down a copy of Pikmin or Pikmin 2. No, seriously, do -- you won't regret it for a moment.Incidentally, taunting a Bulborb many times your size by standing on its snout is not wise.%Gallery-10206%%Gallery-6869%
Dojo update: Getting the most from your Pikmin
It appears that Olimar in Brawl is pretty much the same as Olimar in the Pikmin games: helpless without his loyal, plant-based cohorts. It also transpires that he's going to be the fighter of choice for those who like to think a bit more strategically.Case in point: as in Pikmin 2, Olimar will be able to pluck five different types of Pikmin from the ground, all of which are imbued with different qualities. Red Pikmin have high attack powers, and are fire-resistant. Yellow Pikmin have a longer attack range, electrical attacks, and travel in an arc when thrown (perhaps useful for taller targets?). Blue Pikmin are generally more durable, while the heavyset Purple Pikmin have strong, body-slamming attacks, but are slow, and don't fly very far when thrown. Finally, the creepy White Pikmin can poison enemies. All of which is admirably faithful to the wonderful Pikmin games.You can have up to six Pikmin following you about when they're not being tossed onto enemies, and laying into them with their tiny plant fists. Whichever Pikmin is at the front of the line is the one you'll use next (so here, you'll attack with a Red Pikmin), and you can recall the lot of them by pressing down on the d-pad. Of course, the Pikmin serve other uses beside attacking, and it's at this point that we must reserve a special mention for the excellent Pikmin Chain, a potentially life-saving maneuver, as well as simply being an amusing sight.As unconventional as he sounds, does anybody here think they may warm to the idea of using Olimar? %Gallery-10206%%Gallery-6869%
Dojo update: Pikmin and Olimar join the cast
And here we thought no new playable characters were going to get revealed, what with the game only weeks away and all. But, that is not the case, as Olimar from Nintendo's Pikmin joins the roster today. As you'd imagine, he utilizes the small creatures from the game in which he stars as his allies in combat, dependent upon them for a lot of his attacks, including his Final Smash.Check out some screens of Olimar in action below.%Gallery-10206%%Gallery-6869%
Pikmin and Captain Olimar join the Smash Bros. Brawl cast
FINALLY, some new and interesting information arrives on the official Smash Bros. Brawl blog, this time announcing Pikmin's Captain Olimar as a playable character. According to the blog, Olimar fights by plucking Pikmin from the ground, and most of his attacks are done indirectly through the adorable little creatures.Olimar brings the number of new characters announced in Brawl up to an even twelve, equal to the number of veteran fighters announced. With everything all neat and tidy, could this be the last announced character for the game before its release? Do we have more secret characters to look forward to once the game is out, or has Nintendo gone and spoiled all the fun? We'll find out soon enough.
A year of Wii: The PAL verdict
Being a devotee of Nintendo in a PAL region is probably a bit like marriage (I'd urge you to stick with me here, because I've thought this analogy through for at least four minutes). For years, you slog away at the relationship, mildly irritated by the other person's foibles and imperfections, like that weird bumpy mole on their back, or how they noisily slurp soup, or how they insist on playing nothing but Keane during long car journeys.Then every so often, you have your disputes, arguing about the merits of Magnolia Eggshell and Cream Eggshell in the aisle of Lowe's. And sometimes, these disagreements might build up to something bigger in your mind, begin to fester, and perhaps you occasionally think, "Is this it? Is this the rest of my life?" But then, something strange happens -- every so often, the other person does something really fantastic, something that reminds you exactly why you got hitched in the first place, and why you settled on this individual as your soul mate. And suddenly, everything is well with the world, or at least until it's soup night again.The point of this long-winded comparison being: as a gamer in the UK, that pretty much sums up my relationship with Nintendo. For years now, PAL region gamers have often been treated fairly shabbily by Nintendo. I'll freely admit it doesn't take much too rile us -- we hardcore types are notoriously tough to please -- though Nintendo doesn't always help itself. Its insistence that we receive games or hardware late, or not at all, or borked ... well it's just plain infuriating is what it is. The prices, as well, leave a lot to be desired. And totally rad free gifts? Yea, forget about those.
Collect scattered pieces of clay, make Pikmin
Oh how we miss you, dearly departed GameCube.As you can see above (well, we hope you know what they are), the homage to Miyamoto-designed Pikmin characters Captain Olimar and the bunch plucks all of our heart strings. Would we ever like to see a third entry in the series for the Wii? Who cares what we want? Would you like a third entry in the series, or do you think it's already run its course?
Nintendo trademarks Body Controller, others
Nintendo has registered a few new trademarks (via CVG) in Japan that, quite frankly, will do nothing more than cause rampant speculation. We will list them here along with our own, ill-informed thoughts on the future of the product name: Wii Body Controller, the oft-discussed hula-hoop attachment Wii Handle: we're pulling out our dictionaries for the second definition of handle, a screen name. No, Nintendo wouldn't do that, we're actually guessing it's some sort of barbell attachment for Wii Weightlifting. Nintendo Magic: a game that prints money, obviously. Mii Audition: it's kind of like the Everybody Votes channel ... except the winner is probably the avatar that looks most like a penis. Soma Bringer: CVG tells us this is some kind of noodle. Could Nintendo be entering the culinary business? Will Mario be getting a new power-up? O, the anticipation! Additionally, Nintendo has renewed the Pikmin trademark -- and though the quirky game seems perfectly fit for the Wii and is no doubt in development, we're pretty sure Nintendo would have renewed its ownership regardless of current plans.
Nintendo registers new trademarks in Japan
Nintendo of Japan seems to have registered a few new trademarks, which makes for some interesting speculation for fans everywhere. Some are just plain strange (like Soma Bringer), while others seem pretty easy to figure out. Could the "Wii Body Controller" be the official name for the Wii Fit balance board? Mii Contest Channel is about as clear as Pikmin ... except we really want the latter and think the former is interesting, but not froth-worthy.Here's the full list: Mii Contest Channel Nintendo Magic Wii Body Controller Mii Audition Wii Handle Pikmin (trademark protection renewed) Soma Bringer We can only assume that Nintendo Magic is the game of the same title that was announced for English-speaking gamers at E3, though that game was known as Magic Taizen in Japan. Does Nintendo make it a practice to trademark all title variations in all regions?[Via NeoGAF]
Wii Warm Up: Yeah, that's the ticket
The following tale of Wii accessories is true. And by true, we mean false. It's all lies. But they're entertaining lies. And in the end, isn't that the real truth? The answer ... is no.While Nintendo generally makes a profit on every system sold, each Wiimote actually costs over six hundred dollars to produce. On top of that, Nintendo has to maintain an active connection with each controller-- the Wiimote works by sending extremely sensitive GPS data to Nintendo, who then calculates the approximate movement relative to their Wiimote-tracking satellite, and transmits the information to the Wii via an experimental super-high-speed long-range wireless Internet connection. Oh, and also NiGHTS 2 is going to be a pachinko game.We didn't feel like discussing real aspects of the Wii today. We do that every day. No, we just want to make stuff up. Let's discuss the really interesting things that are going on in the world of Wii-- the things that aren't actually going on.
The Joystiq Weekend: March 3 - 4, 2007
What depresses us is not the loss of Pikmin, but of the cat after he swallows the poison variant. Then again, the thought of pastel pests jumping all over our feline friend is very amusing. Here are the highlights for this weekend: JoystiqueryJapanese hardware sales, Feb. 19 - Feb. 25: never say noir editionToday's hottest video: New Battlefield teaserWeekly Webcomic Wrapup: poison mushroom editionNewsAP ignores Paris, who should we ignore?S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl goes G.O.L.D.Planetside monthly subscription going up by $2First ever HD South Park episode for free on Xbox Live MarketplaceIn defense of the "PlayStation generation"Pepsi taps into today's culture with ... pinball?Trippy Flash game To-Suta involves flying toasters, rainbowsRumors & SpeculationPlayStation 2: thriving or failing?Culture & CommunityGive us these DS games ... or else!Zelda music nails the golden ratioStudent Postmortem with DigiPen's TobloPokemon Online taunts Nintendo's lawyers
Elebits retail gameplay video and impressions
Gamebrink has posted some videos and impressions of the Japanese retail version of Elebits, which launched with the system in Japan but doesn't debut in North America until next week. The final game looks a lot tighter than the E3 demo, which saw the tiny electrical creatures practically leaping out of every available surface. The retail version looks more like a restrained game of hide-and-seek, with players searching every nook and cranny for the occasional Elebit or power up.Wider opinions on the game have been mixed, but GameBrink found the gameplay "extremely satisfying" and compared the experience to the likes of Pikmin and Katamari Damacy. Does the title have what it takes to become the next sleeper hit out of Japan? Decide for yourself by viewing the following videos.
