Pikmin Adventure, The Nintendo Land Game Where You Are A Pikmin

Pikmin Adventure is one of the three team attractions in Nintendo Land. The player with the Wii U gamepad gets to be Captain Olimar (well, a Mii dressed as him) and the other four players are giant Pikmin.

While the core Pikmin titles are micro-management games, Pikmin Adventure is more like a beat ’em up. The four Pikmin players head bash enemies like robot Bulborbs while Captain Oli-mii throws his six tiny Pikmin. Captain Olimar can aim by tapping the spot on the Wii U gamepad where you want to throw Pikmin. If you want your Pikmin to return you can hit the whistle icon. The whistle also summons the giant Pikmin controlled by your friends, so you can throw your buddies at enemies too.

Pikmin can also whack blocks which might contain nectar. Sip three drops of nectar and your character levels up plus gets a damage boost. While three of us were racing to get nectar a Nintendo rep jokingly said you can use Olimar’s whistle to hold the other players helplessly in the air while Olimar hogs all of the nectar for himself. Fighting over nectar is one of the competitive aspects to Pikmin Adventure. The game also keeps track of how many enemies you defeat and shows the results to all of the players at the end of the level.

A big Bulborb was waiting at the end of the stage and we had to work together to defeat it. The first thing the Bulborb did was summon six small Bulborbs. The small Bulborbs attack players by ramming into them while the big boss Bulborb eats players and turns them into colorful poo. You can free another player by hitting the poo, which reminded me of hitting frozen players while fighting Urcusis in Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate. Players in Pikmin Adventure share a life bar just like The Legend of Zelda: Battle Quest. After getting hammered by the tiny Bulborbs we switched strategies and focused on the small fry enemies first then worked together to take down the boss.

Three coins fell from the sky as a reward. Coins can be used to purchase accessories and decorations to customize Nintendo Land’s amusement park. Pikmin Adventure has plenty to unlock too. The main menu shows at least ten stages and I only got to try one of them during my hands-on time.