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A few weeks ago Jim Sterling wrote an article about why Dynasty Warriors is the greatest videogame series ever. It was an interesting feature, but I had to chuckle at the glaring typo in the headline: Obviously Mr. Sterling meant to type “Why Dynasty Warriors is the second greatest videogame series ever,” as Pikmin is easily the first.

Back in December 2001, when I anxiously ran into my local Ideal Buy to purchase the brand new, just released Nintendo GameCube, I had only one game on my mind: Luigi’s Mansion. As I ran past the Linkin Park CDs and DVD duplicates of Shrek to reach the videogame section, I noticed something odd: Sitting there quietly next to Luigi’s Mansion was a strange little GameCube game called Pikmin.

Being the giant Nintendo fan(boy) I am, I had most definitely heard of Pikmin, but I wasn’t really sure what it was about. And, honestly, the tiny I knew about it didn’t really appeal to me. Lucky for me, my impulsive tendency to purchase anything made by Nintendo took over; I picked up Pikmin and whisked it home.

Hours later, my gaming life changed forever. Pikmin sucked me into its over-sized, nature-themed world big time. And I’m so happy it did.

Even though there have only been two games in the series (with a third one on the way!), Pikmin and its sequel are easily two of the most original, creative, and flat-out amusing videogames of all time. Find out why after the jump.

It’s Miyamoto latest, greatest IP

Sure, Miyamoto had a hand in current Wii hits The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Super Mario Galaxy, but Miyamoto’s last great, original IP is the Pikmin series. And before you start yelling at me, yes, I know he designed Wii Fit and Wii Music as well. You must have missed when I said last great creation.

I kid, I kid.

Wii Fit and Wii Music are most definitely interesting experiments, but as games they leave little to be desired. Pikmin is a completely original IP with some of the most addictive and one-of-a-kind gameplay ever featured in a videogame.

The more I play the Pikmin games (and, boy, have I played them a lot) the more I realize how totally ingenious their design is. Pikmin is a true testament to stunning game design and the perfect example of why Miyamoto is the greatest videogame designer of all time. Yes, I said it (with no hesitation): of all time.

The gameplay is delightfully varied and surprisingly deep

I’m making sure to set a limit on myself from typing too much in this section of the article since I could go on for pages about how astonishing the gameplay in Pikmin is. I’ll try my best to hold back and not ramble on too much.

Like I’m doing right now.

Dag.

Okay, focus.

For people unfamiliar with Pikmin, the original game stars an astronaut from space named Olimar that crash lands on a mysterious planet populated by little creatures called Pikmin. After exploring the crash site, Olimar learns that these loyal Pikmin will do anything he states and obey his every order. Using this to his advantage, Olimar sets off on a quest around key parts of the planet with the Pikmin by his side to find the parts to his broken spaceship and return home.

The game is unique for many reasons, first and foremost because it falls into a genre of its own.

On the surface Pikmin is a real-time strategy game, with players controlling Olimar’s army of Pikmin to battle enemies and complete tasks. But as the game commences, the surprisingly deep and varied gameplay starts to take form.

Using the Pikmin to retrieve parts, build bridges, take down giant monsters, and tear down walls is fun enough, but Pikmin adds so much more to this basic real-time strategy gameplay.

Most significantly, there are three colors of Pikmin — red, yellow, and blue — each with a very special specialty. Red Pikmin are strong and can resist fire, yellow Pikmin can be thrown high in the air, and blue Pikmin (arguably the most useful in the game) will not drown in the water. Since you can only have 100 Pikmin in your army at one time, mixing and matching these different colored creatures to be the most advantageous is a challenge all on its own.

But then there’s the capability to power-up each individual Pikmin by growing fully bloomed flowers on their heads.

And the fact that you can only stay in a level from sunrise to sunset (about 15 real-time minutes).

And did I mention you only have thirty in-game days to find all the necessary ship parts and escape the planet before your oxygen runs out?

Adding all this together makes for one of the most fast-paced, creative, well-designed strategy games … no, one of the most fast-paced, creative, well-designed videogames of all time.

The characters are too adorable for words

The Pikmin characters themselves are adorable. Nearly criminally so.

While very basic in their design — they are no more than a small, monochromatic body with two dots for eyes and a flower on their head — the Pikmin ooze personality. In a way, their basic design makes your emotional connection to them all the more affective.

How many videogames have you played where a character has died and you don’t even think twice? A vast majority of them I would bargain. How is it, then, that every single time one of the Pikmin is killed it breaks my heart a little bit?

Maybe it is the fact that, like I stated, the Pikmin are cuter than a baby polar bear cub kissing a puppy?

And if you’re fan of Pikmin you know these deaths happen a lot. When fighting a large, screen-filling beast, sometimes 50 Pikmin at a time will be either crushed by a giant foot or chomped down on by gnashing teeth.

To make things more depressing, the Pikmin each let out a tiny scream before they die and their little Pikmin ghosts rise up into the sky.

Yeah, that’s right: they have ghosts. And every time you see one it is unbelievably heartbreaking.

Pikmin 2 is the ideal videogame sequel EVER

I can’t think of a sequel in recent memory that has so perfectly improved on a predecessor’s gameplay more than Pikmin 2 (also for the GameCube). While the original Pikmin is an extraordinary game in my mind, it suffers from a few minor flaws that could have made it even that much better. But, remarkably, the game’s flaws were only evident once Pikmin 2 was released and made everyone realize they even existed in the first place.

Pikmin 2 gets rid of the thirty-day ticking clock, which — even though it never bothered me — grants for more exploration of the game’s beautiful, expanded planet and less time stressing out.

The most improved new feature, though, is the introduction of two new colors of Pikmin. In addition to the classic red, yellow, and blue types, Pikmin 2 introduces the white and purple Pikmin. The white Pikmin are absolutely immune to poison, can discover hidden items, and can even injured enemies by being ingested and sacrificing themselves. The purple species, on the other hand, are much larger than normal Pikmin and ten times as strong.

And then there’s the addition of a second playable character, a ridiculously solid two-player mode, a plethora of more treasures to find, randomly created caves, some of the ideal enemy design in any Nintendo game