Captain Olimar and the adorable Pikmin are back in Hey! Pikmin. Instead of the 3D environments of the past Pikmin titles, Hey! Pikmin redoes the formula to instead be a 2D side-scrolling platform adventure. Enter a hostile planet in search of fuel for your ship by aligning with the Pikmin race to help you reach items and defeat enemies. Players can explore various stages with branching paths and hidden areas to find treasures and even more Pikmin that might be hiding in bushes. Hey! Pikmin means to restart the series with a new format and new gameplay accessible to all audiences.

Hey! Pikmin utilizes the touch screen of the Nintendo 3DS to create a unique platforming adventure. Players will need to throw and use the Pikmin via the touch screen all while keeping Olimar safe from the various threats on the planet. Hey! Pikmin introduces new Pikmin to solve different puzzles and get a fresh new outlook on the Pikmin series. If you love simple controls with gameplay depth, than you’re going to love Hey! Pikmin. Get ready for a new adventure on an all too familiar world in Hey! Pikmin.

Captain Olimar is exploring space in the S.S. Dolphin 2 and uses warp drive to go to a new area. However, something goes wrong and Captain Olimar is forced to crash land on an unknown planet. The ship’s AI tells the Captain that while the ship isn’t overly damaged, the ship’s fuel—known as Sparklium—has been completely depleted and without it, the ship is unable to move even an inch. Luckily the world Captain Olimar is now on seems to have a rich amount of Sparklium but he will need to rely on the creatures of the planet in the form of Pikmin to help him gain 30’000 Sparklium. Captain Olimar and the Pikmin will need to rely on each other to help the captain as well as avoid the dangerous the planet has.

Hey! Pikmin is pretty easy to explain to most. Players will only need to rely on using the touch screen and the circle pad to play the whole game. The circle pad controls Captain Olimar while the touch pad is used to throw the Pikmin, call them with the whistle, change the controlled Pikmin and use the captain’s jetpack. This overly simple design works for the most part—we’ll explain why it doesn’t later—and makes Hey! Pikmin perfect for any age. Now let’s dive into more detailed concepts of Hey! Pikmin.

Unlike the 3D focused Pikmin games, Hey! Pikmin aims to be a platformer more than anything else. You’ll have to use various Pikmin to pick up items and explore various caves to find routes to the end of the level as well as find Sparklium. We’re happy to report that as a platformer, Hey! Pikmin works well all while keeping the Pikmin an all too important focal point to the gameplay. While it may seem scary to have to collect 30’000 Sparklium, it won’t take as long as you think, which means you won’t have to worry about Hey! Pikmin feeling longer than it needs to be. Don’t worry, folks, we’ll talk more soon about the stages themselves but for now let’s talk about how one goes about playing Hey! Pikmin.

Now if you’re a fan of Pikmin titles, you know how Hey! Pikmin works to a certain degree and even with this change of venue, the ways to solve puzzles still revolves on the various colored Pikmin. For example yellow Pikmin are electric resistant and can be thrown higher than most while the flying Pikmin—one of the newer ones added in Hey! Pikmin—can be used to grab far away items. It won’t take very long to learn what each does and with the game constantly offering advice even a Pikmin novice will find themselves able to master the various plant type creatures with no issues.

The various stages of Hey! Pikmin are probably one of the game’s strongest concepts. Each stages has a nice length to it—the whole game takes around 10+ hours to complete for those who wish to just blaze through it—and there’s plenty to explore. Hidden paths, side areas and unique level designs allows Hey! Pikmin’s simple gameplay to shine slightly brighter as players can utilize the simple controls to solve various puzzles without an issue. There are some extra stages and the Pikmin Park but none of these feel that impressive and seem tacked on. However, what matters most here is the main stages and those are solid overall so no complaints here.

Grpahically, Hey! Pikmin is a mixed bag. While the visuals from faraway look colorful and very vibrant, at times when the camera pulls close for the story elements it can look very outdated even for a Nintendo 3DS title. The music on the other hand is stellar and really fits the mood of this odd sci-fi adventure story. Music always hits the right mood when you’re on various stages and it never outlives its welcome. Plus the Pikmin still sound super cute as they did before which is a major plus in our book.

The biggest flaws of Hey! Pikmin is when you look at as a whole experience. While everything works well enough, it’s overly simple in equal measure. The simple platforming and puzzle solving means there’s only one way to approach a situation which wasn’t the case in the original Pikmin titles. This removes a lot of the freedom that we loved about the series and creates an overly easy to play title. In many ways it feels as if Nintendo wanted to make Hey! Pikmin accessible to a huge audience and while that’s smart to get new players into the franchise, for returning fans this gameplay won’t be the happy return they probably envisioned when hearing about Hey! Pikmin.

Hey! Pikmin has a lot going for it but it does have several flaws that keep it from being amazing. While the idea of making a platformer was smart on Nintendo’s part—especially for the Nintendo 3DS—it causes a lot of what we loved from the past titles to be lost in translation. This change led to Hey! Pikmin never being a challenge and at times the graphics take a dive, especially when the camera pulls too close to some of the characters. We still recommend Hey! Pikmin as it’s a fun title and has enough content to warrant the price tag. However, if you’re only in love with the past alliterations of Pikmin games than this new format might not be too appealing to you.

Hey! Pikmin is a very fun and simple title but at times, that simplicity is a double edged sword. The previous Pikmin titles were more involved and lead to more depth, Hey! Pikmin lacks the depth and thus means a quick game to beat and no real wiggle room in terms of how to handle situations that occur. However, despite these flaws Hey! Pikmin is still a solid entry in the series and should be bought by fans of the series or those who love simple to play platformers. What are your thoughts on the new Pikmin title? We would love to know in the comments. As always Honey’s Anime has more gaming reviews being worked on at the moment thus keep returning to the site so you don’t miss a single one.