'Pikmin 3' Offers Players Three Ways to Play

Game Rant

By GR Staff

Published May 17, 2013

One of Nintendo's biggest games arriving in the coming months is 'Pikmin 3', and the latest Nintendo Direct has just confirmed that players will have three separate control options when it launches this August.

Today's Nintendo Direct broadcast may not have been as jam-packed with shocking game reveals as past presentations, but that doesn't mean it was at all disappointing. Gamers learned that New Super Luigi U would be seeing an eShop release next month and a retail release in late August, as well as an unprecedented Nintendo/SEGA partnership, but it was Pikmin 3 that became a main focus for gamers that currently own a Wii U console. Fans have been waiting for the title since the Wii U was first announced, and now it's almost ready to blossom on the console.

Despite the game's impending release in August, there's still much about the title that remains unknown. Fortunately, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata took advantage of the latest Nintendo Direct to reveal several new details about the game's campaign and various features. One reoccurring theme that appears to be central to Pikmin 3 is the number 'three' itself, and Iwata only further added to that trend by confirming that there would be three ways to go about playing the actual game.

Pikmin 3 will feature three captains and they can be controlled through several different means: The Wii U GamePad in unison with a TV; the traditional Wii Remote Plus and Nunchuk; or players can utilize the remote play functionality of the GamePad and play sans television. Of course, there are more important things happening within the game then just control layouts.

Pikmin 3 Characters — From left to right: Alph, Charlie, Brittany.

Regardless of how gamers choose to play, they'll have quite the adventure ahead of them. In the absence of Captain Olimar, Alph, Brittany, and Charlie (Pikmin 3's new protagonists) will take center stage. They've arrived on an alien planet in hopes of finding food to bring back to their slowly starving home known as Planet Koppai. Upon landing, they discover Pikmin and quickly befriend them to help round up pieces of fruit.

As days pass, players can go back in time to try to make their day more productive or reduce the casualties suffered to their fleet of Pikmin. All three of the captains will also have to be sustained through some sort of nourishment, and Iwata informed users that this requirement would arrive in the form of juice which is created from the berries harvested.

Pikmin 3 can be unearthed on the Wii U this August 4th.

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