Hey! Pikmin: overview trailer, JP website open, plenty of details (inc. amiibo features)

Today, Nintendo finally opened the official website for Hey! Pikmin, which comes out in a little over a month in Japan (on July 13th, with Europe and North America getting it on July 28th). It provides us with quite a lot of details about the game, that Nintendo hasn’t talked about much since since its initial reveal. There’s also the usual overview trailer to check out!

But first, here’s a compilation of video clips from the official website, that we collected and merged into a single video for your viewing pleasure:

Hey! Pikmin – Overview video

Here’s the usual overview video for Hey! Pikmin, introducing the game, its main features, amiibo features, and more.

In this game, you play as Captain Olimar. On the way back from work, his ship hits an asteroid, and he ends up crashing on a nearby planet. To escape, he needs to collect an energy called Sparklium. Fortunately for him, strange creatures known as Pikmin live on the planet, and can help him escape.

By calling them, Olimar can make Pikmin come out of hiding, and follow him. He can then use those Pikmin to carry various things, get rid of obstacles, and even defeat enemies.

There’s several types of Pikmin:

• Red pikmin: they can survive in fire
• Blue Pikmin: they can survive in water
• Yellow Pikmin: they can deal with electricity, and can also be thrown really high
• Winged Pikmin: they can fly
• Rock pikmin: they can break hard things.

But exploring the planet in order to find a way out isn’t going to be easy. Alongside the Pikmin themselves, there’s also plenty of dangerous creatures living on that planet… and Pikmin happen to be their favourite snack!

Besides Sparklium, there’s also strange objects that seem to come from our very own world (such as disposable batteries, for example), and if you collect them, you get some Sparklium. The objects are also added to an encyclopedia, written by Captain Olimar himself… which explains why they all have a rather curious name!

The overview trailer also details amiibo, but we’re covering that in the section below!

Hey! Pikmin – Intro

The front page doesn’t really have anything, just a bunch of artworks!

Hey! Pikmin – What’s Pikmin?

Pikmin are strange little creatures that seem to be both plants and animals at the same time. They can be found on various planets, including the one where Captain Olimar ends up at the beginning of this new adventure. There’s several species, and they all have their own specificities:

• Red Pikmin: fire? There’s nothing fire can do against those, so if you need to deal with something particularly hot, the red Pikmin is the right man Pikmin for the job!
• Blue Pikmin: water? Drowning? Nope, not the Blue Pikmin! They can live underwater without any issue, so If you have to deal with that pesky H2O liquid, you can rely on the blue Pikmin;
• Yellow Pikmin: electricity? They conduct it like no one else! If you need to connect two bits of a broken electric wire, you can rely on the yellow Pikmin. They’re also the lighter type of Pikmin, so if you need to grab something in a high place, they’re generally you’re best bet;
• Rock Pikmin: looking to break the ice (literally)? Then the Rock Pikmin are your friends! They’re pretty heavy and sturdy, and so they can be used to break various things: just throw ’em at whatever you want to break;
• Winged Pikmin: ever thought to yourself “Wouldn’t be nice if Pikmin could fly?”. Well, this is exactly what Winged Pikmin are: winged Pikmin, that can fly. This can be used to transport various things, and pretty quickly too.

Hey! Pikmin – Meeting the Pikmin

This section doesn’t have anything not covered in the overview trailer above, but here’s some artworks and screenshots:

Hey! Pikmin – Adventure with the Pikmin

This section details the kind of things you can do, and the kind of things you will come across, during your adventure with the Pikmin:

• Throw: you can throw Pikmin around, in order to have them go grab something in a high place, or get some Sparklium from a plant for example;
• Battle: as mentioned above, various creature call the planet Captain Olimar crashed on their home, and Pikmin happen to be their favourite snack. You can throw the Pikmin at them to defeat them, but naturally, do not expect them not to fight back;
• Treasure: there’s various pieces of “treasure” to be found in the game, and you can have the Pikmin carry them around;
• Stages: there’s various stages to explore in the game, each one with its own theme (a cave, an underwater area, etc.). Naturally, the type of enemies and obstacles you find change depending on the stage you’re in;
• Plaza: that’s where all the Pikmin you’ve collected go and live;
• Encyclopedia: that’s where Olimar records details about all the enemies encountered in the game, and all the objects / treasures collected.

Hey! Pikmin – amiibo

Hey! Pikmin is compatible with amiibo, and there’s two ways to use them:

• Collect Sparklium: if you tap an amiibo while on the map screen, you can have it appear in-game in a level. If you go and collect it, you will receive some extra Sparklium! It will also be added to the encyclopedia. If you tap the amiibo figure a second time, another figure will appear in-game for you to collect;
• Call Pikmin whenever you want: if you’re in a pinch, you can use the Pikmin amiibo to call Pikmin whenever you want. Simply tap it while you’re in a level. Depending on the number of Pikmin you have in your plaza, the amiibo levels up, allowing you to summon more Pikmin at once! If you use the Olimar x Pikmin amiibo, you can call 4 Pikmin at once when you tap it.

The game happens to be compatible with every single amiibo, but some of them gives you more benefits than others. For example, the Pikmin amiibo (from the Pikmin series) allows you to collect extra Sparklium and call Pikmin whenever you want, as detailed above.

The Olimar x Pikmin amiibo (from the Super Smash Bros. series) allows you to summon 4 Pikmin while in a level, and spawns a figure in-game to collect (to get some extra Sparklium). It also gets added to the encyclopedia.

The amiibo from the Super Mario, Animal Crossing, and Splatoon series can be used to spawn a figure in-game for you to collect, and get extra Sparklium. They also get added to the encyclopedia. (NB: the Splatoon amiibo releasing alongside Splatoon 2 do not get an in-game figure).

Finally, all the other amiibo allow you to get 10 units of Sparklium a day.