{"id":933,"date":"2023-10-26T23:50:41","date_gmt":"2023-10-26T23:50:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/representations-of-nature\/?p=933"},"modified":"2023-11-02T02:09:43","modified_gmt":"2023-11-02T02:09:43","slug":"pikmin-rising-from-prey-to-predator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/representations-of-nature\/2023\/10\/26\/pikmin-rising-from-prey-to-predator\/","title":{"rendered":"Pikmin: Abstract Bodies Embodying Predation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Creator<\/td>Nintendo team composed of various members<\/td><\/tr>
Media Form<\/td>Video Game for the Nintendo GameCube<\/td><\/tr>
Genre<\/td>Real-Time Action & Strategy<\/td><\/tr>
Technique<\/td>Developed using Microsoft W<\/a>i<\/a>ndows<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
Release Date<\/td>October 26th, 2001 in Japan<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
“Predator” Represented<\/td>Various Fictional Predators Found in the Pikmin Series<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>
Object Label #1 by Tristan Onofre (Info adapted from multiple sources)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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A body the size of a quarter emerges from a crashed ship, a skeleton of its former self, forced to venture out into this alien planet that was just meant to be a sight on the journey back home. This sole individual explores this environment, without any idea on how they\u2019ll find the ship\u2019s missing parts and return home, all while a limited 30 days worth of oxygen supply looms overhead. Hope seems lost, until a strange red device pops out of the ground, sputtering to life as it spits out a sole red seed. Devoid of other things to do, the player\u2019s avatar, Captain Olimar, plucks out the stem poking out the ground. Now a creature even smaller than Olimar, stands at attention, ready to be commanded. This is a Pikmin, the titular tiny soldiers players command while exploring this lush planet in the series Pikmin<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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An official promotional render for Pikmin 1<\/em>, with Olimar and an army of Pikmin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Pikmin throughout the series are seen with various colors, shapes, and capabilities, culminating in a cute brigade of ant-like drones who follow their alien captain\u2019s whistle, ready to lay down their life in service from the moment they\u2019re plucked. From red to blue, bulky to poisonous, durable to flying, icy to ghostly, Pikmin have unique anatomy and biology that make them a fascinating species to watch as they carry items around at the player\u2019s behest. However, ecologically, Pikmin all share one thing in common, they\u2019re hunted by nearly every other lifeform on this planet. Predation of Pikmin is of course a result of game design, utilizing this fictional rendition of what\u2019s revealed to be a post-human Earth, renamed to PNF-404, to present sometimes familiar, but mainly bizarre, animals that act as unique obstacles for players to overcome. One of the game\u2019s directors, amidst a multipart interview to promote the newest entry in the series, even admit how \u201ccreating a real-life ecosystem wasn’t our primary plan,\u201d but how the creative team still wanted to portray a somber, but still cute, cast of animals that seem like they could possibly exist. However, even with their supposed lack of precision when creating PNF-404\u2019s fauna and flora, the team was still able to craft a complex ecosystem in each entry, where further discoveries are shared about these predators a player is constantly struggling against.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Line Up of all modern “mainstay” Pikmin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The simplest, and the most famous, predator in the entire Pikmin <\/em>franchise, is that of the \u201cBulborb\u201d species, mirroring Pikmin by having various subspecies. These Bulborbs represent the oddity that is Pikmin<\/em>\u2019s design philosophy, as it\u2019s a giant grub-like creature, standing on two scrawny legs, with giant eyes supported by stalks on the top of their body, and with a massive mouth perfect for gobbling up handfuls of Pikmin. Despite this odd anatomy, Bulborbs are one of the easiest predators in the series to understand, as even by the second game players are able to comprehend the entire lifecycle of Bulborbs. Pikmin 2<\/em> reveals the enemy class titled the \u201cEmpress Bulblax,\u201d who look similar to termite queens or other insect matriarchs, with this specific enemy just constantly birthing Bulborb larvae. These Bulborbs soon grow up, gaining their iconic red coloration with white spots, with those that survive becoming another generation of apex predators. However, players typically don\u2019t see this supposed superiority, as Bulborbs are nocturnal, and wise players will only stumble across sleeping Bulborbs, likely before ambushing the sleeping threat before it gets a chance to react.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Pikmin<\/em> still uses environmental storytelling and an in-game encyclopedia, called the \u201cPiklopedia,\u201d as a means to facilitate this idea that Bulborbs are in fact, not just slumbering push-overs. As Olimar passes a sleeping Bulborb, smaller Bulborbs will likely give chase, which most would presume are juveniles that are just more active than adults. This isn\u2019t the case. Instead, these annoyances are members of a completely different species of animal, who simply mimic the Bulborb\u2019s appearance to avoid predation and scavenge what the actual member of the \u201cGrub-dog\u201d family may leave behind. Such tactics are deployed for nearly every Bulborb subspecies; this widespread approach being so lucrative is evidence that Bulborbs are typically the number one predator on PNF-404.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Pikmin 4<\/em> model of the most common Bulborb, referred to as a “Red Bulborb”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The Pikmin 4<\/em> model of the Burrowing Snagret, the most reoccuring boss enemy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Various other predators are presented to players during their exploits on PNF-404, some more comprehensible than the Bulborb, but typically are still a bastardization of predators that currently roam Earth. The \u201cBurrowing Snagret\u201d for instance, is a chimera of a snake and bird. Popping its avian head from below ground, the Snagret\u2019s scaled neck\/torso will twist and turn, snatching up prey in its beak before returning underground. When defeated, it\u2019s revealed that the Snagret also has another avian feature, a single bird foot which certain species will hop around on. Another enemy fusing varying modern animal attributes is that of the Blowhog family. The name clearly alludes to a swine inspiration with their body shape, yet all its members also have a pronounced trunk, presenting another strange blurring of two familiar images of our planet, one that has evidently went through some extreme change for such strange anatomical wonders to wander.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides combining features of two separate animals, Pikmin <\/em>predators may also employ a mixture of a typical animal with some elemental property which they utilize when hunting. Blowhogs, as previously referenced, are the most bountiful both in numbers, and what elements they draw their powers from. The \u201cFiery Blowhog,” as the name implies, can manipulate flames to char any who attack, along with likely being its method of hunting prey, though this claim isn\u2019t made in Olimar\u2019s Piklopedia entries. However, the closely related \u201cPuffy Blowhog\u201d does provide a clear example of elemental abilities used for hunting. In Pikmin 2<\/em>, Olimar notes how this floating species of Blowhog \u201cblows leaves and grass around to eat the insects underneath.\u201d While this trait isn’t exemplified in combat against Pikmin groups, it’s interesting to still note that species do have specific mechanics designed for hunting creatures other than Pikmin, though it is disappointing this idle hunting isn’t ever shown to the player, only described.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pikmin<\/em> doesn\u2019t rely on purely a naturalistic direction when crafting its host of predators, using machinery left behind by the now lost human civilization as a place to pull from when designing enemies. The \u201cGatling Groink\u201d for instance, is a fish-like creature that\u2019s evolved with machinery to create a living artillery machine. With a fin that acts as a counterbalance and an ammunition cylinder. Olimar is even impressed and scared of this monstrous power, noting both that the Gatling Groink is \u201cone of the most fearsome creatures in the ecosystem\u201d and is \u201cone of the most advanced evolutionary specimens ever observed.\u201d This beast is unique to Pikmin 2<\/em>, a game notable for really emphasizing on this blurred boundary between nature and machinery, with some bosses that similarly utilize modern appliances or weapons for their attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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