Pikmin Bloom (Pikémin Go)

Now where the heck do we put this topic? Anyway, early days yet, but Niantic are doing a Pikmin app. and I'm intrigued.  I didn't get in with Pokémon Go because it seemed like it'd be a simplified version of something I'd spent a lot of time on already, but Pikmin popping up in the real world?  That I'm here for.  Also of note is that this is apparently going to be one of a series of apps.

Anybody going to pre-register?  (DIGRESSION ALERT: 'Pre-register'?  If you're signing up to something, isn't that just... 'registering'? )  Anyone got any other Nintendo series they'd like to see 'come to life'?

It's a shame that this topic hasn't had any responses these last three days, as I think there's a lot of interest in Pikmin round here, and there's at least three of us who still play Pokemon Go regularly too. Still, this announcement gave us practically hee-haw in the way of info. There's not really much to say at the moment, other than that I'm interested to see where it goes.

I've no idea what the plan is for this but I'm very much up for it, I like how Niantic have made mobile gaming enjoyable whilst also being beneficial for me and I love the potential for this using AR. I don't particularly use AR much in Pokémon Go but Lyla has started to enjoy it and I can see little Pikmin running around amusing her no end.

My phone struggles a bit with Pokemon Go because it's a bit shite, which is the main reason I gave up on it, so I suspect this might be the case for Pikmin Go as well. But I'll give it a go to see if I'm proven wrong!

It's the AR aspect that I'm really keen on with this. All they'd need is for some decent vegetation and soil detection to make it pretty feasible.

But yep, not much to go on so far.

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

It's a shame that this topic hasn't had any responses these last three days, as I think there's a lot of interest in Pikmin round here,

I love Pikmin! But . . .

Quote :

Still, this announcement gave us practically hee-haw in the way of info.

Yeah. That.

It's also worth noting that the announcement was that Niantic Tokyo is gonna be doing a whole series of Nintendo AR spin-offs. I'm up for shadow-boxing Little Mac in the street or getting kirby to swallow my colleagues at work and steal their abilities.

We do now have a bit more info.!

Quote :

...the app provides players with several Pikmin Seedlings to begin with. These Seedings can grow and eventually be plucked to reveal a fully grown Pikmin once the player has generated enough 'Step Energy' through walking.

All the usual suspects are present – you'll be able to grow Red, Blue Yellow, Rock, Winged, Purple, and White Pikmin – but 'Decor Pikmin', a new type of Pikmin that wear attire associated with the place you found them, are also included.

Aside from walking to grow and pluck Pikmin (which can be individually named by the player), one of the app's other main features is 'Expeditions'. Here, players can choose an Expedition to tackle, then choose the Pikmin they want to adventure with, before setting off to earn items. Sometimes, your Pikmin will pick up a Postcard – a digital image of Pikmin out and about on their adventure which uses real-world photos shared by Pokémon GO and Ingress players.

Sounds a lot more placid than Pokémon Go.

Buskalilly wrote:

It's also worth noting that the announcement was that Niantic Tokyo is gonna be doing a whole series of Nintendo AR spin-offs. I'm up for shadow-boxing Little Mac in the street or getting kirby to swallow my colleagues at work and steal their abilities.

But yep, this is what I thought might be more interesting to talk about. I want a Mario game where you can gather power-ups from the environment, then come home and play a Kaizo-like that takes loads of them to blast through.

Oh boy, naming Pikmin? It sounds a bit Little King's Story - we might have funerals for them if they cark it now.
I do love Pikmin, but right now I don't love going outside and stopping in places everyone else stops at.

Pikmin Bloom!

It exists!
It's only out in America right now!
It doesn't look all that involved but you play just by going on hella long walks and taking pictures along the way.

This was specifically made just for me, I think.

I’m sure I’ll give this a shot, but Pokemon Go is the app I’ve been using for the last five years whenever I’m out and about. I suspect the same thing will be the case for a lot of the audience who Nintendo and Niantic will be trying to attract with this. Pikmin Bloom looks and sounds pleasant enough, but it could likely do with more of a hook.

For me, the thing which appeals about Pikmin is that it's a little less involved than Pokémon GO. Like I said, though, I'm into that because I like going for long hikes in which Pokémon is just a little bonus. I don't think this will be any replacement for actually actively playing the game on, like, a Community Day.

And now it's out!

I got set up but couldn't really do anything yet (it's midnight)

Let us know how it goes! I'm too lazy to install this at the moment, but if I can just walk around, not have to anything stupid in public, get home and it tells me "yeah the Pikmin did good" then I'm all for it.

So far, it does seem to be that! You can do some other stuff before and after your walk, but its much less involved while out and about than Pokémon.

There might be something going on with this. Round my bit, Pokemon Go has always been really competitive, with gyms changing leaders all the time, and the colours of the gym teams swapping between red, blue and yellow several times a day. But most of the gyms I’m guarding haven’t been attacked in nearly two weeks. It’s just suddenly stopped. That’s not happened in the five years since it first came out – there’s always been a reliable pool of about twenty-five players who are routinely involved with Pokemon Go in my town.

Where'd everybody go then? I suppose it’s possible that there’s some sort of boycott in the Pokemon Go community that I’ve not heard about, but I think the only other explanation is that all these other folk have moved over to Pikmin Bloom. I’m thinking that this might be as good a time as any for me to make a start on Pikmin Bloom.

Has anybody here been sticking in with it over the last couple of weeks?

I'm interested in this! I have not touched Go for quite good 4 or 5 months now, and although I enjoy using it at times it also is quite involved in terms of the amount of touching your screen you need to do. Also the blue team infests my local area, and they're right knobs about gyms.

I think this sounds much nicer.

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

Has anybody here been sticking in with it over the last couple of weeks?

I've been keeping on with this. It's pretty easy to just fire it up at the start and end of my day without having to look at it in between.

I got a new phone a couple of months ago and one of the first things I did was download Pikmin Bloom because my old phone was too pants to run apps like it. I like it! Largely due to moments like Pikmin going to Greggs in Glasgow:

I was kind of in the "I need a new phone" zone and now Pikmin Bloom makes my OS freeze and reboot a couple of times a day, so that'll probably need to move up the ol' schedule.