Pikmin is Gamecube's first strategy game. All I have to say is that it is one unique concept. Nintendo has never had a game so original and weird like this one. The game circles around a little alien that crashes on a distant planet completely destroying his small ship. As he explores the planet he finds a small plant oddly placed in the middle of a clearing. It begins to glow as you approach it. Stupidly the little alien (you) plucks the plant out of the ground to find that it has eyes, a nose and little ears. To your surprise the tiny living plant follows you around and heeds your every call. You name the small plant people Pikmin. As you progress in the game, more and more Pikmin are freed by defeating monsters and returning them to the Pikmin's ship. The object of the game is to use the Pikmin to retrieve the missing pieces of the ship. There are 30 pieces that you must acquire in 30 days.

The coolest part about Pikmin is the fact that you control up to 100 small pikmin on the screen at the same time. They can go their separate ways or all of them can work together to destroy a giant monster.

There are 3 types of Pikmin. Red is strong and healthy. They make good wall breakers or fighters. Yellow pikmin can be thrown far. They pick up little bombs and walk around with them. Yellow Pikmin with bombs can be thrown at rock walls to destroy them. Blue Pikmin can breathe under water. This is helpful when you need to cross a river.

The downside of Pikmin is the fact that it is really hard. With all the Pikmin running around on the same screen can give you head aches. Plus, there is a pretty short time limit per day. You have a few minutes to find the missing pieces. Sometimes there just isn't enough time to get what you want done.

Overall the game is pretty cool for the most part. All except for the darn time limit. It just makes the game a bit too hard.