Nintendo Land: Pikmin Adventure, or a bright glimpse of co-op on Wii U

Competitive gaming has its roots in beautifully simplistic play mechanics that result in hours of enjoyment. Cooperative gaming, on the other hand, is rooted in more complex systems that see players serve different roles or require intense skills to master. Nintendo seems to want to buck the trend of co-op with Pikmin Adventure, one of the 12 games offered in Nintendo Land on the upcoming Wii U console.

Pikmin Adventure gives each player, whether they be the one with the GamePad or one of the (up to) four with Wii remotes, a simple task. For the guy or gal with the GamePad, their job is to control their Mii as series protagonist Olimar in leading the adventuring party through a series of levels with monsters to defeat and blocks to bash. Simply enough, this is done purely through tapping the touch screen with the stylus.

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The folks with the Wii remotes, however, play as Miis dressed up as Pikmin. Their job is to romp around and help beat down as many baddies as possible with nothing more than the direction pad and one of the numbered buttons. Easy enough, right? Like most Nintendo Land games, Pikmin Adventure is terribly easy to pick up. But this one introduces an amount of depth not before seen in the suite of mini games and in a much more intuitive fashion than other cooperative games.

To start, players have an ulterior goal beyond simply completing each level: gobble up as much nectar as possible. These blobs of nectar will increase a player character's level in each session, increasing their damage done, reach, speed and, in (the Mii posing as) Olimar's case, the amount of Pikmin he or she can throw at a time.

Speaking of which, if he or she so chooses, the player with GamePad can opt to force each of the other players into a throwing maneuver. While this leaves those players out of control of their characters, it will not only do extra damage to monsters, but give those players a much better angle from which to attack. With two simple screen taps, the GamePad player is granted plenty of power.

Stretch this quasi-competitive cooperative gameplay across several levels complete with boss battles, and you have an experience that demonstrates how simple-but-deep cooperative gameplay is possible on Wii U. That might be the point of Nintendo Land, but wouldn't it be even more interesting to see these concepts fleshed out within Nintendo Land?

What are you first reactions to Pikmin Adventure? Which Nintendo Land game are you most excited for? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.