Pikman 3 and Wii U For You
posted Wednesday Jul 4, 2012 by Jon Wurm
Pikman was a fun, family-friendly title that provided countless hours of entertainment for children and families around the world. Finally, after 10 years Nintendo decided to blow the dust out of the cartridge and introduce Pikman 3 for the Wii U during their E3 2012 Press Conference. Not surprisingly, Miyamoto and his trusty translator made it a point to show off what Pikman 3 being a Wii U title actually meant for gamers. The most oblivious improvement comes from the enhanced graphics of the Wii U but Miyamoto also mentioned the extra resolution will make it much easier to deal with Pikman that are spread out across a large area. The gameplay mechanics have also changed a bit as your Pikman can manipulate the environment to build bridges and you have much greater control over targeting. Now you can discover and hone in on key items in the environment or weak spots on enemies to be much more effective in combat. There is also new type of Pikman, the "Rock Pikman," which is used for breaking hard surfaces and enemies that stand in your way.
To accurately control your horde of colorful Pikman you have the option of basic controls that utilize the Wii Remote Plus and Nunchuck or exclusively using the Wii U controller that provides some more advanced options. Depending on which you chose, the gameplay you experience will be different. For example, using the Wii Remote Plus and Nunchuck combination gives you a the more specialized targeting that adds depth to the battle at hand. If you go the Wii U controller route, the game seems to act more like an RTS (real-time strategy) where your focus is more about managing 4 groups of "Leaders" and Pikman at a time. This is done by dedicating the Wii U controller's screen to acting as a map that improves your ability to navigate to the different groups.
If you didn't get to try it out on the show floor then you'll just have to sit tight until whenever the TBA 2012 release date ends up being. In the mean time, check out the Pikman 3 portion of the Nintendo E3 2012 Press Conference after the break.
