You have probably heard by now that Captain Olimar and his Pikmin are going to be playable in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. They're built around an unusual mechanic where Olimar can do little himself, instead relying on his Pikmin for basically all of his attacks. This makes him the sort of character that tends to either break a fighting game wide open or be absolutely useless.
You'd think a more obscure character like Olimar would be welcomed with the kind of joy that accompanied the announcement of Mother 3's Lucas, right? You'd... actually be wrong. In fact, really incredibly wrong. While there is some rejoicing, some fans are already pretty angry. Hop behind the cut to take a look at both sides of the Captain Olimar 'controversy', and weigh in with your own feelings on the subject.
Pro-Olimar: Shacknews Blog
Shacknews's blog sums up why most people who are excited about Olimar feel that way: they really, really liked Pikmin, and hope a Brawl appearance will bring fresh attention to what is perhaps Nintendo's second-most obscure franchise. After all, both of the GameCube's Pikmin games can be played on the Wii, which potentially puts them in the hands of a lot of gamers who might not have known they ever existed. Even better, it might spark demand for a Pikmin 3 for Wii. ShackNews is especially excited about Pikmin's multiplayer prospects on the Wii:Pikmin 2's multiplayer is among the best same-screen head-to-head that has ever graced gaming, and probably my personal favorite in that category. It's a blend of capture the flag, resource management, real-time strategy, and deception. Like many Nintendo multiplayer games, you get out what you put in. It can be accessible, but it lends itself to great depth if you and your opponent are of sufficient skill.
Nintendo, all you have to do is take what you had in Pikmin 2, and put it online. I'll suffer through the friend codes. You can include some new maps if you want--each of Pikmin 2's maps comes with several randomly-selected variants, so they already go a long way--and maybe some more customization options, but that core gameplay and balance is gold.
Anti-Olimar: Aeropause
Aeropause's stance on Olimar is so simple I don't actually need to summarize it at all.
So if you've played or even looked at either of Nintendo's stellar Pikmin games (and I do mean that, these RTS games are something else) you know that the pikmin and their erstwhile leaders, Olimar and company are very, very small. It takes a couple of pikmin to carry a bottlecap effectively, and they're only slightly smaller than Olimar. ...
All I have to say about [Olimar in Brawl] is that I don't understand why time and energy is being spent on such a ridiculous idea. Scaling discrepancies aside, this is not a character anyone really cares about. Even someone like me, who loved both Pikmin games, doesn't give a crap about Olimar. He's like Rayman was in the Raving Rabbids games. A tool. A supporting actor. Just there to move the story along.
Hm. Both sides have decent points. I don't know, what do you think?
