Game Review: Pikmin Bloom

UPDATE: August 2024, more completed decor categories

I was really hesitant to download yet another mobile phone game, but the Pikmin characters were too cute not to at least try it out.

chocolate-chip cookie snack Pikmin from a convenience store

Pikmin Bloom is one of the latest installments from Niantic, which created Ingress and Pokemon Go, in association with Nintendo. It shares some of the basic in-game principles like walking around and collecting things, but the thing that sets Pikmin Bloom apart is that it functions as an odometer and counts your steps everyday.

According to Wikipedia:

The walking player is depicted as a Nintendo Account Mii (or one with limited customization for those without such an account) leading Pikmin, creating a trail of blossoming flowers on the map with flower petals collected from Pikmin, and the Pikmin can find items. This includes fruit and costumes. The Pikmin grow flowers on their heads when fed nectar, which in turn gives you more flower petals, and then plant more flowers on the map. Local landmarks are represented as either big flowers, from which flower nectar can be collected, or as mushroom, which can be destroyed by Pikmin collaboratively with other players in a mushroom battle. There are also planned, collaborative multiplayer events and challenges involving large flowers.

I managed to connect my Samsung watch to the game so that my steps are counted even when I don’t have my phone on me. My favorite aspects of the game are pushing myself to walk a certain number of steps per day, receiving postcards from far-away in-game friends, being invited to battle mushrooms in other countries (and thus receive postcards from my battles), and of course, upgrading my Pikmin to four yellow stars, at which time they return to where you found them and bring back a fun costume that they wear. There’s something very satisfying about collecting all the outfits in a certain decor category.

Postcards I’ve received from battles or received from friends: