Pikmin 3 – Armored Mawdad

It’s actually been a while since I last played Pikmin 3, but I picked it back up tonight. I tested out the Tropical Winds level, which is a huge area with lots of enemies. I explored some, but ultimately I decided not to save my game. Instead, I returned to the Garden of Hope with Alph and Brittany, as I continued my search for the captain. After throwing some Pikmin across a river, building a bridge, and tearing down a wall, I found a data file left behind by Captain Olimar! Very interesting.

p3-olimarI then stumbled into the nest of this huge creature, called an armored mawdad!

p3-crystalbossIt was covered in crystal armor, so I had to throw rock Pikmin at it to break the crystal before I could do any damage to it. Once I (eventually) defeated it, it coughed up an old cell phone. Can you hear me now?

p3-cellApparently the signal I thought was coming from the captain was actually coming from this phone. So I still don’t know where the captain is. But the phone did expand my ship’s range (somehow), so I can now travel to a new area called the Distant Tundra. I wrapped up my game for tonight, but I’ll return to the world of Pikmin 3 sometime soon!

Zelda LTTP: Desert Palace

Once again, it’s time to play some Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past on SNES. Last time, I made my way through the East Palace to grab the first of three pendants. The elder also gave me the pegasus shoes, which let me run real fast.

This time, I had to journey west into the desert…of mystery!

lttp-desert of mysteryOf course, everything has to be mysterious or dangerous. When’s the last time you visited the Desert of Sand or Joe’s Desert? But once I got to the dungeon entrance, I couldn’t go inside. It’s apparently because there was a book written in another language, and Link can’t read squiggly.

lttp-squigglySo I had to go back up to the village. The library had a mysterious book on top of the bookshelf, but poor little Link can’t reach it! He’s just a little elf, you know. But fortunately, Link knows how to use his head. So I had him charge up using the pegasus shoes and ram his head into the bookshelf at full speed. Now that’s a smart guy! The book fell to the floor and Link picked it up.

lttp-bookofmudoraWith the book in hand, I was able to return to the dungeon. I translated the text, made a wish, and then I was inside. I made my way through the sandy rooms, eventually finding the power glove! It lets me play NES pick up and carry rocks.

lttp-powergloveTo proceed, I actually needed to go outdoors and use my new gloves to lift some rocks that were blocking a door. I was then able to advance to the boss room, where three large sand worms for waiting for me.

lttp-sand wormsI don’t understand why three big worms needed a pendant when they were happy to just play in the sand, but I had to defeat them anyway. They weren’t very hard to beat, so I grabbed the Pendant of Power without a problem.

lttp-popI still need one more pendant, and it’s up on Death Mountain. So that’s where I’ll be headed next time!

Pikmin 3 – Rock Pikmin & Brittany

It’s day 3 in the world of Pikmin 3, and I blasted off to the Garden of Hope. Playing as Alph, I walked past an electric fence I can’t get past yet. I only have red Pikmin at this point; they’re immune to fire, but not electricity. I soon found where my fellow space explorer Brittany was trapped, but I couldn’t reach her due to a crystal wall in the way. I had no choice but to continue exploring.

I soon came across a strange flying creature that appeared to have something inside of it. I threw my red Pikmin up at it, eventually defeating it. Its contents fell out…they’re rock Pikmin! They’re strong and heavy enough to break through crystal. So I returned to where Brittany was trapped and used the rock Pikmin to break through and free her.

p3-crystalWith Brittany free, I was now able to split up into separate groups. By having Alph throw Brittany and some Pikmin onto a ledge, she was in turn able to throw Pikmin up even higher to reach a lemon. Us aliens really like the fruit juice, you see. To advance further, I needed my Pikmin to assemble a bridge. Some of the pieces were in plain sight, while others were trapped inside a crystal. Naturally, I needed to use rock Pikmin to break through the crystal to reach them. After the bridge was assembled, I then came across some enemies that spew fire. I knew I had to bring only my red Pikmin into this battle.

p3-fireAfter that, I spotted some new pieces that needed to be assembled to make another bridge. Unfortunately, the day was starting to come to a close, so I had to round up all my Pikmin before the sun went down.

I am slowly getting accustomed to the controls and I’m having a lot of fun with the game. Next time, I need to give it a longer play session. But for now, here is a gameplay video showing most of today’s action: