Pikmin: Antarctic Survival
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This article or section presents information pertaining to Pikmin: Antarctic Survival, a fanon game created by A Friendly Amprat. |
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| Pikmin: Antarctic Survival | |
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| Rating | E10+ |
| Genre | Town-building, strategy |
| Platforms | Tabletop role-playing game |
| Media | Physical content |
| Publisher | Pikmin Fanon |
| Prequel | Cancelled: Pikmin Survival Saga |
| Creator | A Friendly Amprat |
Pikmin: Antarctic Survival, often shortened to Antarctic Survival or Pikmin: AS, is a Pikmin spin-off game made by A Friendly Amprat. It is a town-building game that expands on the concept of the Rescue Command Post from Pikmin 4 and the gameplay of the Pikmin Survival Saga from 2015, a unreleased game by the same creator. This game is unique as a spinoff for focusing almost exclusively on the diverse wildlife of PNF-404, featuring playable characters that are instances of many of the Pikmin series's past enemies, across all four mainline Pikmin games and Hey! Pikmin. The game also features a very different overall slower-paced gameplay compared to other games in the series, with resource management and building construction making up the majority of the game.
Pikmin: Antarctic Survival currently exists in a physical tabletop role-playing game format, with no plans for a digital release. Because of its nature as a tabletop role-playing game, Pikmin: Antarctic Survival requires a game master to manage the game, keep track of game resources, and allow the players to interact with the game world. Besides the game master, Pikmin: Antarctic Survival can be played with any number of regular players, with each creating one or more characters to play as in the game's world.
Awakening
Awakening is a core mechanic and story element of Pikmin: Antarctic Survival.
| Awakening and Awakened Creatures |
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Plot
- Main article: Story
Gameplay
Players control their own player creatures that were created at the beginning of the game, and these creatures are their main means of interacting with the game world. Through these creatures, the players can interact with the various Awakened residents of the Diamond Settlement, and also work with them to fight and pacify hostile wildlife, collect resources and bring them back to the Settlement, and construct new buildings with the resources they've collected.
Settlement development
- Main article: Diamond Settlement
Search missions and exploration
Creature combat
Character creation and guidelines
The game begins with all players being prompted by the game master to create their game characters. Player characters can be nearly any creature from across the Pikmin series native to PNF-404 or even an original species of the player's own design provided it fits into the Pikmin world.
There are some restrictions on what kind of creatures the players may play as. Primarily, player characters cannot be beings native to other planets beyond PNF-404, such as Hocotatians, Koppaites, or other such entities that cannot naturally breathe native PNF-404 air. Player creatures should not be too large, with anywhere from the size of a Red Pikmin to a Red Bulborb being good size guidelines.
Player creatures also should not be too powerful, with boss creatures or unusually strong non-boss creatures generally being unsuitable for player characters. Anything stronger than an Orange Bulborb is likely too strong for a player character.
Creature species intelligence and technological development is also something that should be considered for player creatures, especially if a player creature is some original species. Generally, player creature intelligence should fall somewhere in the range of what can be observed in the Pikmin series' traditional creatures. Creature intelligence and development can range from the level of a Bulborb (Clever but simple-minded beasts) to the level of a Pikmin (Smart and able to use simple tools but not particularly advanced) to perhaps even the level of a Wraith (Seemingly intelligent, even supernaturally so, but alien and isolated). While creatures with a higher level of intelligence and social/technological development (comparable to Hocotatians or other sapient/humanoid creatures) might work as playable creatures, the plot of the game does not make as much sense with these types of creatures.
Generally, it is best to stick to creating player characters that are members of existing Pikmin creature families, as these work best overall given the plot and story elements of Pikmin: Antarctic Survival. A few good options for a player character include:
- Red Bulborb
- One of the most iconic Pikmin creatures, the Red Bulborb is on the larger side but still fits well as a player character creature. Its warm-blooded nature gives it some level of cold resistance, especially if equipped with blankets or clothing items.
- Fiery Dweevil
- Traditional non-boss Dweevils work very well as player creatures. Hazards often are associated with incredibly useful abilities and skills in Pikmin: Antarctic Survival, so being able to start with access to one of them is very powerful.
- Starting with access to one or more elements makes for a much easier game experience. Players who want more of a challenge may wish to play as another creature.
- Wollyhop
- Wollyhops (known in Pikmin: Antarctic Survival by their Pikmin 2 name, “Wollywogs”) are quite powerful physically and highly mobile due to their jumping attacks, but also suffer from a weakness to cold due to their ectothermic nature.
- Breadbug
- Breadbugs' carrying ability is greater than that of most creatures, which is an excellent quality to have in Pikmin: Antarctic Survival. They can't do much to defend themselves physically, but their thick hide protects them from weaker creature attacks.
- Mamuta
- Mamutas have the ability to carry two items at once due to their two arms, in a game where most creatures can only carry a single object. Their fur also gives them some protection from the cold, and they can learn to create bricks later in the game.
- Swooping Snitchbug
- Swooping Snitchbugs are useful for their powerful flying ability and their ability to carry two items at once. However, they are physically weak and can only carry light objects such as berries and raw material. They also don't do as well in the cold, as insectoids.
Effects of the climate
Due to Pikmin: Antarctic Survival taking place in a frigid arctic region, the area can get incredibly cold, especially at night. This leads to highly detrimental effects on the various playable creatures and residents of the Diamond Settlement. Creatures that have prolonged exposure to the cold will take damage, causing their HP to drop over time. Furthermore, this damage effect will inflict the “Frostbitten” status condition on the creatures, which halves their movement speed and carrying strength capacity for as long as the effect lasts.
The dangers of the cold can be avoided in a few major ways. The primary means of being safe from the cold is to take up residence in a housing-type building in the Diamond Settlement. Buildings keep out the chill winds and snow of the Antarctic, providing protection from cold. Another similar means of cold resistance is through the use of a “Slab of Heating” building, which warms all creatures on it through conducting of heat as long as there is a heat source present. Cold can also be resisted through the effects of Weaved Items (either Blankets or Clothing). Finally, cold can be resisted because of the presence of a fire source. The primary fire sources are fiery-blooded creatures, fire starters and bonfire altars, and lit piles of wood.
Creatures of different types are affected by the cold differently. All creatures can be divided into one of four groups, with each group having their own level of weakness or resistance to cold.
- Cold-blooded creatures
- Cold-blooded creatures are the most negatively affected by cold, as their inability to produce their own body heat means that they are dependent on their environment and on surrounding creatures for their internal and external temperature. This also means that Weaved Items will have a minimal effect on cold-blooded creatures on their own.
- An example of a cold-blooded creature is the Male Sheargrub.
- Warm-blooded creatures
- Warm-blooded creatures can produce their own internal body heat. This gives them a bit of cold resistance, but they will quickly become overwhelmed by the cold in a cold region anyway. However, weaved clothing items and blankets can trap the heat these creatures produce, helping them to keep warm. Larger warm-blooded creatures tend to produce more heat than smaller ones, which can be helpful to consider for the benefit of other creatures.
- An example of a warm-blooded creature is the Red Bulborb.
- Icy-blooded creatures
- Icy-blooded creatures are incredibly frigid creatures that are frosty to the touch. These creatures are not affected by the negative effects of the cold at all, able to withstand the coldest temperatures possible with no harm. However, due to the chill they emanate, they can be dangerous to keep too close to other creatures, especially cold-blooded creatures. They're also greatly harmed by fire and intense heat.
- An example of an icy-blooded creature is the Arctic Cannon Larva.
- Fiery-blooded creatures
- Fiery-blooded creatures are the natural opposite of icy-blooded ones, and instead radiate intense heat. This gives them a high resistance to cold, and helps very much in warming surrounding creatures. However, fire is very dangerous! While heat is good, too much heat will cause damage to surrounding creatures, and can burn certain items, such as any weaved thread items.
- An example of a fiery-blooded creature is the Fiery Young Yellow Wollywog.
- Note that not all fire-element creatures or even creatures with “Fiery” in their names are fiery-blooded. Take, for example, the Fiery Blowhog, which is warm-blooded, and the Fiery Dweevil, which is cold-blooded.
Content
Areas
The world of Pikmin: Antarctic Survival, the Antarctic, can be seen as one massive area, though ingame it is split into nine main sub-regions, making up the game's areas. These areas also have cavern entrances spread throughout them, though these caverns are unrelated to the caves present in many mainline Pikmin games.
The Antarctic
The Antarctic is a massive area in the shape of a rounded rectangle or square, which is divided into nine smaller rectangular regions. Terrain varies across the nine regions, but is snowy and wide-open throughout.
- Chilly Valley
- Trampled Tundra
- Ruins of Awakening
- Empire Field
- Snowblown Wastes
- Frozen Fen
- Wintry Warzone
- Otherworldly Woods
- Ancestral Hunting Ground
The Caverns
All regions of the Antarctic contain cavern entrances that lead into the underground tunnels that spread below the surface of the area. The contents of these Caverns are unknown, as they are virtually entirely unexplored. The reason for this is due to the extreme danger of the Caverns. The source of this danger is not known either, but creatures that enter the Caverns will often never come back out, and those that do usually end up developing some sort of mysterious sickness and dying shortly after.
Due to the extreme danger of the Caverns, and rumors and superstitions that sprung up as a result of this danger, nothing is known about what these mysterious tunnels hold inside.
The Edges
The Antarctic rests atop a massive snowy plateau surrounded by sheer cliffs on all sides. These sharp edges make exploration of areas outside of the Antarctic nearly impossible, and even flying creatures that can descend that distance have reported that there's nothing down there but barren snow and rocks, eventually falling into a seemingly endless sea.
The events of this game take place entirely atop the Antarctic plateau, as there doesn't seem to be anything to find beyond it, even if you could safely descend its edges.
Creatures
- Main article: Piklopedia
Enemies from all four main series Pikmin games, as well as Hey! Pikmin, appear in some form within Pikmin: Antarctic Survival. There are a handful of new creatures that appear as well, though these are not very many in number. Pikmin: Antarctic Survival focuses more on the existing Pikmin creatures, instead of new ones.
Most of the wandering creatures of the game can be Awakened and subsequently unlocked as playable characters and new residents of the Diamond Settlement. The Pikmin present in the game function in the same way, being able to be Awakened, however they do not even begin to appear until the second chapter of the game.
A complete list of all creatures in Pikmin: Antarctic Survival, potential residents or otherwise, is found in the Piklopedia.
Collectible Items
Similar to the mainline Pikmin games, a large portion of gameplay in Pikmin: Antarctic Survival is spent collecting various items. The items typically fall into one of three groups: exploration items, resources, and Baubles. There are also a few more extra items that don't really have a defined category.
Exploration Items
- Main article: Exploration Items
Exploration Items are items that are found when exploring the regions of the Antarctic. These items are typically resources or large chunks of resources that must be carried back to the Diamond Settlement in order to be collected.
Resource Items
- Main article: Resource Items
Resource Items are valuable resources such as raw material, thread, or ultra-spicy berries, which are stored in the Diamond Settlement and used for construction of buildings and equipment as well as to perform certain tasks.
Baubles
- Main article: Baubles
Like most other Pikmin games, this game has collectible treasures. In Pikmin: Antarctic Survival, they're referred to as “Baubles” rather than “Treasures”, but they're functionally very similar.
The collection method for Baubles is similar to how Treasures are collected in {hp}. Instead of needing to be carried back to the base area, just reaching a Bauble is all that is required for its collection. However, the only character who can actually initiate the collection process is Glammet. Other characters can find and transport these objects, but they are unable to extract their Sparklium.
Baubles are also sometimes referred to as “Sparklies” due to their Sparklium content.
Other Items
There are a handful of items in Pikmin: Antarctic Survival that don't fit into any of these main categories. These items are typically very small and light and are assumed to be carried with the active group of creatures wherever they go. In that way, they function similarly to the Pack Items from Pikmin 4.
- Flint Beetle Tokens
The Settlement
- Main article: Diamond Settlement
As Pikmin: Antarctic Survival is a town-building game, the majority of gameplay time will be spent developing the Diamond Settlement, which is the main hub area of the game.
This area starts small and unassuming, with very few resources remaining and no buildings left standing after the sudden attack of a large group of hostile creatures. Throughout the game, more resources are gathered and buildings are constructed in the Diamond Settlement, causing it to develop and grow throughout the game.
Over the course of Pikmin: Antarctic Survival, the Diamond Settlement grows from a small and nearly-deserted campsite into a bustling city that is home to hundreds of different Awakened creatures.
Buildings
- Main article: Buildings
The Diamond Settlement is constructed of a variety of Buildings. These buildings must be constructed from various resources, such as raw material and blankets. They provide various useful services to the creatures of the Settlement, such as protection from the cold and safe storage for items.
Trivia
- Pikmin: Antarctic Survival is one of the few Pikmin games not to feature any playable species from other planets (such as Hocotatians) at all.
- Pikmin themselves also don't even make an appearance until the second chapter of the game, though they are mentioned often throughout the first chapter.