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Music in the Pikmin series accompanies every part of each game, from ambient music during gameplay and menus, to pre-rendered cutscene scores, to minor jingles for small events. The style is quite unique and extremely varied across the games, featuring many different instruments and textures that reflect the game environments on PNF-404 and beyond. Most notably, much of the music is dynamic: gameplay events and parameters can add or subtract elements from the music.

The music in the series is often synthetic, using either samples of real instruments or synthesizers mimicking them and producing other sounds. The soundtracks of the games feature different composers:

  • Pikmin's soundtrack was composed by Hajime Wakai.
  • Pikmin 2's soundtrack was composed by Hajime Wakai and Kazumi Totaka.
  • Pikmin 3's soundtrack was composed by Asuka Hayazaki, Atsuko Asahi, and Hajime Wakai.
    • The additional music in Pikmin 3 Deluxe was composed by Soshi Abe and Babi.
  • Pikmin 4's soundtrack was composed by Asuka Hayazaki, Kenta Nagata, and Soshi Abe.
  • Hey! Pikmin's soundtrack was composed by Kento Hasegawa and Masato Kouda.
  • Pikmin Bloom's soundtrack was composed by Masato Kouda.

Although Hajime Wakai has not actively worked on recent Pikmin titles, his work can be considered some of the most influential to the series.

Pikmin[]

Every area has a very different musical theme. The music changes depending on the time of day, specifically, during most of the day, the normal tune plays. But once the lights start to fade, and it's time to round up all Pikmin, the music changes to a calmer mood of what it once was.

On Challenge Mode, the music that normally plays for the current level is sped up, as well as the darker remix noted above.

Sometimes, when near an enemy creature, more percussion and occasional brass are added to the song. This is a good way to notice that you could be in danger. A great example of the music change is in the Distant Spring.

Strawberry Flower released a Pikmin-themed song, Ai No Uta, along with the release of Pikmin, and later a number of other Pikmin-themed singles and albums.

The soundtrack for Pikmin is called Pikmin Worlds.

Pikmin 2[]

Pikmin 2 features distinctive music in both the overworld areas and caves. Music in caves is often minimalistic and appears to be chosen according to the difficulty and kind of hazards and beasts that await the Pikmin and Captains. In rest areas, a recognizable soft melody plays.

Music in Pikmin 2 plays as a number of different variations depending on a few variable factors. It varies when Pikmin interfere with beasts or when they carry a treasure, for example; and the tempo decreases as the active Captain loses life. When either Louie or the President is the active Captain, the music often has a time signature of 6/8 or 9/8, instead of 3/4 or 4/4 with Olimar. Above ground, the music also changes depending on the time of the day, much like in the first Pikmin game.

For the advertising of Pikmin 2, another song from Strawberry Flower, Tane no Uta, was used.

Pikmin 3[]

Pikmin 3's music goes for having a more natural, simple, but atmospheric affect rather than having melodically strong tunes.

Every area in Pikmin 3 has a total of 6 music variations: Morning, Morning Work, Work, Afternoon, Evening, and Weather. The "Weather" variation is shared by all the regions except the Formidable Oak and the Distant Tundra, which have their own unique themes when Weather is active. All cave areas share the same soundtrack. 

Unlike in the past two games, Pikmin 3 does not have an extra variant of each song that changes when an enemy is nearby. Instead, a continuous timpani and cowbell beat is overlayed with the normal music to signify enemies in the vicinity. Pikmin 3 does, however, have unique music variants for when Pikmin are performing tasks such are building bridges or carrying spoils.

All bosses share the same theme except for the Vehemoth Phosbat and the Plasm Wraith, which both have unique themes. All minibosses share a remixed version of Pikmin 2's boss theme.

For every official trailer of the game, Mission Mode's main theme was used.

Pikmin 4[]

Pikmin 4's soundtrack is highly ambient, much more so than any other game in the series. Its main area themes in particular feature music that is very fragmented and sparse in melodic information, though the themes for cutscenes, bosses, and side modes are more in spirit to what is heard in previous games. Possible in part by this new minimalistic approach, every single type of enemy will now also bring about a unique change in the music when a leader is nearby; each enemy adds a unique instrument or mix that is characteristic of the creature. Motifs established in Pikmin 2 also reappear in some cutscenes, further tying in the many returning features from that game, such as the reintroduction of multi-floored caves.

Hey! Pikmin[]

Hey! Pikmin's soundtrack is very different to those of the other games in the series, reflecting how its gameplay is also very different. It features melodically-driven themes featuring a large variety of synthesized sounds, often featuring audio effects like reverb. Area themes each have 2 versions: a main version for the "front side" of the area, and a secondary version, always more ambient and atmospheric, for the "back side", though these themes don't share a structure; in fact the soundtrack lacks any dynamic elements. Every menu and boss has a unique theme, giving the soundtrack a wide range of styles and tone colors, and while there are few consistent elements throughout the soundtrack, most themes do reflect the calm nature of the game.

Pikmin Bloom[]

Pikmin Bloom's soundtrack is small but diverse. It features several different styles of music to accompany its menus, activities, and events. In general, its soundtrack is very light and positive-sounding, reflecting its genre as a mobile game. Some of its music comes from Hey! Pikmin's soundtrack.

See also[]

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