Pikmin Bloom is a new Nintendo & Niantic collaboration

Nintendo has teamed up with Niantic again to try and recapture some of the Pokémon GO magic with a new mobile game called Pikmin Bloom. Based on the Pikmin Game series, the game looks to be a straight-up replica of Pokémon GO with a Pikmin skin. While Pokémon GO wanted us to get outside and explore different areas to collect adorable monsters, Pikmin instead wants us to walk so we can plant the little flower creatures and help them to grow.

The game asks players to set a daily walk goal and doing this will allow for the creatures to grow. As you get your steps up, this encourages the flowers to bloom. Once you have completed enough steps, you can grab your Pikmin and use them for more materials to keep playing.

Visually, the interactive map reflects where you are in the real world and any creatures that you grow on your walks are tagged in that location. You are given the option to name the creature when you grow and collect it, adding it to your collection.

While Pokémon GO was a complete game-changer, Nintendo’s mobile games haven’t quite been able to re-capture the same magic. Pikmin is a solid franchise with some great titles in its console history, but Pikmin Bloom, to me, looks like a glorified step counter with some added fitness goals. It doesn’t quite seem to match the audience of the game. Nintendo has confirmed they are planning community walking days in the future, as well as a content update that will let you take selfies with your Pikmin.

You can download Pikmin Bloom for iOS and Android or find out more info here.