The Seattle Aquarium is getting a Pikmin takeover this summer

Nintendo has announced a partnership with the Seattle Aquarium to host a "Pikmin Summer" event running from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day. Starting May 23, visitors will be able to search for the plant-like aliens hidden among the marine life exhibits on Pier 59.

Are you in or traveling to Seattle this summer? Go to the aquarium and see some Pikmin.

The Nintendo partnership involves physical Pikmin figures placed throughout the facility. Guests can grab a scavenger hunt map at the entrance and track down the characters hiding near the sea otters, harbor seals, and giant Pacific octopuses.

Surviving outside the GameCube

The original GameCube title launched in October 2001. Shigeru Miyamoto designed the real-time strategy game around managing hordes of colored sprouts to carry giant batteries and bottle caps back to a crashed spaceship. It was a notoriously stressful experience. You had a strict 30-day time limit to repair your ship, and any Pikmin left behind at sunset were immediately eaten by nocturnal predators.

The franchise is much more forgiving now. Pikmin 4 released in 2023 and removed the harsh time limits, adding a helpful rescue dog named Oatchi to carry your squad around. That Switch release revitalized the series after a decade-long gap following Pikmin 3 on the Wii U.

Placing these characters in a real-world nature exhibit fits the franchise perfectly. The entire series is built on the concept of tiny creatures navigating a massive, realistic environment. Only Blue Pikmin can survive a swim. The rest will just drown.

Logging steps for Decor Pikmin

The aquarium takeover is heavily linked to Pikmin Bloom. Niantic developed the augmented reality mobile game in 2021 as a passive pedometer that encourages players to walk outside and plant virtual flowers. It is much less demanding than the studio's flagship monster-catching app. You just leave it running in your pocket and occasionally check to see what your squad of creatures picked up during your commute.

A major mechanic in Pikmin Bloom involves collecting Decor Pikmin that wear outfits based on where you found their initial seedling. If you find a seedling near a coffee shop, the resulting Pikmin might wear a tiny espresso cup. The Seattle Aquarium event is a prime opportunity for players to log steps and collect water-themed Decor Pikmin for their digital squads.

Nintendo has been aggressively expanding its physical footprint over the last few years. Between the Super Nintendo World theme parks and various pop-up retail stores, the company clearly wants its characters existing outside of a traditional console environment. A quiet, observational game like Pikmin fits naturally into an educational setting.

The Seattle Aquarium event concludes on September 7. That gives you a few months to track down the displays and log some steps on your phone.