Glossary

The following glossary explains the definition of some words and acronyms used in the series, the community, and gaming in general (when relevant). Terms that have their own article or redirect to an article will not be in this glossary, so if you cannot find the term you are looking for, try using the search feature. For a glossary of wiki terms, see here.

Navigation: # A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

A

Alpha

A development version of a game before the "beta" version.

Artificial intelligence, AI

Colloquially refers to the behavior logic of a creatured or entity that is not controlled by the player, like a Pikmin or enemy.

AW

Short for Awakening Wood.

B

Base

The area around a ship and/or Onion where Pikmin are generally considered safe.

Beta

A prototype version of a game. Depending on the developers, a game in this state could be almost nearly complete, or still in the middle of development. This term is normally used to refer to any version before the final release, although at Pikipedia, the terms "prototype", "prerelease" or "early" are used instead.

BGM

Abbreviation of "background music".

Brawl

Short for Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Buff

Something that gets buffed receives an improvement, when compared to a previous version.

C

Cemu

A popular emulator for Wii U games.

Citra

A popular emulator for Nintendo 3DS games.

CPU

Central Processing Unit. In a computer or console, this is the main brain. In gaming, it could also refer to an AI-controlled character.

D

Despawn

Term used in gaming to refer to an object's disappearance from the level or scene.

Dolphin

A popular emulator for GameCube and Wii games. Alternately, the S.S. Dolphin.

DS

Short for The Distant Spring, or the Nintendo DS (or a console on the Nintendo DS family, such as the Nintendo 3DS).

DT

Short for Distant Tundra.

E

Emulator

A tool that allows users to play console games on a PC, with benefits such as gameplay-enhancing tools and the ability to examine the game's files and inner workings. Popular emulators for Nintendo consoles include Dolphin, Cemu, and Citra.

Exploit

When a player abuses a game mechanic or a glitch in extreme ways in order to do something not intended by the developers.

F

Family

A taxonomic rank above genus and below order; in Pikmin and Pikmin 2, animals and plants are categorized in common-name families based on similar evolutionary backgrounds. For example, Bulborbs and their evolutionary derivatives are all categorized in the grub-dog family. For a list of families, see the families category.

FH, FOH, FoH

Short for The Forest of Hope.

Flower

As a verb ("to flower"), this is used by the community to say "to evolve a Pikmin's maturity into the flower stage".

FN

Short for The Forest Navel.

FO

Short for Formidable Oak.

Franchise

See series.

FT

Short for The Final Trial.

G

Game over

When the adventure in the game ends in a failure. In Pikmin, the bad ending, which occurs if all 30 days are up and not enough ship parts have been collected, would be considered a game over. In Pikmin 3, a game over occurs when the explorers run out of juice, and the player is given the chance to try again from a previous day.

Genus

A taxonomic rank above species and below family, given to members of a family with a common ancestor or similar characteristics. In the Pikmin series, primarily Pikmin 2 and Hey! Pikmin, this is the first name in the "scientific names" given to enemies and plants, resembling binomial nomenclature. For example, all true Bulborbs belong to the genus Oculus.

GOH, GoH

Short for Garden of Hope.

H

Hexadecimal, hex

A number representation system where the digits are: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E, F. This means that it takes 16 numbers before the next digit is incremented (e.g. to get to 10, you need to increase one to 0F). Normally used in technical environments because of its convenience.

Hole

An entrance to a cave, or an opening that leads to the next sublevel.

I

IS

Short for The Impact Site.

ISO

See ROM.

K

Kanji

Japanese characters used in modern writing.

Katakana

Japanese characters used for the likes of transcripts and foreign words.

L

Lag

Could either refer to the delay suffered when sending and receiving data through a network (such as online play), or refer to when a game asks too much for the console to process in normal time, making it run slower than normal.

M

Melee

Short for Super Smash Bros. Melee.

Multiplayer, multi-player

When more than one player is playing the same game simultaneously. In the Pikmin series, this is possible in for the alternate game modes in the following category: Category:Multiplayer modes.

Multitasking, multi-tasking, multi tasking

The ability to do more than one task at the same time. In the Pikmin games, this normally refers to a player's ability to have one group of Pikmin or one leader perform a task, while other groups or leaders perform different tasks, meaning that more things get done in less time.

N

Nerf

A nerf is when something is made worse, compared to a previous version.

NOA, NoA

Short for Nintendo of America.

NOE, NoE

Short for Nintendo of Europe.

NOJ, NoJ

Short for Nintendo of Japan.

NPC

Short for either "non-playable character" (a character players cannot control), or New Play Control!.

NTSC

A color encoding system used mostly in American analogue televisions. Often incorrectly used as a way to identify a game's region.

O

OST

Acronym that stands for "Official Sound Track". This refers to the collection of music that plays in a game or other form of media. OST is also an abbreviation of Olimar's Shipwreck Tale.

P

PAL

A color encoding system used mostly in European and Australian analogue televisions. Often incorrectly used as a way to identify a game's region.

Path-finding, pathfinding

Algorithms to find the (normally shortest) path between point A and B, usually taking into account walls and obstacles.

Player

The person that plays the game.

Port

A version of a game or other media that was created for a platform different from the original game's platform, normally with little to no changes.

PP

Short for Perplexing Pool.

R

Remake

A different version of a game that improves upon the original version. In the Pikmin series, this would usually be mistaken as the New Play Control! games, but they are actually ports.

Reset

The process of shutting a game off and turning it back on. A "soft" reset exists in the GameCube and Wii titles, via a dedicated button in the console proper.

Respawn

Term used when something that disappears from play reappears. See also spawn.

ROM

Name given to the collection of files that make up a console game. Normally used in conjunction with emulators.

Run

A (usually speedy) playthrough of the game, from start to finish. Used commonly when attempting a challenge run.

S

Screenshot

A photo taken of a game. This is a photo of the game's graphics itself, not of a television or monitor showing the game. For a quick guide on how to take screenshots, see Help:Files.

Series

A collection of games, movies, and other forms of media that use the same characters, ideas, universes, etc. Also used in Pikmin 2 to refer to a collection of treasures following a certain theme; see the article Series.

SFX

Abbreviation of "sound effects".

Snapshot

See screenshot.

Spawn

Term used in gaming to refer to an object's appearance on the level or scene.

Species

A basic taxonomic rank, given to one specific member of a genus. In the Pikmin series, primarily Pikmin 2, this is the second name in the "scientific names" given to enemies and plants, resembling binomial nomenclature. In three-name nomenclatures, the third name is a subspecies used for further classification; for example, a Red Bulborb is a subspecies (russus) of the species kageyamii.

Spin-off, spinoff

A game or other form of media that uses characters and ideas from a franchise, but in a completely different way, such that it is not usually canon.

SSB

Short for Super Smash Bros.

SSBB

Short for Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

SSBM

Short for Super Smash Bros. Melee.

SSB4, SSB3DS, SSBWiiU

Short for either or both versions of Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U.

SSBU

Short for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

T

TDS

Short for The Distant Spring.

TFH, TFOH, TFoH

Short for The Forest of Hope.

TFN

Short for The Forest Navel.

TFT

Short for The Final Trial.

TIS

Short for The Impact Site.

TR

Short for Twilight River.

TW

Short for Tropical Wilds.

Two-player, two player

When two players are playing the same game simultaneously. See multiplayer.

U

Ultimate

Short for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Unlockable

Content in a game that is not available to the player from the start. The player must first do some things before that content can be unlocked and made available.

V

VOR, VoR

Short for Valley of Repose.

W

WW

Short for Wistful Wild.