MS: The Pikmin Singles – Strawberry Flower
In our Video Game Chart Hits! feature from last year we (by ‘we’ we mean ‘James’) neglected to mention a rather noteworthy set of video game related songs that found their way into the Japanese single charts.
The tracks in question are by Strawberry Flower, a virtual band made up of Pikmin. Yes, you read that right. In a manner similar to Gorillaz and Genki Rockets, a group of mysterious musicians donned this fictional guise between 2001-2004 to create several Japan-exclusive songs tied to Nintendo’s strategy series.
‘Ai no Uta’ (Song of Love) and it’s B-side ‘Namida Ga Afureta’ (The Tears Overflowing) launched with the original Pikmin in late 2001, with the former used in TV commercials for the game.
Genre-wise these mellow acoustic tracks have a folksy feel, likely intending to reflect the natural themes and sentimentality of the game. They were written from the perspective of the Pikmin and protagonist Captain Olimar, respectively.
Despite regularly being used to market the Pikmin series in Japan none of Strawberry Flower’s work has been directly used in the games themselves. However, both ‘no Uta’ songs appeared as alternate tracks in the Pikmin stage in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
The single was a unexpectedly huge hit in Japan, peaking at #2 in the Oricon charts and selling a total of 632,350 copies, eventually eclipsing the game’s sales by over 100,000 units.
It’s also interesting to note that these figures actually place it over 30,000 units ahead of Kingdom Hearts’ ‘Hikari’, which is thought to be the best-selling video game theme song in Japan. However, from what I can tell ‘Ai no Uta’ isn’t strictly considered a video game theme song as it was not featured in Pikmin itself.
This was followed by ‘Pikmin Dance’ in March of 2002 which was comprised of three very different remixes of ‘Ai no Uta’ though is technically still considered a single. This was a more moderate success, peaking at #5 in the Oricon chart and selling 115,230 copies.
Finally, for the release of Pikmin 2 in 2004 came ‘Tane no Uta’ and B-Side ‘Shandondama’ (Soap Bubbles). The former was used in TV commercials just like ‘Ai no Uta’ had been for the original. It was closer in style to the first single but featured much more simplistic music and lyrics, based around the concept of explaining each Pikmin type’s abilities. Perhaps because of this it only peaked at #28, shifting just 15,389 copies.
Sales figures aside, are these songs any good? Personally, I’m sort of fond of the warm, mellow vibe of ‘Namida Ga Afureta’. I can understand why that and the more quaint ‘Ai no Uta’ were as popular as they were. As for other tracks, your mileage will probably vary even if you’re a Pikmin fanatic.
