So, as many of you who frequent Pikmin Returns are probably aware, we've been very quiet on the main website front. This is owing to the fact that I've been concentrating on getting the forums back up to scratch, and they're getting their slowly. As they are getting their slowly, it's time to start paying attention to the main site again.

As I don't have a lot of time, it's time that we recruited more staff. The following positions are available:

 - News Reporter
Are you a news hound? Is your head to the ground and you've got insider contacts? Do you frequent just about every website on earth in the hope of a bit more Pikmin information? If so, then this is the job for you. All that is required is a sound grasp on the English language and the ability to be able to learn a fairly easy CMS with a little help. 

 - Pikmin 1 Writer
Do you love Pikmin? Do you think you know just about everything there is to know about Pikmin? Could you beat Pikmin Wikia? If so, then this is the job for you. Again, you will require a strong grasp on the English language and you'll need to know how to operate a CMS. HTML knowledge is preferred, but not essential.

- Pikmin 2 Writer
Do you love Pikmin2? Do you think you know just about everything there is to know about Pikmin? Could you beat Pikmin Wikia? If so, then this is the job for you. Again, you will require a strong grasp on the English language and you'll need to know how to operate a CMS. HTML knowledge is preferred, but not essential.

- Media Coordinator
Do you love working with images and video? Do you have a capture card? If so, then this is the position for you. We want to expand our gallery exponentially, so we need as many people who are able to take screenshots, crop, rotate and edit images as well as have the time to upload and maintain our galleries.

Please note that you can apply for a maximum of two positions.

If you are interested in this, please send me an e-mail to webmaster(at)pikminreturns.com, remember to replace (at) with @ and make sure that you're subject is: Job Position (Enter the Position you're applying for here).

Please do not apply in the comments, that's just annoying and hard to track.

The forums are now open, so please use them well.

Enjoy :) 

Along with the moderator applications closing, today sees another soundtrack added to the Soundtracks page. Thanks to forum member Foo, we have the rips from Super Smash Bros Brawl up and available to download or to listen to.

You can gain access to those files here .

As a side note, all of the e-mails have been sent in regards to who got the Moderator jobs, and congratulations to those of you who did get a position. For those of you who didn't, don't feel down! I'm a very awkward person. 

Thanks for all of your applications to become a moderator. I've not replied to any of your e-mails yet as for the past couple of days I've been forbidden to use the computer by my doctor as I was having a 24 hour heart scan. However, that's over now so I can start looking through the many applications.

Don't feel disheartened if you do not get a position, as all of you are regulars you know how ridiculously fussy I am about everything. I'll e-mail back to each and every application I've received to let you all know individually.

Although, I'm upset that I've had no Graphics people come on board. I don't need anyone who's ultra awesome at manipulating graphics to make awesome Pikmin Wallpapers (although that would be nice), but I do need someone who's good a pixel art and can create things from scratch that look good.

You should all hear back from me in the next few days. 

This will get out through people anyway so I thought I'd tell you all that the forums are nearly ready to be reopened - without the RPG System. However, I'm just waiting to hear back from a few people and the place should be open in the next few days.

I've also been reading your comments, and if you want more soundtracks available in the soundtracks section, just e-mail me with the subject "Pikmin:  What you want to say here" and I'll be able to read it, otherwise it'll just be eaten by my spam eater.

Today it was confirmed by Smash Bros Dojo that there will be a load of the Pikmin music in Brawl.

The list is as follows:

Remember, most of that's available in our Soundtracks section.

With the forums, the poll will be left up a little longer. It's good to see there's a few laughing gnomes out there!

So, I've got some bad news, or good news depending on how you look at it for everyone.

The forums are basically done, with one huge exception. The RPG system. I was/am going to introduce a super awesome RPG system that's ran on post counts and upgrades you with this, that and the other. However, it doesn't seem to agree with a few other things on the forum so it's not working.

So I'm going to give you lot the option, do we open without it and hopefully add it when it decides to work for me, or do we keep the place closed until it's working?

I've set up a vote system on the right > there and you can vote as to what you want to do. If you've got questions or comments, just post in the Comments and I'll eventually get back to you.

Also, if anyone has emailed me on any of the Pikmin Return's addresses, I'm sorry I've not got back to you. They're so over-filled with spam that they're un-usable. So just post here until I sort out a new email.

So it's official. Pikmin is now in Super Smash Bros. Brawl as a playable character. It seems like his character will be very hard to use though, as Olimar can only attack when his Pikmin are close, and Pikmin have this horrific tendency to scatter all over the place. Not cool.

However, this is great news for us Pikmin lovers as with the popularity of the Super Smash Bros. series, it's likely that we may see some more Pikmin games in the near future. Especially with the Wii and DS's perfect interface for Pikmin, and the renewal of the Pikmin trademark a few months back.

To see pictures, hit read more.

Hi All,
This is just a tiny and quick message to say that the forums will hopefully be relaunched by the end of January, although there's no promises there. I'm slowly working through a few more things, and I'm also waiting on a couple of other things that are out of my control.

Just be patient, and don't be stupid and all will be well.

Happy New Year to you all as well.

In other news, I finally decided to put my authoritative powers to use and I added a subsection to the Soundtracks page: Arrangements and Remixes.

So today I've finally decided that it's time we launch the next page in the soundtracks section. As you can probably guess from the title itself, the next part of the soundtracks section is the single from Pikmin 2 that Nintendo comissioned to promote the game a few years back.

Done by the same "band" as the original, Strawberry Seed, the original cutesey feel to the series has been retained. Even if the game lacks anything that's cute (seriously, Pikmin being eaten alive - not a nice concept really). The single, Song of Seed has five different tracks, although two of them are just karaoke tracks.

Well, maybe not as a playable character but there is still references to our favourite franchise in the game. A few days ago Super Smash Bros. website was updated with some new information, as it is every day. However, a few eagle eyed people have noticed that in one specific screenshot there's reference to something. A very positive something for the possibility of Pikmin 3.

Check inside to avoid Brawl spoilers.

This is a small plea to everyone who reads Pikmin Returns, if you can read and write in Japanese fluently, please contact us as we have a few bits of information that could do with being translated. It's nothing too indepth, but it's important enough to make people interested.

You know the contact address, it's under the contact us link.

For those of you who understand trademarking, copyrighting and the protection of intellectual properties, the title alone will make you salivate. If you're more of a mere mortal like the rest of us, then I'll explain.

In Japan, a registered trademark is only valid for ten years and then needs to be renewed; however, if the trademark is not active within a three year period the protection of the said trademark will become invalid - unless you apply for a renewal.

Nintendo have decided that it's high time to renew the Pikmin trademark protection and keep the franchise under their power. What does this mean? Read inside for details.

Today I decided it was time to take a look back on things, so I decided to head on over to my press accounts at Nintendo and start looking at old Pikmin imagery. The early release screens don't look too different from the actual game in the long run. So a thought struck me as I was looking at them, to download them all and add them up to the site!

That LynxRunner, what is she like? Well, because she updated the site, I felt the need to do some work to it myself. After all, we do need to have an up and running... image gallery, and we also need to have some more links and information around. We are a Pikmin website after all.