The Pikmin games are quite notable not only in their really ambient and relaxing OSTs, but managing to perfectly capture the feel of what they're going for. Naturally, they have only gotten better with the release of each subsequent game.
Across the Series
- The day results theme
has been a staple since the first game, a calming sci-fi tune that plays as you review everything you've achieved in your day exploring the PNF-404.
Pikmin 1
- The title screen music, which was used for much of the game's promotional material, truly captures the vibe of being stranded on an alien world with fantastical creatures and the whimsical personalities of the Pikmin themselves.
- The Forest of Hope is quite possibly the crowner when it comes to relaxing themes in the entire series, which is saying quite something! Once again, it embodies the feeling of exploring an alien world; this time, however, you have some friends to back you up. Easily one of Pikmin's most iconic tracks.
- The Distant Springs manages to capture being on the furthest reaches of the island, surrounded by large pools of water and not knowing what could lurk within.
Pikmin 2
- The music that is played in most Boss Fights is probably one of the first songs you think of when recalling a song from Pikmin 2 or from the series in general, especially when most of the times you hear it, you and your colony of adorable carrots are standing their ground against a giant predator.
- Emergence Cave plays once in the titular cave. The ambient synth arpeggios set the cold, desolate atmosphere for a lot of the caves you'll be exploring throughout the game, and then when you're collecting treasure and the drums and bell synths kick in, it really just takes off.
- Mystic Marsh only plays in one sub-level in the entire game, but is easily the best track from the second game. It conveys that feeling of being deep underground with only the supplies you have with you, unsure of what could lurk ahead, yet still feeling a relaxing ambiance from the cave.
- Jellyfloat Pool. As the name suggests, it only plays on sub-levels with Jellyfloats. But if that enemy could be a track, it'd be this one.
- Rest Area. There's nothing quite like having this theme play after a long stretch of having to dodge bomb rocks and Violitle Dweevils.
- Bulblax Kingdom. Completely unique to the titled cave, it truly makes you feel like you're someone else's castle. Someone who does not want you there, and isn't afraid to defend it if they must.
- Graphite Gulch plays exclusively in metal-themed sublevels. The banging drums and bells, accompanied by the haunting melody and subtle pad chords, make it one of the most emotionally tense tracks in the game. Very fittingly, it sounds like the aftermath of an apocalypse.
- Wistful Wild's theme is fittingly suspenseful for the last area in the game, yet still gives the region a feeling of natural beauty.
Pikmin 3
- Like the Forest of Hope, Garden of Hope evokes images of a sleepy springtime day, and has quickly become one of the franchise's more iconic tracks.
- Twilight River captures the feeling of early Autumn.
- A Rainy Day, as the title suggests, depicts the feeling of those sleepy, overcast drizzly days.
- The Formidable Oak is incredibly ambient. Despite only lasting for a short time before you encounter the Plasma Wraith, it perfectly sets the tone for the area. You just know something is lurking in this place. That something about what lives here is just so inherently wrong in the context of the Pikmin planet. And it only serves to gear you for when you find it...
- The Mission Mode theme is a sped-up version of the main theme and encapsulates the fast pace of the game mode.
Pikmin 4
- The Tough Enemy theme, nicknamed "Drumline Cadence" by the fanbase, takes the marching band aspects of some earlier themes in the series and pushes them up to eleven. The entire track is all percussion, and the drum loop itself is perfectly tense for facing off against the bosses above ground. What makes the theme even better is that each mini-boss it's used on adds a unique extra instrument to help each feel distinct and unique:
- The Burrowing Snagret version adds a didgeridoo.
- The Bug-Eyed Crawmad version adds intense banjo strumming.
- The Crusted Rumpup version adds threatening strings.
- The Burrowing Snagret version
- The Final Boss theme, in contrast to most of the other songs in the game, is an intense rock theme that also fits the fight against the Ancient Sirehound well.
Hey! Pikmin
- Brilliant Garden would not feel out of place in the main series games.
- Cave is an ambient track that once again captures that feeling of exploring the deep depths of an alien world.
- Ravaged Rustworks truly feels like you're exploring the ruins of a lost civilization. Exciting, nostalgic, yet kind of sad at the same time.
- Lushlife Murk conveys the lament of exploring woods that have ravaged by toxic pollutants.
- Snowfall Field is an upbeat track that is somehow still well-suited to exploring a frozen tundra.
- Sweltering Parchland. Despite being connected to a dried and dead forest that constantly catches fire, its reassuring tone embodies the nostalgia of what the woods were likely like before they died.
- Leafswirl Lagoon is a relaxing, nostalgic soundings melody that could put anyone at ease.
- Olimar's Madcap Dash. An absolutely fantastic track, ideal for accompanying the highlights of an adventure.
- Sparkling Labyrinth is an all-around nice upbeat track that can both put you at ease while also pumping you up for an adventure.
- All three phases of the Berserk Leech Hydroe battle. While Pikmin Final Boss themes have always managed to make you feel small in comparison to the boss, this one outright makes you feel out of your league; that Olimar, a simple long-haul space shipper, and his army of fragile plant creatures are facing off against an Eldritch Abomination that wants to consume the very planet they stand on.
