NINTENDO games are known for their innovation and charm – and Hey Pikmin excels in both those areas.

The acclaimed Pikmin series originally started life some 15 years ago as a 3D puzzle strategy game on the Gamecube.

You played as a space explorer called Captain Olimar who was assisted by an army of cute, colourful plant-like creatures who helped retrieve items to repair his ship.

It was an introduction to strategy games, with elements of hazard and resource management, in that user friendly way Nintendo is famed for. Now Japanese studio Arzest has somehow taken all the dynamics of the 3D Pikmin world and transferred it into a puzzle platformer for the 3DS.

Fans will instantly feel at home with Hey Pikmin but it is also more accessible for newcomers.

you command your pikmin with a whistle that ushers them to your side and they collect items or attack enemies in your path with a tap of the stylus on the touch screen.

You can get the basics in no time and all the classic pikmin varieties are back so red ones are fire resistant, blue are water resistant and so on.

The great visuals and sound effects that make the Pikmin games distinctive are present and correct on the 3DS version.

And the action cleverly unfolds on both the handheld device’s upper and lower screens, making enemies, and the world they inhabit, appear larger-than-life. A neat addition is the underwater levels which is a first and works well with blue pikmin swimming alongside you.

But the game is not as challenging as its predecessors and seems to have been aimed at a younger audience, although that is no bad thing. And Hey Pikmin’s hidden treasures on each level adds another dimension for more experienced players.

Overall this a thoroughly charming, accessible and engaging game that makes the most of its handheld format with bite size levels that each take around 10 or 15 minutes. Perfect and fun for on the go.

RATING: 7.5/10

DAVID MORGAN