UPDATE, 8/15/23: I have played the game a second time and 100%-ed the campaign. Opinion remained the same: better Pikmin AI makes it better to play than 1, but the caves are still trash and the difficulty balancing is schizophrenic. Had to lean on the reset button when not ass blasting everything with purple Pikmin and purple spray.
Maaaaaaaaaaan. I really wanted to like Pikmin 2, at least more than this. But a man can only take so much abuse before he snaps.
On a technical level, Pikmin 2 blows 1 out of the fuckin' stratosphere. Way less glitches, way better AI, the Pikmin spawn faster, the stupid-ass bomb walls are gone, and the commanding of Pikmin is fast enough to make 1 feel obsolete by comparison. The lack of a time limit a la Pikmin 1's 30 days and 3's juice supply kills a lot of urgency, but hey, some people may like the lack of crunch.
But I can't do it, man. I have been broken. Pikmin 2 haters were right. Fuck the caves and fuck anyone who likes the caves.
I was actually on the caves' side at first. Sure, their lack of time limit, RNG, and dungeon-crawling aspect goes against most of the Pikmin design philosophy (especially in retrospect with Pikmin 3 being more like 1 than 2) but for the majority of my playthrough I was having fun in the caves. The core gameplay loop of Pikmin is so fun even the antithetical caves felt like just an excuse to play more Pikmin. Then the caves started getting a little cute with me.
They introduced floors with bottomless pits surrounding the entire map coupled with enemies that threw Pikmin off when they shake. Usually right off into the pits.
"Okay," I thought. "I just gotta be smarter with my Pikmin usage."
Then they started dropping enemies from the ceiling I had no way of preparing for.
"Okay, that's kinda annoying, but they don't drop tough enemies, so I guess I just gotta be vigilant on every floor."
Then they started dropping BOMBS and ROCKS from the ceiling, punishing me for trying to work as efficiently as possible, completely going against the core identity of Pikmin.
"Damn, that's super fucking unfair. I guess I just gotta deal with it and pray to RNGesus that I don't get fucked by the wheel of fate on this floor, and also be prepared for the possibility that every floor could drop bombs and rocks because there's no way of knowing until it happens."
Then the game put a 20 weight treasure inside a high-up pool of water on a floor that had no blue Pikmin flowers. And I had 17. And I quit.
Never before had I encountered this issue since every other time something like this happened, there were flowers to turn other types of Pikmin into the one needed for the task at hand. And this cave had warned me of all four hazards, so I took in 20 of each type, so don't tell me I was unprepared. I even gave the game the benefit of the doubt at thought RNG just bent me over the table that time. So I reset to my last save at the floor, and they did put a different treasure in that spot. ...Another 20 weight. That's when I turned the game off and shelved it. I really got punished not because I didn't heed the game's warning, but the RNG of the caves rolled the dice and decided for me to eat shit. If I'm gonna get fucked in the ass, I'd at least like to have the knowledge that I asked for it, not for a surprise pegging after a rimjob what IS this metaphor?
To the game's credit, this didn't happen until after I beat the main campaign. I was set on 100%-ing from the outset like Pikmins 1 and 3 but the idea of redoing that entire cave for one treasure felt about as worthwhile an investment as Blockbuster stock in the early 2010s. And with the one treasure now out of reach, the bottom dropped out and my drive to 100% the game was gone. I cleared all of the first two maps. Didn't even touch the fourth yet. Don't care to anymore.
And it's a shame, fellas. Because I still think Pikmin is worth a chance. It's way longer than the first game; the third game too, in fact. But without the fluent controls of 3 and it's quality of life of improvements, I think 3 is the only truly GOOD Pikmin game. After experiencing the lock-on controls of 3, there's just no going back to the first two, even with motion controls. While playing the first two games after 3 has soured my perspective on the franchise as it currently stands, I am still very excited for Pikmin 4 after the heat death of the universe. If Pikmin 4 is just a better Pikmin 3, then sign me up. Maybe one day I'll go back and 100% Pikmin 2 so I can say I 100%-ed the trilogy... eh probably not.
3 > 2 > 1 btw
Maaaaaaaaaaan. I really wanted to like Pikmin 2, at least more than this. But a man can only take so much abuse before he snaps.
On a technical level, Pikmin 2 blows 1 out of the fuckin' stratosphere. Way less glitches, way better AI, the Pikmin spawn faster, the stupid-ass bomb walls are gone, and the commanding of Pikmin is fast enough to make 1 feel obsolete by comparison. The lack of a time limit a la Pikmin 1's 30 days and 3's juice supply kills a lot of urgency, but hey, some people may like the lack of crunch.
But I can't do it, man. I have been broken. Pikmin 2 haters were right. Fuck the caves and fuck anyone who likes the caves.
I was actually on the caves' side at first. Sure, their lack of time limit, RNG, and dungeon-crawling aspect goes against most of the Pikmin design philosophy (especially in retrospect with Pikmin 3 being more like 1 than 2) but for the majority of my playthrough I was having fun in the caves. The core gameplay loop of Pikmin is so fun even the antithetical caves felt like just an excuse to play more Pikmin. Then the caves started getting a little cute with me.
They introduced floors with bottomless pits surrounding the entire map coupled with enemies that threw Pikmin off when they shake. Usually right off into the pits.
"Okay," I thought. "I just gotta be smarter with my Pikmin usage."
Then they started dropping enemies from the ceiling I had no way of preparing for.
"Okay, that's kinda annoying, but they don't drop tough enemies, so I guess I just gotta be vigilant on every floor."
Then they started dropping BOMBS and ROCKS from the ceiling, punishing me for trying to work as efficiently as possible, completely going against the core identity of Pikmin.
"Damn, that's super fucking unfair. I guess I just gotta deal with it and pray to RNGesus that I don't get fucked by the wheel of fate on this floor, and also be prepared for the possibility that every floor could drop bombs and rocks because there's no way of knowing until it happens."
Then the game put a 20 weight treasure inside a high-up pool of water on a floor that had no blue Pikmin flowers. And I had 17. And I quit.
Never before had I encountered this issue since every other time something like this happened, there were flowers to turn other types of Pikmin into the one needed for the task at hand. And this cave had warned me of all four hazards, so I took in 20 of each type, so don't tell me I was unprepared. I even gave the game the benefit of the doubt at thought RNG just bent me over the table that time. So I reset to my last save at the floor, and they did put a different treasure in that spot. ...Another 20 weight. That's when I turned the game off and shelved it. I really got punished not because I didn't heed the game's warning, but the RNG of the caves rolled the dice and decided for me to eat shit. If I'm gonna get fucked in the ass, I'd at least like to have the knowledge that I asked for it, not for a surprise pegging after a rimjob what IS this metaphor?
To the game's credit, this didn't happen until after I beat the main campaign. I was set on 100%-ing from the outset like Pikmins 1 and 3 but the idea of redoing that entire cave for one treasure felt about as worthwhile an investment as Blockbuster stock in the early 2010s. And with the one treasure now out of reach, the bottom dropped out and my drive to 100% the game was gone. I cleared all of the first two maps. Didn't even touch the fourth yet. Don't care to anymore.
And it's a shame, fellas. Because I still think Pikmin is worth a chance. It's way longer than the first game; the third game too, in fact. But without the fluent controls of 3 and it's quality of life of improvements, I think 3 is the only truly GOOD Pikmin game. After experiencing the lock-on controls of 3, there's just no going back to the first two, even with motion controls. While playing the first two games after 3 has soured my perspective on the franchise as it currently stands, I am still very excited for Pikmin 4 after the heat death of the universe. If Pikmin 4 is just a better Pikmin 3, then sign me up. Maybe one day I'll go back and 100% Pikmin 2 so I can say I 100%-ed the trilogy... eh probably not.
3 > 2 > 1 btw
Very good successor to the original game, it has bigger and better levels and treasures. The only thing holding this game back is the random elements of the caverns.
Look at all these little guys!!
A single player that is equally peaceful as it is stressful. A world that gets me engaged more than any other. I've refrained from talking about score as almost all of these games succeed and comparing would seem useless. However, the music in Pikmin most accurately captures a regular-yet-fantasy world you explore. It delivers perfect tonality for any given situation in the game. Also, it has a multiplayer that created it's own definition of real time strategy pvp and has not been triumphed since.
Much like the first, this Pikmin game still retains the charm and clever design that makes the gameplay so fun. Dungeons are interesting but maybe a little too high stakes at times. Just as fun as the original.
Pikmin 2, unlike 1 and 3, focuses more on the combat, which is quite fun. However, some of the caves are way too long and not every enemy is that fun to fight. Recommended.
idk
goat
One of my favorites of all time. Could go back any time.
A adição do louie faz com que o planejamento seja mais variado e intuitivo, entretanto isso me frustra um pouco do porque desse jogo não ter um modo de 2 players para campanha, seria algo muito maneiro. A adição de 2 novos tipos de pikmin também são bem legais e adicionam mais estrategias e variedade, não só isso como a pikmin UI está bem melhor que o jogo anterior.
Os "tesouros" são ótimos coletáveis, ver como o jogo trata os objetos na perspectiva dos personagens é muito cômico, especialmente as referências, bem mais criativo do que pegar peças de nave como no primeiro jogo, mas sinceramente acho brochante como o jogo acaba repetindo alguns tesouros com o decorrer do tempo.
O jogo é maravilhoso na parte visual e atmosférica assim como todo pikmin, entretanto algumas áreas são bem similares as do jogo anterior, fazendo o jogo parecer menos original. O jogo possui mais tempo de gameplay que o jogo original, mas ele só possuí 4 áreas, isso é devido a grande parte do seu tempo você gastar explorando os "buracos" que te levam a mini dungeons no subsolo, entretanto em comparação à superfície eles não possuem tanta da beleza dos mapas da superfície, isso se dá ao fato deles serem salas randomizadas, fazendo com que não sejam tão legais e marcantes em comparação com a superfície.
O BATTLE MODE É MUITO DIVERTIDO PUTA QUE PARIU, MAS É TIPO MARIO PARTY É MUITO FRUSTRANTE, NGM QUER JOGAR COMIGO ;-;
Os "tesouros" são ótimos coletáveis, ver como o jogo trata os objetos na perspectiva dos personagens é muito cômico, especialmente as referências, bem mais criativo do que pegar peças de nave como no primeiro jogo, mas sinceramente acho brochante como o jogo acaba repetindo alguns tesouros com o decorrer do tempo.
O jogo é maravilhoso na parte visual e atmosférica assim como todo pikmin, entretanto algumas áreas são bem similares as do jogo anterior, fazendo o jogo parecer menos original. O jogo possui mais tempo de gameplay que o jogo original, mas ele só possuí 4 áreas, isso é devido a grande parte do seu tempo você gastar explorando os "buracos" que te levam a mini dungeons no subsolo, entretanto em comparação à superfície eles não possuem tanta da beleza dos mapas da superfície, isso se dá ao fato deles serem salas randomizadas, fazendo com que não sejam tão legais e marcantes em comparação com a superfície.
O BATTLE MODE É MUITO DIVERTIDO PUTA QUE PARIU, MAS É TIPO MARIO PARTY É MUITO FRUSTRANTE, NGM QUER JOGAR COMIGO ;-;
This game is horribly brought down by the caves. Their linear nature and lack of a time limit goes against the design of the first game, they're full of annoying and unbalanced enemies, and there are bombs and rock traps all over the place that punish you for trying to multitask. The multiplayer's fun, though.
best use of product placement in any game/movie/anything ever. instead of feeling like a forced advertisement it feels like i'm finding lost human artifacts when i uncover vlasic pickle jars buried in the ground
i came into this for the first time after 9 years thinking "man this's a solid 8/10!" i left it thinking "why did i ever think this was particularly great, let alone better than pikmin 1?"
this run was spurred in part by a conversation i had with someone else in the comments on this site, and in part because i really wanted to get to pikmin 3 but didn't wanna skip an entry. now i wish i had just skipped it and kept the happier memories from when i played it as a kid.
the first part of the game is pretty alright, just being a lesser pikmin 1 but still being solid because of what it's based on. the caves in the early to midgame are tolerable, too, since they're short and quick. it also helps give the game a little more direction, as the lack of stakes and the fairly weak premise give the player little motivation on their own.
i'll take a quick detour to go over caves. i think plenty of people have probably said this before, but the cave design often discourages multitasking and come across as lazy due to them being mostly created through rng. you're given two captains at once - perfect for multitasking! - but in any given cave there are often traps and enemies everywhere that mean you can't leave your captains anywhere but back at the ship whenever you want to "multitask". otherwise, you risk losing half of your platoon. it's just not a great time.
anyway, i'd say the game peaks in quality around the perplexing pool. the overworld is challenging but not ridiculous, and the caves are some of the better ones in the game.
however, it's when you finally relieve yourself of debt that the game takes a nosedive in quality and enjoyability. not only is the motivation for your collectathon dashed in a single cutscene, but you're now given an unnecessarily enemy-filled map with the worst caves in the game. if you don't already know which cave louie was in, you'll have to go through the absolute worst caves in the game for a process of elimination. long, boring, and full of unbalanced enemies or traps, these things were the bane of my run and cut my sessions short very quickly.
this would all be easily forgiven if the game allowed the collectathon to become optional after the first part of its runtime. however, to get the ending you need to get every single item from every single cave and overworld map. not only is this painstaking, but it also takes away from the open-ended nature the game seemed to take in its attempts to expand upon the first one. you can't just pick and choose high-value items to pay off your debt and then move onto the louie rescue. with pikmin 2 being significantly longer than 1, this becomes a lot more painful for casual players who wouldn't normally be completionists. no, 100% is an inevitability in pikmin 2, and it sucks.
i have a fair bit more to say about this game but i'm not in the mood to make another neo twewy tier review on it. the general story, atmosphere, stakes, and premise of this game are incredibly weak without even having to compare to pikmin 1, and as a sequel it does next to nothing to justify itself. its positives are almost entirely based on the fact that it's a mechanically improved version of pikmin 1 with reused maps.
i think this rating is pretty fair for the experience i had as well as for what i described in the above block. the game was pretty good for the first part and turned shitty in the second, had a solid base and was certainly functional. i didn't think it was good, but i don't think that it was bad or straight up unlikeable. i'd guess that people who think "more content = better" would get a lot out of this game, as would people who prefer saccharine nintendo comedy and wit to more hands-off atmospheric entries. it's definitely not a game for me. as a kid i trusted reputations deeply when judging things and thought more content was always good, which makes it pretty unsurprising why i had such a shitty time coming back to this game.
i'm hoping pikmin 3 is gonna be a better time than this one. i'd be sad to find out pikmin 1 could be the only one of the games i really like, as i thought once upon a time that this was a very me-core series. i'd really like to not have to deal with another animal crossing situation, but i guess we'll see.
this run was spurred in part by a conversation i had with someone else in the comments on this site, and in part because i really wanted to get to pikmin 3 but didn't wanna skip an entry. now i wish i had just skipped it and kept the happier memories from when i played it as a kid.
the first part of the game is pretty alright, just being a lesser pikmin 1 but still being solid because of what it's based on. the caves in the early to midgame are tolerable, too, since they're short and quick. it also helps give the game a little more direction, as the lack of stakes and the fairly weak premise give the player little motivation on their own.
i'll take a quick detour to go over caves. i think plenty of people have probably said this before, but the cave design often discourages multitasking and come across as lazy due to them being mostly created through rng. you're given two captains at once - perfect for multitasking! - but in any given cave there are often traps and enemies everywhere that mean you can't leave your captains anywhere but back at the ship whenever you want to "multitask". otherwise, you risk losing half of your platoon. it's just not a great time.
anyway, i'd say the game peaks in quality around the perplexing pool. the overworld is challenging but not ridiculous, and the caves are some of the better ones in the game.
however, it's when you finally relieve yourself of debt that the game takes a nosedive in quality and enjoyability. not only is the motivation for your collectathon dashed in a single cutscene, but you're now given an unnecessarily enemy-filled map with the worst caves in the game. if you don't already know which cave louie was in, you'll have to go through the absolute worst caves in the game for a process of elimination. long, boring, and full of unbalanced enemies or traps, these things were the bane of my run and cut my sessions short very quickly.
this would all be easily forgiven if the game allowed the collectathon to become optional after the first part of its runtime. however, to get the ending you need to get every single item from every single cave and overworld map. not only is this painstaking, but it also takes away from the open-ended nature the game seemed to take in its attempts to expand upon the first one. you can't just pick and choose high-value items to pay off your debt and then move onto the louie rescue. with pikmin 2 being significantly longer than 1, this becomes a lot more painful for casual players who wouldn't normally be completionists. no, 100% is an inevitability in pikmin 2, and it sucks.
i have a fair bit more to say about this game but i'm not in the mood to make another neo twewy tier review on it. the general story, atmosphere, stakes, and premise of this game are incredibly weak without even having to compare to pikmin 1, and as a sequel it does next to nothing to justify itself. its positives are almost entirely based on the fact that it's a mechanically improved version of pikmin 1 with reused maps.
i think this rating is pretty fair for the experience i had as well as for what i described in the above block. the game was pretty good for the first part and turned shitty in the second, had a solid base and was certainly functional. i didn't think it was good, but i don't think that it was bad or straight up unlikeable. i'd guess that people who think "more content = better" would get a lot out of this game, as would people who prefer saccharine nintendo comedy and wit to more hands-off atmospheric entries. it's definitely not a game for me. as a kid i trusted reputations deeply when judging things and thought more content was always good, which makes it pretty unsurprising why i had such a shitty time coming back to this game.
i'm hoping pikmin 3 is gonna be a better time than this one. i'd be sad to find out pikmin 1 could be the only one of the games i really like, as i thought once upon a time that this was a very me-core series. i'd really like to not have to deal with another animal crossing situation, but i guess we'll see.
Masterpiece (My favorite Pikmin)
played the first half a few times over the years but never finished it until i was made aware of a multiplayer mod and i played it with a friend. very cool and good game
It's the best Pikmin game, I love it so much. Infinite number of days to finish the game, the addition of the poison and heavy types, two characters, multiplayer, great soundtrack and art direction, it's just so delightful.
I did not understand this game at all lol.
I rented it from Blockbuster once, thought it was too hard, and then never rented it again.
I rented it from Blockbuster once, thought it was too hard, and then never rented it again.
improves on the first game in several ways. new pikmin are a tad overpowered though. new enemies are fun. oddly challenging but i liked it. although i miss the sense of urgency and danger from the first game, the overall atmosphere. this one feels much more of a sandbox
I prefer the tighter design and pacing of Pikmin 1, where managing your resources against time constraints is actually important and central to the game design... but Pikmin 2 is still phenomenal. The Piklopedia alone is such a fun addition to the game, and the caves are generally enjoyable tests of endurance (some are a bit ridiculous at times though, explosives from the sky are always awful). It's also still impressive to me how the levels are recycled versions of Pikmin 1's yet they manage to still feel fresh and different.
I don't really remember having that much fun with it, and thought Pikmin 3's gameplay was generally improved over it.
The multiplayer mode was a laugh.
Quantifying everything I love about Pikmin 2 into a single text review is, simply, impossible. Pikmin 2 is a game so personally aligned with me and my tastes that it's incredibly difficult to explain just why I like it so much. I plan one day to make a full video review explaining why I love the game, which I will definitely link here whenever I make it, but as is, I'll make bullet points:
>A major improvement over Pikmin 1 in gameplay mechanics, polish, and scale. The longest Pikmin and most content packed Pikmin game to date, with all the previous game's AI and bugginess polished out
>One of the most interactive, immersive, dynamic, and atmospheric soundtracks I've ever heard. Every single track in the game is specifically designed and layered to dynamically adjust depending on various contextual factors, such as time of day, the actions your Pikmin are taking, your proximity to enemies, treasure, specific items, your health, I haven't found a game with this musical dynamicism before or since.
>The atmosphere is thick, within the caves the music is abstract and cavernous, while each area theme perfectly represents the area they're assigned to.
>The caves are, in my opinion, the best aspect of the game. Allowing for pure, unfiltered challenging gameplay with no restrictions. Despite being completely randomly generated, there seem to be restrictions in place within the generator to make the caves feel designed. I've had multiple friends play the game and not realize the caves were randomly generated until they either reset in a cave floor multiple times, or I TOLD them it was, that's how good the system is. Being able to take your time to plan out a perfect course of action while traversing an underground complex, searching for treasures and using your knowledge of the game and awareness to max capacity to ensure no mass loss of life is enthralling and I can never get enough of it.
>The worldbuilding is immaculate. The previous end of day logs have been changed from personal captains diaries to emails, and while you lose the direct connection to a character and their thoughts like in Pikmin 1's desolate, hopeless atmosphere, you instead get a much wider look into Pikmin's world, as well as the background characters, such as the family members of the protagonists back home, or the President's wonderful tomfoolery with a stint involving some debt collectors. Beyond that, the worldbuilding of PNF-404 only doubles with the introduction of the Piklopedia, which gives full pseudo-scientific analysis of the various creatures on the planet, giving them biological explanations, family trees, predator and prey relationships, everything. The captains also all comment on the treasures they collect, which can often lead to introspection which results in some great characterization and more lore. The world is fully fleshed out.
>The game looks stunning for a GameCube title.
>The Submerged Castle is one of my favorite moments in any video game period.
>The game is actually rather challenging! It'll test you and your abilities, as well as your knowledge of the game. If you aren't careful, you could lose your entire armada in the literal blink of an eye. But the game dropping the full game time limit means that no matter how devastating a loss you face, you can ALWAYS bounce back and recover.
>the core gameplay, micromanagement, exploration, treasure collecting, all of it, it's an absolute joy and completely addicting to me, I can't get enough. I always find myself pushing the boundary of how ballsy I wanna be and how much I wanna try getting done in a day. If I really can make it to take cave on the other side of the map before this 10 second timer ends or not. If I can really perfectly clear this cave floor with no deaths. It's probably why, despite being somewhat long (15-20 hours), the game is still so replayable.
>Two unironically super fun multiplayer modes. While Pikmin 3 most likely has the better multiplayer content, that doesn't stop 2's from being great either. A fun versus mode, and a great Mission mode featuring 50 pre-set (?) caves that can be challenged in single player or co-op.
I could really, truly keep going. But I'll stop there.
Let me give the only real criticisms I can give the game.
>On very, very rare occasion, the cave generation can fuck up and result in an incompletable cave floor. I've played the game 4 times and for god knows how long and never had this happen to me, but I've seen footage of it happening, so it's something to note.
>The balancing is a little out of whack. While the game is quite difficult, most combat encounters can be solved rather easily with the usage of Purple Pikmin. This can be alleviated by just not using them as much or keeping a limited supply with you, though.
I believe this to be the best game Nintendo has ever produced by and far, and I love literally everything about it. Please, please, play the Pikmin franchise. It's absolutely worthy of at least a shot. It's filled with personality, love, and soul, something that's a general rarity in modern Nintendo games.
>A major improvement over Pikmin 1 in gameplay mechanics, polish, and scale. The longest Pikmin and most content packed Pikmin game to date, with all the previous game's AI and bugginess polished out
>One of the most interactive, immersive, dynamic, and atmospheric soundtracks I've ever heard. Every single track in the game is specifically designed and layered to dynamically adjust depending on various contextual factors, such as time of day, the actions your Pikmin are taking, your proximity to enemies, treasure, specific items, your health, I haven't found a game with this musical dynamicism before or since.
>The atmosphere is thick, within the caves the music is abstract and cavernous, while each area theme perfectly represents the area they're assigned to.
>The caves are, in my opinion, the best aspect of the game. Allowing for pure, unfiltered challenging gameplay with no restrictions. Despite being completely randomly generated, there seem to be restrictions in place within the generator to make the caves feel designed. I've had multiple friends play the game and not realize the caves were randomly generated until they either reset in a cave floor multiple times, or I TOLD them it was, that's how good the system is. Being able to take your time to plan out a perfect course of action while traversing an underground complex, searching for treasures and using your knowledge of the game and awareness to max capacity to ensure no mass loss of life is enthralling and I can never get enough of it.
>The worldbuilding is immaculate. The previous end of day logs have been changed from personal captains diaries to emails, and while you lose the direct connection to a character and their thoughts like in Pikmin 1's desolate, hopeless atmosphere, you instead get a much wider look into Pikmin's world, as well as the background characters, such as the family members of the protagonists back home, or the President's wonderful tomfoolery with a stint involving some debt collectors. Beyond that, the worldbuilding of PNF-404 only doubles with the introduction of the Piklopedia, which gives full pseudo-scientific analysis of the various creatures on the planet, giving them biological explanations, family trees, predator and prey relationships, everything. The captains also all comment on the treasures they collect, which can often lead to introspection which results in some great characterization and more lore. The world is fully fleshed out.
>The game looks stunning for a GameCube title.
>The Submerged Castle is one of my favorite moments in any video game period.
>The game is actually rather challenging! It'll test you and your abilities, as well as your knowledge of the game. If you aren't careful, you could lose your entire armada in the literal blink of an eye. But the game dropping the full game time limit means that no matter how devastating a loss you face, you can ALWAYS bounce back and recover.
>the core gameplay, micromanagement, exploration, treasure collecting, all of it, it's an absolute joy and completely addicting to me, I can't get enough. I always find myself pushing the boundary of how ballsy I wanna be and how much I wanna try getting done in a day. If I really can make it to take cave on the other side of the map before this 10 second timer ends or not. If I can really perfectly clear this cave floor with no deaths. It's probably why, despite being somewhat long (15-20 hours), the game is still so replayable.
>Two unironically super fun multiplayer modes. While Pikmin 3 most likely has the better multiplayer content, that doesn't stop 2's from being great either. A fun versus mode, and a great Mission mode featuring 50 pre-set (?) caves that can be challenged in single player or co-op.
I could really, truly keep going. But I'll stop there.
Let me give the only real criticisms I can give the game.
>On very, very rare occasion, the cave generation can fuck up and result in an incompletable cave floor. I've played the game 4 times and for god knows how long and never had this happen to me, but I've seen footage of it happening, so it's something to note.
>The balancing is a little out of whack. While the game is quite difficult, most combat encounters can be solved rather easily with the usage of Purple Pikmin. This can be alleviated by just not using them as much or keeping a limited supply with you, though.
I believe this to be the best game Nintendo has ever produced by and far, and I love literally everything about it. Please, please, play the Pikmin franchise. It's absolutely worthy of at least a shot. It's filled with personality, love, and soul, something that's a general rarity in modern Nintendo games.
The sexual tension between Louie and Olimar was very progressive for the time
Literally the perfect game for ITS TIME. Alot of dungeons are randomized, there are so many different enemies that all work different, and every single treasure and monster has a written log from Olimar and Louie with cute letters at the end of each in-game day. The game is such a behemoth of a game, that, added with the randomized dungeons, means you could literally play it, wait like a year, and forget 70% of the specific dungeons then replay it again and feel the euphoria of this game. The Musics beautiful, designs are beautiful, and the artstyle is just mwah.
The only reasons to play the first over this one is because you want to A) Play the first game
B) Have a nosalgia boner for games you played first
C) Like shorter games with a higher Story:Game ratio wihout having to look for story yourself
Cons:
>Purples and Yellows kinda make the game boring if you solely use them for everything.
>Non-Wii Controls Suck so much ass, but honestly all the best nintendo games have shitty control schemes.
>Its perfect for its time, but its time was almost 20 years ago.
The only reasons to play the first over this one is because you want to A) Play the first game
B) Have a nosalgia boner for games you played first
C) Like shorter games with a higher Story:Game ratio wihout having to look for story yourself
Cons:
>Purples and Yellows kinda make the game boring if you solely use them for everything.
>Non-Wii Controls Suck so much ass, but honestly all the best nintendo games have shitty control schemes.
>Its perfect for its time, but its time was almost 20 years ago.
My all time favourite game that I truly recommend to others. The game introduces tons of new enemies and bosses. The treasure collecting is fun and something to do. While the new pikmin keep it fresh and interesting. With the Wii's motion controls this game felt even better than when I played it on gamecube.
Best pikmin. Fight me.
In some areas improved over Pikmin 1, although the dungeons do remove the point of managing your time in a given day which dampens things a bit. White/Purples are great additions to the Pikmin dynamic balanced out by them being harder to get, even if Purples are OP in combat. The atmosphere is top notch, the caves with the Waterwraiths that can suddenly appear on any floor are terrifying, and I love everything related to Louie's story.
The more time overall also allows for more treasures and many more ways to get them, in addition to not forcing 100% to be much harder by demanding you do it all in a single run. Multiple captains also allow you to go after more than 1 thing at once, so you're never stuck waiting. Also allows for some fun multiplayer.
Oh, and the Piklopedia.
The more time overall also allows for more treasures and many more ways to get them, in addition to not forcing 100% to be much harder by demanding you do it all in a single run. Multiple captains also allow you to go after more than 1 thing at once, so you're never stuck waiting. Also allows for some fun multiplayer.
Oh, and the Piklopedia.
Despite the charm and added features, I didn't enjoy this one as much as the first.
Controlling two characters is a good concept but it's never explored as much as I would have liked. Very few puzzles require you to split them up, so I found myself doing it rarely.
The caves are also a good innovation in theory, but the game spends far too much time on them. Having them be randomly generated might make for some replay value, but the level design greatly suffers as a result.
It's still a good game, but compared to the first I don't think the new features added much enjoyment -- only frustration.
Controlling two characters is a good concept but it's never explored as much as I would have liked. Very few puzzles require you to split them up, so I found myself doing it rarely.
The caves are also a good innovation in theory, but the game spends far too much time on them. Having them be randomly generated might make for some replay value, but the level design greatly suffers as a result.
It's still a good game, but compared to the first I don't think the new features added much enjoyment -- only frustration.
A much longer sequel that makes up for the lack of tightness of the original with absolutely insane dungeons. The expectations the game has for the player is high, and meeting them creates an incredible experience.
The above-ground sections are just as fun as the first game, but the caves got old really fast. Not having to manage your time in caves removed what felt like an integral part of the experience, and tbh they just kinda got repetitive after a while.