I think this game is a lot more ambitious than pikmin 1, it takes a lot of the core ideas and takes them to the extreme with some mixed results. Caves are really cool, having dungeons you have fight through, making sure you are prepared with the right pikmin and managing the resources so that you can carry out the treasure. my main criticism with the game is that some of the enemies feel like bullshit, so many times I was fully wiped out by a single attack and although there's a degree of "get good" some of the attacks are very unforgiving

As a follow-up to Pikmin 1, Pikmin 2 makes an incredibly strong statement. And that statement is "we know that we're spreading ourselves thin between score attack-style survivalist gameplay and slow-burn exploration and worldbuilding, so we've destroyed the worldbuilding and put it in a little book and now the game is all about not dying in caves". It's a change that honestly the Pikmin series probably needed to take in one direction or the other, and the game commits to its more arcade-style gameplay fairly well! Without having to worry about navigating a more complex terrain in favor of labyrinths, control of the Pikmin generally feels a lot more consistent, combat challenges can be placed in a player's way methodically and deliberately, and overall the spikes in difficulty and memorable moments are a lot more controlled than in Pikmin 1. Unfortunately, the very limited exploration offered from seeing Pikmin 1 environments change does end up feeling very rote and obligatory by comparison, which makes a lot of the game's opening stretch seem pretty performatory; Pikmin 2 can't be mean enough in its opening to really grit its teeth due to needing to reteach Pikmin 1's mechanics and introduce its new ones. Additionally, returning bosses like the Burrowing Snagret, Beady Long Legs and Emperor Bulblax are shadows of their former selves due to appearing at the end of dungeons where a player can't be assured to have a full squad like Pikmin 1, creating this really unfortunate deflating feeling after clearing the first game. I'd cleared the debt and was ready to write the game off as a technically superior, but ultimately short-sighted version of Pikmin 1.

Then the Water Wraith happened.

I cannot tell you how wonderful of a turning point the Water Wraith is. Every cave up to that point (discounting backtracking to the first area's harder dungeons) could be handled with just a simple measure of patience, with taking things slowly, step by step, and throwing the right colored Pikmin at the thing they're good at stopping. Water Wraith takes every bit of that away from you, demands you scramble, puts you in the position to make mistakes, has no weaknesses for a majority of its dungeon. This is Pikmin 2 at its best: throwing you into cruel situations where one lapse in attention or assuming that your little guys will be fine will end up with a squad crushed, exploded, or eaten by a jumpscare of a bomb rock or bulbear. Where the first game had you try to figure out how to solve each creature individually, Pikmin 2 is glad to mingle its enemies together, forcing you into incredibly uncomfortable situations to try and keep your most precious fellas alive, cursing the name of the Dirigibug or anything that happens to shoot lightning as they attempt to one-shot your lil' boy army. Bosses take a significant step up, with Man-At-Legs being an especially fantastic upgrade of needing to figure out spacial awareness, positioning, and just how fast your Pikmin can duck into cover to avoid machine gun fire. The midgame of Pikmin 2 is absolutely exhilerating in attempting to expect its cruelty and react.

... and unfortunately the endgame is where Pikmin 2's flaws become most apparent. The caves that you delve into are somewhat randomly generated, with layouts tending to be similar, but a lot of enemy placements and exit placements in those rooms being random. This leads to a lot of scenarios that aren't so much difficult, but unfun, especially if something REAL dangerous like a groink or bulbear spawns directly outside your starting area and leaves you little time to react. I do think the game is significantly more fun not resetting or leaving caves, just trying to do your best with the limited resources you have (I actually managed to beat Submerged Castle on the back of seven total Pikmin remaining, and it was an absolute blast maneuvering that!), but I'll admit it's not the optimal way to play the game compared to resetting. Sitting there watching your 'min get blown over and over again because the blowy man is behind a wall you need to break while a snitchbug takes swipes every so often is hardly a fun time, and these kinds of scenarios are abundant the further you get into Pikmin 2. Add in things like bomb hitboxes extending through walls with no real indication, cutscenes for items interrupting gameplay, and treasures sometimes glitching out if at a bad angle, and Pikmin 2 ends up an experience as unintentionally frustrating as it is intentionally.

Overall, Pikmin 2 is my favored Pikmin game of the Gamecube duology. It's a wildly inconsistent game, but its peaks are utterly fantastic, its writing some of the best on the system even though it's tucked away in its own little section, and the moments it creates as you barely make it through a tough challenge or scenario are legendary. I will never forget sending my army of Pikmin to gank the Empress Bulblax while the President of Hotocate Freight personally punched out an army of her spawn with his bare hands until they could all mob her face and guarantee a win, or slowly tricking Dweevils into getting a stack up disc out of the water because I lost all my Blue Pikmin. It is not the ideal sequel to its original game, and has to sacrifice a lot to make its own fun, but what it does uniquely it does superbly, and there's a stretch of about eight hours of game in here that's utterly incredible. The other surrounding eight hour chunks on either side are still pretty good, too, just with their very obvious drawbacks!

Olimar should not dump his wife for a cool marble, though. That's weird, Olimar.

A bit disappointing.

I've heard a lot of people rank this as the best in the series but I just can't agree. The game is practically the same as the first with an introduction of two new pikmin types, white and purple. The purple ones didn't really have any use the entire game other than carrying a very heavy optional treasure thanks to their increased carry limit. Other than that I never used them as there was no need, they do have this ability to shock enemies for like half a second when you throw them since they're heavy but I don't think its worth carrying them for just that. I did find myself using white Pikmin here and there, and found them to be a cool addition. One of my favorite things about this game that wasn't in the first is how the Pikmin occasionally sing when you travel with them, pretty adorable ngl. The story is fitting, very simple involving repaying a debt through collecting treasures that resemble real life objects that were polluted. Overall the game is very similar to the first with less Pikmin related puzzles.

The main thing that brings this game down for me, and it's a big negative, is the only other addition which were the caves. I have no clue why they added dungeon crawling to this and made it the prime focus. The caves have some randomness to it where floors have the same enemies and loot but the layout is rearranged every time you reload it. In theory it sounds cool and games have done this but this game does not cap the bullshit. I would go into a cave and the game would give me a layout where they put a big black bulborb right beside me that would commit genocide on my Pikmin before I can even react, then I'd have to restart the game, load back in and hope for a better layout, this is all without a restart checkpoint or last save button so I would have to manually close the game, boot it up, and wait every time. There were some pretty cool bosses in these caves but all the bullshit with the random spawning really ruined it for me, it isn't even a skill issue just luck. Also some of them would take way way too long to finish with over 15 floors. I am very glad they took this out of Pikmin 3, I heard they do return in Pikmin 4, and I wouldnt mind this as long as they fixed this kind of thing.

Not a bad game but definitely has it's flaws, I should have stopped once I finished the main story rather than collecting every treasure. Still looking forward to Pikmin 4

Pikmin 2 builds upon the foundation of its predecessor, offering a larger, more strategic experience. You'll command hordes of colorful Pikmin to retrieve treasures, battle strange creatures, and solve environmental puzzles across a sprawling alien landscape. The removal of the original's strict time limit gives players more freedom to explore and experiment, and the addition of new Pikmin types adds tactical depth. However, the focus on underground cave exploration can occasionally feel repetitive and slow down the game's pace.