I've played 1 and 3 over and over and over again, over the years. And I've been meaning to play 2 again for a long time but was always afraid of doing so because of how often I heard (and remembered) how full of shit the game is.

I was correct.

I don't know if I can bring myself to dislike Pikmin 2 because at the end of the day it's still Pikmin. It's just the least good Pikmin. Purple Pikmin make combat so trivial most of the time, but at the same time you're having to play the game like you're walking on eggshells because enemies and bombs will just drop from the ceiling unprompted. Some of which will ONLY trigger around Pikmin that are carrying something. Like I swear this game is specifically designed to make the player upset, the fuck is up with that.

As such, the difficulty curve is more like a difficulty stock market line graph. Just shooting up and down for arbitrary reasons. A cave will be a slog to get through but then the boss at the end is completely trivial. Several enemies like Bulbears and Gatling Groinks are disproportionately dangerous but also made a joke so long as you have an ultra bitter spray on you. It's just a mess.

An exhausting game that's carried by the fact that it's Pikmin.