This is a game I have always remembered fondly from my childhood, and while that always brings me a small amount of fear and panic that the game might just be my nosalgia goggles being on too tight I am happy to say this really is not the case for Pikmin 2. While some of the cave designs are a bit frustrating in the later sections, the improvements to the systems over pikmin 1 are cool and the area designs in general are really good. My biggest problem with the game is that it honestly feels too short while being slightly less replayable than pikmin 1 due to the format. There are a lot of clever enemy designs in the game, and honestly a good deal of challenge if you are trying to complete the game quickly. The puzzles in this game are a great deal of fun and the quality of life additions over the first title are very welcome. Plus some of the new things added in this sequel are really cool, like separate captains you can switch between to multitask, or the 2 new pikmin types which fill totally unique and very useful niches while not making the original types feel "powercrept" or useless. I of course haven't mentioned the story or theming and art yet and wow this game is incredible. The soundtrack is amazing, the designs for enemies are fantastic and of course the idea of a tiny little world for this bug sized little dudes has stuck with me my whole life and I think about it while walking around a trail or garden pretty often in the back of my head what it would be like if I was really small. The Olimar, Louie and Ship commentary in the treasure horde and piklopedia article add a lot of flavour to the games characterization and add a lot of charm to the experience. This game gets so many small things you wouldn't think matter right that it really makes you wish ither games gave you these type of world building details. Closest I can think of is the scan visor in metriod prime. I still also remember the first time the fake ending with the twist happenned to me and man what a ballsy move to go for in a game like this, i reapect the choice a lot and its a ton of fun. Also the twist with Louie at the real end of the game is also a lot of fun. This game is fantastic but im docking it a half point for Miyamoto dropping a metric tonne of explosives and rocks from the sky on every 2nd floor of the lategame caves to try to kill my purple pikmin, and for making it so the canon guys can regenerate health after you kill them if you don't take them to the onions.