Pikmin 2 is a very divisive game, with one side of the fanbase proclaiming it to be peak fiction and god's gift to Earth, and the other side claiming its ruined by atrocious dungeon design. While the first Pikmin is simple and basic by comparison, Pikmin 2 expands on the formula in odd and unexpected ways, and is nothing if not memorable.
I appreciate a goofy puzzle game like this making real effort on the exposition. Captain Olimar returns from his treacherous expedition of the first game only to find his employer in massive debt due to carelessness of his coworker, Louie. Olimar's prized S.S. Dolphin from the first game is sold to help pay off debt, and Olimar and Louie are sent back to the Pikmin Planet to recover treasure to be sold, Lethal Company style. Louie, despite almost never talking, works well as a foil to Olimar, and his presence allows for 2 playable captains, increasing the capabilities of multitasking the Pikmin series is well-known for.
Two new types of Pikmin are found not long after arriving on the planet, the purple and white variants. However these Pikmin are subterranean, spawning only from Candypop Buds of the same color, unlike the Onions of the red, blue, and yellow Pikmin. The hefty purples are honestly overpowered, and the rest just boil down to "match this color to its element to solve puzzles", which is fine but nothing mind-blowing.
These caves are what makes Pikmin 2 such a conflicting game for so many people. The layout of each floor is procedurally generated, with the same floor potentially being very different upon a second visit. This can result in some seriously unfun and outright bullshit layouts, especially in the late-game caves that have as many as 15 floors. The early-game caves are generally much more forgiving, and each dungeon is complete with a boss at the end that often drops an upgrade for Olimar and Louie. These are mostly simple things like the ability to pluck Pikmin with the whistle, or an immunity to fire damage for the captains, but it's a cute little gameplay mechanic for each cave to feature a reward at the end, considering most of these dungeons aren't actually required to finish.
The subterranean dungeon crawling is downright hazardous, and the player is mostly limited to the squad of Pikmin they bring in, making losing large groups of Pikmin at once even more devastating here than it was in the first game. There are occasional flowers to produce more Pikmin or swap out for different colors, but for the most part spelunking is a difficult and unforgiving experience, for better or worse. Hazards such as enemies that scoop Olimar and Louie into the sky, enemies that shoot boulders capable of crushing entire legions of Pikmin, and even bomb rocks that literally fall from the sky with absolutely no warning are all commonplace in Pikmin 2. Some floors have enemies way too close to the starting point that can begin attacking immediately, leaving little time to relax in between. Speaking of relaxing, there fortunately are rest floors present in some dungeons.
These allow the player to chill, manage their Pikmin lineup with Candypop Buds, and weigh their options if they would rather use the geyser to escape with the treasure they have, or delve deeper for greater payoff and risk alike. The ambience on these floors is seriously beautiful to me, that rare sense of safety is much-needed and so welcome. The underground aesthetic is also at its best here, with the low light and dazzling flowers.
This peace is not to last however, as Pikmin 2's later dungeons love to spawn groups of enemies close to each other to the point it feels like spam. These layered attack patterns often feel like they require more precision to navigate than Pikmin 2's control scheme realistically allows, making losing Pikmin in these floors feel like an inevitability, not a dandori issue. The worst offender in dungeon design, to me, is sublevel 10 of The Dream Den. Enemies called Gattling Groinks love to lob bombs at the party mortar-style, and will revive themselves even after being defeated unless brought back to the Hocotate Pod. This level's layout frequently requires blue Pikmin to do this, but it's so deep in such a difficult dungeon that very realistically there won't even be enough blue Pikmin left. I could list off countless examples like this, but the point is there's scenarios like this one everywhere, with frustrating level design around every turn. Speaking of blue Pikmin, I'd be remiss to not mention The Submerged Castle and the horrifying Waterwraith dwelling within. The entrance to this cave is underwater and can only be accessed with blues, but as the party goes deeper they'll be chased by the Waterwraith if they linger on any floor for too long. Easily capable of running over the entire team, trying to escape from this guy is genuinely one of the most frightening things I've ever experienced in a video game outside of the horror genre, it's so unnerving.
The goal of collecting treasure instead of ship parts drives home the point harder that Olimar, Louie, and the Pikmin are very tiny, which always makes for a fun and charming setting. This treasure comes in the form of real-world everyday items such as bottlecaps, batteries, and marbles. It's very cute to know these apparently sell for serious money in the Pikmin world.
The game hits credits once 10,000 pokos have been collected and the debt has been paid off, but there is a sort of post-game afterwards involving Louie becoming stranded after being left behind. The President takes his place joining Olimar to go rescue him, but I admittedly wasn't enjoying this game the first time I played it and considered it "beaten" after hitting credits, never playing any of the Wistful Wild. This time I resolved to 100% the game and collect all treasure, which included rescuing Louie from the final boss. The dungeon design is at its worst in this area, leaving a bad last impression, but I'm happy to say I eventually did complete it 100%.
I've come to believe I was a fool for not appreciating Pikmin 2 the first time. It's vastly different from the game before and after it, and brutally difficult at times, but in a weird unexplainable way that's part of its charm. It feels similar to those cheap bottomless-pit deaths in NES platformers, or insta-kill spells in SMT games. They might not be well-designed difficulty, but there's a certain fun in knowing the odds are stacked against you and trying to persevere amidst all the bullshit. It's only a slight exaggeration/joke to say Pikmin 2 is a game about tragedy, there's just something strangely beautiful about this one, good and bad and all.
3.5/5.0
I appreciate a goofy puzzle game like this making real effort on the exposition. Captain Olimar returns from his treacherous expedition of the first game only to find his employer in massive debt due to carelessness of his coworker, Louie. Olimar's prized S.S. Dolphin from the first game is sold to help pay off debt, and Olimar and Louie are sent back to the Pikmin Planet to recover treasure to be sold, Lethal Company style. Louie, despite almost never talking, works well as a foil to Olimar, and his presence allows for 2 playable captains, increasing the capabilities of multitasking the Pikmin series is well-known for.
Two new types of Pikmin are found not long after arriving on the planet, the purple and white variants. However these Pikmin are subterranean, spawning only from Candypop Buds of the same color, unlike the Onions of the red, blue, and yellow Pikmin. The hefty purples are honestly overpowered, and the rest just boil down to "match this color to its element to solve puzzles", which is fine but nothing mind-blowing.
These caves are what makes Pikmin 2 such a conflicting game for so many people. The layout of each floor is procedurally generated, with the same floor potentially being very different upon a second visit. This can result in some seriously unfun and outright bullshit layouts, especially in the late-game caves that have as many as 15 floors. The early-game caves are generally much more forgiving, and each dungeon is complete with a boss at the end that often drops an upgrade for Olimar and Louie. These are mostly simple things like the ability to pluck Pikmin with the whistle, or an immunity to fire damage for the captains, but it's a cute little gameplay mechanic for each cave to feature a reward at the end, considering most of these dungeons aren't actually required to finish.
The subterranean dungeon crawling is downright hazardous, and the player is mostly limited to the squad of Pikmin they bring in, making losing large groups of Pikmin at once even more devastating here than it was in the first game. There are occasional flowers to produce more Pikmin or swap out for different colors, but for the most part spelunking is a difficult and unforgiving experience, for better or worse. Hazards such as enemies that scoop Olimar and Louie into the sky, enemies that shoot boulders capable of crushing entire legions of Pikmin, and even bomb rocks that literally fall from the sky with absolutely no warning are all commonplace in Pikmin 2. Some floors have enemies way too close to the starting point that can begin attacking immediately, leaving little time to relax in between. Speaking of relaxing, there fortunately are rest floors present in some dungeons.
These allow the player to chill, manage their Pikmin lineup with Candypop Buds, and weigh their options if they would rather use the geyser to escape with the treasure they have, or delve deeper for greater payoff and risk alike. The ambience on these floors is seriously beautiful to me, that rare sense of safety is much-needed and so welcome. The underground aesthetic is also at its best here, with the low light and dazzling flowers.
This peace is not to last however, as Pikmin 2's later dungeons love to spawn groups of enemies close to each other to the point it feels like spam. These layered attack patterns often feel like they require more precision to navigate than Pikmin 2's control scheme realistically allows, making losing Pikmin in these floors feel like an inevitability, not a dandori issue. The worst offender in dungeon design, to me, is sublevel 10 of The Dream Den. Enemies called Gattling Groinks love to lob bombs at the party mortar-style, and will revive themselves even after being defeated unless brought back to the Hocotate Pod. This level's layout frequently requires blue Pikmin to do this, but it's so deep in such a difficult dungeon that very realistically there won't even be enough blue Pikmin left. I could list off countless examples like this, but the point is there's scenarios like this one everywhere, with frustrating level design around every turn. Speaking of blue Pikmin, I'd be remiss to not mention The Submerged Castle and the horrifying Waterwraith dwelling within. The entrance to this cave is underwater and can only be accessed with blues, but as the party goes deeper they'll be chased by the Waterwraith if they linger on any floor for too long. Easily capable of running over the entire team, trying to escape from this guy is genuinely one of the most frightening things I've ever experienced in a video game outside of the horror genre, it's so unnerving.
The goal of collecting treasure instead of ship parts drives home the point harder that Olimar, Louie, and the Pikmin are very tiny, which always makes for a fun and charming setting. This treasure comes in the form of real-world everyday items such as bottlecaps, batteries, and marbles. It's very cute to know these apparently sell for serious money in the Pikmin world.
The game hits credits once 10,000 pokos have been collected and the debt has been paid off, but there is a sort of post-game afterwards involving Louie becoming stranded after being left behind. The President takes his place joining Olimar to go rescue him, but I admittedly wasn't enjoying this game the first time I played it and considered it "beaten" after hitting credits, never playing any of the Wistful Wild. This time I resolved to 100% the game and collect all treasure, which included rescuing Louie from the final boss. The dungeon design is at its worst in this area, leaving a bad last impression, but I'm happy to say I eventually did complete it 100%.
I've come to believe I was a fool for not appreciating Pikmin 2 the first time. It's vastly different from the game before and after it, and brutally difficult at times, but in a weird unexplainable way that's part of its charm. It feels similar to those cheap bottomless-pit deaths in NES platformers, or insta-kill spells in SMT games. They might not be well-designed difficulty, but there's a certain fun in knowing the odds are stacked against you and trying to persevere amidst all the bullshit. It's only a slight exaggeration/joke to say Pikmin 2 is a game about tragedy, there's just something strangely beautiful about this one, good and bad and all.
3.5/5.0