Pikmin 2 is the complete opposite of Pikmin, it's design so antithetical to the core premise of the original game that it could've been marketed as a spinoff. Instead of a tightly-designed strategy game, Pikmin 2 is mainly a combat-focused dungeon crawler with an upgrade system. The controls are basically the same, and you still grow and manage a squad of pikmin, but there's no day limit and very few puzzles.
This all seems like a misstep that betrays everything good about the first Pikmin, and that's true. However, Pikmin 2 fills that void with new interesting and compelling design choices of its own.
The caves in Pikmin 2 are long, arduous, procedurally-generated gauntlets filled with enemies and hazards. Once you reach the first non-tutorial cave, the Citadel of Spiders, Pikmin 2 really starts to shine with interesting floor layouts and enemy combinations that take advantage of them. For example, blowhogs in sublevels with no ledges mean you have to position yourself carefully to avoid your pikmin being chucked off. Rarely do other Pikmin games pit you against multiple types of enemies at once.
Unlike the first game, Pikmin 2 is more about reading and adapting to situations on the fly. The procedural generation allows for some hectic combat setups, and the further you go the more interesting the different rooms get. There are traps that can fall from the ceiling, but these give you ample time to react accordingly. Even though combat is fundamentally simple, the enemy variety and free aiming/swarming (unlike 4) give you a lot of variety and options.
One of the biggest issues with the game is actually the overworld design. Even though three of them are reused from Pikmin, they are much more simple to navigate and really only serve as oversized level-select menus for the real meat of the game, the caves. In Pikmin, your base would often be around the center of the map, with multiple paths immediately accessible, which gave you more options in how to approach each day. Pikmin 2's maps start you in a corner and force you to progress linearly until you acquire the globe halves and all five pikmin types. On top of that, the overworld treasure placement is very uninteresting, sometimes repeating placements from the first game. The overworlds in Pikmin 2 just feel unnecessary.
I like the caves as they are, but I don't think they're quite punishing enough. The autosaving and lack of pressure (aside from the Submerged Castle) encourages cheap tactics. For the game to be at it's best, you have to be in a speedrun/multitasking mindset, because the game itself won't force you be good.
I would be remiss not to mention the over-tutorialization compared to the first game. These often pause the game in the middle of combat (and are unskippable in the Switch port!) and ruin the pace of the early game on repeat playthroughs. There should have been an option to turn them off, or have the text boxes appear in real time instead. The beginning 25-30% of the game is also much too easy; the dungeons don't really pick up until you have all 5 pikmin types.
As it is, Pikmin 2 feels unsure of what it wants to be. I think they should've instead committed fully into making the game a full-fledged dungeon crawler without all of the fluff. Something similar to the Challenge Mode, but with lengthier dungeons, more variety of hazards and themes, and up to 100 pikmin. The lack campaign co-op also seems like an oversight considering how excellent the Challenge and Battle modes are.
I really do like what the game was going for, and my love of Pikmin gameplay and dungeon crawling prevents me from seriously disliking the game - but I wish it had more focus. Fortunately, recent mods like Endless Abyss and Colossal Caverns explore this potential and also get my recommendation.
I would recommend playing the GC or Wii versions, depending on your control preference. The Switch port has worse controls than previous versions, missing easter eggs, and audio issues, including lack of surround sound.
This all seems like a misstep that betrays everything good about the first Pikmin, and that's true. However, Pikmin 2 fills that void with new interesting and compelling design choices of its own.
The caves in Pikmin 2 are long, arduous, procedurally-generated gauntlets filled with enemies and hazards. Once you reach the first non-tutorial cave, the Citadel of Spiders, Pikmin 2 really starts to shine with interesting floor layouts and enemy combinations that take advantage of them. For example, blowhogs in sublevels with no ledges mean you have to position yourself carefully to avoid your pikmin being chucked off. Rarely do other Pikmin games pit you against multiple types of enemies at once.
Unlike the first game, Pikmin 2 is more about reading and adapting to situations on the fly. The procedural generation allows for some hectic combat setups, and the further you go the more interesting the different rooms get. There are traps that can fall from the ceiling, but these give you ample time to react accordingly. Even though combat is fundamentally simple, the enemy variety and free aiming/swarming (unlike 4) give you a lot of variety and options.
One of the biggest issues with the game is actually the overworld design. Even though three of them are reused from Pikmin, they are much more simple to navigate and really only serve as oversized level-select menus for the real meat of the game, the caves. In Pikmin, your base would often be around the center of the map, with multiple paths immediately accessible, which gave you more options in how to approach each day. Pikmin 2's maps start you in a corner and force you to progress linearly until you acquire the globe halves and all five pikmin types. On top of that, the overworld treasure placement is very uninteresting, sometimes repeating placements from the first game. The overworlds in Pikmin 2 just feel unnecessary.
I like the caves as they are, but I don't think they're quite punishing enough. The autosaving and lack of pressure (aside from the Submerged Castle) encourages cheap tactics. For the game to be at it's best, you have to be in a speedrun/multitasking mindset, because the game itself won't force you be good.
I would be remiss not to mention the over-tutorialization compared to the first game. These often pause the game in the middle of combat (and are unskippable in the Switch port!) and ruin the pace of the early game on repeat playthroughs. There should have been an option to turn them off, or have the text boxes appear in real time instead. The beginning 25-30% of the game is also much too easy; the dungeons don't really pick up until you have all 5 pikmin types.
As it is, Pikmin 2 feels unsure of what it wants to be. I think they should've instead committed fully into making the game a full-fledged dungeon crawler without all of the fluff. Something similar to the Challenge Mode, but with lengthier dungeons, more variety of hazards and themes, and up to 100 pikmin. The lack campaign co-op also seems like an oversight considering how excellent the Challenge and Battle modes are.
I really do like what the game was going for, and my love of Pikmin gameplay and dungeon crawling prevents me from seriously disliking the game - but I wish it had more focus. Fortunately, recent mods like Endless Abyss and Colossal Caverns explore this potential and also get my recommendation.
I would recommend playing the GC or Wii versions, depending on your control preference. The Switch port has worse controls than previous versions, missing easter eggs, and audio issues, including lack of surround sound.