Not content material with dropping an HD port of the unique Pikmin through the June 2023 Nintendo Direct, the platform holder additionally noticed match to furnish us with this barely revamped model of its sequel, the very wonderful Pikmin 2. Hooray!
Sure, Nintendo has planted us firmly within the Pikmin 4 hype zone previous to that sport’s launch and, if you happen to’ve but to play this 2004 GameCube gem, you are in for an incredible large deal with. Pikmin 2 takes the splendidly distinctive and ingenious foundations of its timeless predecessor and gently provides extra selection to the combination, leading to a sport that is arguably the pik (we’re so intelligent) of this franchise so far.
For these unfamiliar, Pikmin 2 sees Captain Olimar return to motion, this time joined by his co-worker Louie, as they take off to gather a bunch of treasure from the exact same Pikmin planet that he crash-landed on first time round. It seems bottlecaps, batteries and different trash strewn across the panorama are price fairly a number of Pokos again on Olimar’s dwelling planet, and he will want to assemble 100,000 Pokos’ price of the stuff so as to get the Hocotate Freight Firm out of debt. Thrilling!
Pikmin 2 cleverly expands on the motion discovered within the 2001 authentic by giving gamers an even bigger playground through which to smash enemies, batter down obstacles, and resolve splendidly well-designed environmental puzzles. This time across the time restrict from the primary sport has been eliminated — a plus or minus relying in your viewpoint — and Olimar, Louie, and the Pikmin can head beneath the floor of the planet to take pleasure in some good old school dungeon-crawling at their leisure. It is a rigorously thought of enlargement of the core method that makes for an extended journey however one that continues to be completely compelling because of extra fascinating and diverse locales and enemies, alongside a handful of latest Pikmin varieties to familiarize yourself with.
Alongside your returning crimson, yellow, and blue Pikmin — yellow now able to withstanding electrical shocks — you’ve got additionally acquired white and purple buddies added to the combination. White Pikmin can stand up to toxic areas and enemies, will poison foes who gobble them up, and may uncover treasures hidden beneath the grime. Purples are principally Pikmin on steroids, large heavy lads who’ve the facility of ten common Pikmin and may stun foes and stand up to extra injury because of this.
The opposite large change right here, in addition to some new spray powerups that can be utilized to encase enemies in stone or have your Pikmin quickly sped up, is your capability to take management of each Olimar and Louie individually, supplying you with the chance to divide and conquer when approaching obstacles and juggle a couple of activity at a time. With one fast button press, you may hop between both character and assume management of their present Pikmin followers, supplying you with extra in the way in which of strategic choices in the case of manoeuvring round areas, coping with enemies, selecting up treasure, and making it out of dungeons unscathed.
After all, it’s also possible to recall your separate groupings to type a single mass the place required and the sport’s 4 distinct play areas, alongside all the caves you may dive down into, do a superb job of posing issues and puzzles that’ll require you to control your crew in intelligent methods. The unique titles’s co-op mode and challenges additionally return right here, making for a pleasant package deal general and a sport that continues to be our personal private sequence favorite. Nicely, this author’s at any charge. [And this one. – Ed.]
When it comes to this HD remaster, properly, as we have talked about in our evaluate of the HD model of Pikmin 1, it is pretty bare-bones stuff right here with the next decision in place, upscaled UI components, and the implementation of Pikmin 3-styled controls. This port can be primarily based on the 2009 New Play Management! launch on Wii, which itself introduced some enhancements to the 2004 authentic, and you may select to make use of movement controls right here if you happen to so want.
There are a number of niggling private disappointments alongside the enhancements, with this model removing the ‘Attraction Mode’ that may present gameplay tutorials on the title display screen if the sport was left idle for a time. A small excision, we all know. Far more notably, a variety of the real-world branded merchandise you retrieve as treasures within the sport — your Duracell batteries, 7-Up bottle tops, and so forth — have been changed with fictional manufacturers, presumably resulting from expired licenses.
Hardly a giant deal, granted, but the magic of discovering and retrieving these recognisable, branded merchandise that you simply probably had in your personal dwelling gave the unique an added contextual frisson; a small however potent connection between your world and Olimar’s. It is such a tiny factor, however regardless of the comfort and improved decision of this Swap port, Pikmin veterans could have bother shaking the sensation that they are not taking part in the definitive model of the sport.
Aside from these very minor negatives although, this can be a positive — if quite rudimentary — port that suffers zero efficiency points and vegetation the (nearly) full Pikmin 2 expertise on Swap consoles for gamers to get pleasure from. And luxuriate in it you’ll, we reckon, as a result of Pikmin 2 is a unbelievable sport at its core, an expertise that is aged fantastically and a little bit of a must-play in our books, particularly if you happen to’re experiencing its delights for the primary time.
Conclusion
Pikmin 2 is a unbelievable follow-up to the 2001 authentic that expands upon its predecessor’s core gameplay in some neat and well-considered methods. It is a larger sport, with extra areas and dungeons to discover, a bigger number of Pikmin to work with, a number of protagonists to manage, and some further modes thrown in for good measure. It might be a bare-bones port, and we do actually miss these Duracells, however this can be a sport that is aged remarkably properly and, with foundations as delightfully entertaining and ingenious as this, it is nonetheless an expertise that we extremely advocate testing on Swap.