Pikmin 2

Genre: Real-Time Strategy / Action-RPG

Players: 1-2 Competitive / Co-Op (Local)

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Review:

(Note: As both Pikmin 1 and Pikmin 2 feature many of the same qualities and problems, I am copying much of the text for these reviews and changing what differs between the two)

The Pikmin series, for those unfamiliar, is Nintendo’s own unique spin on the Real-Time Strategy genre, with players controlling a puny space explorer (or explorers) who commands a horde of plant/ant creatures to fight buglike enemies, collect various items (including “artifacts” that are clearly various nick knacks left behind by a suspiciously normal-sized human society), and explore the strange world of the game.

After being virtually ignored by Nintendo for the last decade, 2023 has really been the Pikmin franchise’s time to shine – earlier this year, we received Pikmin 4 on Nintendo Switch, with this game later being followed-up with ports of Pikmin 1 and Pikmin 2 (as well as a compilation containing both, Pikmin 1 + Pikmin 2 Bundle), meaning that all four mainline games in the franchise are all playable on Nintendo Switch.

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Piklopedia

The original release of Pikmin 2 came in 2004 on the GameCube, three years after its predecessor on the same console. By this point in the console’s lifespan, it had become clear that the GameCube was far underperforming Nintendo’s expectations, not only selling half of their projected units, but coming in third in sales behind PlayStation 2 and Xbox. Executives at companies like Acclaim and Eidos were publicly making statements about poor sales on GameCube, and while the console had multiple acclaimed games in 2004 including Pikmin 2, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, and Metroid Prime 2, overall it seemed like things were mostly trending downhill for the console.

The game would see a port to Wii in 2012 as a part of the “new play control” series that added Wii Remote motion controls, with this version of the game added to the Wii U Virtual Console in 2016. As such, Pikmin 2’s release on the Nintendo Switch means that this game has been re-released on every Nintendo console since the GameCube.

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Burrowing Snagret

I really do need to emphasize that this game is a port, not a remake. It certainly isn’t anything as extensive as what we saw earlier this year in Metroid Prime Remastered. To be fair, there have been some improvements and changes made here, some to adjust to the new platform and some to do the bare minimum to fall in line with expectations for modern game releases. However, Pikmin 1 is an old game, and this release does little to try to hide that fact.

When this game originally released on the GameCube, it was a graphical marvel, with lush realistic outdoor environments. However, 19 years later on the Nintendo Switch, I’m sad to say, the bloom is off the rose. Pikmin 2 is nearly two decades old, after all, and it looks it. Having said that, there have at least been a few minor graphical upgrades here – the original game’s 480p resolution has been increased to 1280p on Nintendo Switch when docked, and 720p in portable mode. However, it keeps the original game’s 30FPS framerates (thanks to Digital Foundry for the numbers). There have been a few other elements that have gotten a higher-resolution upgrade as well, such as any font and UI elements. The cinematics have also gotten a bump up to a higher resolution.

Unfortunately, this resolution bump doesn’t extend to the game’s textures, which look really rough now that you can see them more clearly. There are a few elements here that saw improved textures, such as Olimar and Louie’s spaceship, but the ground textures really needed that same sort of love, and the lack of an improvement here really makes them look ugly. Furthermore, a lot of the 3D models for the ground looks pretty blocky by today’s standards, although things tend to look better when you have more natural elements like plenty of flowers to obscure these blocky models. However, even there you can find another issue – this game suffers from some ugly aliasing.

In short, while there is some polish here to bring the game up to modern standards, there are definitely plenty of unpolished areas that look rough.

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Wolpole

The gameplay of this release is also pretty similar to the original game, though once again there are some noteworthy improvements here. The additional buttons of the Nintendo Switch have been put to good use here – the ability to manually move pikmin around your character now requires players to hold down the L button while moving the right analog stick, which might seem like a frustrating extra step, except this means that the normal functioning of the right analog stick is now freed up to freely control the camera, a huge quality-of-life addition.

Also, much as in Pikmin 3 Deluxe, this version of Pikmin 2 cuts the difference between the standard gamepad controls and the “New Play Control” version with motion controls by giving players the option to utilize either control scheme, though I would argue that the motion controls are definitely the way to go – these are only active when aiming pikmin, and the amount of precision this allows in aiming, especially while moving, is a huge improvement to the gameplay.

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Dwarf Red Bulborb

As for the game itself, Pikmin 2 was a huge jump forward for the series in numerous ways. The game featured a longer campaign, added a few new pikmin types, introduced the fan-favorite new “caves”, ditched the first game’s overarching day limit, added character-swapping to empower players to multitask in different areas, and added a new 2-player competitive mode as well as an unlockable co-op challenge mode. while Pikmin 3, Pikmin 3 Deluxe, and Pikmin 4 would go on to refine many of these features, Pikmin 2 really helped to solidify what the series was to become going forward, and as such it has aged somewhat more gracefully than its predecessor.

However, once againthe biggest flaw in this release is its price. Given this game’s nearly 20 year age and how minimal an effort seems to have gone into this port, the $30 price tag seems kinda’ insulting here, especially when the Player’s Choice release of the game on GameCube and the Wii U Virtual Console versions of the game both cost only $20.

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Smoky Progg

While the price tag is steep, and this is a disappointingly minimal port with only a few minor improvements, it bears to mention that this is still, I would argue, the definitive version of Pikmin 2. While the improved resolution and control options are almost a “bare minimum” effort, they’re still an effort that presents us with the best version of a great game, and one that’s much closer to more modern sequels in terms of quality and features. If you don’t mind the overly-high price tag and dated visuals, I think you’ll find Pikmin 2 is still a game well worth getting on Nintendo Switch.

tl;dr – Pikmin 2 is a port of the second game in the Pikmin series, games loosely within the Real-Time Strategy genre that put the focus on exploration and puzzle-solving rather than strategic combat. This port has some very minor improvements that make this the definitive version of the game, but overall this is a bare-bones port. However, the core game is still excellent even by today’s standards, and well worth playing if you can overlook the dated visuals and bloated price tag.

Grade: B+

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