Pikmin 4 is something a lot of people have been waiting for, myself included. The first two games in the series were pretty important to me during my growing years, and to this day, I consider Pikmin 2 to be one of my absolute favorite video games, which is pretty impressive when you take into account the fact that I’ve played over 800 video games- most of them to completion. I won’t pretend that there’s some nostalgia involved in my love for the Pikmin series, especially P2, but that’s not to say I unconditionally adore every single aspect of the series. All of the games in my top 5 have pretty notable flaws that could easily turn off new players, and P2 is no exception. Consider that just as a disclaimer, but I’m sure you already expected me to be mostly impartial anyway. Let’s talk about Picking some Min.
I will open by speaking about the story, given that it wasn’t talked about at much length during the promotional period of the game. Instead of playing as a named spaceman, like Olimar or Alph, Pikmin 4 has you take control of a customizable genderless avatar who is part of a rescue team, with the goal of helping out the MANY castaways stranded on the planet PNF-404, also known as Earth after the Rapture. During the opening of the game, you briefly play as Olimar right before sending a distress signal, but you’ll notice something unique about this section: it’s not a follow-up to Pikmin 3, but an alternate take that follows the bad ending of Pikmin 1! This was speculated since people saw a Pikmin-like creature with Olimar’s features during the trailers, and they pretty much called it.
Some people would not like that it’s not a direct follow-up to the threads left open from Pikmin 3, but personally, I like this idea a lot, so I don’t mind that it establishes an alternate timeline instead. There are a lot more characters than usual in the series, not just in terms of the side cast, but also for the protagonists. The main group, the rescue team, features a total of seven members, including the nameless protagonist. I won’t go into much detail about them so as to give people a chance to meet them on their own. I wouldn’t say that they’re as memorable as Olimar, Louie, or the Hocotate ship, but they’re fine enough. It’s not easy to make a large cast of characters as memorable as a middle aged spaceman stuck in a dead end job who really misses his family and still commands an army of little guys. But Oatchi, the dog… He’s perfect. So soft and fluffy… His ears flop around when you jump and it’s the most adorable shit I’ve ever seen. I’ve only had Oatchi for a few days, but if anything happened to him, I’d kill everyone and then myself. I fucking love this dog.
All in all, the story is quite simple, as it should be. The real incentive to play is the game itself. The overall gameplay cycle is as follows: Visit an uncharted part of the planet with your dog and your Pikmin for a limited amount of time while trying to gather treasure and rescuing castaways. Like Pikmin 2, there is no hard limit in the days you can spend in your quest, so you can explore leisurely at your own pace or challenge yourself to do things as efficiently as possible. This entry reintroduces the caves from Pikmin 2, which were one of my favorite parts of it. In these dungeons, you don’t have a time limit at all, and only a bit of time will have passed on the surface after leaving them.
There are some key differences between the caves in P2 and P4. In P2, these dungeons were procedurally generated, with only certain elements such as treasures or enemies remaining the same between multiple visits to the same dungeon. P4’s dungeons are static in the sense that they don’t change, and instead focus more on puzzle-solving, like in Zelda. When you revisit dungeons, you can go to specific floors in case you missed something in your previous visit, or if you need to grind for something specific that you can’t find elsewhere (i.e.: Purple Pikmin, which are very rare). This change is very welcome, although I haven’t used it much because I tried to 100% each cave on my first run. Regardless, I’m sure newcomers will be able to get a lot of use from it. In general, I think the dungeons are easier than the ones in P2, with bosses only being introduced like four caves in, while the second cave in P2 already had bosses. Some of them can still be fairly challenging, especially when you can only rely on a lower limit of Pikmin to tackle them.
This limit is a new mechanic that was introduced in this game. Normally, you could (theoretically) get 100 Pikmin of any time at any point of the game, but this game limits your output at the start, and you’ll only be able to use more at a time after collecting “flarlics” a new upgrade for the Onion (the ship where Pikmin are born and transported). In addition to that, the colors of the Pikmin you can find and use are also limited. You cannot use more than three types of Pikmin on the surface, but you can use more if you find them underground. These wild Pikmin don’t always correspond with the color of the Onions that are available to you, so you have to ration your use more cleverly until you find the matching Onion, after which point you’ll be able to spawn as many Pikmin of that type as you desire. This mechanic caught me off-guard at first, but I really enjoyed the layer of depth and strategizing that it added to each day.
There are two new Pikmin types: Ice Pikmin and Glow Pikmin. All other previous types return as well, making up for the lack of Whites and Purples in Pikmin 3’s story mode. Ice Pikmin are frankly overpowered. When they attack enemies, they can freeze them in place for a few seconds, and that often creates a chance to absolutely demolish any creature. This status is similar to the Ultra Bitter Spray from P2, but way more broken somehow. During a boss fight against a giant Wollywog, I froze the creature in midair, and when it fell to the ground, its body instantly shattered. They can also freeze water surfaces, making it so other Pikmin that aren’t blue can walk across them. But they also have one small disadvantage that they share with the Bitter Spray: when you defeat a frozen enemy, they don’t leave a carcass behind, and carcasses are necessary to grow your army, and in the case of Dandori Battles/Challenges, you need to bring back as many carcasses as you can. Pretty grim.
Glow Pikmin are only used during night-time expeditions, which I’ll explain later. Additionally, you can sometimes use them in caves, but they’re basically like Bulbmin- not a permanent part of your army, but immune to the majority of hazards. The returning types didn’t have a lot of changes. Red Pikmin received a new mechanic where they can pick up fire starters that can be used to burn down or melt certain objects, which created a lot of interesting new puzzles. Yellow, Blue, Rock, and Winged Pikmin are essentially unchanged from how they worked in P3, although some people claim that Blues were buffed due to the presence of more water, but I didn’t really notice that much of a change, if I’m being honest. White Piks didn’t get any gameplay changes, but the color of the poison hazards that they can fight against has been changed from purple to greenish blue. I don’t really see this change as a necessity, but it’s not like I’m gonna complain about it. Lastly, Purple Pikmin are still not quite as overpowered as in Pikmin 2, but they’re still the strongest type in combat. They’re just overshadowed by the Icemin. Sucks to live in a world where Ice Guys finish first!
Besides the Pikmin, there’s the new addition of Oatchi, your faithful space dog-thing. He has the strength of several Pikmin (3 at first, can go up to 100), and you can ride on his back in order to avoid certain hazards. He’s also capable of combat, but it’s more advisable to rely on your Pikmin for battles. As you could probably guess, Oatchi can receive various upgrades throughout the game to enhance his convenience. Oatchi’s upgrades depend on his “Pup Drive”, which increases by one point every time you rescue or heal a castaway. The upgrades vary from strength boosts, speed enhancements, or other simple quality of life commodities, but you can go the whole game without using them.
Upgrades aren’t limited to Oatchi. By collecting pieces of raw material, you can craft new pieces of equipment that can increase your stats, grant you elemental immunities, give you the ability to detect hidden treasures, among others. Raw materials can be collected during normal gameplay, and they can also be used to build structures in the overworld, as well as to “buy” field items that assist you in gameplay. I’m not going to enumerate them all, but the roster includes Rock Bombs from the previous games, which can be stocked and used at any point.
Personally, I don’t have any problems with including assist items like these to make the game easier to newcomers, but I already feel like this game isn’t particularly hard, so some of these items feel like overkill at times. But obviously, you don’t NEED to use them, you have the freedom of choice. Since most upgrades aren’t mandatory, I have a feeling that we’re going to see a lot of challenge runs for this game in order to tackle it with minimalistic methods, and I’m sure that’s going to be really fun to do/watch.
Another new feature that could be a bit polarizing is Rewinding. This one is included in a fairly subtle way, as the game doesn’t even point out it exists unless you screw up really hard. As the name implies, it lets you rewind time to correct some mistakes, which you will make. No one can perfectly predict everything in an RTS. I personally avoided using this feature for the most part, but some of the last dungeons have a pretty steep difficulty curve, so I’m not going to shame anyone for playing Steins;Gate Pikmin Edition. I’d say it’s not a feature that’s necessary per se, but it’s appreciated for people who don’t want to grind Pikmin after losing a battle horribly.
One of the game’s new selling points is Dandori, a philosophy involving efficient organization to get many tasks done in limited time. This manifests in gameplay not just through normal modes, but with Dandori Battles and Dandori Challenges. The former is an enhanced version of the two-player battle mode from Pikmin 2, where two players have to compete in order to collect marbles, except now, instead of marbles, you can pick up any item lying around in the battlefield. The winner is determined by the combined weight of all the collected items- whoever collected the most stuff wins. The game mixes things up by adding temporary bonus items that are worth more points, items that obstruct your enemy’s progress, and some potent sabotage tools. These battles are featured in the main story with Olimar as the opponent, but you can replay them at your leisure with friends or enemies. I didn’t dislike these, but they were usually the challenges that I left for last because of how intense they can get.
On the other hand, Dandori Challenges are a bit more simple. Essentially, they’re the challenge mode from Pikmin 3, where your goal is to pick up as much stuff as you can within a time limit. It should be pointed out that the treasures you collect in either of the Dandori modes do not count for your general progress, but you still get rewarded with raw materials and rescued castaways if you beat them. With a catch. These castaways have been turned into leaf-like creatures and they can’t think of anything but Dandori. Just like a white mom who just read a Marie Kondo book for the first time. I liked the Dandori Challenges more than the Battles for the simple fact that you’re only competing against the clock (and your own high scores), but even then, if you fail at either, the game offers to skip the story-based ones. I don’t like that. The game already gives you a lot of advantages if you’re struggling, but I think skipping story content is a bit too much. An assist mode would’ve been fine enough, but again, the choice is yours.
The last new mode introduced is Nighttime Expeditions, which isn’t based on any previous element of the series. Before, you weren’t allowed to go outside at night because monsters are more active, but P4 gives you the chance to explore during nightmurder in order to obtain cures for the leafed up castaways. This mode is more akin to a tower defense game than the usual RTS, as you need to defend a structure called the “Lumiknoll” using Glow Pikmin, which come directly from the Lumiknoll when fed glow pellets. All enemies are immediately attracted to the Lumiknoll, and you have to either kill every last creature on the map, or survive until the sun rises. These can be pretty tough if you’re not ready, as some of the enemies that try to get you are usually bosses, including a fan favorite one that hadn’t been seen since Pikmin 1, and the mere sight of it causes most players to instantly clench their sphincter.
Each mission will only pay out the first time you complete it, so don’t think you can grind for cures. Much like the Dandori modes, if you fail, you can skip them, but like- don’t do that, it’s lame. Play the fucking game. Even if you’re not good at Bloons TD6, you can do these if you stall long enough. You have the tools. The only one that may drive you mad is the very last one, but it’s not mandatory.
Returning from Pikmin 2 (and P3 Deluxe) are the Piklopedia and Treasure Horde, which is my favorite part of the series. In them, you can observe the enemies you’ve fought and the treasures you’ve collected, along with descriptions written by the characters, which get amazingly technical (when Olimar is writing them) and add an unbelievable level of scientific trivia to the Pikmin world. Plus, the Piklopedia now allows you to have practice runs against enemies you’ve encountered before in case you don’t have a solid strategy yet. This feature is extremely helpful and fun, as now you don’t need to defeat the enemy to register them, and it’s something I’ve taken advantage of to prepare myself for the new enemies instead of rushing like a fool. The only real grievance that I have with the new Piklopedia is that the initial flavor text before getting Olimar’s notes reeks of “wholesome 100 Reddit Chungus”, which I’ve come to find very annoying. The worst example I’ve seen was a monster’s movement being described as “blorpily sloshing”, which gave me an ulcer to even type out. But once you unlock Olimar’s notes, you get to read in detail about the insane lore of the creatures on PNF-404.
Once the main story is complete, there’s an expansive amount of post-game content, that I will not spoil because the game came out less than a week ago, but just know there’s a lot and it’s very good. Okay?
The last thing I want to mention before moving onto my conclusion would be the Side Missions. The game allows you to tackle alternative objectives during your expeditions, which you learn about from the rescued castaways. These are good for tracking your overall progress, and when you beat them, you get some extra pieces of raw material as a reward. These aren’t very complex, they usually involve things that you’re naturally going to achieve while you play, but there are some tougher ones, like getting medals on all the Dandori Battles and Challenges. Should you struggle with those, you can get help from a second player, but I can’t go in depth about that because I have no one to play the game with. 🙂
Overall, I had a major blast with Pikmin 4, and I think it’s a great experience for veterans of the series, while having enough accessibility options for new players. You don’t need to have played the previous games to understand the story in P4, but some of the things you’ll encounter are pretty clear fanservice for those who’ve been playing since game one. That’s right, if you beat the main campaign in less than 30 days, you get to see Olimar’s naked dad bod. It’s what everyone wanted from the beginning.
I need some time to marinate the experience and determine whether I enjoyed Pikmin 4 more than 2, but I can say with complete certainty that it’s better than Pikmin 3 Deluxe and Pikmin 1. Hey Pikmin is still the best one, though.
Nocverse 