During the sixth generation of consoles, those being the Playstation 2 and Gamecube, a dev team at Nintendo were busy experimenting with different tech engines and seeing what the Gamecube was capable of. The Gamecube wasn’t selling as well as it’s competitor and still wasn’t after this statement, but trust me I’m going somewhere with this. One of the many tech demons that these devs managed to concoct was Super Mario 128. It would showcase a round spear the user could rotate, 128 little Marios running around, and gravitational pull so that no matter how you rotate the sphere the Marios would never fall off. The rotational sphere and its gravitational pull would be carried into Super Mario Galaxy on the Nintendo Wii. What hundreds consider one of the best video games of all time, but what about the many little Marios running around? What would that transpire into. Well to answer that question they took that idea and morphed into a new IP. Their own unique take on the RTS genre and to see if it would click with any of their playbases. That new IP was Pikmin, Nintendo's first RTS.
While not a massive success compared to their other franchises, Pikmin was well praised. Heads at Nintendo quite liked the idea of controlling an army of cute leaf men and essentially being a tiny man running around gardens. Doing busy work and learning how to get tasks done. It was received well enough to receive a sequel three years later on the same console, and then nine or so more years later a third game on the Nintendo Wii U. My exposure to this series was renting a copy of the third game at a local Family Video. Saw the commercial, though it looked cool, and wanted to expose myself to something other than Super Mario or Sonic the Hedgehog. I played the heck out of this game and re-rented it multiple times until completion. Pikmin 3 still remains to be my favorite game on the Nintendo Wii U. It’s one of few games I played twice and still have fond memories of. It was probably my game growing up the more I think about it. Sure my favorite franchises in middle school were Mega Man and The Legend of Zelda, but Pikmin 3 is a game I don’t really have many complaints about. Plays well, is designed well, and still one of the best looking games of 2013. However,
Ever since I beat Pikmin 3 my mind dreamt of a fourth game. I needed more Pikmin energy shot into my veins, but that time would never come. Well at least for a very long while, because two years after Pikmin 3 released they announced the development of the fourth game. Many fans’ hearts raced, but time went on and Pikmin 4 didn’t look like it was releasing anytime sooner. It was stuck in development hell and I’m assuming what happened is they didn’t want just another repeat of what the prior games did. They wanted to innovate and overtime new directors stepped in to help with progression on Pikmin 4. It wasn’t until 2022 and halfway through the Switch’s lifespan that a trailer for Pikmin 4 containing in-game footage came out, and it looked glorious! It was exactly what fans dreamt of and I remember screaming to my sibling how excited I was. Pikmin 4 released one year later and it did as well as you expected. It became the best selling entry in the series, received extremely high review scores, and was deemed one of the best games of 2023. I would’ve played Pikmin 4 during its release, but during the same time Remnant 2 and Baldur’s Gate 3 were also available. So the talk of the town were those two for me. I still was planning on playing Pikmin 4 though and during a Black Friday sale recently I finally picked a copy of the game up. I originally planned to get this review out after I obtained the first ending, but declared it wasn’t enough and played until I obtained the true ending. With twenty five hours of playtime logged in, all castaways having been rescued, and the final dungeon complete.
After more than a decade of waiting and one year since it was released,is Pikmin 4 good? Was it what I and many fans of the series hyped it up to be? Is it better than Pikmin 3 and all the games that came out before. The answer is yes of course it is. Pikmin 4 is the happiest I’ve been with a Nintendo product. In fact, I think it’s my favorite Nintendo game of all time. It’s exactly what I had wanted as a child and while there are some hiccups and annoying sections it’s not too much from me to declare it as a masterpiece. Do yourself a favor and just play this game. It’s great and while sixty dollars is alot for a game every penny is worth it. Pikmin 4 is both a masterpiece and the best Pikmin game, and we’re gonna talk about why I’m happy with the end results.
Story
The plot of Pikmin 4 can be seen as a sequel reboot to the first Pikmin. An alternate timeline with you getting the bad ending rather than the good one. The plot of the original is simple. A small little man by the name of Olimar works for the Hocotate Freight Company. Delivering several kinds of cargo between planets and trying to support his loving family. He was journeying home from his last delivery when suddenly an asteroid collided with his ship. Sending him rocketing towards an unexplored planet dubbed PNF-404 and losing numerous parts to his ship. He would then discover a race of small plant men which he calls Pikin, and with their help he recovers the missing parts to his ship and flies home. However, in Pikmin 4 things are a bit different as the deserted captain also encounters an alien dog he names Moss. Olimar befriends the dog and with its help recollects his ship parts. He is flying home yet again, but another freak accident occurs and he sends a distress beacon for help. Hocotate decides to send the rescue corps to look for the missing captain, but their ship malfunctions which scatters the crew. Basically this is the plot of Metroid 2, and you are the last resort. You’re the latest recruit and are sent to rescue everyone.
You meet up with Colin, the crew’s communication officer, and Oatchi, the team’s dog. Finding the ship is still functional but without a captain they can’t leave the planet. So it’s your job to go explore different sections of the world, and thankfully you discover an Onion. The contraption that allows you to produce Pikmin who can aid you in tasks and battle. Oatchi is there to help too and together you’ll relocate the crew, encounter castaways that also came because of the distress signal, and figure out what exactly happened to Captain Olimar. All the while uncovering several mysteries lying beneath the surface such as why leaf men that are not Pikmin are running around with one of them riding atop another space dog. Good luck space cadets. You’re gonna need it.
Gameplay
In Pikmin 4 you control an army of Pikmin, the little leaf guys that come in all sorts of colors and forms. You’ll command them through different environments, tell them to carry objects back to base, throw them at enemies, watch them multiply like rabbits, and try to get a list of tasks and puzzles done before the timer for each day runs out. If any Pikmin are out and about when a day ends they’ll be eaten by prey at night, which is similar to getting eaten by prey normally except you can’t control it. This is why it’s important to carry bodies and pellets back to base, so that you can have backup Pikmin in case things go wrong. If you feel like you screw up too much you can always open up an option screen and rewind time to an earlier state. Three objects you’ll always want to be on the lookout for are treasure, crystals, and castaways. Crystals allow you to purchase upgrades, castaways can be sent back to base to recover, and treasure can be converted into sparklium. An energy substance that when enough is collected can allow you to gain access to new areas. New addition to Pikmin 4 is Oatchi, the space dog you and your Pikmin can ride atop. Oatchi can jump up surfaces you’d normally not be able to reach, swim across water, and even perform tasks the Pikmin do like carry objects back to base or fight enemies.
As I said earlier the Pikmin come in many forms and you’re gonna want to make good use of all the different kinds if you want to navigate certain zones or beat enemies with certain traits. Red Pikmin are immune to fire, yellow ones can be thrown high and are immune to electricity, and the blue ones are the only Pikmin who can swim and breathe underwater. Rock Pikmin don’t die when crushed and can break glass, Winged Pikmin can fly and carry objects over gaps, the white ones are fast and immune to poison, and the purple ones are strong, being able to carry objects as if ten Pikmin were carrying them. Two new Pikmin types have been added to the game being the Ice Pikmin who are immune to frost and can freeze water if there’s enough of them, and finally the Glow Pikmin who can light caverns and are immune to everything. However, the last one can only be obtained during night expeditions which brings me onto some returning features from the second game.Returning are the caverns and one of three things may occur. First is the simplistic exploration cavern. Numerous floors to venture through, treasure to find, and maybe one or two castaways to rescue. Second are the Dandori battles, the leaf men who aren’t Pikmin. If you can collect more treasure than them then you can bring them back. Third is the Dandori collection challenges where you have to get as many tasks done within a certain amount of time.
When a Leafling, otherwise the leaf men, are brought back to base you can cure them and revert them back to castaways. However, this requires a cure and this is where night expeditions come into play. Journey to areas you’ve been at during the night and command Glow Pikmin to carry resources back to pods to produce more. Defend the pods from enemies who are more aggressive than usual and you obtain the sap that allows you to produce the cure. Additionally you’ll get a few glow seeds that allow you to spawn Glow Pikmin to assist you in cavern explorations. Aside from that there’s nothing much else for me to say. There’s loads of things to do in Pikmin 4 and that’s why it’s the biggest Pikmin game to date. Fun fun for everyone as long as you know not to get too stressed out. Hopefully you can find where Olimar is and bring him back.
Thoughts
There’s a lot to love about Pikmin 4 and despite it being part of a niche genre I easily recommend it to anyone who wants a jolly good time. It’s fun. That’s the most simplistic definition I can give this game. The story is not much to talk about. Pikmin games have never had strong stories to begin with, but it’s the gameplay and design that make them stand out. RTS is a genre I’ve never been a huge fan of. I have friends who grew up playing Starcraft 2 and Dawn of War, but when I look at the gameplay for these games they are really unappealing to me. I’m sure there’s a good reason those two are called the best, but they’re not for me. There’s a reason why I and so many others love Pikmin despite it being labeled as one of the types of games. It’s less about strategy and more about exploration and discovery. Being plopped on a map and told to obtain unknown objectives within a certain amount of time is stressful, but at the same time I feel motivated. I’m a small man in a huge world, but I have the help of a cute little army and just because you’re tiny doesn’t mean you’re useless. I always enjoyed these games’ perspective of being tiny. They take environments and objects you’re familiar with and treat them as if they were special. Pikmin 3 is the prettiest game on the Wii U, and Pikmin 4 is the prettiest game on the Switch.
Containing the most vibrant environments the series has seen to date as well as variation. From traversing a garden, shorelines, bramble forests, and much more. I like how these games reward you for splitting tasks and managing time rather than going to things one by one. I’ve seen many speedruns of the original Pikmin where players who play smartly can obtain four ship parts on the second day. Pikmin 4 is where playing diligently lets you clear half an area. Opening any of the shortcuts you find so that backtracking isn’t as annoying. Considering what encounters you can handle and feeling excited when you find more treasure or Onions. A design choice I was a bit mixed with at first was having to find uncolored Onions to lead around more Pikmin. Limit is twenty at first which is too small to get many tasks done, but with time I see why they did it. The areas early on are smaller and contain weaker enemies, and difficulty ramps up throwing harder enemies and more tasks. The game paces you into the difficulty quite well and when you do finally achieve the Pikmin leading capacity of one hundred you feel like a true commander. One who strides bravely into the unknown.
Oatchi was also another design choice I was mixed with at first, but grew to adore. Seeing him gain new skills with time, assist the Pikmin, and see him more as a friend than a pet. Making lots of battles that normally be challenging easier. I’d say Pikmin 4 is the most accessible game in the series to date. There’s a time limit, but you’re not punished for playing too much of the game like the first game, or having to collect food to stay alive like the third game. You can move bases around so bringing resources back isn’t as annoying, and there’s an upgrade you can get early on that allows you to call Pikmin waiting around to come to your location. It’s also probably one of the easiest games in the series. The Ice Pikmin are pretty broken as they freeze enemies, and if you charge into a freezing enemy with the rest of your Pikmin and Oatchi they just nail the big bugger down until they shatter into a million pieces. It transforms a lot of ferocious enemies from previous games into jokes, but I’m fine with it because to reach that state you need enough good Pikmin and upgraded enough Oatchi. Normally I don’t like using the word big to advertise a game because bigger doesn’t mean better, but that’s how I’d define Pikmin 4. Bigger and more bombastic, but somehow not losing the DNA that defines a Pikmin 4. Areas are more open but not too bloated, and again you can move your base around to make things more manageable.
The caverns from Pikmin 2 return and are still great. I do feel near the end they get repetition, but they’re fun challenges that reward you for playing carefully and looking around. I also like how caverns are where you get new types of Pikmin. Playing carefully when you bring new Pikmin to the surface, and getting excited yet again when you find a colored Onion to produce more of the Pikmin you need. Despite Pikmin 4 being bigger I wouldn’t say it’s bloated. The game took me around fifthteen hours to get the first ending, and ten more for the true ending. Good runtime for me with my only concern being if it’s as replayable as the other three games. The only thing that I dislike about Pikmin 4 are the Dandori battles. Some of them suck. They suck and by the end I didn’t want to do them. However, while they’re the lowest points in the game I do respect how Pikmin 4 tries to have as much gameplay variety as possible. I quite like the night expeditions, otherwise the tower defense mode. Felt nice and was quite rewarding if you manage to endure and pull it off. Outside of that I don’t really have too many complaints with Pikmin 4. It’s a damn good video game and I couldn’t be happier with it. Pikmin 4 is the best Pikmin game to date. A culmination of every good thing from previous games and my favorite Nintendo game to date. In the end I am going to have to give Pikmin 4 a 10/10 for being absolutely incredible.
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