PEAK-MIN

Not burying the lede, I think Pikmin 4 may be my favorite game of the year. I don’t think that’s any surprise as my favorite game last year was Tinykin which took a great deal from Pikmin’s concept but reworked it into a collect-a-thon 3D platformer rather than the real time strategy Pikmin had been, and I really appreciated the focus exploration. It’s impossible that Tinykin influenced Pikmin 4, but I see a greater focus on feeling small and exploring a regular sized world than I had in previous Pikmin titles, and I think the series is way better for it. That shift in camera immediately makes the levels more engaging than what vaguely looks like a forest floor. There’s plenty of other reasons too, but I think that perspective of being small in a human world has always been engaging to me as games like Chibi-Robo, Clockwork Knight, and plenty of other titles have always captured my attention so now that I have my bias out of the way let’s talk about how Pikmin 4 changes up gameplay from its predecessors.

Immediately after creating a character and crash landing, the player meets Oatchi. He’s the big yellow dog-like breadbug creature that accompanies the player throughout the game. He can jump, swim, carry the whole Pikmin army on his back, pull items, and is actually playable on his own (switching control between Oatchi and the player character) and fundamentally changes how Pikmin is played. He’s a great tool for exploration, but because he can do things some Pikmin can’t as well as most things Pikmin can he’s essentially a Pikmin you can heal and upgrade. Some people will probably think this taints the purity of Pikmin, but to me he just changes it. Oatchi can dash at enemies knocking them over or doing damage and if he does that with Pikmin on his back the Pikmin launch off of him and onto the enemy and will immediately start attacking in unison and this is an extremely powerful technique but now all the Pikmin are in a single group and easily eaten or crushed or whatever other horrible ways Pikmin die. Oatchi is invaluable and they do a lot of things to make him feel important storywise as well and his animations give off a lot of character.

PLATFORMS: SWITCH
MSRP: $59.99
PRICE I’D PAY: $59.99

New Pikmin are also added. The Ice Pikmin are broken as hell and will make fighting enemies extremely easy and will freeze water. They are just another Pikmin you can have. The other new species is Glow Pikmin, who can only be used in caves or at night, which is a new feature. Night missions are required for story reasons and play like a tower defense game. Glow Pikmin are the only Pikmin available at night and so they are sort of a combination of the original three Pikmin species but are unique in that they can only be created from gathering small rocks during the night missions and will automatically come back to the player when they are done with their tasks. There’s also a powerful charge attack where all the Glow Pikmin form into a ball of light that stuns their enemies so they can attack. Having Oatchi and the Glow Pikmin always busy is a must in the night missions in order to make it to the morning.

Day missions operate the same as previous Pikmin games as there is a time limit on daylight, however, there doesn’t seem to be a limit on days spent looking for others who have crashed on the planet. As other stranded astronauts are found they can be met in the central area every day starting out where players can accept side missions (generally involving collecting things or finding other astronauts) to earn material. I really liked giving me a reason to check in with all these people I saved, it made me feel like I really was on a rescue mission and the material I got for finishing missions is important for upgrading my character as well as Oatchi and building things like bridges and ladders in levels. It’s not really a crafting system but just a series of obstacles Pikmin can overcome. This whole routine felt more organic than just playing a game and checking off boxes.

Pikmin 4 is extremely forgiving with a rewind feature that allows players to restart from specific floors if they fail any of the caves (which return from Pikmin 2) which is great because some of the bosses are extremely difficult. I had to spam one with items to defeat it because I couldn’t figure out the way to kill it without killing most of my Pikmin. A lot of Pikmin 4 seems to be more flexible in the way players choose to play. I am a bit disappointed that co-op is relegated to what sounds like the co-op from Super Mario Galaxy. I didn’t have anyone to try this with, but it is mentioned that the second player can upgrade their stone pitcher to be more effective.

Also available to two players is Dandori Battle, which is actually introduced in the single player. Essentially Dandori Battle is who can get the most stuff to their onion, but because Pikmin has multiple goals the idea is managing what Pikmin are always doing. Having idle Pikmin is fine when exploring, maybe even preferred at times, but when there is a direct competitor, or a strict time limit efficiency is key, and this game will drive that point into the ground. Every character that challenges the player to Dandori will make note of its importance. I really liked the Dandori Battles and Dandori Challenges (simply time trials to collect the stuff) but the game will not shut up about Dandori. It was cute at first, but it got tiring to hear.

Tiring also describes how I felt every time a single Pikmin somehow got stuck in the environment. It was never major, and I never lost any Pikmin this way, but that is because I am sort of compulsive in making sure I always have all Pikmin. I generally moved as one on the back of Oatchi because if I didn’t, I would follow a winding path up a hill and would somehow lose a Pikmin who I guess was far enough behind that he didn’t make it around the corner before I started my ascent again so he just was trying to go straight up the hill which he couldn’t do. This is because Pikmin generally follow the player like they are all singularly tethered to the player, but in Pikmin 4 there’s an item that lets the player call all idle Pikmin to the player’s location and the game does a pretty good job of pathfinding for them. There’s a weird quirk with that item too because it calls the Pikmin to that location but doesn’t immediately add them to your party. This seems minimal, and it really is and honestly doesn’t affect my score, but if this is someone’s first Pikmin it is important to know because it’s been a problem since the beginning.

I don’t want to spoil any more of the experience. I went from liking Pikmin to loving Pikmin with Pikmin 4. It’s just one of those games that I think is near flawless. It may have lost some of its difficulty, but I think all the things we gained in exchange are worth it.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.