I remember playing the first Pikmin game when it was released shortly after the GameCube launch. The player assumed the role of the hapless Captain Olimar, whose spaceship crashed on a mysterious planet, scattering ship parts everywhere. The player had to work with strange creatures called Pikmin in order to retrieve the missing parts. The game took on an element of strategy by providing players with three colors of Pikmin, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, that had to work together in order to solve puzzles. The gameplay was truly original, which made it a quintessential Miyamoto game, but many players were frustrated by the strict time limits imposed by the game.
It has been almost three years since the first Pikmin game was released and GameCube aficionados have received an end-of-summer treat: The long-awaited sequel to Pikmin, appropriately entitled Pikmin 2, has arrived. In this outing, Captain Olimar returns to his home planet only to find that his company has gone bankrupt. However, a bottle cap that he brings back as a souvenir proves to be a valuable relic, so Olimar returns to the Pikmin planet with junior employee Louie to bail the company out of debt.
The gameplay essentially remains the same: The player must direct Olimar and the Pikmin towards valuable relics, which can be immediately exchanged for cash. In order to get to these relics, the player must use the Pikmin to break down walls, build bridges and carry the objects back to the ship where they are immediately exchanged for a small amount of money. As mentioned before, each color of Pikmin has its own set of strengths: Red Pikmin are immune to fire and are the strongest and fastest, yellow Pikmin are immune to electricity and can be thrown to high places and blue Pikmin are immune to water. However, these three types from the first game are now joined by two new colors of Pikmin: Purple Pikmin are ten times as strong as the other colors, and white Pikmin can dig up buried relics, are immune to poison and can poison enemies if they are ingested by a monster. These new abilities have been integrated into the gameplay fairly seamlessly; it quickly becomes second nature to see a wall surrounded by poison instead of fire.
One of the best additions to Pikmin 2 was the abolition the time limit. Of course, the game is still divided into days and the team must stop working every night at sunset in order to avoid nocturnal monsters. However, the money does not have to be recovered in a specific number of days, which allows the player to work at a more leisurely pace. Also, Olimar and Louie can split up, which allows the player to work on two projects at once. The player can also divide a large group of Pikmin by color if he needs a specific color of Pikmin to perform a job. This is rather troublesome to maneuver; oftentimes, when selecting a new group by whistling at them, the player will inadvertently end up including Pikmin that are not needed for a particular mission. This means dividing the group by color for a second time and hoping that one precious white Pikmin will get the hint that he is not needed for the water mission. It doesn’t help that Pikmin have little or no self-preservation skills. At one point, a red Pikmin decided to attack an electric generator just because he was standing near it. Unfortunately, he was promptly electrocuted.
In addition to finding items in the overworld, there are now a number of caves that Olimar and Louie can explore with the Pikmin. This is probably the most problematic aspect of the game. The caves are a mysterious place, full of strange and terrible creatures. I even found a mutated breed of enemies with leaves on their backs that ended up helping me instead of attacking me. In correlation with finding more powerful enemies in the caves, the player will also find valuable treasures. However, the caves are a treacherous place; they contain many levels, and if the player wants to leave the cave before finding the geyser at the end that will shoot the team back up to the surface, then the player must forfeit all the treasure already collected from the cave. This is inconvenient, to say the least, especially since such a move is usually prompted by severe Pikmin losses. And believe me, you will experience severe Pikmin losses.
Fortunately, the inevitability of losing Pikmin in battle or to the elements does not have to be the end of the world, although it is quite easy to get attached to one’s army. There are several ways to grow more Pikmin; each of the original Pikmin colors has its own “onion”, and if Pikmin bring back special flower pellets or defeated enemies, the onion will transform these into Pikmin seeds. Purple and white Pikmin do not have onions and can only be grown in caves, so it behooves the player to be more cautious when using these rare Pikmin.
The premise might be fairly simple, but there is a lot of substance to growing Pikmin and collecting loot. One of my favorite game features is the in-game bestiary, which allows the player to see a video presentation of all the creatures that have been defeated in the game. The player can even throw carrots at the beasts to see how they react to them. This can be a useful tool in devising strategies for the next time one encounters a particularly troublesome beast. There is also a catalog of all the items that have been collected, complete with Olimar’s extensive notes on the items, which, as mentioned before, are commonplace items like shoe polish and bottle caps. While the bestiary and item catalog are in no way essential parts of the game, their inclusion in the game shows the level of dedication to providing a quality product.
However, the inclusion of special things becomes problematic when coupled with the absence of several more utilitarian features, such as an acceptable save system. The game will save at the end of each day or when the player descends from one cave level to another. It really would have been ideal to allow the player to save at any point. At the very least, this might encourage a player to experiment with different tactics as opposed to looking up the solution in order to avoid having to start the day over again. Even worse, if the player is in the caves, despite the fact that the game saves automatically after every level, there is no option to load the game from the last save if a tough enemy ambushes the Pikmin army. In order to restore the game to the last save, the player must actually get up and manually reset the GameCube. If that was not bad enough, the game only has three save slots and the player can only use one per game. This means that the game is constantly saving over itself and, once a player makes a decision, there is no turning back. I’m not sure if the developers were trying to create an experience in which every decision is crucial, or if they just weren’t thinking. In any event, this is absolutely unacceptable; while it isn’t necessarily the end of the world, it is rather annoying to have to reset the game on tough levels.
If the extensive single player mode isn’t enough for players, Pikmin 2 also includes several two-player modes. This is an excellent addition to the game; it is fun to play the main game with a friend, but this experience is limited to one person holding the other controller and the second person giving advice. In Battle mode, two players go toe-to-toe in a Pikmin Battle Royale; a player can win by stealing his opponent’s marble, collecting four yellow marbles, or defeating all of his opponent’s Pikmin. Each player starts out with a small number of Pikmin, but the field is full of enemies which can be promptly killed and brought back to the onion to create more Pikmin. Battle Mode is an interesting diversion, but it is not very substantial; I found myself wanting to go back to the main game after a couple of rounds.
Challenge Mode, on the other hand, is just oodles of fun. This mode provides the player with a huge number of scenarios. Each scenario has the same goal: to find the key on each cave floor, which unlocks the next floor or the exit. However, each scenario differs in terms of terrain and in the number and variety of enemies. The player can earn bonus points by transporting enemies and treasure back to the ship. This mode is highly addictive and players will find themselves staying up late into the night trying to unlock yet another challenge.
Graphically, Pikmin 2 is very similar to its predecessor. The environments are lush and beautiful once again, with excellent details, especially the beautiful water details. The animations are cartoony but believable, and even with one hundred Pikmin on screen at the same time, there is rarely any hint of slowdown or any other noticeable graphical glitches. While the GameCube is a bit old to be showing off its graphical capabilities, Pikmin 2, much like its predecessor, is a good reminder of what the GameCube can truly do in the right hands.
Sound is also serviceable. True to Nintendo form, there is no voice acting, but unlike some other games that lack voices, it doesn’t seem out of place, and there isn’t a whole lot of reading involved once the game gets going. The Pikmin sound just as adorable as they always did, often singing as they march along. The music varies adequately, and while you will be listening to the same few tracks after a while, they are not so offensive that you’ll reach for the mute button.
Pikmin 2 is a solid little title, despite annoyances like imperfect control and an inadequate save system. It isn’t for everyone, but if your interest has been piqued, I highly encourage you to check it out. This game extends the playability by doing away with the time limit, and challenge mode is highly addictive. Pikmin 2 is the first of quite a number of video game sequels hitting store shelves in the coming months, while it is not quite perfect, it will provide hours of entertainment.
