So I consider myself a very casual Pikmin fan. I haven't played the first 2 since they came out for the GameCube, and have only played some of the 3rd one back on WiiU. So with Pikmin 4 around the corner and Nintendo shadow dropping the first two on Switch, I figured it was time for a replay.
I just completed Pikmin 1, and what an absolutely fantastic experience. I think back when I was a kid playing the first one may have been just a bit too much strategy for me to comprehend. But now may years later, I just absorbed myself into it.
Pacing out every day to explore the areas and devise a strategy of what I could reasonably tackle, judging if I should spend the day going straight for ship parts or doing pikmin harvesting... It all comes together with such an incredible sense of flow. The 30 Day time limit really makes you consider all of your actions. And it seemed like an intimidating limit at first, but the 30 Day cycle was much more forgiving than I expected. Even if I had a rough day, I could at least put my Pikmin away and just run around and assess the areas as Olimar.
And even as just an upscale, the visuals are brilliant. I love that early GameCube era look of games like this and Luigis Mansion.The way the environments and camera are designed do a great job making you feel like a tiny man in a big strange world.
I feel like I've fallen in love with a franchise all over again. I'm starting Pikmin 2 tonight, and can't wait to play 4 next month. If you haven't tried out this series, please do yourself a favor and grab at least the first game on the eshop. It's a perfect slice of pure Nintendo.
I like Pikmin, but have some things that push me away on the long run. It's the kind of game I enjoyed, but can't recommend because how stressful it is.
For me, it's an original flaw in the design that has been kept persistent in the serie, while it could have been interesting to transform this to something else, IMHO.
Pikmin is a survival game at its core. It’s all about resource (Pikmin) and time management, so it does come with the same kind of moment-to-moment stresses of other survival games. I love it though.
The survival, time-limited approach makes the exploration frustrating. I would love to chill more.
Pikmin 2 alleviates some of that, but I get what you’re saying. Different strokes for different folks!
I only played Pikmin 3 (and 2, but briefly, never finished it), and tbh I never perceived it as stressful. In fact I would say I loved it because I found it quite zen.
Obfuscating the number of deaths might help. The running total and the graph of deaths over time in the day are painful to look at.
I’d also add that if they drop a seed when they die, the death isn’t counted against you. Or have helpful Pikmin ghosts because that sounds like a Nintendo thing to do.