The Pikmin series is honestly one of my all-time favorite game series. And to be honest I'm not sure why. And the funny thing is, I remember not caring much for it when I first played the first game like twenty years ago lol. You know what made me give it another try? In Super Smash Bros. Melee, there was a trophy that you could unlock only if you had a Pikmin save file on your memory card lol and stupid me had already deleted it off of my memory card from the first time I had rented it, so of course I had to rent it again in order to get a save file on my memory card to get that trphy in Melee. I guess the second time I played it, it really clicked for me because I've played through the games SO many times.
My favorite one in the series has got to be the first one. I know that a lot of people found it to be too "stressful" because you only have 30 in-game days to collect the essential rocket ship pieces in order to successfully beat the game, but honestly the game is so short that it's not like you waste tons of time only to fail. It's one of those games (in my opinion) that the more you play, the more you get to know it, and then every time you play, you get better and better once you know where everything is located, the best way to reach stuff, etc. In fact, the game is so short, I've always thought that I could beat it in one sitting if I really wanted to (one of these days I'll have to try that...). And anyway, the game saves after each in-game day. If you REALLY need to, you can just play the day over again. The fact that you only play as Olimar in this one kind of gives it a neat atmosphere and urgency. All the levels are great too, as is the enemy variety.
Pikmin 2 is actually my least favorite of them. It's by no means a BAD game, but I feel like it's almost a little too cave-heavy. I know a lot of people prefer this one just because of the fact that there's no real time limit (of course there are still in-game days, but you have an unlimited amount, and there's no time limit in the caves- thank goodness). People stress about the time limit in the first game... but I've found the caves to be WAY way more stressful than anything in the first game lol. I swear this game was designed so that it had to be reset a lot. Most of the levels within the caves are randomized, so sometimes you'll get a layout that works well and other times you'll get a layout where it's like "yeah... there's no way I can do this without getting fucked over" usually by enemy placement in regards to the environment. Kind of hard to explain unless you've actually played it and seen for yourself lol. Oh and there's no shortage of hazards too. It's so much fun getting backed into a corner by monsters and having exploding rocks fall on your head lmao. As much as I'm bitching about it, it is still a very fun game... it can just be very frustrating. The above-ground portions of the game are great too of course.
The third game falls right in between the first and second for me for ranking. It's obviously the most polished of the three with some great "quality of life" improvements from the first two (better Pikmin AI, there's a "go here" function on the map which is incredibly helpful for multi-tasking since you've got three playable characters in this one, etc.) so I very much appreciate that. I remember when I first played this one I was actually out of work on disability and blew through the game in like three days lmao which I did NOT mean to do. It didn't ruin it for me or antyhing though thank goodness. This is also one of those rare times when a game I was really looking forward to and hyped up a bit did NOT let me down, which is always a blessing. Like the first two games, this one also has great level design and enemy variety.
Never played the Hey Pikmin! 3DS game lmao. I keep going back and forth on whether or not I should. Probably not lol.
I wish they would freaking make moooorrreee of these games. How is it that the series debuted just about twenty years ago and we only have THREE games in the series? And remakes of those games. The Wii remakes of the first two are both cool and annoying. On the one hand, I love that they made the game naturally widescreen and the pointing / aiming controls do work pretty well, but on the other hand, sometimes it does get "tiring" aiming my Wiimote at the screen constantly (that, and the swarm feature is MUCH easier using the C-stick on the GameCube controller than it is using d-pad down on the Wiimote.. for me anyway). The Switch "deluxe" version of the third game is better than the Wii U version. They didn't take anything away from the game (aside from using the GamePad as the map, which is better IMO) and only added stuff. So yeah. Twenty years. Three games. Three remakes. One (probably shitty lol) 3DS game. I know "quality over quantity" but come onnnnn.
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