Completion Time: 24h:34m:00s
Rating: 9/10

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New Adventure, New Stakes

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It seems like it was only a year ago that I completed the first of the Pikmin games and wrote about it for the blog. Wait a minute, that WAS year ago! I enjoyed revisiting the game so much that I wanted to continue with the rest of the games in the series as soon as I could. Well, it took me a bit longer than I would've liked to dive into Pikmin 2, but I finally got around to it, and I have to say it definitely didn't disappoint. Though the criteria for completion was definitely more complex than it was the first time around, that's for sure.

What do you mean it's already been a year?!

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Pikmin Anew (and Louie Too!)

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This game really stands out as a stellar example of creating a sequel that both keeps what people liked about the original while also introducing fresh and exciting elements into the mix. The basis for the game is similar in scope to the first one, with the story this time being Olimar and his bumbling coworker Louie having to travel back to the world from the original game because Louie lost a large shipment of carrots or something, putting the company they work for in danger of loan sharks. You travel around, throwing Pikmin around willy-nilly to grab "artifacts" that all have different monetary values assigned to them. Gotta make that scratch, that's the grind! And at the end of every day, you get mail from various folks back home, mostly your boss who is spiraling out of control and living under a bridge talking to animals. Well, it's either that or your wife confessing to blowing funds due to her gambling problem, so pick your poison there.

Defensless. Utterly defenseless

So we have the red, blue, and yellow Pikmin from the first game, but there are also a couple others entering the fray. First up we've got the purple Pikmin, which are burly and strong. They're extremely useful for treasure gathering, as they have the equivalent strength of ten regular Pikmin. They also pack a bit of a punch with enemies, so nothing to scoff at there. Second, we've got the White Pikmin that are resistant to poison. These are pretty necessary for handling spouts in the ground that spew toxic gas, and even some enemies that are covered in a poisonous cloud and cause other Pikmin critters to flee in terror. Lastly, we've got the Bulbmin. Occasionally in cave systems (we'll get to that), you'll come across a large Bulborb with a bunch of smaller creatures with leaves on their heads running around. These are the Bulbmin, kill the mother and blow your whistle and the smaller ones will work for you! Good way to increase your ranks for battling, though they can't be stored. Once you leave the cave, you'll have to abandon them.

For example, this dumbbell treasure weights 1000, so it took 100 purple Pikmin to lift! Get grinding...

There are 4 different zones on the planet that you can go to, each unlocked after a certain degree of progress. And as before, you'll need to beat bosses and solve puzzles with your various Pikmin to work your way across this delicate ecosystem. The biggest addition are the subzones, however, in the form of large cave systems that you leap into (told you we'd get to it!). Each of these caves can span from just a handful of rooms to a large network of areas with different enemies and obstacles swarming around. The bosses down here are also crazier than anything you'll find up on the mainland, with super Snagrets and worm queens that roll back and forth while spawning minions all the while: it's chaos. And the additional complexity of the cave gameplay mechanic is that you can' just end the day whenever you want. The only ways to exit are to take a geyser out, which will appear on some floors but NOT every floor, or go back to your ship module and leave the cave early. Only downside to the latter approach is that you forfeit any treasures that you collected during that run of the cave. So unless absolutely necessary, take a geyser out. And reminder, all of this is slowly chipping away at the massive debt that your shipping employer has accrued, so hop to it for the sake of productivity!

Boswer brand matches, ladies and gentlemen!

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Completing the Game

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The first thing you need to consider for game completion is the collection of every treasure available. This seems like it would be a given, since its the primary goal of the game. However, at a certain point you get enough treasures to pay off your company's debt, and at that point the second part of the game begins. Collect the remaining treasure scattered all over the place (but now with the company president instead of Louie, because his stupid ass fell out of the spaceship or something), and make your way through the final unlocked planet until you reach the final cave system with the final boss. This boss also has a handful of treasure attached to his person, and you have to knock it all off of him and store it in a mechanic move that honestly takes WAY too long. But each treasure has a different ability associated with it, so this is where you really should strategize. One is a flamethrower, the other launches orbs that shock in chains, the other drowns... yeah, putting all of your Pikmin to the test basically. Once you've done all of that and saved Louie, you're finally done! Well, with the main game that is...

Hard to be scared of a little lightning when over 75% of your army is impervious to it

If you want true completion, there's an entirely separate mode that you probably haven't considered or even noticed at this point, and that is Challenge Mode. Selected from the main menu, there are 30 of these to go through, each with their own configurations and challenges. One might be a single floor boss fight with 50 yellow Pikmin, another could be 5 cave levels deep with only a single red Pikmin to start. They all present their own special view of what hell must look like as you battle your way through the area, defeating enemies until you find and absorb the key that will let you either get to the next level or escape the cave altogether. Thankfully, points aren't a necessary statistic for completion of the game. It's actually much worse than that, as when you beat a single challenge, it'll be marked in the challenge menu with a white flower. If you want to get the special purple flower that ACTUALLY counts for 100%, you've gotta get through the challenge without losing a single Pikmin. Not. A. One. Is this as hard as it sounds? You'd better believe it, this is where I spent the vast majority of my time, as the best way to play is to pick away at the health of enemies slowly as you run around in circles trying to preserver every last member of your armada. But, once you get all those flowers, you unlock the secret mini movie that reveals what really happened in the events leading up to the game. Basically, it boils down to Louie continuing to be... just... just terrible.

These bomb bugs are a definite run-killer

A veritable garden of frustration

Begone, foul menace!

Pikmin 2 is just amazing in how they can take a formula that did well and actually innovate on it in a creative way, as opposed to just giving folks more of exactly the same. The stage construction, enemy variation, and swings in regards to mixing up the gameplay are more than enough to keep anyone's interest. Super creative and full of lovable charm, it just makes me want to jump into even more adventures with these cute little guys, even though I've heard the following 2 games are massive fall-offs in quality. Oh well, I'll make that decision for myself.

This is another entry in a series where I go through and complete every GameCube game, as it is the largest part of my video game collection. GameCube Games: 32/652