I only fell in love with Pikmin 4 after the credits rolled

28.07.2023 - 20:12 / gamesradar.com

Pikmin always seemed like one of those Nintendo franchises destined to be little more than a historical curiosity, consigned to the same dusty IP warehouse where the company has stuffed the likes of other beloved cult classics like Earthbound and Golden Sun. Yet despite regularly disappointing sales, Pikmin keeps getting second chances. As a fan since the launch of the original game 22 years ago, I couldn't be happier about that fact, and with Pikmin 4 the series has finally gotten the sequel it truly deserves.

I'm honestly a bit surprised to be typing those words, since for most of Pikmin 4's early hours I simply liked it - I hadn't yet fallen in love. The game has a slow start, heavy on tutorials and explanatory dialog, and even once you've got full control over the action, it's not particularly demanding. The action of directing your Pikmin and managing their tasks over the course of each day is engaging all on its own, but there's not quite enough pressure in the early stages of Pikmin 4 to force you to truly manage your time well and make the most of the game's systems.

Pikmin has been back and forth over how much it demands of your time management skills over the course of the series. Pikmin 1 had a strict time limit of 30 in-game days for you to complete its story, but Pikmin 2 got rid of the overarching time limit in an effort to court players intimidated by the restriction. In an official interview released last week, Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto noted that at the time of the original two games, "players were divided as to which game they preferred, and some people even talked in terms of being either a 'Pikmin 1 person' or a 'Pikmin 2 person.'"

Folks, I am a Pikmin 1 person. There's nothing I find more satisfying than running up against an encroaching time limit, and doing efficient work to build a buffer against the looming threat of a crushing deadline - which is maybe why I got a career in online media. I was afraid that Pikmin 4, despite a lot of fun design and smart tweaks to small gameplay systems, was really just going to be Pikmin 2 again, another branch on a series that's struggled to fully settle its identity. I only found out I was wrong after the credits rolled. Pikmin 4 is the game the series has been building to for over two decades.

You'll reach Pikmin 4's ending well before the game is over. Without delving to deep into spoilers, there's a post-credits stinger that adds a 'but wait, there's more' epilogue to the story, and having accomplished your previous narrative goals, you're given a set of new ones, complete with more challenging levels and a whole new mode that serves as a prequel to Pikmin 4.

That prequel mode is exactly what I thought Pikmin 4 was missing. It's