Pikmin is back after 10 long years! (Pikmin 4 in review)

     Hey friends! I'm so happy to report that Pikmin 4 has lived up to my expectations and then some. Obviously it has been a long wait since Pikmin 3 first came out (which I can attest to, since it was right after I graduated from High School and before I went to College), but I can't say that I've missed it all that much while I've been busy with so many other things in that time. I hope that I can put my Dandori skills to good use in this post and utilize my time as effectively as possible while I tell you what Pikmin 4 brings to the table in a way that previous entries haven't.

Don't Worry, Olimar is still in the series!

    The game begins in a familiar way to fans of the Pikmin series. Captain Olimar has crashed his ship, and he's been putting the pieces back together with the help of the Pikmin residing on the planet. It's pretty much the same plot as the original game, but this time he has a large green dog named Moss who helps the unfortunate explorer. For those not in the know how these games play out, let me help you out a bit. Pikmin as a series is Nintendo's take on Real-Time Strategy games, where you control a tiny person (or a group of tiny people) on a giant Earth (that's right, like our planet) who relies on little creatures named Pikmin to carry out his or her dirty business. This mainly involves defeating giant insects, carrying pieces of treasure to their ship and protecting the explorers from any type of danger. There are many different types of Pikmin, some immune to fire, some immune to electricity, some can swim, etc. In each game, the explorer or explorers have to rely on the Pikmin to get back home to their planet before they're killed by whatever dangers may be awaiting. Anyways, with that explanation out of the way, back to the story. Olimar is making good progress and collects the ship parts necessary to beacon the Rescue Corps to come and rescue him, as his life support systems are beginning to run out. The Corps gets his message some time later and sets out to rescue him, only to also crash upon entry to the planet, leaving your custom character, who is the the rookie and the only one to stay behind, to be responsible for rescuing Olimar and the Rescue Corps as a whole. It's a simple and fun premise for the game, and one that starts you off with some pretty high stakes from the get-go. From there, it's off to the races. You have to rescue castaways on the mysterious planet of PNF-404 while picking up treasures to boost the power of your spaceship. This is all done by coordinating the Pikmin and adorable rescue pup, Oatchi, to bring everyone home safely. Not the most complicated plot, but for a Nintendo game, this is a pretty serious set up. This isn't new for the Pikmin series, of course, back in 2001, Olimar first crash landed on the planet and only had 30 days to get all of his ship parts before he died. This was insanely dark and troubling for me when I first tried the game out. I actually was so intimidated with the first game that I stopped playing because I didn't want to accidentally kill the captain by moving too slowly! Without spoiling anything, there is a ghoulish twist to this game that ties into that potential bad ending, especially since this seems to be retconning Pikmin 2 and 3 to create an alternate timeline for Pikmin 1, despite the 4 in the title. 

    The name of the game this time around is Dandori, which is a Japanese word that literally translates to arrangement, but in this context, you can take it to mean, "Arrange your tasks accordingly." This makes sense, since Pikmin has always been a series about splitting up tasks between the different groups of Pikmin, and starting with the second game, splitting tasks between the multiple captains as well. This game doesn't technically have a second captain for you, but there is another party member that is a fantastic and furry addition to the team.

A Game That is Secretly About Dogs!

    We all saw that first trailer for Pikmin 4 and had one thought. "We get a dog this time?" I really didn't know what to think when I first saw it, though it seemed like a cool addition to the formula that went beyond the different types of Pikmin that they added in previous games. This game introduces the concept of the Rescue Pup, Oatchi. Oatchi allows your custom character to ride around on him, with all of the Pikmin riding on his back as well, making for an entirely new experience. You now worry about the Pikmin falling off of a cliff or being munched by a monster that sneaks up behind you much less often, which allows for much more refined control when you're exploring the environment. Oatchi can also jump, which is a new thing for this series. Even though it's only a small hop, it's impossible to overstate how big of a change this small move is for the format of the game. He also has a rush attack that can knock treasures off of high ledges, or can be used to attack enemies, both utilities being extremely useful. As useful as he is in the beginning of the game, however, you can teach him different moves and improve his skills so that by the end, he's nearly unstoppable. I don't want to spoil all of the things that Oatchi is able to do by the end, because most of them are extremely useful and I think you all would enjoy discovering them for yourselves! Speaking of discovering things, let's talk about some of the discoveries that will be made in this game.

One Man's Trash...

    This game obviously has a lot to discover, with quite a few areas to explore (again, I don't want to spoil how many), castaways to rescue, and treasures galore! One of the most important and enjoyable aspects of this game, as well as Pikmin 2, is the treasure. There's something so much fun about seeing normal earth objects viewed as objects of wonder and amazement from the vantage point of these tiny people on our planet. A bike horn becomes something that can shatter the eardrums of these small explorers, a Harmonica is perceived as a device to measure the wind. My personal favorites have to be the Nintendo related treasures. I can't spoil a lot of these, because I would feel bad, but I adore the nostalgic items that are on display in this game. In the first area, a Game Boy Advance SP that looks shockingly like the one that I have on my shelf can be found, and the explorers are dumbfounded by this magical device that seems to "advance" the minds of those that use it. I simply can't express what a cool touch it is that you can find all of these devices out in the wilds of this planet, and to have them viewed with such spectacle and delight. It's not only because of the Sparklium that they're able to extract from these (which they need to repair the ship) but also just their speculations about the purpose for these ancient artifacts like a pair of castanets or a digital thermometer. This is one of the most charming elements of the whole game for me, and I spent my entire time wondering what was going to be found around every corner of the map. This is why I forged my way through all of the horrors of the wilderness with a sense of both dread and excitement at the same time.

Scarier than many Horror Games

    I have to give a word of warning to some of my friends here. If you are squeamish around insects or generally don't like jump scares, I'm not sure if this is the game for you. It's a fantastic game, don't get me wrong, but I was genuinely a bit frightened some times whenever I entered a new area. I'm not a big fan of spiders, and so there are quite a few areas that were not my favorites, as you can imagine. This may just be me, because it's an element that I've never heard talked about in any of the many Youtube videos I've seen about the Pikmin series, but there are a lot of creepy crawlies that I have been legitimately afraid of. Less so in this game, just because I'm a little bit older now, but in the previous games I've definitely been scared to enter places. This is just a little warning to folks that aren't as interested in bugs, because there are a lot of them. Of course, not all enemies are creepy, such as the bread bug, which literally looks like a loaf of bread with a face on it, but many of them can drop from the ceiling at a moment's notice, ready to gobble up your Pikmin with delight. For this reason, if you see a clear area or room in a cave that looks like nothing is there, definitely be cautious. Chances are that there's some big beastie about to pop out to ambush you, and I know better than most that it's a terrifying experience at least the first time. While most of the elements of this series are cute and endearing, the insects and horrifying creatures that populate this world give a strongly different identity. Of course, I would be remiss to finish up this review without bringing up the Nighttime missions, so let's discuss while we're in the "scary" category.

    Nighttime has always been forbidden in Pikmin games. There's a rule that you must round up all of the Pikmin before the end of the day, or else they'll be eaten by all of the creatures that come out at night, but in Pikmin 4, for the first time, there are night missions that are completely different. While the day segments progress in the same way that they always have, full of exploration and strategic planning, the night missions are entirely different beasts. These operate as pretty standard Tower Defense segments, as you must defend the Glowknoll until the morning comes. Once you have successfully defended them, these structures will spit out Glow Sap, which you need in order to heal some castaways that have become leaflings (long story, trust me). These are the only times where you can utilize the much more powerful Glow Pikmin, which are the real stars of this mode. This allows for them to overwhelm and attack them with their numbers. They make this mode much more fun than it has a right to, especially whenever I've never been a big fan of tower defense in any form, plus they look like ghosts, which is a neat touch. It's imperative that you spend whatever short amount of time you can to build up your Glow Pikmin numbers before the monsters go haywire and begin attacking the Glowknoll, or else things are going to be bad for you. It's actually a lot of fun, and though these challenges aren't very long, and are probably the least entertaining part of this game in my opinion, it is still nice to get a change of pace for those that need it.

    Pikmin 4 is a fantastic time all the way around, and I'm happy to say that I've just about achieved 100% completion. This is the kind of game that really helps me to remember why the series is so good and so fondly remembered. There has been no word on whether there will be a fifth game in the Pikmin series, though with Miyamoto still on the Nintendo staff, it's definitely still in the realm of possibility. This title has had the biggest opening for the series so far, which is a good sign at the very least! I'm always happy to see games like these taking creative new risks, because it's almost always a good time, especially when the team at Nintendo EPD is helming the effort. I hope for more cosmic adventures with these galactic explorers soon, and that may just mean replaying this game again, which I certainly wouldn't mind!

    Thanks so much for reading my review of Pikmin 4, friends! I hope you're enjoying the game if you've picked it up, or I hope what you've read has maybe led you to trying out the series for the first time. If nothing else, all 4 true Pikmin games (not counting Hey! Pikmin for 3DS, since that's something completely different) are on the Switch now, which is just a really cool situation to have. Do you think this is Olimar's last ride, or is Hocotate freight going to go bankrupt again, sending the adventurer back to the planet? Let me know what you think, or just give general impressions of the game, if you want! Thanks again for all the support! Until next time, I'm Jonathan, your Self-Proclaimed stranded explorer, and I'll talk to you again soon!