Pikmin 2

Absent form last years Electronic Gaming Expo and after many delays, fans and many other gamers thought Pikmin 2 was as good as gone. Well 2004 is here and so is E3 including Pikmin 2 which will certainly be Nintendo’s star guest along with others in the line up like Paper Mario, Metroid Prime 2, Donkey Konga, Mario 128 and Second Sight.

Pikmin 2 looks like the original graphically but with the delays, developers were able to add in additional options and tweaks to make this sequel much better than the original. has a much more accurate selection system, there is no longer a limit on the number of days you have to complete objectives and there is an all new co-op mode. Pikmin 2 is far more attractive this way than the original and the fans are anticipating this sequel much more than before.

Like all games, Pikmin 2 has a story (spoiler alert). At the end of the original Pikmin, our hero Olimer finds all his parts to the ship and he goes home. Upon getting home, Olimer finds out that after being stuck on the planet for 30 days, his business is bankrupt. Now Olimer must go back to the planet he was stuck on to find as much treasure as possible with Loogie’s help to resurrect his business. This is where your adventure will start and how it will end is up to you.

This strategy adventure game has been tweaked to fit more enemies on screen at once. Developers of Pikmin have listened to the feed back of the gamers and changed what needed to be changed. After all, why not give the gamers what they want (it’s good to see someone is listening)? Pikmin 2 has picked up the pace and the action is now much faster. This sets the mood for the entire game changing what the first one was and giving Pikmin 2 an all new out look and feel. Also, there is no longer a time limit, which is what made exploration in the first Pikmin impossible because you were always afraid of how many days you have left. The first Pikmin was a race to fix your ship before your air runs out; the sequel has an entirely different focus which gives it the sense of adventure and exploration. Now that Pikmin 2 has increased its pace with faster action there is also an increase in enemy activity which makes for more intense game play. To manage the game play at a balance there is also no limit to how many Pikmin can be on the field (although it will take hundreds to move one object). Now that the game requires you to pay off your debt due to bankruptcy you will have to do a lot of collecting of many objects.

Pikmin 2 will now be focused on exploring and finding all the secrets that are hidden within the levels and areas. There’s also five different varieties of Pikmin now assigned to the D-pad, so there is no frantic button mashing when in the heat of battle, there is also no more stopping to reorganize your groups before going into battle. Every Pikmin have their own ability that will help in different situations. Blue Pikmin are good for one reason and that’s for breathing under water, Yellow Pikmin can carry bombs, Red Pikmin are resistant to heat, which means they can go through fire or walk on lava, White Pikmin glows in the dark and Purple Pikmin are extremely strong in lifting huge objects.

The best part of Pikmin 2 is the addition to the all new two-player action. Olimer the main character is now accompanied by Loogie. During the game you can change between characters and control both just like in Resident Evil Zero. You can play as Olimer as you tackle one objective then by a press of a button you can switch to Loogie and do another objective. Let’s just hope that there is also an alert system so you know if your partner is in trouble. As and added bonus Pikmin 2 also has two-player co-op and head to head challenge modes.