Pikmin 2

Pikmin 2
North American box art
Developer(s)	Nintendo EAD
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Director(s)	Shigefumi Hino Masamichi Abe
Producer(s)	Shigeru Miyamoto Takashi Tezuka
Writer(s)	Motoi Okamoto Kazumi Yamaguchi
Composer(s)	Hajime Wakai
Platform(s)	Nintendo GameCube, Wii
Release date(s)	Nintendo GameCube JP April 29, 2004 NA August 30, 2004 EU October 8, 2004 AUS November 4, 2004[1] Wii JP March 15, 2009 EU April 24, 2009 AUS May 14, 2009[2]
Genre(s)	Real-time strategy
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer
Rating(s)	ACB: G8+ CERO: A ESRB: E PEGI: 3+

Pikmin 2 (ピクミン2^?) is a real-time strategy video game developed by Nintendo for the Nintendo GameCube. It was released in Japan on April 29, 2004, in North America on August 30, 2004, in Europe on October 8, 2004, and in Australia on November 4, 2004.

Pikmin 2 is the sequel to Pikmin, also for the Nintendo GameCube, and is considered an improvement over the previous title, receiving universal acclaim from reviewers.

In 2009, both Pikmin games were re-released for the Wii as part of the New Play Control! series.

Gameplay

Gameplay in Pikmin 2 revolves around using different combination of Pikmin to retrieve various 'treasures' from the planet's surface. These treasures range from a Duracell battery to a Dannon yogurt lid. Several of the treasures found on the planet are items from previous Nintendo ventures. Different obstacles and enemies make the retrieval of each treasure unique. The player must take into consideration the strengths, weaknesses, abilities, and numbers of each type of Pikmin when carrying out the challenges needed to retrieve these treasures. This is compounded in difficulty by the fact that no more than 100 Pikmin may be in play at any given time. The player is given one day at a time to play, with each day equaling about 13 minutes in real-time.^[3] Typical tasks involved in collecting treasures include defeating enemies, building bridges, destroying walls, or moving obstacles.

In addition to above-ground areas, caves can be found throughout the landscape. Caves contain multiple treasures and enemies spread across multiple sub-levels. Special rules apply to exploring caves. When the player is exploring a cave, time does not pass above ground due to a strong magnetic field. The main restriction regarding cave exploration is that there is no access to the Pikmin Onions (the creatures' mother ships). This means that once players enter a cave, they can only use the Pikmin that they brought with them (see Bulbmin for the exception). There are a total of 105 sublevels divided into 14 caves in the game.

In Pikmin 2, a player may continue to search for treasure for as many days as they wish. The game contains 201 collectible treasure pieces, as opposed to the 30 ship parts of the original Pikmin. Another addition to the formula is a mode for two captains to be in the play area simultaneously, making multi-tasking easier. In Pikmin, there was only one captain directing multiple groups of Pikmin. In both Pikmin games, commands cannot be issued from a distance, meaning that a one-captain system caused a lot of running between groups. The addition of sprays is another new feature in Pikmin 2. Sprays are obtained by collecting 10 berries of the corresponding color, but can occasionally be found in egg-like vessels when smashed, instead of the usual yellow nectar. The red spray energizes Pikmin to increase both speed and attack strength. The purple spray turns enemies caught in the blast radius to stone, the downside of this being that if an enemy is killed while frozen, their body will shatter and not leave behind a corpse.

A screenshot of a round of the two-player mode

The yellow Pikmin have changed abilities between games. In Pikmin, the yellow Pikmin have the ability to pick up bomb rocks and throw them, in order to break walls of dirt and stone or severely damage enemies. In Pikmin 2, the bomb rocks available are too large for a yellow Pikmin to carry or throw, but the yellow Pikmin have gained the ability to withstand electricity.

Two new kinds of Pikmin were added, the white Pikmin and the purple Pikmin. These Pikmin do not have Onions, but rather are created by tossing other Pikmin into violet and ivory Candypop buds (which are only found underground in caves). They live within the spaceship at night. Purple Pikmin have superior carrying ability, a stunning attack, and cannot be blown away, while white Pikmin are poisonous when consumed by enemies, can detect buried treasures, and move (and carry objects) faster than the other colors.

The controls are also improved over the previous game and Pikmin can be thrown slightly faster.

Game modes

As well as the main game (story mode), there are also 2-player battle and challenge modes. The 2-Player battle is unlocked from the beginning of the game where two characters (Olimar and Louie), are each controlled by a player. The object is to take four yellow marbles or the opponent's red or blue marble back to the player's ship. If either player passes out or runs out of Pikmin, the other player wins. The player's own marble cannot be carried by that player's Pikmin, allowing the opponent to gradually steal it over several assaults. If Pikmin come across a cherry and bring it to their onion, a wheel full of bonuses spins at the right side of the screen. The bonuses range from getting ten more Pikmin or turning all of your Pikmin to flower Pikmin, to sending an avalanche or a Volatile Dweevil at your enemies. While Pikmin can fight each other, they cannot kill their opponents. When defeated, Pikmin reappear next to their opponent's Onion to be re-selected as a member of the opposing army. Likewise, the purple spray functions differently against enemy Pikmin – it buries them in the ground rather than petrifying them.

Challenge mode is unlocked after obtaining the key which can be found in the single-player game. This mode is similar to exploring a cave in story mode, except that two players can play. An arena or cave is selected and players attempt to reach its bottom within a time limit. Each time a key is found, the player advances to the next level. At the bottom floor, the key creates a closed geyser. Pikmin must dig at this to activate it. Players try to get as many points as they can by retrieving treasures on each sublevel, leaving with as many Pikmin as possible, and completing it as quickly as possible. If a player completes an arena without losing any Pikmin, they will achieve "perfect" status for that arena.

Pikmin

The red, yellow, and blue Pikmin from the previous game return, along with two new colors of Pikmin, purple and white, as well as the unique Bulbmin.

• Red Pikmin are the traditional "starter Pikmin" that Olimar and Louie first find. They are generally the toughest fighters of the known Pikmin species, second only to the mighty purple Pikmin and are also flame-resistant, making their strength against fire creatures invaluable. In addition to being generalized by their bright red color, they also have a small, pointed nose. This is the most common type of Pikmin.
• Purple Pikmin are the strongest Pikmin. Instead of finding a purple Onion which sprouts them, they are a conversion of regular Pikmin that are tossed into purple flowers (called Violet Candypop Buds) which can only be found in some caves. They are the heaviest Pikmin and strongest when it comes to lifting items, as their weight and lifting strength is equal to that of 10 Pikmin. They are purple, hairy, stocky, and very sluggish as compared to other Pikmin. They do more damage against enemies than Red Pikmin when thrown, as well as when hitting the enemy with their heads.They can also stun their enemies on impact when thrown. Dwarf bulborbs and other small enemies will be crushed instantly if this pikmin is thrown directly on top of it.
• White Pikmin are the third Pikmin species. Like the Purple Pikmin, they can only be obtained by tossing Pikmin into flowers known as Ivory Candypop Buds. They are able to unearth any item that is underground, are immune to poison, and are able to poison any enemy that consumes them. White Pikmin can also walk and carry items 1.5 times faster than Red, Yellow, and Blue Pikmin. They are smaller and thinner than any other species, and have large red eyes, which are used to locate buried treasures.
• Yellow Pikmin are the fourth species of Pikmin to be found in the sequel. Unlike the previous game, they can not wield bomb-rocks, but are now resistant to electricity, which allows them to tear down electric gates that would harm other Pikmin. They can be thrown higher than any other Pikmin type, allowing them to access items that are too high for other Pikmin to reach. They are distinguished by their large ears.
• Blue Pikmin are the final kind of Pikmin to be acquired. They are able to survive underwater, allowing aquatic exploration and foraging. They can also act as lifeguards and rescue any other Pikmin type drowning in water. They also have a single gill on their faces which resembles a mouth. It is suggested that these and possibly other Pikmin are nearly as strong as purple Pikmin, considering the fact that if a purple Pikmin is thrown into water and begins to drown, if a blue Pikmin is thrown near it, it will pick it up and toss it onto land despite the purple's enormous weight.
• Bulbmin are only found in caves and cannot be taken out of them. According to the in-game Piklopedia, they are juvenile bulborbs (a common enemy) that have been infected with some sort of Pikmin parasite. They are immune to fire, water, electricity and poison due to the fact that they are protected by the Bulborb's body. They may be used with candypop bulbs just like other Pikmin. Bulbmin will only appear if there are fewer than 100 Pikmin in the field already. They are found following a large 'parent' Bulbmin that must first be defeated to enlist the regular Bulbmin.

Pikmin 2 e-Reader

In Japan, after the release of Pikmin 2, Nintendo released Nintendo e-Reader cards that contained minigames. Some of these minigames required the player to pluck all the Pikmin in an area in a set amount of steps, or to try to get Pikmin from one point to another. These cards were not released outside of Japan, as the e-Reader was not released in Europe, and had been discontinued in North America at the time. The cards contain region-specific encoding which blocks their use with North American e-Readers.

Plot

Pikmin 2 begins immediately following the events of Pikmin. Captain Olimar has returned home to his home planet Hocotate to find that the company he works for, Hocotate Freight, is in debt. Upon discovering that the bottle cap Olimar had found and brought back from the distant planet is of considerable value, the President sends both he and Louie back to the distant planet to find more treasures and pay off the debt. The duo return to the planet and quickly reunite with the Pikmin creatures, who help in scavenging the treasures. Upon paying off the debt, Olimar departs for Hocotate but realizes that Louie was left behind. Upon telling the President, he decides to help Olimar find Louie and claim any additional treasures still left undiscovered.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores
Aggregator	Score
GameRankings	89.60%[4]
Metacritic	90[5]
Review scores
Publication	Score
1UP.com	A[6]
Eurogamer	9 out of 10[7]
Famitsu	36 out of 40[8]
GamePro	[9]
GameSpot	9.2 out of 10[10]
GameZone	9.4 out of 10 [11]
IGN	9.3 out of 10[12]
X-Play	[13]

Pikmin 2 was widely considered an improvement on the original game and was rated the 47th best game made on a Nintendo System in Nintendo Power's Top 200 Games list.^[14] and placed 29th in Official Nintendo Magazine's 100 greatest Nintendo games of all time.

GameSpot gave Pikmin 2 a 9.2 out of 10, stating that the game fixed nearly every problem the original had. IGN gave Pikmin 2 a 9.3 out of 10, and was extremely pleased at the multitude of ways the game had improved upon what was good about Pikmin and fixed the problems it had, such as a lack of multiplayer and a 30-day playing limit.

Sequel

In a developer round table discussion at E3 2008, Pikmin 3 was confirmed to be in development for Wii,^[15] but then later at E3 2011, Shigeru Miyamoto announced that the game will be released on the Wii U.

Both Pikmin 2 and its predecessor were re-released in the New Play Control! collection of revamped GameCube titles for the Wii. However, the US only received the first title.^[16]

References

1. ^ "Updated Australian Release List - 31/10/04". PALGN. 2004-10-31. http://palgn.com.au/1709/updated-australian-release-list-31-10-04/. Retrieved 2009-08-10. 
2. ^ http://nintendo.com.au/games/wii/new-play-control-pikmin-2
3. ^ "Nintendo's Future All-Stars". http://www.ugo.com/channels/games/features/nintendo2004/pikmin2.asp. 
4. ^ "Pikmin 2". GameRankings. http://www.gamerankings.com/gamecube/589374-pikmin-2/index.html. 
5. ^ "Pikmin 2". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/cube/pikmin2?q=Pikmin%202. 
6. ^ "Pikmin 2". 1UP.com. http://www.1up.com/do/reviewPage?cId=3134320&did=1. 
7. ^ "Pikmin 2". EuroGamer. http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/r_pikmin2_gc. 
8. ^ "Pikmin 2 - Famitsu Scores Archive". http://fs.finalfantasytr.com/search.asp?query=Pikmin+2. 
9. ^ "Pikmin 2". GamePro. http://www.gamepro.com/article/reviews/38041/pikmin-2/. 
10. ^ Torres, Ricardo. "Pikmin 2 for GameCube Review". GameSpot. http://www.gamespot.com/gamecube/strategy/pikmin2/review.html. Retrieved 2009-01-10. 
11. ^ "Pikmin 2". GameZone. http://gamecube.gamezone.com/gzreviews/r21703.htm. 
12. ^ Casamassina, Matt. "IGN: Pikmin 2 Review". IGN. http://cube.ign.com/articles/540/540864p1.html. Retrieved 2009-01-10. 
13. ^ "Pikmin 2". X-Play. http://www.g4tv.com/xplay/reviews/66/Pikmin_2.html. Retrieved 2009-01-10. 
14. ^ "NP Top 200". Nintendo Power (200): 58–66. February 2006. 
15. ^ "Developer's Roundtable Discussion". http://www.qj.net/E3-2008-We-re-making-Pikmin-s'ays-Miyamoto/pg/49/aid/122261. 
16. ^ "First look: Wii de Asobu Pikmin". IGN. 2008-10-02. http://wii.ign.com/articles/915/915529p1.html. Retrieved 2008-10-02. 

External links

• Pikmin 2 at GameFAQs
• Pikmin 2 at MobyGames
• Pikipedia - A Pikmin Wiki