I've lingered on it a while but after some thought I can only really say this is the worst one and I'm so glad I didn't have to wait 10 years for it. They should've called this "Pikmin 4 Idiots" because boy does the game love to treat you like one by constantly backseating and feeding you information and never shutting the fuck up. It also makes a lot of fundamental gameplay changes that I'm kinda not a big fan of and I'm not talking about the auto lock-on because quite frankly that is the least of this game's problems.

I have LOT to say about this game but I think I'll just boil most of my feelings down into bullet points and try to make this not super duper long.

First, my general feelings on Pikmin:
- I've found I only truly love the first game, finding the expanding world and premises less and less interesting or evocative in any way with each new entry. There is no emotional salience at all after that game; I find that the franchise is more or less unrecognizable after it. Still, I've long since accepted that we will never get another Pikmin 1.

- I severely dislike the second of these games, and a lot of the problems I have with 3 and especially 4 derive from the "original sin" of 2 in particular. To list everything would double the size of this review and I'd rather not do that. One of the most notable bits that I've found to dislike from this series after 1 is probably the lack of personality (or in 2's case, respect), though.

- Seeing Oatchi when I first looked at the cover made me think "I guess they ran out of ideas just 4 games in." I thought this reaction was wrong for a while as the game showed what fresh stuff it had, but frankly by endgame after having fought like ten Emperor Bulblaxes I felt that yes, maybe they really were somehow running out of ideas. One wonders where the next game will go from here.

- All of these games are really pretty to look at and sound great too, even my least favorite of them. I don't like the premises of some of the environments in 2 and this game, but in terms of sheer quality in presentation they're awesome. 2's probably the weakest in that regard for how much it reused assets but it's still nice since 1 already was.

As for how 4 stacked up:
- The game feels mechanically solid, though Oatchi feels a tad forced. I don't think the game feels nearly as good as the first couple do to control, but it works fine enough like 3. It's still got some issues that 2 and 3 had, but for the first two thirds of the game it's got a balanced and sound feeling to it. The more 2's design and mechanics encroached upon the game, the more of an undesigned mess it felt. Still, to a point 4 was a really addictive game with a strong sense of openness without going overboard. I do kinda hate that some of the best mechanics and toys in this game overall aren't unlocked until you've already finished it, though.

- There are parts of this game that truly tickled the collectathon enjoyer section of my brain with how much flow you can get into despite its easy difficulty. The night sections are definitely exempt from that flow, though, as they were quite boring and added nothing but a grindy time sink. The caves added their own tedium to things too, but they at least weren't as pointless feeling and could be broken up by the (generally fun) dandori challenges.

- The last quarter of this game was horrid and unfun beyond even my lowest expectations. Boss rush spam, the weakest environment in the game, and an uninspired redone version of Olimar's first game quest all reared their ugly heads right at the same time. It all made this game feel way too fucking long. I already hated how 2 was one and a half dozen hours long and dragged on for the last third of them, and this doubled it. This entry overstayed its welcome by the time the fake credits rolled, and it still had another stack of hours beyond that.

Coming into the game I didn't have any expectations, so it didn't really let me down. It just wasn't great and I don't feel too interested in picking up any future entries now. I was hoping this would be good following 3 being quite a fun game, and while this one certainly was too, it just felt like a shitty experience looking back on it and bordered on the waste-of-time feeling 2 had once given me.

And please just let Olimar go. We really don't need him back again to job or crash his ship or something.

Pikmin 4 managed to capture me in a way few other games have, becoming easily one of my favorite gaming experiences of 2023. Something about the process of exploring levels and caves to completion is so addicting. I'm not usually much of a completionist, but the structure of this game rewards those tendencies so well. It shows satisfying percentage increases at the end of every level, it has a detailed encyclopedia of objects and creatures packed to the brim with funny flavor text and detailed lore, and constantly cycles through a large variety of challenge so the experience doesn't have time to get stale. Although I usually dislike time pressure in games, the timed dandori challenges were surprisingly fun. And learning to master the efficiency puzzle, especially late game as difficulty ramped up, was so rewarding. Oatchi also provides a huge quality of life boost to the series, acting both as a super-sized Pikmin and a controllable captain, so he becomes an excellent multi-tasking tool. The way all the Pikmin jump on his back never ceases to be cute but is also extremely functional for deftly navigating hazards.

Speaking of cuteness, the animations and sound design for all the Pikmin are polished to a level of charming perfection. The balance between cozy cuteness and ruthless death is something the Pikmin series strikes so well. It's accessible for anyone to pick up and play, and the difficulty is never a problem until the end and post game. Despite that, I find the game's excessive tutorialization incredibly annoying and demeaning. The other captains frequently remind you of basic functions even 20 hours into the story. Nintendo games often struggle with this, but it seems worse here. The game could have been just as accessible with fewer tutorial prompts and repetitive, obtrusive cutscenes. My only other negative are the horrendous loading times. You get a 30-60 second loading screen every time you enter and exit a cave or other level, and while understandable considering the detail of the levels, is disappointing and disrupts the flow.

I think Pikmin 4 is a game everyone should play regardless of familiarity with the series. There's a ton of gameplay variety for all the possible Pikmin playstyles. It's easy to get into for new players, but also has many optional challenges in the post-game. It captures the sense of exploration well, and revealed my inner desire to collect everything that I didn't know I had.

Pikmin 4 is the Pikmin sequel I wanted. It adds new features and systems that expand upon the previous Pikmin campaigns and maintains all the great RTS gameplay and addictive aspects that make it work. The only thing the game clearly lacks is an online mode, but the content that is here is great.

This time around you have a dog that basically works as an armored carrier for you and your Pikmin, you can also use upgrade materials to buy and build with. There is a new homebase, where people you rescue travel to, and each of them gives you side missions and various activities.

There are also some good quality-of-life improvements when it comes to controlling the Pikmin that make your life easier.

The game looks good, and as usual, the environments and levels are great to explore and addicting to clear 100%. Pikmin 4 also follows Super Mario Odyssey and Kirby and the Forgotten Land in giving you a hefty end-game after the credits roll.

Pikmin is a franchise that might have ended on the Gamecube, but I assume Miyamoto's love for the franchise kept it alive, and finally, Pikmin seems to have sales success on its hands too, as Pikmin 4 is clearly outselling the older Pikmin games.

It is 2011 I am 8 playing Pikmin in my room, it is 2013 I am 10 playing Pikmin in my room, it is 2023 I am 20 playing Pikmin in my room. This is such a weird game, going into this blind if you told me about all the changes I probably would've never played this out of a form of spite given how it kinda spits in the original formula of the series. The only things I heard pre-release were how easy this game was and while it is the easiest Pikmin game which did lead to me overthinking how easy this game actually was, there were times where I went against my own ideals using the rewind feature over certain cave floors, bosses, and the final boss (no spoilers) to which I had a freak accident happen near the end. In the end I actually had no problem with the rewind feature, it's basically just a faster method of resetting which is something people have done since Pikmin 1. I think most of the issues I had with this game can actually be summarized has "in the end I had no problem" with it whether it be Oatchi (I LOVE YOU SO MUCH YOU OVERPOWERED PIECE OF SHIT <3), the ability to move base, and even to an extent the Flarlics. However it doesn't account for everything with the biggest thing being the 3 pikmin limit which just leaves so many types basically useless and in general limiting you to the recommended types in which the areas hazards are designed around along side the fact that Oatchi invalidated using some types of pikmin, it's the same complaints that people have probably been saying about this game in its release 2 months ago but I'm just sad that I couldn't use purple pikmin more :(. A big (sorta) new thing that I'm rather indifferent to is the dandori missions, I enjoy the challenge and timed collectathon ones but am more indifferent to the dandori battles which left me just completing them first thing first just to get them out of the way, their not exactly not fun but just not my thing at all. Besides the often hefty dialogue that feels like it has more text then the previous 3 games combined I really enjoyed this game's story not really caring about the retcons too much besides the deemphasized focus on the post apocalyptic laying the games had going on the background, the new areas were fun, the caves were fun, the enemies and bosses were fun, and so was the gameplay, while I dislike some decision and grew on others I do understand the need to evolve the Pikmin formula that this game did. I love this series so much and while Pikmin 2 will forever hold a special place in my heart I very much loved and enjoyed this game as much as I would've when I was young.