Peakmin 3. Not as expansive as Pikmin 2 but had much tighter combat and some incredible bosses. I still consider this one of the best boss rosters in any game I've played and there's only 6 major fights but they're all so creative and well-designed.

Progression is a bit more linear but I like the level layouts and throwing captains adds so much more to exploration that you'd expect. Mission mode also utilizes the exploration in clever ways and is incredibly addicting as a result.

The new Pikmin types are both great. Rock Pikmin are my new favorite Pikmin type because of how adorable and strong they are and how they look so much different than the other Pikmin. Winged Pikmin are useful in taking items through more optimal paths that other Pikmin can't use.

This is easily one of the most impressive looking games on the Wii U and I can see why I bought the console mainly for this game (and 3D World tbf).