I feel confident calling this the best in the franchise
It's just so impressive in so many regards, first of all with how massive it is, it's no exaggeration to say this game is twice as big as any other entry in the series, but how even with that length it manages to keep itself fresh and fun with every thing they introduce
The level design is at its best and while having 9 pikmin types might seem like it would work against it, it somehow manages to give them all their importance, no type ever feels underutilized
And speaking of utility, Oatchi is just an insane addition. He works both as a way to make the gameplay feel fresh and as a quality of life addition, at first I was hesitant about him making the game too easy and while it happens from time to time, when it wants to be hard it manages to be
And in the matter of difficulty, it does away with early Pikmin's frankly bullshit difficulty (which I love) and instead focuses on giving the player a challenge to test your management skills, it's all about strategy instead of hoping you don't get squashes by a random falling rock now and that's very welcomed imo
This is getting too long, to put it simply this game surpassed my every expectation and I love picking min