Pikmin 4 Review: Dandori Makes Perfect

Pikmin 4 is the largest and perhaps strongest Pikmin entry that Nintendo has released so far. Since first arriving on the GameCube back in 2001, Nintendo has continued to evolve and grow the Pikmin franchise with new gameplay mechanics, characters, and control schemes for players to experiment with. With Pikmin 4, Nintendo opts to include some of its biggest overhauls yet to the core formula that remains intact. And while some of these new elements of Pikmin 4 wear a bit thin over time, this is still a game that I found enjoyable for its entire runtime. 

Much like previous installments, Pikmin 4 sees you stranded on a mysterious planet where the titular creatures known as Pikmin look to aid you with your mission. This time around, the main protagonist belongs to a group known as the Rescue Corps, which arrive on a said planet to save the original Pikmin hero Olimar. Unfortunately, this initial mission goes awry, which then forces you to not only have to save Olimar, but also the other members of your own Rescue Corps team while navigating unfamiliar environments. 

The biggest difference between Pikmin 4 and past entries is that this Switch installment allows you to create your own character for the first time ever. Rather than controlling someone like Olimar, Louie, or Alph, the player-controller avatar in Pikmin 4 is simply that of the "Rookie." Upon booting up the game, the first thing you'll have to do is design the look of your character, which can be changed later on. Generally speaking, I like the idea of having a custom character in a Pikmin game, but Pikmin 4 undermines this concept through an atrocious creation suite. The options on display that you can use to customize your own model are middling at best and those that are included are more often than not unappealing. No matter what I did when creating my own protagonist, I couldn't use the selections on display to mold a character that I was ever content with. 

Fortunately, the look of your character in Pikmin 4 is a pretty minor aspect of the game as the main reason to play Nintendo's latest is its gameplay loop. In the same vein as past titles, Pikmin 4 is structured in a day/night format where your own expeditions take part while the sun is out, while the nighttime will result in you hiding away from monsters. Through the help of the various types of Pikmin that you grow and accumulate, you'll be able to gather treasures, save lost crewmembers, and explore the depths of extensive caves that you find on your daily journeys. Pikmin 4 boasts six extensive areas in total, all of which are quite different in structure and design, which keeps the game feeling fresh. 

Far and away the most prominent new aspect of Pikmin 4 is Oatchi, which is a dog-like companion that you get immediately upon beginning the game. Oatchi functions as almost a super Pikmin of sorts as he's able to attack, gather resources, and even swim across water. Over the course of Pikmin 4, you can also upgrade Oatchi in various ways, which adds a bit more RPG flair that this series hasn't seen much in the past. Overall, Oatchi is a great addition to Pikmin 4 and deepens the level of strategy and puzzle-solving compared to past games. 

Outside of Oatchi, there are also a handful of new Pikmin featured in Pikmin 4 as well. The most notable inclusion happens to be Ice Pikmin, which can be used to freeze foes and water alike. For the most part, I didn't care for Ice Pikmin too much as they felt a bit too straightforward in their uses. Since they are the newest Pikmin type as well, Pikmin 4 also opts to encourage their use quite a bit compared to the other varieties found in the game. With this in mind, I was a bit tired of having Ice Pikmin in my squad by the time I reached the end of my own adventure. 

The second new Pikmin that is found in Pikmin 4 is Glow Pikmin, which are predominantly only seen at night. One of the other new features this time around in Pikmin 4 is that you can venture out once the sun goes down to gather resources that are only available during this window. On paper, this sounds like a great idea, but I found the nighttime portions of the game to be pretty bland. The reason for this is primarily due to the fact that these sequences are just tower defense sections that don't contain much depth or variety. Glow Pikmin, while cool at first glance, are also the only type of Pikmin (outside of Oatchi) that can be used during the night, which makes these missions even more tiresome the more that you repeat them. Nighttime adventures in Pikmin 4 more often than not felt like busywork, especially as I got further into the experience. 

In addition to night expeditions, the other two wholly new aspects of Pikmin 4 are Dandori Challenges and Dandori Battles. These sections emphasize your own ability to juggle a multitude of tasks at once in order to achieve perfect Dandori, which is a key idea in the Pikmin series. Dandori Challenges, in particular, happened to be one of my favorite parts of Pikmin 4 as they gave me the greatest opportunity to put my multitasking skills to the test. Battles, on the other hand, I didn't care for all that much, but I think this is primarily because the AI that I played against wasn't very skilled. Notably, though, Dandori Battles can be played against friends via splitscreen. It's clear that these Battles were designed with multiplayer in mind first and I believe that they'd be incredibly enjoyable when taking on buddies. In my own time with the game, though, I wasn't able to put this to the test. 

Perhaps the thing that surprised me the most about Pikmin 4 is just how long the game is. To 100% the game completely, my own playtime lasted a bit over 30 hours. A little more than halfway into Pikmin 4, you'll also roll credits and think you have beaten the game, only to find that there's a ton left to explore and do. Generally speaking, it's great to have so much content to dig into with this new installment, but the longer things went on, the more I started to feel like this game needed to have a couple of different elements to keep me further engaged. Still, those that do see through Pikmin 4 to the very end should find some great challenges in store. 

Pikmin 4 is largely a strong step forward for Nintendo and is a game that both longtime fans of the series and newcomers should find a lot of enjoyment with. Even though some new aspects that Nintendo opted to include in Pikmin 4 got stale quickly, the basic gameplay loop remains quite satisfying and features far more than ever before for you to sink your teeth into. 

Score: 4 out of 5

Pikmin 4 is set to release later this week on June 21, 2023, and will be available exclusively for Nintendo Switch, Switch Lite, and Switch OLED platforms. A review copy of the game was provided by Nintendo ahead of launch for the purpose of this review.