Amid a galactic civil war, Rebel Alliance spies have stolen plans for the Galactic Empire’s Death Star, a massive space station capable of destroying entire planets. Imperial Senator Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan, secretly one of the Rebellion’s leaders, has obtained its schematics. Oh, wait, wrong number 4! Welcome to our review of Pikmin 4 – A New Hope, the sequel of the Fruitbeestjes! And probably my favorite game of the year.
If you are thinking, Fruitbeetjes? What the Pikpik carrot is he talking about? Well, then, you have to read my review of Pikmin 1 and Pikmin 2. I reviewed part four with my daughter again, so yeah, Fruitbeestjes. And I must say, these kinds of games are much more fun to play with an almost four-year-old in the room. She named all my Pikmin and the castaways you must rescue after family members and friends (while laughing and pointing at the television). But enough parenting talk; let’s talk more about Pikmin 4’s story!
Pikmin 4
Following the events of Pikmin 3, Captain Olimar returns to PNF-404, an Earth-like planet he has visited before, with his old ship, the SS Dolphin. A freak accident causes his ship to crash land, and after that, he is forced to recruit Pikmin again to help him find the ship’s missing parts. During his search, Olimar bonds with a dog-like creature that he names Moss. After seeing his ship’s missing radio in the interior of a large house, Olimar transmits an SOS call, along with his voyage logs, but disappears after continuing his search for the missing parts.
The Rescue Corps, an intergalactic rescue organization, receives the emergency call and sends a team to PNF-404, led by Captain Sheperd, to find and rescue Olimar. However, the ship malfunctions when it reaches the planet, forcing the crew to eject from it before it crash lands on the surface. Concerned for their safety, the Rescue Corps assigns its newest recruit, the player character, to find the missing Rescue Corps members and to help them complete the mission. Reaching the planet, the recruit encounters Shepherd’s rescue pup, a dog-like creature called Oatchi, which bonds with them. Rescuing Shepherd and the team’s communication officer Collin, the recruit finds that the Rescue Corps ship has run out of power. Through the help of Pikmin near the ship’s crash site, the recruit recovers several objects found to contain a resource known as Sparklium, which can help refuel the ship.
The recruit, accompanied by the Pikmin and Oatchi, begins exploring the area to find the other Rescue Corps members; along the way discovers that several treasure hunters and explorers have come to the planet after picking up Olimar’s signal, where they became castaways themselves in the process. Shepherd instructs the recruit to locate and rescue castaways and their primary objectives. I will not spoil more of the story, but it’s worth it. And it does not end with the credits since it features more post-credit stuff than your general Marvel movie.
Gameplay
In Pikmin 4, you play as a member of the Rescue Squad, who commands squads of Pikmin to explore different areas, battle enemies, find treasures, and solve puzzles. Each type of Pikmin has unique strengths and weaknesses that can be utilized for various tasks, such as throwing them onto objects and enemies. For example, Red Pikmin is immune to fire, Blue Pikmin can swim underwater, and Winged Pikmin can lift objects and fly over hazards. You can switch between different species of Pikmin to best handle different situations. The camera options allow for a better view of the area surrounding your character, with the perspective closer to the ground than in previous games.
Pikmin 4 features all the types of Pikmin from previous games and introduces two new species: Ice Pikmin, which can freeze enemies and bodies of water and are immune to being frozen, and Glow Pikmin, which emit light and are helpful for Night Time maps. You can also command a dog-like creature named Oatchi to assist with exploration. Like Pikmin, Oatchi can attack enemies, carry objects, and transport characters and Pikmin across the water. Oatchi can also break objects and find objectives like treasure, and in some cases, you can control Oatchi directly to solve puzzles.
In the game’s single-player mode, players can enjoy new features that excite the series. They can customize their character’s appearance by choosing from different facial features and uniform colors. Thanks to my lovely daughter, I played as a Pink Rescue Squad member throughout the game. The game also provides a hub base where players can engage in various activities. They can improve Oatchi, upgrade their character’s equipment, and choose a mission to undertake; this makes the gameplay experience a lot better and helps with the ramping difficulty. The main missions include finding Captain Olimar, while side missions are given by castaways brought back to the hub base. To expand the number of maps players can explore, they need to collect treasures from different areas that contribute to a resource called Sparklium.
During exploration, players are limited to the number of Pikmin (regardless of species) they can deploy daily. However, players can increase this limit by upgrading Pikmin’s Onion craft with special bulbs in various locations. They can also redeploy their transport craft and the Onion to different landing sites to deploy Pikmin quickly. This helps speed up acquiring treasures and combat spoils upon finding new sites beyond the initial landing area. The game also features underground caves, which were introduced in Pikmin 2. Players can change a Pikmin squad before entering these caves, and time moves much slower while exploring the sublevels. Like in Pikmin 2, players can recover spoils of combat, but they contribute less Sparklium than Treasure.
“It’s the perfect Pikmin entry in the franchise and a very high contestant on the Game of the Year list.”
New features
Players can explore specific maps at night with Night Time Expeditions, which works similarly to tower defense games. The only Pikmin species available in this mode is Glow Pikmin, which players use to recover resources and confront enemies, including those attracted to the Glow Pikmin’s nest. These Night Time Expeditions are unforgiving and an excellent challenge for hardcore Pikmin players, which task the players with some strategic planning and use of items to beat the most monstrous monsters.
Another great addition is the Dandori, a Japanese term for efficient planning. This mode aims to compete to collect as many spoils and treasures in an arena as their opponent does. Both sides can use Pikmin to assist them, and each player has their own Oatchi partner. Dandori Battles can be played alone or with another player, either cooperating against the computer or competing against each other. There is an additional Dandori mode in the main story mode, which I will refer to as puzzles. This mode aims to collect all the treasure in the area before the timer runs out. This asks for good old multitasking and will push your Dandori skills to the max.
Conclusion
Pikmin 4 introduces many new features, ranging from Oatchi (best boy), new forms of Pikmin, upgradable items and gear, and some cool new modes that put another layer to the franchise. Nintendo put everything we love about Pikmin into this entry, but it might be too easy for hardcore Pikmin fans. The main story gives about 15-20 hours of content (100%), with the epilogue (and secret mode) another 10-15 hours if you want to complete it to another 100%. It’s the perfect Pikmin entry in the franchise and a very high contestant on the Game of the Year list. So, if you want to know if you need to pick up Fruitbeestje 4 – A New Hope? Yes, you should – and no, you don’t need to play Pikmin 1, Pikmin 2, or Pikmin 3 to enjoy this one – this is the perfect summary of everything you should love about Pikmin.
