To fill the rather large gaps in their release schedule (or chasms, according to some fans), Nintendo has gone back into their GameCube software library and begun re-releasing some of their higher quality titles onto the Wii with a couple of new features. For players that missed the games the first time around, it is a fantastic opportunity to enjoy the best the GameCube has to offer for a bargain price. Pikmin and Mario Power Tennis have both received the New Play Control! treatment with varying results; the former was enhanced by the new control system, while the latter suffered. Now we are onto the third release in the New Play Control! Family; Pikmin 2.

Pikmin 2 picks up immediately where the original game left off, with Captain Olimar returning to his home planet Hocotate. Unfortunately, on his arrival, he finds that the company he works for has gone bankrupt and has a sizeable debt to the local bank. While Olimar’s ship is being repossessed, the boss discovers a bottle cap that the hero brought back as a souvenir for his son. Being from another world, it is only natural that the cap is worth a whole bunch of money on Hocotate, so the boss sends Olimar and his other captain, Louie, back to the planet of the Pikmin to hoard a bunch of treasure to repay the company’s debt.


The treasure hunting expedition goes awry upon re-entry to the mystery planet when a collision forces Louie’s pod open and causes the crew to become separated. This first sections serves as a brief tutorial to get players re-accustomed with Pikmin’s control system, and introduce a couple of the new features of Pikmin 2, like the ability to jump between Olimar and Louie, and have each command separate groups of Pikmin. With the second Pikmin expedition being planned, Olimar and Louie have unlimited life support resources, so the 30 day limit of the first game is done away with. You still have to contend with the game’s day/night cycle, but you no longer need to be in a rush to cram as much as you can into one day. However, with each captain being able to command his own group of Pikmin, you can get things done a lot more efficiently.

Once you have got Olimar and Louie back together and have a few Pikmin under your wing, the treasure hunt truly begins. We use the term ‘treasure’ loosely, of course – most of the stuff you pick up is junk like old batteries, bottle caps and discarded household effects. Not everything is total junk though; you will encounter a few product placements from Nintendo (like the old Game and Watch console) which are worth a lot of gold, and some objects like the globe you find early in the piece serve a functional purpose, helping you to find more treasure and new locations.

Pikmin 2 offers a greater number of areas in which to go treasure hunting, not just on the planet surface, but in small dungeon-like caves underneath. Caves hide some of the best treasure in the game, but they are also extremely dangerous, filled with stronger creatures in greater numbers. Adding to the difficulty of these caves is the fact that you are limited to the number of Pikmin in your group when you enter; you are not able to pull more from the onion or grow more, and if your force dies, you get booted out. Some dungeons have a large number of levels and are randomly generated, making them a pretty fierce challenge even for the best of Pikmin veterans. It can be pretty crushing to have the last of your Pikmin crushed by a rogue Bulborb or Dweevil just as he’s carrying a large piece of treasure away or is almost at the geyser.


On your first couple of trips to the caves, you will also encounter the new breeds of Pikmin. There are three new types; purple Pikmin, who are slow, but are ten times stronger than the rest of their brethren, white Pikmin, who are small, yet 50% faster than the other breeds and impervious to poison, and finally, the Bulbmin, a parasitic form of Pikmin that live inside smaller Bulborbs. Bulbmin are resilient to damage, immune to fire, electricity and poison and can swim without any trouble. The problem is that getting them under your control requires you to take out the chief Bulborb (not an easy task), and you are unable take them out of the cave. White and purple Pikmin do not have an onion like the other types; you can only create them by tossing an existing red, yellow or blue Pikmin into a flower. Each flower will provide five transformations before withering away to nothing.

Pikmin 2 is rich with content, a stark contrast from the original game. Players have some 201 different treasures to find – a sharp increase from the 30 ship pieces in the original game. Pikmin 2 is much more challenging overall; the puzzles are more devious, the enemies are higher in number and they are much more dangerous. Repaying the company’s debt will take you about 12 hours, but that is only half of the tale - reaching the game’s true ending takes considerably longer, and is far more challenging. On top of the single player side of the game, there is a new challenge mode and a competitive multiplayer mode. Challenge mode requires players to navigate their way to the bottom of a large cave, collecting treasures along the way. Two players can team up to make it a little easier. Multiplayer mode, on the other hand, pits two players against each other with the goal to be to steal the other player’s four marbles. It doesn’t sound like much, but it is a lot of fun.

Like the rest of the New Play Control! Family, Pikmin 2 benefits from the addition of progressive scan support and widescreen display modes. The visuals have been cleaned up, somewhat more noticeably than the original game – it still looks slightly dated, but what it lacks in technical prowess, it more than makes up in atmosphere. There are a few minor little differences that add to the game’s charm; the Pikmin now sing while they follow Olimar around, for example. The control system is virtually identical to the recent re-release of the original game; the pointing system makes throwing Pikmin a lot easier, but the parade command is made more difficult by being assigned to the D-Pad.

New Play Control! Pikmin 2 provides a fantastic opportunity to rediscover one of Nintendo’s best releases for the GameCube. Pikmin 2 is charming, packed to the brim with content, and brings along a type of difficulty which has been lost in many of Nintendo’s recent outings. Pikmin 2 exceeds the original in almost every possible way. The new controls really add to the experience, and the progressive scan and widescreen support options are a welcome addition. Fans of the original release do not have a lot of new things to look forward to in this re-release, but if you have never played the GameCube original, then New Play Control! Pikmin 2 is a must-have.