Pikmin 1+2 for Nintendo Switch

Imagine it's 2001 and you're an executive of a major gaming corporation when one of your developers approaches you with a new game proposal.Now imagine that proposal involves a spaceman who has crash landed on an alien planet. In order to survive he enslaves an army of plant like lemmings who procreate by harvesting the corpses of dead insects.The chances are you would be considering the said individual for redeployment if not narcotics testing. Unless of course that developer happened to be Shigeru Miyamoto. If that were the case you'd probably be tempted to humour him.Fortunately for us it was indeed Miyamoto (father of Mario and video game industry royalty) who came up with this audacious if not downright weird premise. Had it not been for his persuasive clout then there's little doubt Pikmin would have failed to get off the developer's notebook let alone risen to be amongst Nintendo's most sublime works.Not that sublimity is any guarantee of commercial success. For all its critical acclaim the series could best be described as a cult classic, its longevity attributable not to it's sales potential but to being one of Miyamoto's most eccentric yet favoured pet projects.Fast forward to 2024 and the series can finally be said to have entered the gaming mainstream thanks to the sales success of Pikmin 4. It's unsurprising that Nintendo has sought to capitalise on this by porting the original Gamecube titles to the switch.I use the word porting deliberately for this is no re-master. Indeed Nintendo has invested minimal effort in making these games available on the Switch beyond a basic update to the control scheme and the most minimal graphical upscaling. Pikmin and enemy AI remain constrained by the technological limitations of the early 2000s and the HUD and UI remain similarly untouched.Given the limited commercial success of the originals perhaps Nintendo felt a full HD remaster would give insufficient return on investment. Or perhaps they were just downright lazy and too eager to simply cash in as quickly and effortlessly as possible.Cynicism aside, if these ports mean that a new generation can finally experience these two (comparatively hidden) gems then we should consider that another stroke of good luck for both games hold up extraordinarily well two decades on. A full remaster would of course have been nice but this is otherwise a case of porting perfection.Of the two games it is the original Pikmin (or "Pikmin 1" to use the colloquial title now officially endorsed by Nintendo) that best exemplifies the series unique character.Pikmin 1 sees Captain Olimar stranded on a hostile alien world. His life support has 30 days remaining during which time our protagonist must learn to befriend the anthropomorphic plant like Pikmin. These "30 days" translate into game play sessions of approximately 15 minutes in which the eponymous Pikmin are tasked with finding and recovering the various parts of Olimar's spaceship whilst battling environmental hazards and waves of insect like foes.The unidentified planet is heavily implied to be a post-apocalyptic earth, the environment being strewn with various items of over-sized human debris in scenes that are reminiscent of Honey I shrunk the Kids. All communication with Olimar's home planet has been lost leaving our Protagonist with only his log book with which to share his innermost thoughts and fears as he struggles to make sense of both his predicament and the inscrutable Pikmin. This all serves to lend the game a unique, lonely, somewhat unnerving and at times oppressive atmosphere.Re-visiting Pikmin 1 some 20-years after its release and it isn't difficult to see why it has attained its cult status. Attempting to assign it to a particular genre is a fruitless endeavour but it can perhaps be best described as a real time strategy game with a fiendish difficulty curve that rewards resourcefulness and severely punishes missteps. The time limit gives the game a strong arcade inspired feel that is both intense, frantic and highly addictive.Fans of the original will always maintain that, for all its punishing difficulty, it is the time limit that accounts for a large part of Pikmin 1's unique appeal. Except the truth is that it was always a divisive barrier for some gamers.Pikmin 2 attempts to address this by removing the time limit almost entirely whilst at the same time building upon the core gameplay elements introduced in the original. Pikmin 2 replaces survival with exploration as its central underlying theme whilst at the same time presenting players with a vastly expanded world. It is a far lengthier and densely packed adventure that in some ways makes Pikmin 1 look like a proof of concept.The sequel sees Olimar revisit the scene of his near-death experience in order to plunder vast amounts of treasure (human debris) to repay his employer's debts. No longer restricted to just his log book for company, our protagonist is now accompanied by a new side kick Louis and must also provide his tyrannical boss with daily radio updates on his treasure hunting exploits.Each item of discarded junk and its relative value is meticulously documented in Olimar's log book alongside an implausible explanation as to the items original use in a spoof take on archaeology. The trivial, almost comical plot reflects a change in tone with a corresponding atmosphere that is more lighthearted than oppressive.There remains a contingent amongst fans of the original who dislike this change in tone and emphasis. Except that, In reality, Pikmin 2 not only expands but improves upon its predecessor in every meaningful way without sacrificing the core gameplay mechanics that have catapulted the series to fan favourite status.Levels are more extensive with a greater variety of biomes. Similarly the roster of Pikmin is also expanded with the various strengths, weaknesses and unique abilities of each Pikmin subspecies adding an additional layer of strategy. Pikmin AI has also received a definitive upgrade which is fortuitous given the increase in both enemy variety and the diversity of environmental hazards waiting to wipe out your entire squad at a moments notice.Finally, and most significantly, Pikmin 2 sees the introduction of caves, multi-layered mini-dungeons in which Olimar is prevented from replenishing his stock of Pikmin soldiers to replace the comrades that have fallen in battle. These vast treasure packed enemy gauntlets, at times brutal in their difficulty, pose a survival challenge every bit as daunting as Pikmin 1's ticking clock.Ultimately both Pikmin 1 & 2 with their unique combination of environmental puzzle solving, combat and survival strategy provide a ridiculously entertaining tour of some of Nintendo's weirdest but most captivating and charming of works.For all the appearance of false rivalry between the two titles it is ultimately entirely appropriate that the titles have received a joint re-release on the Switch. They form two sides of the same coin in Miyamoto's gloriously bizarre early noughties fever dream.Who knew harvesting dead insects to feed anthropomorphic plant people could be so entertaining?

Easy way to play the classic although controls are slightly less intuitive than the gamecube

Entrega rápida e de ótima qualidade, vale ressaltar que não vem código do segundo jogo , no mesmo cartucho já instala ambos os jogos automaticamente oq achei muito mais interessante do que vim o 1 jogo no cartucho e o segundo em código como acontece com alguns jogos de switch

Entrega rápida, el juego al ponerse en la consola pone en dos programas diferentes cada juego. Jalan sin actualizar.

Jogo de superação de gráficos. Muito divertido.

This is the best possible way to play these classic games. As a lifetime Nintendo fan, I never played these when they first came out on GameCube, and my GameCube died before I got the chance. Pikmin 2 hit the secondary market with a $90 to $120 price tag and I was done. Now to experience these with improved graphics, controls, and all in one package has been phenomenal. The concept still feels so fresh. Pikmin feels a bit like a prototype game being somewhat short (beat it in 2 days with minimal effort) but is a great tutorial for setting up Pikmin 2. Don't wait 20 years to add these to your collection! My teenage self is finally at peace...