Pikmin 2

[g-funk]

Hehe, so whos used his Club Nintendo code that he was kind enough to take a picture of

[doodledude]

What shipping method did you choose?

Normal post usually takes at the least 5 days and sometimes upto slightly less than 2 weeks.

EMS or courier for me at least has always been 3 or 4 working days.

I'm expecting mine maybe tomorow or possibly Saturday.

I just chose normal, which usually takes a week or just under for me.
I just thought I'd heard pre-orders tend to come a bit quicker, however perhaps thats when you pay for express or whatever.
Still got tomorrow off, so hopefully it'll come then!

[Adam Stone]

Some really impressive and interesting impressions on that site linked. Ive rounded them all up (seems to be the site Administrator - Teddman - providing the feedback). The detailed 4 different title menus, one for each season sounds like a nice little touch. And the fact the Pikmin themselves make more noises and show a greater sense of character is great... Really cant wait for this. Hopefully it'll come tomorrow or sat.

Please Be Warned These Impressions Contain Spoilers.

First off, the game has four different title screens, one for each season. It's a cool touch

Each one animates too, for instance on the winter title screen you follow a flying snow moth as it cruises down through the branches of a tree to the ground, colliding with the snow and game logo. There's a lot more going on than in the first one if you leave the screen alone for awhile; bugs wonder across and Pikmin attack them to drive them off, stuff like that.

And when it boots up you have the ubiquitous Nintendo logo, but this time different Pikmin are hanging from it. A Sumo Pikmin jumps on to the logo and knocks the others all over the place, etc

The game starts off on Olimar's home planet, directly after the events of the first one. Now I don't understand Japanese from hieroglyphics, but apparently Olimar is working for some transportation/salvaging company. His boss (The President) seems to be pissed at the level of damage to the company ship and a figure of 100000 monetary units flashes on the screen

From the looks of it, I think Olimar has to return to a planet and make back the money to pay off the President. He makes sidekick-in-blue Louie go along too, who looks like a stupider version of Olimario.

The cinemas in this game are much longer and more dramatic in Pikmin 2, and the graphics are noticeably improved over the first game. The flight back to the planet is a fun little cutscene.

The cool thing is that you immediately crash land into a snow stage, which is a big departure in terrain from the previous game. Louie falls off the ship on the way down, which thrusts you into a situation where you have to switch between characters on the fly (using the Y button). They're separated and the first task is to gather your first few red Pikmin and then guide Olimar & Louie past obstacles until they meet up. Louie has his own distinctive Pikmin-flute (you know, that you play to lead them around), and it sounds like Olimar's, but a little slower and more erratic--fitting his personality.

The Olimar-Louie dynamic is great and adds a new wrinkle to the gameplay. It's even easier to multitask now, since you have two Pikmin leaders rounding up the troops. One guy can go on a recon mission while the other can hold down the fort for simple Pikmin-gathering at the end of the day. And there are situations where you have to tackle things from two sides and must learn to use the two characters for teamwork

Days progress much in the same way as they did in the first game, though I read that there isn't an overall time limit of 30 days this time. It still keeps track of each day and your Pikmin stats. I haven't noticed a frantic need to round up all the Pikmin each evening yet, (with the 10-9-8 countdown, etc), but it could be because it's still early on in the game's first zone. Olimar & Louie blast up into the air every night just like in the first one, because I assume it gets "dangerous" then.

Instead of Olimar's Journal each night, the President writes you a letter bitching at you and giving advice. The first snow area is short, but it's clearly something you'll come back to explore later as certain sections are blocked off, you don't have enough Pikmin to tear down walls, etc. The combat is essentially the same so far as in the first game--chuck or swarm those Pikmin around your enemy, dodge and repeat. You literally can't lose to the first critter or two.

Also, you don't leave tracks in the snow, something I was a bit disappointed with, but then again a few hundred Pikmin would keep the Cube's cpu pretty busy with all their footprints.

On the second day, you come across the first "dungeon," which looks like a little geyser whole in the ground. These are mini-levels where you must round up underground treasure and haul the booty back up to the surface. New monsters prowl around down there and it's dark enough in spots that you can't see too far around your group, leaving some potential for ambush attacks (hasn't happened yet).

Now, that little pink peahat-lookin' thing on the left above the text, that's some sort of robot that gives you a lot of long-winded advice throughout the game. Think of Navi from Ocarina of Time and you've got a good idea of what it's like. Even without being able to read Japanese, I can tell that it gives you info on controls, how to approach new situations, use new items & Pikmin, etc. It talks too much though and slows the pace down a tad.

After jumping into the dungeon, you pick up an item or two and bash some baddies, then make your way down into the dungeon's next "floor."

OK, last chunk of impressions for the time being, but I just wanted to hit upon the first new form of Pikmin you run across, the "Sumo Pikmin."

First of all, down in the dungeons there aren't any places to sprout new Pikmin--so it's to your advantage to bring your whole squad down there to kick the Hell out of whatever lurks below. There were also the first new Pikmin 2-exclusive enemies, a white snow-colored version of the basic ladybug monsters. It looked like I couldn't get past a certain point until I ran across this guy.[ Purple Pikmin]

They even do the little 1-2 leg stance that sumos do. These critters have the power of ten red Pikmin and can knock the Hell out of most whatever gets in your way. They made quick work of the miniboss on the final floor, and will tear down flowers and walls like there's no tomorrow. By the time I was ready to jump back onto the geyser and get blasted up out of the dungeon-hole, I had a mean gang of ruthless Pik-folk on the rampage

After each day and (I assume) each dungeon, you're scored on how well you've done, with stats broken up for each treasure you've found, your overall earnings to this point, how many Pikmin were killed in the line of battle, how many enemies you killed, and a monetary value is given to each new artifact you've found (an orange, globe, bottlecap, etc). If you get a perfect score for the day or dungeon, fireworks go off around the scoreboard like this...

So that covers up through the first dungeon, and it's been a fun romp for the 2 hours or so that I've played.

Random thoughts:

-It's hard to understand the story or constant advice from the robot guide thingy due to the language barrier, but the game action is intuitive enough that it hasn't been too much of a problem yet.

-The Pikmin sing some new marching song as you go along, which mimics whatever background music is playing. Pretty funny. They genenrally make a lot more noises in this game than in the first, and are more expressive in their actions. Nintendo gave them more character this time around.

-The X button toggles whether Olimar or Louie are in the front of your group (when both guys are together). I can't tell yet if there is any advantage to having one or the other in charge.

-I need to figure out how to copy save files from someone who reads Japanese. I fumbled around in the menu trying to do that last night and deleted my file instead, had to start over.

-It's a fun game, hopefully the ton of delays has paid off.

Sounds great. Better then great. I loved the first, feel im going to adore this. Also there is no doubt in my mind i'll be getting the US version too. I loved the end-of-day logs and will miss not understanding them in Pikmin2. Also it seems there is far more text etc this time round. The US version (as well as the JPN) is a must.

[bowser123]

I just thought I'd heard pre-orders tend to come a bit quicker,

Well they get sent earlier than release date more often than not.
Put it this way I expect to get my copy from PA either tomorrow or Saturday, either the same day as Japan gets it or 1 after.
And you can't sat fairer than that TBH.

[EvilBoris]

I'm still waiting for mine, those Pikmin are awaiting a whole new world of pain.


Pikmin mass murder


only the blue ones can swim.....

[Adam Stone]

Good morning all,

Some nice little Easter Eggs - added Spoiler Tags

*At the title screen (where it says "press Start"), press the X button to make a beetle appear. Once the insect is on the screen, you can use left and right on the C-Stick to turn it and forward to move. If you move the bug into the Pikmin that make up the logo, they will "interact" with the bug

*Press Y to make a Chappie appear. You can move it around the same way and press Z to make it eat Pikmin. To get rid of the creatures, press the L button.

*Press R to make the Pikmin run around the screen and then rearrange themselves to form the word "Nintendo."

Hopefully?h.o.p.e.f.u.l.l.y. mine will come today?

Oh, and EvilBoris, you're too damn right Mr.

*Edit - Thought I better spoiler-tag the above. As sharkattack rightly stated, the surprise of finding things out for ones self cannot be compared. This is a nice example of something that would be interesting to find out of pure chance? so? I thought it was only fair to add a ST.

[SharkAttack]

I've read too many impressions on this lately. Killed the surprise I would have had finding things out for myself.

[Earl]

I'm the opposite, I've barely looked at any media and have avoided impressions like the plague. Fingers crossed it arrives today as I've taken the day off.

[dr_manhattan]

Still waiting for my copy too, can't wait for this, loved the first game

[Adam Stone]

Its only recently ive been reading impressions etc. But im glad I have? it has increased (tripled even) my already high excitement.

On a sad note:

Disappointingly no Pikmin 2 for me today. Damn post. Hopefully it?ll be here tomorrow?

[Earl]

Well at least you have hope for tommorrow Adam. Almost cried when I saw the postie arrive with no package. No post over here on Saturday and with Monday being a bank holiday, I won't have it until Tuesday at the earliest.

Could be worse though, could have to wait until August.

[doodledude]

Mines still not come either, it has to come tomorrow OR I'll have to wait until Tuesday but then I'm at work!

[Legal Step]

If I wasn't so broke. This game would be mine. Please someone make it sound not fun!

[bowser123]

Just been woken by the sound of the postie.
The dude had Pikmin 2 for me from Play Asia
Nice and early too, 8:30 delivery for the 1st time in ages.

Early impressions through.
The game is lovely


I like the way Olimar's brother (is he his brother???) helps round up the Pikimin that have just sprouted from the ground. One of my minor complaints was the time that could be wasted by picking them from the floor but know with two Olimar's doing it the time is halved
Controls are the same which is good in my eyes too.

I still have an big attachment to the little guys too.
In the 1st game I'd get upset when they were killed and cheered them on when they were fighting , found myself already doing this in 2.

Another interesting thing is in between levels. On the map screen before you start you can press L or R. Pressing L brings up all the enemies you've met and can observe them through the window of the spaceship. Press A and Olimar chucks what appears to be a Pikmin out the window (don't worry it's a dud and not real) and you can observe how the creature attacks and kills the pseudo Pikmin. It also shows how the plants react to the Pikmin. Pressing R shows you the objects you've found too. Next to each object and creature is an explanation, however I don't understand a word of it.

Does anybody know (or can remember from the 1st game) how to recall Olimar before the day is up? I wanted to start a new day because I did brilliantly well and completed all I could on that day yet had time to spare so I had to wait for the day to be up. That reminds me, the time element is better IMO. You still have limited time to complete the level before it's night and the creatures attack however there's none of the old complete everything in 30 days or less or fail scenario, which will probably enable more exploration.
EDIT- Forget that, found the option It's the second option (press R) on the pause screen.

[Yoshimoto]

Mines just dropped through the letter box a couple of minutes ago

Good luck guys, i hope everyone else's comes too.