Make Pikmin Hard Again

Pikmin is one of my favourite series from Nintendo, but after playing Pikmin 4, it's become obvious that the games are becoming too easy. I first noticed it in Pikmin 3, and now even more so in Pikmin 4 with big additions like Oatchi and Ice Pikmin, to minor things like auto target and too much sap. In this video I cover the biggest things to me that make Pikmin 4 too easy.

Thank you for watching, and feel free to like & subscribe if you enjoyed the video. Also let us know if you agree that Pikmin has become too easy, and other examples I may have missed in this video.

*Most of the game footage in this video is my own, but I've also used game footage from ZackScottGames and BeardBear.

#pikmin #pikmin4 #nintendo

[SpaceLobster]

I decided that if I ever replay the game, I’m going to try to beat it without using oatchie in combat as a sort of self-imposed hard mode. Didn’t struggle with much other than a select few boss fights, the last night expedition, and a level or two of the final Dandori challenge, so I feel like it’d be more fun to avoid trivializing every enemy encounter

[strait]

This go round is most definitely way more accessible then it’s predecessors. However I do think the fact that the player decides to use or not to use most of these changes is very smart. The cave type help screen is a drag, why can’t we toggle that hint off on?! Glad the series is getting some love though, always loved Pikmin myself.

[TMJJack]

I totally agree. I think enemies are what gave Pikmin 1 and 2 their charm. Almost every enemy in the game being boiled down bursting it out with Oatchi's rush before they have time to react feels very boring.

That being said, they beat you over the head with what this game's focus is supposed to be: dandori. In some ways, I really like how efficient the game can feel. It's so satisfying to get like six tasks done simultaneously, but considering that they were deliberately taking inspiration from Pikmin 2, I was hoping they'd introduce more challenging situations than what was presented.

I can burst out an Emperor Bulbax with 40 red Pikmin and a rush from Oatchi before he can even attack once. No bombs, no spray, no ice Pikmin. I just one shot what was the final boss of Pikmin 1. I didn't even know he had multiple phases until I saw a video about it.

The Man-at-Legs was terrifying in 2, but the Pikmin just cling onto Oatchi now. All the shots miss and you can just take it out in two or three rotations.

Even the Dandori battles and challenges are so weak. I gave the enemy leaders the biggest handicap I could, and I still can beat them easily. The challenge mode is so much easier when you get all the equipment.

I don't like that I have to purposely turn off my brain to make the game harder. I want to use every resource I have and still STRUGGLE.

It still might be the best Pikmin game, but boy, do I hope they introduce additional content for added challenge.

[gothicspoon]

In defense of nectar and eggs being everywhere, I think it was designed this way because your pikmins can now lose their flowers when they get knocked around or damaged without dying.
You often have to re-bloom them, so they put nectar everywhere to compensate.

Overall, the game really shows that it was designed for younger audiences -- that's not a bad thing though, we already had 3 great and rather challenging installments, so this might be a way to gently introduce new fans to the series :)
My only true complaint is that they don't even offer the option to turn off auto targeting, as well that the constant chit-chat from your squad whenever something happens on screen.

[TCGPokemondude]

Nintendo needs to put a difficulty mode for games like Pokémon, Mario games, pikmen and so on would make things way more enjoyable

[TexTalksSometimes]

The charge is completely broken, it's way too good. I think there also needs to be more reasons to be on foot (ie not riding Oatchie), because the way the game is now there's nothing you can't do on him besides use the charging horn, and it's just safer for your Pikmin. Towards the end of the game I found myself compulsively jumping on Oatchie whenever I saw any potential threat. It's frustrating because part of what makes Pikmin special is leading your big army around and trying to keep the blob safe from danger, but when you get on Oatchie you're suddenly just playing a normal video game controlling a single character. It's barely even pikmin at that point

[legionbeast]

The main issue I found was that after a few upgrades, Oatchi is stronger than any pikmin group. It would be one thing if his specific upgrades were focused on, say, retrieving objects and some terrain navigation. However, he becomes an extremely powerful fighting force, able to solo virtually any foe, take minimal damage, and heal up no issue. Even his elemental shielding breaks aspects of the game. No red pikmin to fight this slooch? Just send Oatchi.
Three main things would make the game better:
-1: Enemies respawn on the overworld. As beautiful as the maps can be, they are horrifyingly dead when you clear out some foes and never see another living creature the time you're there.
-2: Oatchi should mostly only be able to do things in relation to item collecting. Digging and retrieving is fine, even retrieving in water and carrying pikmin on his back is all fine, but the fact that he can solo Bulbears is absurd.
-3: Either make Oatchi unable to go in dungeons or prevent him from participating in boss battles.

[BARRELHR]

i felt this way too. Im a huuuuge pikmin 2 fan so seeing that brutal challenge of 2 going away was disappointing. i love the way 2 made me think with its enemy layouts during dungeons. Wether i wanted to just tank it with my purples or go slower with other types. now its just ram with oatchi rinse repeat until dead. I still enjoyed 4 a tooon but it was clear they needed to make this game more accessible due to so many new players coming in for this game. It NEEDS difficulty options...something nintendo avoids like the plague but they cant ignore it anymore :/

[TheZombiewill]

About the cave recommendations, it's no different from pikmin 2. It'll give you in advance what type of pikmin you need directly instead of referring to their element.

The auto squad is the same everywhere and it's just trying to give equal amount of the recommended pikmin in the zone you are in or going into.

[princeofhyrule]

I fully agree. But, mechanically, it feels really good. I just know that in the future, it will have some incredible mods. I look forward to the mods for the difficulty. Ahem, gundum, ahem. 😉 (or pikhacker)

[grass]

as my first pikmin game i felt that it was hard enough, it might just be the fact that people that have played pikmin will obviously have a easier time

[Thebiggerfish]

:39 The Final Trial: Am I a joke to you.

Jokes aside, yes all of your points are valid and some aspects of the game are too easy (I had 45 spicy spray)

However there were parts of the game that I struggled with and had to reset multiple times.

You also have to take into account that most Pikmin Fans by now are experts given that we’ve had over a decade to master Dandori. For example my first play through of Pikmin 2 was 82 days because I was 7 years old, and now i can beat Pikmin 1 in 9 days and I’m working on the 10 day Pikmin 3 run.

[asatowolfe]

I agree with this 100%. I'm a huge Pikmin fan and a casual speedrunner (non-glitch; repeating days to clear maps in 1-2 days; etc) and I can definitely say Pikmin 4's combat is easier than the other games. The game adding in Oatchi and items makes for some fun playthroughs and gives room for improving productivity/dandori, but the combat got injured from it— which sucks. Even though during my first playthrough I was holding all my items, combat was easy. But it did give me many 'dandori' ideas. Every new mechanic unlocked made me think "I have so many speedrun ideas for my next playthrough."

I hope the game introduces a harder difficulty or something though. Maybe more/tougher enemies or nerfing Ice Pikmin freezing. But I definitely loved the game either way. Pikmin 2 was definitely harder even with Spicy and Stone Sprays making bosses go faster. Most bosses would survive an initial rush; where as Ice Pikmin or Ice Bombs would make nearly every boss obsolete.

[damien-elliot]

"e for everyone" the empress bulblax:

[smawzyv]

All these hand-holding and quality of life changes in Pikmin 4, not to mention that the enemies in general are too nerfed compared to previous titles, really adds up to the game not requiring much thought in most enemy encounters and flower pellet/treasure collecting. The only things that actually required thought were the puzzles in the caves and trying to get to some places in the overworld.

I not asking for a ridiculous challenge, but some enemies and bosses that would actually keep me on my toes would be nice. Maybe then, I would actually find the items you can buy helpful. And having to time my throws for the right color flower pellets, and having to actually aim when I throw, and having to count out the number of pikmin I need to throw when I carry a treasure or enemy body would be great too. It all just feels too mindless otherwise.

[TheTrueBrawler]

Nectar eggs in Pikmin 2 can also release ultra sprays, and it seems to be quite often at that. Last time I played Pikmin 2, I collected the final treasure on day 25 give or take up to 3 days. At the time of collection, I had about 30 sprays (combined between Spicy and Bitter) despite using them in many moments of struggle. I didn't mass hussle for berries, use a dupe glitch, or do anything special. I only got one or two per type from berry collection methods, and the rest came from breaking nectar eggs I find throughout the game or from eggs randomly falling out of the sky in caves.

[WSL]

I'd say the hardest part for me was the sage leaf cave that one actually had a couple difficult challenges

[waterbluegaming]

having fully played through the game and been playing pikmin since the first game i will say the dungeons auto telling me which pikmin i needed and putting my squad together for me i liked a lot it helped me really think about each pikmin type and all they could do it was something that i liked yes hand holding at times but being able to make it to a cave and just go in no rearranging my pikmin myself i liked it just streamlined an unnecessary back track

[camharkness]

As much as i love pikmin 2, im actually kinda happy that pikmin 4 is easier than 2.

2 is great, dont get me wrong, but it has a lot of random bullcrap. (Though, lets be real, in pikmin 2, you legit can throw purple pikmin at anything and theyll get stunned too. Theres also a glitch to fet the spray easily.... But also.... The sprays arent that hard to get. Legit ive been able to get up to 30 of both sprays.)


But anyway, i like it being easier because we're fetting new fans into pikmin. Id rather we get people in easily, than having them get hit by bomb rocks or random strong enemies spawning out of nowhere.

[CrySusChau]

I was introduced to the series from Pikmin 3 and 4 so I'm so used to the easy gameplay and couldn't understand why people are complaining that it was too easy in 3 and 4 until I started playing 1 and 2.

I was shocked at how hard these 2 installments were and thought it was not good but after completing Pikmin 2 and replaying 1, I was enjoying the challenge in them. Now that I think about 3 and 4 and replayed the mission modes in 3, I agree that they were too easy.

I think what Nintendo could at least do is to increase the enemies' health so that you couldn't one-shot enemies with ice pikmin, there should be a mode for this so that both newbies and OG players could play the game at their own pace.

But I appreciate that the random falling rocks and falling bomb rocks didn't return 'cause I would absolutely have a mental breakdown if they did.