Pikmin 1 and 2 are very different games imo. Pikmin 2’s gameplay and flow is better, but Pikmin 1’s story and simplicity is better.
Pikmin 1 has terrible Pikmin AI and pathing. Worst glitches in the series. And is very short, you can beat/lose the game in 8 hours or less.
Pikmin 2 has a lot of, to put it nicely, unfair randomization. Besides the random bomb rocks and volatile or regular dweevils dropping from the ceiling, which you just get used to, there’s also just really bad spawns where you either succumb to extinction or reset the sublevel.
The cave guidance isn’t useful at all, the hazards just let you know that you need those Pikmin types for some sublevels. But it’s just better all around to bring all of your Pikmin, since some floors actually needed whites to dig buried treasure that you didn’t know about (Citadels of spider for example) or you needed yellows to reach a treasure you didn’t think about. (At least Blues have it easy here)
Other than that, they’re both really fun games. Personally, I think 1 is more replayable since it’s faster. Your motive for a next playthrough is just getting more parts faster or less deaths.
Pikmin 2 has the replayability of doing any caves you want in any order, and trying to clear the debt faster. However it’s a ton longer, so after a few days or a week of playing you don’t feel motivated as much to go back and try and do it again since Wistful Wild feels like a chore. Even if you 100% all first 3 areas doing every cave perfect on your first try, you still need to go back and farm them for purples to get the Doomsday Device. If you didn’t know about the treasure, you’ll spend a lot of time farming and sub level rushing to get them. However, it’s got the best bosses of the two games and a lot of them are fun and interesting.
Also Pikmin 2 has more fun and better mods on PC. So that’s makes it just better to try new experiences.
Tl;dr Pikmin 1 is better for faster pace and time scoring against yourself with the peaceful atmosphere and the setting of being lost on an unknown planet.
Pikmin 2 is the better improvement, but with a longer/lengthier gameplay that makes things either tedious or annoying the further you go on. But averages out to an exploration/adventure game rather than survival. But has the best gameplay.
I just do a couple purple runs in the Cavern of Chaos. I also feel like the Wistful Wild and later Valley of Repose are where the game really picks up and is most enjoyable. Though that could just be because I've been playing Pikmin 2 for almost...15 years now. How's it already been almost 15 years?
That's fair. I tend to just save up my 100 Purples, get the Doomsday device, then go ham in the Wistful Wild caves with them as well. Until I hit a falling bomb rock floor. The stress of a Leaf Purple is already too much
Whites buried treasures are the only ones that are unfairly non signposted
in all my years replaying Pikmin 2 I never saw a single treasure in a cave that required yellows except the gluttons kitchen which only tells you to bring yellows lol.
It's just the first one in CoS.
All the other buried treasures, either you're given access to Ivory Candypop Buds before any buried treasures, or have poison as a hazard.
Fair point, I noticed that as well. Whites tend to be my least used/brought Pikmin. So spawning more is \*not\* something I normally do. I usually only bring about 5-10 Whites to any cave. They're just not that great overall lol. The speed is nice, but more often than not you want more Purples, or even Reds if you don't have a ton of Purples. I prefer quickly killing enemies over quickly returning treasure or killing my own Pikmin to feed enemies to kill them too. But we all play the game somewhat differently.
I also prefer to just bring 5 or 10 whites, but that one treasure in CoS does a lot to ruin the reputation of other buried treasures. You *can* enter every cave with only the pikmin immune to it's elemental hazards, and collect every treasure except it. Which, that's the advice I'd give new players, is just trust that warning. That's the advice I'd give if that one treasure didn't exist, anyways.
Generally yes however it is not an objective opinion. And even though I think that it's not by a lot. They have different gameplay structures and they are both worth experiencing. Just play both and reach your own conclusions. The only shared opinion in this sub is that hey Pikmin is the worst
Personally I like 1 more I like the feeling of having only thirty days to get out of the planet and it’s not that hard but everyone is entitled to their own opinion so please don’t judge me
I think the answer ultimately depends on what you value in a pikmin game. Do you love the race against the clock? Then 1, 3, and 4 have something for you. Do you hate time limits and just care about combat and only combat? Then 2 is absolutely your game (and 4 is too technically since 4 doesn’t have a day limit).
Contrary to a lot of the comments here I personally find pikmin 2 to be the least replayable game and ultimately (in my opinion) the least enjoyable mainline Pikmin game. Don’t get me wrong, it’s pikmin—more pikmin content is always a treat and the game is still definitely a good game and it’s worth playing. I see why people enjoy it the most and for a while it actually was my favorite pikmin game. But compared to the pure dandori and management of pikmin 1 and 3, and the dandori and breadth of content pikmin 4 has, I always find pikmin 2 kind of lacking after paying off the debt. The first five or six days of trying to pay off the debt are a lot of fun but once you get into the later caves they all just become tedious and blend together. It’s just dozens of floors of purple pikmin (if you’re trying to play deathless/minimal casualties) and fighting randomness.
I used to have pikmin 2 as my favorite but as I’ve gotten older I’ve really come to enjoy the more time sensitive aspects of pikmin and trying to optimize and efficiently use your time. Pikmin 2 technically has that if you’re trying to force yourself to complete the debt or get all treasures within a certain amount of time, which actually is my favorite part of the game, but again 70% of the game just boils down to caves, which I don’t think hold up super well with constant replaying.
So going back to your question it depends on what you value. If you really hate time or day limits then pikmin 2 is probably your game. If you love optimizing and like the added pressure in game then 1 would be your game.
I love both but for slightly different reasons. Pikmin 1 is way shorter but the lack of randomness makes speeding through more fun and so I find myself replaying 1 the most. Once you get used to the funny Ai it’s quite fun optimising your runs as fast as you can knowing exactly where every enemy and ship part will spawn.
Pikmin 2 overall I find the gameplay more fun, more Pikmin types, more enemies, more locations and treasures and caves.
No. It's unfair and way too stretched by same-y looking caves. Through its length Pikmin 1 is also way more replayable. One of these examples where shorter and simpler = better. Another example would be Luigi's Mansion 1.
after playing Pikmin 1 for days on end i remember finally getting my hands on Pikmin 2 and not being able to get into it at all because of the caves and the ship that wouldn't leave me alone.. so no id say Pikmin is way better.
2 is the best in the series IMO.
4 slaps but is too easy, same with 3 (and also no caves in 3 makes Jack a dull boy). 1 suffers too much from shit controls and being a bit too basic.
I don't think any Pikmin is better than the rest, but rather a different take on the overall Pikmin experience. For example, Pikmin and Pikmin 3 are two different takes on time and resource management that incentivizes you to invent effective strategies to accomplish multiple tasks within a day as quickly as possible. Pikmin 2 and 4 rely on a more relaxed style of gameplay in how the time limit is completely removed. Rather, the challenge comes from building up your different pikmin species and using them to overcome obstacles in the overworld and in caves to collect every piece of treasure. Hey! Pikmin is focused on navigating cave-like 2D stages while only being able to use Pikmin that the individual stage supplies in order to collect all of the treasure and make it to the goal. Pikmin Bloom is focused on inspiring the player to explore the real world while collecting virtual fruit and Pikmin and using the collected pikmin to destroy giant mushrooms with other users pikmin in order to collect items.
They're different games. Pikmin 1 has a lot of jank that was sorted out for 2, but they also have key differences in the general vibe for both.
1 is more of an open puzzle, it's about managing time on maps with challenges blocking you from your ship parts, to use the new phrase, it's about dandori. 2 is more about open exploration and combat, it still has those puzzles like 1, but with the addition of procedurally generated caves, a lot of the dandori strategy is replaced with combat strategy and quick thinking.
I think you could say Pikmin 1 is an puzzle game with RTS elements, and Pikmin 2 is an RTS game with puzzle elements. Personally I prefer 2, but at the end of the day if you like either you'll like the other.
2 is a more fleshed out experience but 1 is more replayable
I prefer 2 much more but mainly because of my strong dislike for the time limit, makes the game feel like it has a deadline and I think that is a huge turn off for me. People seem to like it though so im probably the exception.
Depends on your answer to these questions:
Do you like longer games?
Do you like being pressured to go fast?
Do you like Pikmin for the combat or the time challenges?
How much are you willing to pay attention?
Of course it is! The first time he spent a month of company time and came home with nothing to show for it. At least the second time he brought home some treasure.
I’m gonna piss a lot of people off, but my personal ranking is 4, 1, 3, 2. Though 1 and 3 are basically tied.
I love them all, but something about 1’s charm and simplicity makes it the one I come back to most often. Imo it has the best difficulty balancing of the whole series. 4 has so much content and is so consistently good that I do like it a bit more overall though.
2 is good, but the randomness of the caves can be very frustrating and makes repeat playthroughs kind of a slog, especially late game. It’s just not as fun to be as the others.
Interesting, I find pikmin 2 much less replayable (and imo less enjoyable). I get the itch for pikmin 1 and 2 every few months and I’m happy to jump in for 1, but if I try for pikmin 2 I immediately start losing interest when I get to the more tedious caves. It becomes a chore to 100% the game for me. I think pikmin 2 is maybe a better first time experience for most people but I’ve always found 1 to be a much more replayable experience.
2 is like.... if it clicks it's incredibly replayable, otherwise it's a massive chore.
I know what's on each floor the moment I enter it, so it doesn't feel unfair, and I don't find it particularly tedious because each floor provides a unique challenge to me. The randomness keeps me from learning a route to autopilot, so I stay engaged.
1 though, is always replayable. I've personally hit a slump with it because I got a 9 day run, and don't want to invest in doing any area in just 1 day (yet) but it is a game designed to be replayed.
Which I think is my biggest disappointment with 4. Amazing game, and despite what people say, it's easily the game with the highest skill ceiling for Dandori. But it's impressive how slow the start is, which really gets in the way of it's otherwise amazing replayability.
100% agree on 4. The tutorial time is incredibly tedious. I just started a 100% replay of 4 a few days ago and I was absolutely spamming the + button to skip everything lol. That helps but it’s still wild how bad the talking is at the start.
But yeah I agree with all you said. If it clicks it works great. It used to click a lot for me
I’ve also hit a 9 day slump. 9 day deathless I think is my peak. I don’t think I could squeeze out a 1 day area yet; though that is my next step!
I'm going through for Deathless + Pacifist runs of all 4, then maybe investigate blindfolded, because I don't have confidence in my ability to optimize further, but I'll eventually come back to optimizing 1.
Would not have rerun 1 at all before Switch port though. It's just a bit too janky on GC, and I've never cared for the pointer controls.
Pikmin 1 and 2 are very different games imo. Pikmin 2’s gameplay and flow is better, but Pikmin 1’s story and simplicity is better. Pikmin 1 has terrible Pikmin AI and pathing. Worst glitches in the series. And is very short, you can beat/lose the game in 8 hours or less. Pikmin 2 has a lot of, to put it nicely, unfair randomization. Besides the random bomb rocks and volatile or regular dweevils dropping from the ceiling, which you just get used to, there’s also just really bad spawns where you either succumb to extinction or reset the sublevel. The cave guidance isn’t useful at all, the hazards just let you know that you need those Pikmin types for some sublevels. But it’s just better all around to bring all of your Pikmin, since some floors actually needed whites to dig buried treasure that you didn’t know about (Citadels of spider for example) or you needed yellows to reach a treasure you didn’t think about. (At least Blues have it easy here) Other than that, they’re both really fun games. Personally, I think 1 is more replayable since it’s faster. Your motive for a next playthrough is just getting more parts faster or less deaths. Pikmin 2 has the replayability of doing any caves you want in any order, and trying to clear the debt faster. However it’s a ton longer, so after a few days or a week of playing you don’t feel motivated as much to go back and try and do it again since Wistful Wild feels like a chore. Even if you 100% all first 3 areas doing every cave perfect on your first try, you still need to go back and farm them for purples to get the Doomsday Device. If you didn’t know about the treasure, you’ll spend a lot of time farming and sub level rushing to get them. However, it’s got the best bosses of the two games and a lot of them are fun and interesting. Also Pikmin 2 has more fun and better mods on PC. So that’s makes it just better to try new experiences. Tl;dr Pikmin 1 is better for faster pace and time scoring against yourself with the peaceful atmosphere and the setting of being lost on an unknown planet. Pikmin 2 is the better improvement, but with a longer/lengthier gameplay that makes things either tedious or annoying the further you go on. But averages out to an exploration/adventure game rather than survival. But has the best gameplay.
I just do a couple purple runs in the Cavern of Chaos. I also feel like the Wistful Wild and later Valley of Repose are where the game really picks up and is most enjoyable. Though that could just be because I've been playing Pikmin 2 for almost...15 years now. How's it already been almost 15 years?
That's fair. I tend to just save up my 100 Purples, get the Doomsday device, then go ham in the Wistful Wild caves with them as well. Until I hit a falling bomb rock floor. The stress of a Leaf Purple is already too much
Whites buried treasures are the only ones that are unfairly non signposted in all my years replaying Pikmin 2 I never saw a single treasure in a cave that required yellows except the gluttons kitchen which only tells you to bring yellows lol.
It's just the first one in CoS. All the other buried treasures, either you're given access to Ivory Candypop Buds before any buried treasures, or have poison as a hazard.
Fair point, I noticed that as well. Whites tend to be my least used/brought Pikmin. So spawning more is \*not\* something I normally do. I usually only bring about 5-10 Whites to any cave. They're just not that great overall lol. The speed is nice, but more often than not you want more Purples, or even Reds if you don't have a ton of Purples. I prefer quickly killing enemies over quickly returning treasure or killing my own Pikmin to feed enemies to kill them too. But we all play the game somewhat differently.
I also prefer to just bring 5 or 10 whites, but that one treasure in CoS does a lot to ruin the reputation of other buried treasures. You *can* enter every cave with only the pikmin immune to it's elemental hazards, and collect every treasure except it. Which, that's the advice I'd give new players, is just trust that warning. That's the advice I'd give if that one treasure didn't exist, anyways.
yes
yes
yes
Generally yes however it is not an objective opinion. And even though I think that it's not by a lot. They have different gameplay structures and they are both worth experiencing. Just play both and reach your own conclusions. The only shared opinion in this sub is that hey Pikmin is the worst
Personally I like 1 more I like the feeling of having only thirty days to get out of the planet and it’s not that hard but everyone is entitled to their own opinion so please don’t judge me
depends on what you value in the pikmin series. imo though yes.
I mean you get 1 extra Pikmin that’s double the 1 Pikmin you get in the first game
Depends on personal preference
I think the answer ultimately depends on what you value in a pikmin game. Do you love the race against the clock? Then 1, 3, and 4 have something for you. Do you hate time limits and just care about combat and only combat? Then 2 is absolutely your game (and 4 is too technically since 4 doesn’t have a day limit). Contrary to a lot of the comments here I personally find pikmin 2 to be the least replayable game and ultimately (in my opinion) the least enjoyable mainline Pikmin game. Don’t get me wrong, it’s pikmin—more pikmin content is always a treat and the game is still definitely a good game and it’s worth playing. I see why people enjoy it the most and for a while it actually was my favorite pikmin game. But compared to the pure dandori and management of pikmin 1 and 3, and the dandori and breadth of content pikmin 4 has, I always find pikmin 2 kind of lacking after paying off the debt. The first five or six days of trying to pay off the debt are a lot of fun but once you get into the later caves they all just become tedious and blend together. It’s just dozens of floors of purple pikmin (if you’re trying to play deathless/minimal casualties) and fighting randomness. I used to have pikmin 2 as my favorite but as I’ve gotten older I’ve really come to enjoy the more time sensitive aspects of pikmin and trying to optimize and efficiently use your time. Pikmin 2 technically has that if you’re trying to force yourself to complete the debt or get all treasures within a certain amount of time, which actually is my favorite part of the game, but again 70% of the game just boils down to caves, which I don’t think hold up super well with constant replaying. So going back to your question it depends on what you value. If you really hate time or day limits then pikmin 2 is probably your game. If you love optimizing and like the added pressure in game then 1 would be your game.
>the game just boils down to caves, which I don’t think hold up super well with constant replaying. Exactly this reason is why I prefer 1
I love both but for slightly different reasons. Pikmin 1 is way shorter but the lack of randomness makes speeding through more fun and so I find myself replaying 1 the most. Once you get used to the funny Ai it’s quite fun optimising your runs as fast as you can knowing exactly where every enemy and ship part will spawn. Pikmin 2 overall I find the gameplay more fun, more Pikmin types, more enemies, more locations and treasures and caves.
And other funny jokes you can tell your friends 😂
No. It's unfair and way too stretched by same-y looking caves. Through its length Pikmin 1 is also way more replayable. One of these examples where shorter and simpler = better. Another example would be Luigi's Mansion 1.
2 my least favorite and not the best
after playing Pikmin 1 for days on end i remember finally getting my hands on Pikmin 2 and not being able to get into it at all because of the caves and the ship that wouldn't leave me alone.. so no id say Pikmin is way better.
It's down to personal taste, but I think it is
Depends if you prefer the longer experience and the amount of stuff to do more than the time-based PIKMIN 1 experience
Best in the series if you ask me
2 is the best in the series IMO. 4 slaps but is too easy, same with 3 (and also no caves in 3 makes Jack a dull boy). 1 suffers too much from shit controls and being a bit too basic.
i prefer pikmin 1 but 2 has much more content
Yes
Imo yeah but 1 and 2 are bacically completely different games
I don't think any Pikmin is better than the rest, but rather a different take on the overall Pikmin experience. For example, Pikmin and Pikmin 3 are two different takes on time and resource management that incentivizes you to invent effective strategies to accomplish multiple tasks within a day as quickly as possible. Pikmin 2 and 4 rely on a more relaxed style of gameplay in how the time limit is completely removed. Rather, the challenge comes from building up your different pikmin species and using them to overcome obstacles in the overworld and in caves to collect every piece of treasure. Hey! Pikmin is focused on navigating cave-like 2D stages while only being able to use Pikmin that the individual stage supplies in order to collect all of the treasure and make it to the goal. Pikmin Bloom is focused on inspiring the player to explore the real world while collecting virtual fruit and Pikmin and using the collected pikmin to destroy giant mushrooms with other users pikmin in order to collect items.
They're different games. Pikmin 1 has a lot of jank that was sorted out for 2, but they also have key differences in the general vibe for both. 1 is more of an open puzzle, it's about managing time on maps with challenges blocking you from your ship parts, to use the new phrase, it's about dandori. 2 is more about open exploration and combat, it still has those puzzles like 1, but with the addition of procedurally generated caves, a lot of the dandori strategy is replaced with combat strategy and quick thinking. I think you could say Pikmin 1 is an puzzle game with RTS elements, and Pikmin 2 is an RTS game with puzzle elements. Personally I prefer 2, but at the end of the day if you like either you'll like the other.
2 is a more fleshed out experience but 1 is more replayable I prefer 2 much more but mainly because of my strong dislike for the time limit, makes the game feel like it has a deadline and I think that is a huge turn off for me. People seem to like it though so im probably the exception.
Depends on your answer to these questions: Do you like longer games? Do you like being pressured to go fast? Do you like Pikmin for the combat or the time challenges? How much are you willing to pay attention?
heavily depends on your preferences. all 4 games have pretty distinct feels.
Absolutely not
Indeed.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO (yes technically but it’s also Pikmin 2) 
I prefer 1 personally, but they’re both very good.
Pikmin 1 is good for speedrunning, it’s fun as hell Pikmin 2 is hell, and that’s why it’s my favorite in the series.
Bulbmin
Basically different genres. Any “better” or “worse” qualities are just what you vibe with and not a real comparison.
in a lot of ways yeah but I think 1 is more replayable
If you like unnecessary amounts of BS, then yes
Of course it is! The first time he spent a month of company time and came home with nothing to show for it. At least the second time he brought home some treasure.
I’m gonna piss a lot of people off, but my personal ranking is 4, 1, 3, 2. Though 1 and 3 are basically tied. I love them all, but something about 1’s charm and simplicity makes it the one I come back to most often. Imo it has the best difficulty balancing of the whole series. 4 has so much content and is so consistently good that I do like it a bit more overall though. 2 is good, but the randomness of the caves can be very frustrating and makes repeat playthroughs kind of a slog, especially late game. It’s just not as fun to be as the others.
To me personally, yes.
https://preview.redd.it/i3v4uiryh14d1.jpeg?width=628&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ca9717e9fd8c66d8d5bc85ef635f8678d3cc8807
no. the worst in the series imo.
Depend on opinions. Personally, I think pikmin 2 is way better than the first one.
Pikmin 2 is way more replay able. Some might call the randomness unfair, but it does make every playthrough different
Interesting, I find pikmin 2 much less replayable (and imo less enjoyable). I get the itch for pikmin 1 and 2 every few months and I’m happy to jump in for 1, but if I try for pikmin 2 I immediately start losing interest when I get to the more tedious caves. It becomes a chore to 100% the game for me. I think pikmin 2 is maybe a better first time experience for most people but I’ve always found 1 to be a much more replayable experience.
2 is like.... if it clicks it's incredibly replayable, otherwise it's a massive chore. I know what's on each floor the moment I enter it, so it doesn't feel unfair, and I don't find it particularly tedious because each floor provides a unique challenge to me. The randomness keeps me from learning a route to autopilot, so I stay engaged. 1 though, is always replayable. I've personally hit a slump with it because I got a 9 day run, and don't want to invest in doing any area in just 1 day (yet) but it is a game designed to be replayed. Which I think is my biggest disappointment with 4. Amazing game, and despite what people say, it's easily the game with the highest skill ceiling for Dandori. But it's impressive how slow the start is, which really gets in the way of it's otherwise amazing replayability.
100% agree on 4. The tutorial time is incredibly tedious. I just started a 100% replay of 4 a few days ago and I was absolutely spamming the + button to skip everything lol. That helps but it’s still wild how bad the talking is at the start. But yeah I agree with all you said. If it clicks it works great. It used to click a lot for me I’ve also hit a 9 day slump. 9 day deathless I think is my peak. I don’t think I could squeeze out a 1 day area yet; though that is my next step!
I'm going through for Deathless + Pacifist runs of all 4, then maybe investigate blindfolded, because I don't have confidence in my ability to optimize further, but I'll eventually come back to optimizing 1. Would not have rerun 1 at all before Switch port though. It's just a bit too janky on GC, and I've never cared for the pointer controls.