Topic: IMPRESSIONS: Pikmin 2

[NWR_Karlie]

Lost your marbles? Find them in the battle mode.

They appeared to be showing the final version of Pikmin on the show floor, with all features intact. In the challenge mode there are five levels available to play freely and a new level is unlocked on completion of any of them. Each level can be played with one or two players. The levels seen were the same as those shown at ECTS (but were in English this time) so I will move on to the other choice of play.    

A new feature on display was the battle mode for two players. There are two methods of winning this, the first is to collect four yellow marbles from the playing field and the second is to steal your opponent’s marble from their base. The yellow marbles are found half buried and scattered around the level. You’ll need your Pikmin to dig then up and carry them back to your base. Each marble only needs one Pikmin to carry, but up to eight can take a single marble so that you can retrieve it more quickly. You cannot pick up your own marble so if it is moved closer to your enemy it stays there.    

Olimar’s team of Pikmin is red and Louie’s are blue. It is possible to set a handicap so that one player starts with more Pikmin than the other. You can grow more Pikmin in the battle level so that you have a maximum of 50 on your team. The Pikmin attack each other when they meet. Although you cannot kill your opponent’s Pikmin they are sent back to the base and respawn as leaf Pikmin that have to be pulled up from the ground once again.    

There were ten different arenas to choose from to battle in. The terrain and enemies are different in each. Picking up cherries starts an item selection, this will stop spinning after a while and you can press Y to activate the selection. If you get a ghost you turn invisible and the other player cannot see you on their screen. Other items that can be chosen are enemies and earthquakes, which can be sent to the other player. Cherries will regenerate as the game goes on so there’s never a shortage of items.    

The battle mode is a nice diversion but the real gameplay is in the main mode of the game. It can be fun to play against a friend for a while but you’re doing the same thing every time. It’s a good way to test for the better player though!