That omission is felt tremendously in Bingo Battle, the virtuoso two-player competitive mode returning from the Wii U release. However, Pikmin 3 Deluxe adds no kind of online play, which is a big missed opportunity.

Overall, I enjoy how Pikmin 3 Deluxe goes in both directions, making the game both more challenging and more approachable depending on your preference.įull co-op is also added to the whole story mode, which is great if you have a person to play it through locally with. It’s a fantastic addition, almost tossing a strategy guide in the middle of the video game. In addition to these welcomely nuanced difficulties, there’s an optional hint system that more or less tells you exactly where to go if you’re stuck. Ultra-Spicy is indeed challenging, while Normal is a much more leisurely stroll. Now, three difficulty settings are available: Normal, Hard, and Ultra-Spicy. It’s a lot of quality of life stuff, like three save slots instead of one. The other Deluxe aspects are better, though, even if they aren’t brand new levels. These are fine, it’s still nice to have a little bit more Pikmin to play, but it’s ultimately not all that compelling.

These aren’t new areas to explore it’s just different variations of levels you have already seen.

The disappointing part of these new levels is that they’re basically just new versions of the Mission Mode, so they are all timed challenges where you have to collect as much fruit as possible before the clock runs out. While there isn’t much brand new story content, it’s neat how these do provide a bit more context for the main narrative. The major new content addition is found in Side Stories, which takes the form of a prologue and an epilogue to the story featuring Olimar and Louie-the stars of the first two Pikmin games. Now let’s focus on what’s new in the Deluxe version. In addition to the main narrative, there are two other modes: Mission Mode, which features a variety of timed challenges to collect fruit or fight enemies, and Bingo Battle, an intense competitive multiplayer mode. The Nintendo take on real-time strategy is as endearing as ever and the ability to multi-task with three captains while making use of five different types of Pikmin to find new areas and solve puzzles is excellent. As it was in 2013, Pikmin 3’s story is a blast to play. Trying to get back home, they explore the planet to find their warp drive and along the way, uncover Pikmin, collect fruit, and battle sizable enemies. For those who missed out on the original release, the story kicks off with Alph, Brittany, and Charlie-three intrepid travelers from the Planet Koppai-crash-landing on PNF-404, which they think is an unknown planet.

Pikmin 3 gameplay