History YMMV / Pikmin

** "I LOVE MY YELLOW PIKMAN!!!!! HE LOVES SWIMMBING!! :DD" [[labelnote:Explanation]]This meme originates from a 4chan post showing a picture of someone holding a plush toy of a Yellow Pikmin underwater while claiming that "he loves swimming" [[LethallyStupid despite that in the games, Yellow Pikmin cannot swim.]][[/labelnote]]

** Is Olimar justified in his taking over as the leader of some of the native creatures of the planet? Is he a bastard for what amounts to alien enslavement, and his actions sometimes leading Pikmin to be killed? Or is he a savior to the Pikmin, considering they were practically extinct in the first game, and in every game after that, they're on the verge of extinction again because they just can't survive without a leader to organize them? While most are willing to cut Olimar some slack in the first game as he needed the Pikmin in order to repair his ship and get home without dying, debates on whether doing so again in the second and third games to collect treasure to pay off his company's debts are a lot more divided, to say the least. Though to be fair, Olimar ''is'' forced into this by his employer and he has no real way to gather treasure on the planet without the Pikmin's strength and combat capabilities. The Pikmin also seem to be naturally inclined to follow him and other captains on the planet in order to assist them, and they do get something out of it in return (namely, the growth and nuturing of their species). In ''Pikmin 4'', it's further implied that Pikmin simply survive more easily when they have a leader to direct them, to the point that Olimar himself muses that them leafifying individuals is in an effort to secure themselves a permanent leader.

** Is Olimar justified in his taking over as the leader of some of the native creatures of the planet? Is he a bastard for what amounts to alien enslavement, and his actions sometimes leading Pikmin to be killed? Or is he a savior to the Pikmin, considering they were practically extinct in the first game, and in every game after that, they're on the verge of extinction again because they just can't survive without a leader to organize them? While most are willing to cut Olimar some slack in the first game as he needed the Pikmin in order to repair his ship and get home without dying, debates on whether doing so again in the second game to collect treasure to pay off his company's debt are a lot more divided, to say the least.

* ContestedSequel: The series in general has had quite a problematic history with this trope, due to many games introducing new play styles and gameplay changes that [[BrokenBase many fans are split over]]. It's telling that the ''only'' game in the series to narrowly avert this is ''VideoGame/Pikmin4'', and even then only ''narrowly,'' as it still isn't without faults of its own (namely the lackluster soundtrack, the boring overworld areas, the sometimes unintuitive controls, and the battle mode, while still fun, being quite a step down from the far supieroir battle modes of ''2'' and ''3'').

** Louie is definitely becoming this as time goes on. Once a fan favorite, most fans are now divided into a few camps based on how they feel about him. His fans love him, either for being a MemeticPsychopath or for being a genuinely intriguing character with nuances who's actions come from a bad upbringing and mental issues that make him act childish. They also love his positive qualities, such as his good relationship with Olimar despite being a troublemaker (even if he, like the other Hocotations, was rather flaky in ''3'') and his incredible cooking talents, and have even tried some of his recipes. His detractors hate him for his childish behavior, along with all he's done to endanger others, such as putting Hocotate Freight into debt from his own gluttony and impulses, stealing the Koppaites' juice supply, attacking his co-worker and boss with the Titan Dweevil[[note]]Though whether he was actually in control or not is left ambiguous, given he had passed out[[/note]], and [[spoiler: lashing out at the Rescue Corps with the Ancient Sirehound he had befriended]]. Often, his detractors will go as far as to consider him evil, malicious, and irredeemable, and the closest the series has to a main antagonist.

** With Oatchi and Moss both being cartoon dogs with funny expressions, they slotted in well to many meme templates, as well as a few involving a Good Vs. Evil schtick with Oatchi and Moss, respectively. [[spoiler: The latter trailed off after players found that Moss was not an antagonistic or evil character, but simply very loyal to Olimar (and later Louie)]]

** Louie sometimes gets this treatment, either because [[spoiler: he caused the company's debt by eating the shipment of Gold [=PikPik=] Carrots]], his Piklopedia notes making him look like a psychotic chef wanting to cook PNF-404's wildlife, [[WouldHurtAChild his notes even including some larvae of certain animals]]; [[spoiler: Mind-controlled a massive Dweevil as Olimar and the Ship speculated]], or [[spoiler: nearly dooming a civilization to extinction by stealing the Koppaite's Juice.]] In ''Pikmin 4'' [[spoiler:it's possibly {{ascended|Meme}} into the franchise itself, as he's the main antagonist of the second half of the game]].

** The Auto-Lock system in ''4'', while generally good at snapping to things while exploring, can often be a nuisance in tight spaces or combats with already dead enemies due to its tendency to snap to irrelevant targets. Notably, the [[spoiler: Trials of the Sage Leaf are made more difficult due to its tendency to prioritize corpses (which are completely useless to collect in these challenges, and leave the Pikmin completely exposed to attack when thrown to them), especially the 7th trial, where the sheer number of enemies makes it a toss-up on which one your Purple Pikmin will be thrown to.]]

* ''Pikmin 4'' players either hate Oatchi for trivializing much of the game with his upgrade tree and "Ride" mechanic, lessening the overall difficulty, or love him for his endearing personality and ability to customize your game experience with upgrades you personally select.

** Hell, the entire series has slowly started to become a huge meme fountain as of late, to the point that they're often much more popular than the games themselves and are even sighted as one of the many things that saved the series out of obscurity.

** The fan-favorite level of ''Pikmin 3'' is Twilight River, for having a unique theme of puzzles involving navigating the eponymous river with lily pads, to a BreatherBoss with the fun concept of having the Pikmin fight a MirrorBoss of bee-like creatures, to being centered around the well-liked Winged Pikmin. The area also provides [[SceneryPorn very well-looking]] [[ForestOfPerpetualAutumn autumn scenery]] all around.