History YMMV / Pikmin2

* ContestedSequel: Fans either like this game for its longer length, more in-depth puzzles, and addition of a second partner; or find it weaker than the first due to finding the randomly generated caves tedious and repetitive {{Padding}}, and believing the removal of the time limit removes all tension from gameplay. Thoughts on the approaches to storytelling also differ. Some prefer Olimar's somber end of day monologues in ''1'' as a storytelling medium over the more comedic emails of ''2'', while others prefer ''2'''s introduction of new characters and worldbuilding for both Hocotate and PNF-404, along with the loads of Treasure Journals and Piklopedia entries.

*** The Shower Room. It has a really unique looking blue-tiled bathroom esthetic that makes it stand out against the other caves, is home to the beautiful and soothing [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WpVvCsqpQw&pp=ygUPamVsbHlmbG9hdCBwb29s "Jellyfloat Pool" song]], and is also a generally balanced cave that utilizes all 4 Pikmin elements equally. It's filled with watery hazards, as to be expected, but also occasionally sprinkles in the other three elements to keep the player on their toes and give each sublevel variety to prevent them from feeling [[ItsTheSameNowItSucks too similar and repetitive]].

** Gatling Groinks fire explosive balls, the one "element" that no Pikmin is immune to. However, sometimes the balls will just knock Pikmin back rather than killing them, but it's not reliable. In addition, they have armour on their face, meaning that you have to get behind them to attack them, not easy given that they are always alert and will often turn and drop some explosive death on your army. They are even worse on towers, when they have more HP and can only be reached using Yellow Pikmin. In the Wistful Wild, the RandomNumberGod can actually spawn one close enough to your base camp that it'll start attacking you before you can even finish picking your Pikmin for the day. The icing on the cake, however, is that this thing can bring itself back to life, forcing you to either use a bitter spray, or bring its corpse back to the ship/onion asap.

** Purple Pikmin are considered this to some, as they are strong enough to kill most enemies and even some bosses by simply throwing around ten to twenty of them on it, ridding most of the strategy. Although their slow speed and lack of immunities, combined with them having no Onion and thus can only be made through the rare Candypop Buds underground, firmly lands them in the TooAwesomeToUse club for others. (Especially since you need to make 100 of these guys in the late game to get a certain treasure.)

* GeniusBonus: The [[ShockAndAwe Shock Therapist]], one of Titan Dweevil's weapons is a flipping [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crookes_tube Crookes tube]]. Just how many players are gonna know what that is?

** The Titan Dweevil can be absolutely punishing if you're unlucky. While the player most likely won't have to worry too much about the Shock Therapy, thanks to Yellow Pikmin[[note]]A common strategy is to bring Yellow Pikmin first, as electricity is the only element that can instantly kill Pikmin, to which the Yellow Pikmin are immune to. After taking out the Shock Therapy, the other Pikmin can be bruought in[[/note]], the other weapons can be a massive issue. While the player can use their Whistle when a Pikmin is hit with an element to save them before they die, if the Captain gets hit by an attack, even if they have all the suit upgrades, they can and will get knocked down, most likely preventing the player from saving a few Pikmin. The Flare Cannon and Comedy Bomb in particular can easily stunlock the player if they get hit by it since both hit multiple times, preventing the player from getting up while the Pikmin run about every which way. And if the player decides to split the Pikmin across two Captains (one Catain takes Yellow Pikmin to fight the boss while the other stays out of the main arena), the Monster Pump peppers water in random directions across the arena, making it very likely a few will hit the Pikmin staying with the other Captian. Also not helping the fact that each part has a lot of health, so if the player is lacking in Ultra-Spicy Sprays, it'll take quite a while to deal with each part. And there's throwing the Pikmin onto the parts to begin with, as if their aim is off, the Pikmin will either bounce off the Titan Dweevil's body or just miss the weapon entirely. And if you lose too many Pikmin (or at least 3 Purple Pikmin, as each weapon has a weight of 30), you won't be able to carry any of the weapons back to the ship. And if you leave without taking the weapons to the ship, the boss will re-attach the removed weapons when you return.

* ViewerSpeciesConfusion: The Arboreal Frippery treasure. It's actually suppose to be a Japanese Maple Leaf, but many players, specifically those in America, mistook it for a ''Marijuana Leaf'' instead. The comparison was strong enough to get the treasure censored in the European version and the Switch port, where it was redesigned to look like a Western Maple Leaf instead. The Piklopedia notes written for it in the Japanese version [[NotHelpingYourCase certainly didn't]] [[AccidentalInnuendo help either]], with the ship straight up describing it as a "drug-like blanket" that would put users to a "perpetual slumber" if "used too much."

** Some of the treasures had their branding changed in order to be more familiar in other territories. For example, the batteries are National Hi-Top in Japanese, but Duracell in the international versions. The Switch port removes the branding entirely, making everything uniform across all regions, and changes the names of some of the treasure groups.
** Treasures with Japanese text or that are Japanese in nature were changed slightly for international releases. The Decorative Goo, which was an ordinary tube of paint, had its Japanese text changed to a ''VideoGame/MarioPaint'' reference. The Cosmic Archive, a copy of ''VideoGame/TheMysteriousMurasameCastle''[[note]]Which was not released outside of Japan until 2014, ten years after this game came out.[[/note]], was noticeably one of the few things left untouched.

** Bulbmin, which are immune to all four elemental hazards, only appear in three caves, and cannot leave said caves to go with you to the surface. While you will likely get plenty of mileage out of them in Submerged Castle (since you can only bring in Blue Pikmin), they are very sparse elsewhere, with Hole of Heroes only having ''one'' adult Bulbmin on a single floor in the entire cave, and both it and Frontier Cavern allowing you to bring in all five types of Pikmin with no indication of said Bulbmin being down there, meaning you will most likely bring in 100 Pikmin and miss out on them unless you already knew they were there from a previous playthrough. Bulbmin also only appear in two levels in Challenge Mode, and have the same issue as Story Mode: Green Hole is only two floors long, and Hidden Garden forces you to convert the two you start with into other types via Queen Candypop Buds, so you don't get much usage of them anyway.

* ThatOneAchievement: Completing the entirety of the Piklopedia, both creature and treasure catalogs. Certain creatures, like the Golden Candypop Bud, are [[UniqueEnemy very rare encounters that only appear once in the whole game and thus are very easy to miss]], so get ready for some tedious backtracking to obtain their catalog if you aren't wary of them enough. The random plant scenery is also included as well and, like the creatures, some of them are rare and only appear once or twice throughout the whole campaign. But they're arguably ''even easier'' to miss due to only being minor scenery that one may not think much about. So prepare to tediously run around and touch every single ounce of scenery in sight just to see if it's an entity apart of the Piklopedia, which again is something that many new players probably won't even think of doing unless knowing them beforehand. Completing the Treasure side is even more grueling, as it requires the player to 100% complete the game and go through some of the toughest caves that are filled with [[ThatOneBoss tough bosses]] and DemonicSpiders just to collect them and obtain their logs.

* ThatOneAchievement: Completing the entirety of the Piklopedia, both creature and treasure catalogs. Certain creatures, like the Golden Candypop Bud, are [[UniqueEnemy very rare encounters that only appear once in the whole game]], so get ready for some tedious backtracking to obtain their catalog. The random plant scenery is also included as well, so prepare to tediously run around and touch every single ounce of scenery you run into just to see if it's an entity in the Piklopedia, something that many new players probably won't even think of doing unless hinted at beforehand. Completing the Treasure side is even more grueling, as it requires the player to 100% complete the game and go through some of the toughest caves that are filled with [[ThatOneBoss tough bosses]] and DemonicSpiders just to collect them and obtain their logs.

* HypeBacklash: Though the game was for the longest time hailed as the best game in the series, newcomers to the franchise, especially those who grew up with ''VideoGame/Pikmin3'', have criticized the game for its unbalanced difficulty and focus on randomly generated caves over the beautifully crafted outdoor sections, said caves also being criticized for [[LuckBasedMission sometimes generating unfair or unoptimal layouts]]. Some have also criticized the game for not having the same isolationist atmosphere or the life-or-death stakes of the first game. The removal of the time limit, which was unanimously seen as a major improvement upon the game's release, is seen by some as a downgrade as it removes the motivation to finish the game quickly[[note]]Defenders of 2, however, will often note that the players making these criticisms are experienced players who never come close to hitting the 30-day time limit in ''1'', and that the time limit in ''3'' is so generous that it's more of a formality than anything. Furthermore, ''4'' also has no time limit, yet doesn't receive these same criticisms from fans).[[/note]]

* HypeBacklash: Though the game was for the longest time hailed as the best game in the series, newcomers to the franchise, especially those who grew up with ''VideoGame/Pikmin3'', have criticized the game for its unbalanced difficulty and focus on randomly generated caves over the beautifully crafted outdoor sections, said caves also being criticized for [[LuckBasedMission sometimes generating unfair or unoptimal layouts]]. Some have also criticized the game for not having the same isolationist atmosphere or the life-or-death stakes of the first game. The removal of the time limit, which was unanimously seen as a major improvement upon the game's release, is seen by some as a downgrade as it removes the motivation to finish the game quickly[[note]]Defenders of 2, however, will often note that the players making these criticisms are experienced players who never come close to hitting the 30-day time limit in ''1'', and that the time limit in ''3'' is so generous that it's more of a formality than anything. Furthermore, ''4'' also has no time limit, yet doesn't receive these same criticisms from fans).[[/note]] It is a rare case where the game started as a SacredCow but is continuing to head towards CondemnedByHistory.

* HypeBacklash: Though the game was for the longest time hailed as the best game in the series, newcomers to the franchise, especially those who grew up with ''VideoGame/Pikmin3'', have criticized the game for its unbalanced difficulty and focus on randomly generated caves over the beautifully crafted outdoor sections, said caves also being criticized for [[LuckBasedMission sometimes generating unfair or unoptimal layouts]]. Some have also criticized the game for not having the same isolationist atmosphere or the life-or-death stakes of the first game. The removal of the time limit, which was unanimously seen as a major improvement upon the game's release, is seen by some as a downgrade as it removes the motivation to finish the game quickly[[note]]Defenders of 2, however, will often note that the players making these criticisms are experienced players who never come close to hitting the 30-day time limit in ''1'', and that the time limit in ''3'' is so generous that it's more of a formality than anything. Furthermore, ''4'' also has no time limit, yet doesn't receive the same criticisms). It is a rare case where the game started as a SacredCow but is continuing to head towards CondemnedByHistory.

* HypeBacklash: Though the game was for the longest time hailed as the best game in the series, newcomers to the franchise, especially those who grew up with ''VideoGame/Pikmin3'', have criticized the game for its unbalanced difficulty and focus on randomly generated caves over the beautifully crafted outdoor sections, said caves also being criticized for [[LuckBasedMission sometimes generating unfair or unoptimal layouts]]. Some have also criticized the game for not having the same isolationist atmosphere or the life-or-death stakes of the first game. The removal of the time limit, which was unanimously seen as a major improvement upon the game's release, is seen by some as a downgrade as it removes the motivation to finish the game quickly[[note]]Defenders of 2, however, will often note that the players making these criticisms are experienced players who never come close to hitting the 30-day time limit in ''1'', and that the time limit in ''3'' is so generous that it's more of a formality than anything. Furthermore, ''4'' also has no time limit, yet doesn't receive the same criticisms).

* HypeBacklash: Though the game was for the longest time hailed as the best game in the series, newcomers to the franchise, especially those who grew up with ''VideoGame/Pikmin3'', have criticized the game for its unbalanced difficulty and focus on randomly generated caves over the beautifully crafted outdoor sections, said caves also being criticized for [[LuckBasedMission sometimes generating unfair or unoptimal layouts]]. Some have also criticized the game for not having the same isolationist atmosphere or the life-or-death stakes of the first game. The removal of the time limit, which was unanimously seen as a major improvement upon the game's release, is seen by some as a downgrade as it removes the motivation to finish the game quickly.

** Whether or not the caves are better in this game or ''Pikmin 4''. Defenders of ''2'' tend to think the caves in ''4'' are too short and easy, while the fixed layouts remove much of their replay value. Detractors, meanwhile, point out the flaws of 2's caves, such as the FakeDifficulty issues and the randomized layouts making it difficult to strategize and plan ahead. As a result, you're unlikely to find fans who see eye to eye on the more difficult caves from ''2'', or the more streamlined ones from ''4''.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: Back when the game first released, the removal of the day limit was seen as a welcome change, and was one of the main selling points of the game due to many finding the day limit in the first game too strict and discouraging exploration. After the release of ''Pikmin 3'', however, this change has steadily been seen in a more negative light due to many players seeing it as a removal of much of the tension and high stakes of the first and third games, and giving little reason to care about multitasking or efficiency since there's no penalty in taking your time. While there is still a part of the fanbase that prefers not having a day limit (which was brought back in the fourth game), it is nowhere near as well received as it was when the game first released.

** The Waterwraith's design has had many fans humorously comparing it to Bubble Buddy from ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' and its rollers to the [[WesternAnimation/TheFlinstones Flintstones']] car.

** The Waterwraith's design has had many fans humorously comparing it to Bubble Buddy and its rollers to the Flintstones' car.

*** To a lesser extent, Citadel of Spiders. While it doesn't stand out too much compared to the others, it's notable for being the point where the game begins to pick up in difficulty, with each sublevel offering a unique set of enemies and hazards to get through, cumulating in a rematch against the Beady Long Legs from the first game. It also helps that this is the first cave where the player has a large variety of Pikmin to choose to bring with them thanks to the newly unlocked Yellow Pikmin.

* BrokenBase:
** The game's difficulty splits the fan base on whether or not it's fair or if it's a case of FakeDifficulty. On one hand, the player has access to a lot of [[GameBreaker overpowered options]] such as Purple Pikmin and Bitter Spray, with the infinite day count letting the player endlessly farm them. On the other hand, a lot of enemies in game are [[DemonicSpiders incredibly lethal]], with the amount of instant death enemies the game can throw at you at once becoming absurd, which is not helped by [[RandomlyGeneratedLevels the randomly generated caves]], which can throw large groups of them together in the same space. This is on top of the number of 'gotcha' traps of bomb rocks/enemies falling from the sky in caves, which can get downright obnoxious in the late game levels. You're very unlikely to find fans who see eye to eye on the game's difficulty.
** Whether or not the caves are better in this game or ''Pikmin 4''. Defenders of ''2'' tend to think the caves in ''4'' are too short and easy, while the fixed layouts remove much of their replay value. Detractors, meanwhile, point out the flaws of 2's caves, such as the FakeDifficulty issues and the randomized layouts making it difficult to strategize and plan ahead. As a result, you're unlikely to find fans who see eye to eye on the more difficult caves from ''2'', or the more streamlined ones from ''4''.

* GoddamnedBoss: The Pileated Snagret is equally as lethal as the Burrowing Snagret, only being able to snatch up three Pikmin at a time. Unlike its cousin, it has more health, hops around instead of staying in one place, and isn't vulnerable for very long before it goes back underground. Fights with it usually take forever because of how hard it is to throw Pikmin on it safely, even when it gets stuck trying to come aboveground; playing too aggressively to kill it faster just lets it eat more Pikmin than it should.

* ThatOneSidequest: Getting the Doomsday Apparatus is easily the most aggravating treasure to obtain since you need to grow 100 Purple Pikmin in order to lift it. Purple Pikmin can only be grown by converting another type via Candypop Bud, making it a tedious process to grow that many. On top of this, even if you use every single Violet Candypop Bud you come across and never lose a Purple at any point, you ''still'' won't have enough, meaning you ''have'' to backtrack to a cave at least once at some point. Even when you do have enough Purples, the treasure itself takes at least a quarter of a day to carry back, meaning you'll be stuck waiting around for it to get there.

** Surprisingly enough, the Submerged Castle, while counting as ThatOneLevel, is also one of the most beloved caves in the whole game. This is mainly for introducing the gimmick of the cave's boss, the Waterwraith, dropping down from the ceiling after a certain amount of time and chasing you throughout the sublevel until you escape, creating a [[NintendoHard very challenging]] yet very thrilling and exhilarating experience of trying to hastily collect treasure before it appears and, once it does appear, trying to swiftly avoid them and make your Pikmin stay away from them. This culminates into the final sublevel where you [[CatharsisFactor get to harvest some Purple Pikmin and finally kick its watery butt for all the torment it caused you.]] It's such an iconic dungeon to the point that it isn't uncommon to [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter see fans being displeased that the other dungeons don't feature the Wraith]], or at least some other gimmick similar to it.
** The Glutton's Kitchen. It's fondly remembered mostly for being a pretty easy BreatherLevel, aside from the random [[DemonicSpiders Spotty Bulbear]] encounter, as well as re-introducing the fan favorite [[RidiculouslyCuteCritter Breadbug enemies]] from the [[VideoGame/Pikmin2001 first game]], the [[FoodPorn delicious food themed treasures]], and for having a very vibrant and colorful [[ToyTime toy house]] setting that makes it stand out amongst the other dungeons. In fact, some people even welcome the random [[DemonicSpiders Spotty Bulbear]] encounter, stating that it keeps the cave from [[ItsEasySoItSucks feeling too easy]].

** The Shower Room. It has a really unique looking blue-tiled bathroom esthetic that makes it stand out against the other caves, is home to the beautiful and soothing [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WpVvCsqpQw&pp=ygUPamVsbHlmbG9hdCBwb29s "Jellyfloat Pool" song]], and is also a generally balanced cave that utilizes all 4 Pikmin elements equally. It's filled with watery hazards, as to be expected, but also occasionally sprinkles in the other three elements to keep the player on their toes and give each sublevel variety to prevent them from feeling [[ItsTheSameNowItSucks too similar and repetitive]].

** The Glutton's Kitchen. It's fondly remembered mostly for being a pretty easy BreatherLevel, aside from the random [[DemonicSpiders Spotty Bulbear]] encounter, as well as re-introducing the fan favorite [[RidiculouslyCuteCritter Breadbug enemies]] from the [[VideoGame/Pikmin2001 first game]], the [[FoodPorn delicious food themed treasures]], and for having a very vibrant and colorful [[ToyTime toy house]] setting that makes it stand out amongst the other dungeons.

** The Shower Room. It has a really unique looking blue-tiled bathroom esthetic that makes it stand out against the other caves, and is also a generally balanced cave that utilizes all 4 Pikmin elements equally. It's filled with watery hazards, as to be expected, but also occasionally sprinkles in the other three elements to keep the player on their toes and give each sublevel variety to prevent them from feeling [[ItsTheSameNowItSucks too similar and repetitive]].

* SelfImposedChallenge: It's possible to repay the debt by repeatedly going through Emergence Cave, since enemies will respawn and their corpses can be collected for a small amount of money. Key word is it's ''possible'', but actually doing so is a whole different story. Since the most you can get from the enemies in the cave is around 22 pokos, this means you must trek through the cave over ''413 times'' in order to grind enough pokos to reach 10,000.

** The Snagret Hole, for the [[SceneryPorn beautiful and serene looking first sublevel]] (a bird house up in a tree), the awesome [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Za1mP75f-j0 background music]], and the clever usage of [[AmbushEnemy ambushing enemies]] that, similar to the Submerged Castle, makes for a [[NintendoHard really challenging]] yet really thrilling and exhilarating dungeon to play through.

** Surprisingly enough, the Submerged Castle, while counting as ThatOneLevel, is also one of the most beloved caves in the whole game. This is mainly for introducing the gimmick of the cave's boss, the Waterwraith, dropping down from the ceiling after a certain amount of time and chasing you throughout the sublevel until you escape, creating a [[NintendoHard very challenging]] yet very thrilling and exhilarating experience of trying to hastily collect treasure before it appears and, once it does appear, trying to swiftly avoid them and make your Pikmin stay away from the them. This culminates into the final sublevel where you [[CatharsisFactor get to harvest some Purple Pikmin and finally kick its watery butt for all the torment it caused you.]] It's such an iconic dungeon to the point that it isn't uncommon to [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter see fans being displeased that the other dungeons don't feature the Wraith]], or at least some other gimmick similar to it.

** The Shower Room. It has a really unique looking blue-tiled bathroom esthetic that makes it stand out against the other caves, and is also a generally balanced cave that utilizes all 4 Pikmin elements equally. It's filled with watery hazards, as to be expected, but also occasionally sprinkles in the other four elements to keep the player on their toes and give each sublevel variety to prevent them from feeling [[ItsTheSameNowItSucks too similar and repetitive]].