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What's the best Pikmin game?
The US Nintendo eShop currently has sales for Pikmin 1, Pikmin 2, Pikmin 1 + 2 bundle, Pikmin 3 Deluxe, and Pikmin 4.
I've never played a Pikmin game before. Which would y'all recommend if I were to only buy one of these options?
This is one of my favorite game series. They're all fun, but my order is exactly the order of release.
Pikmin 1: Best atmosphere, good balance of difficulty. Downside is rougher mechanics (though if you're into mods, there's a Pikmin 1 remake in the Pikmin 2 engine that is very good).
Pikmin 2: Very fun, but can be very challenging. Caves are a totally different kind of gameplay (combat focused with limited numbers, but unlimited time). The 2P mode is great (both battle and challenges). Piklopedia is a really fun piece too, the flavor text you get for the enemies is a great read.
Pikmin 3: More similar to 1, but much easier. Probably the most beautiful of the series still. Mission mode in this is amazing and the best side mode of the series in my opinion. 2P is also good.
Pikmin 4: A very fun game, but far too easy. The recent patches that added better difficulty and the swarm back in help a bit, though. This brings back the cave style gameplay, but is more balanced with overworld gameplay compared to Pikmin 2. I did like the Dandori battles too (even if a little trivial, and super easy on hard mode due to the AI not being smart enough to deal with hard mode). My biggest complaint is the 3-type limit, and no respawning enemies. Still a great game.
Since you haven't played before, I'd say 1+2 is the best bang for your buck since it's IMO the best of the series, and two games. You can't go too wrong with any of them though.
I haven't played all of them so it's hard to say what's best, but I had great fun with Pikmin 4.
Edit: I went looking for listicles and found no consensus beyond "it's Pikmin, you can't really go wrong".