I'm not sure about the Orange/Tangerine as I can't remember what area you are describing. I would guess it involves throwing the other characters across things, from one platform to another? Good luck.

As awesome as 3D World is, I'm sort of excited about the fact that Pikmin 3 is just sitting here waiting for me to finish 3D World.

@Marsh

I think so, too..but. I dunno, I'll devote an entire day to that specific fruit. For some reason, I spent the last 1/10 of a day -- two days in a row -- looking at it KINDA. If you happen to take a gander at it, lemme know. Thanks anyways.

EDIT- Got it. Didn't think I could make the toss, -or- that they'd turn automatically mid-air, but they do. Dig it!

@Mr_Mustache I remember thinking the same too.

@Hero_Of_Hyrule I will read this in full later, thanks for the review! I played them a little already, was really confused by the X-mas level's layout in Treasure mode, I'm glad I wasn't alone.

Just beat this about an hour ago. That last fight was BRUTAL. I think I lost like 300 guys, haha!! GROAN.

Really wanted to get out under 50 days with 50+ in fruit, but I had to settle for 51 and 48. Blech.

Got the last bit of DLC available (and then discovered that Batman has new DLC, too? Sweet!)

Played a bunch of this in co-op Treasure Hunt with my buddy yesterday for the first time in awhile. Treasure Mode is still as addicting as ever, and I'll probably pick up the new DLC down the line. I played the Christmas stage once and enjoyed it well enough, but I agree that some of it is hard to progress. I think I can only take so many "throw the captain" moments in a stage before it starts to feel like too much.

@Mr_Mustache

What'd you thiiiiiiink?

I put the game aside after finishing the main game, but I'm getting more serious about the missions, now. The treasure ones are pretty fun! I've now platinum'd three of the original missions, and I even platinum'd the first mission in co-op with the girlfriend, who's starting to warm up to the game as she feels more confident about her skills.

I'm seeing quite a bit of "anti-time limit" sentiment on my twitter feed concerning this game and Super Mario 3D World's later bonus levels. As if time limits weren't a valid game design conceit. I don't know about you, but I really disagree with that. Most of the time, I feel games should be unnerving. It's part of the fun. And it's one of very few ways to force a player to push his skills to the limit, and get better.

And in the case of Pikmin specifically, it's the whole point of the game: effective resource management with a time limit breathing down your neck. Asking for the time limit to be removed is akin to saying you'd like cover shooters if only the enemies didn't throw grenades at you or sneaked up on you while you're hiding. It's missing the whole point.

@Guillaume

I agree with you, for the most part.

But some people don't want to have that pressure, they just want to play a game and have fun. Simple fun, not "unnerving" fun.

Sure. I'm not saying strict time limits should be in every game. There should be all sorts of games for all sorts of tastes. But the anti-time limit people seem to be of the opinion that time limits suck the fun out of a game no matter what, are a cheap wa to artificially raise difficulty, and should be done away with. Or maybe I'm reading too much into the comments of people who couldn't get into Pikmin 3's missions.

But in Mario as well as Pikmin, the strict time limits are only found in optional challenges, anyway.

Yeah, I love Pikmin 3's missions (probably even moreso than the main game). The story mode of Pik3 eases up on the timer for sure, outside of the end-of-day stuff, so I don't see what the big deal is with having the challenge modes be less than a dozen minutes long. It's addictive and challenging to go for the platinum, especially in the DLC ones.

I do kind of agree about SM3DW's timers, though, at least on the more exploratory levels. The speed run stages (with 100 seconds or less) are built specifically around being fast and end up being great though.

@TriforceBun

I JUST LOST MY WHOLE PERFECTLY ARTICULATED POST. F YOU, NEGATIVE WORLD.

ARGH.

-Haven't dug around in Mission yet, I find them difficult
-Game looked great, fruit is life like, juice splash is cool
-Multi-tasking didn't feel as good as it could've, I maybe would've like 4 way split screen on each character

*sigh*, I don't know what else I said. I'm totally sour now. Is there something specific you wanted to know about?

Guillaume said:

Sure. I'm not saying strict time limits should be in every game. There should be all sorts of games for all sorts of tastes. But the anti-time limit people seem to be of the opinion that time limits suck the fun out of a game no matter what, are a cheap wa to artificially raise difficulty, and should be done away with. Or maybe I'm reading too much into the comments of people who couldn't get into Pikmin 3's missions.

But in Mario as well as Pikmin, the strict time limits are only found in optional challenges, anyway.

Well if those people want to get rid of time limits entirely - from any game - then....

GameDadGrant said:

Guillaume said:

Sure. I'm not saying strict time limits should be in every game. There should be all sorts of games for all sorts of tastes. But the anti-time limit people seem to be of the opinion that time limits suck the fun out of a game no matter what, are a cheap wa to artificially raise difficulty, and should be done away with. Or maybe I'm reading too much into the comments of people who couldn't get into Pikmin 3's missions.

But in Mario as well as Pikmin, the strict time limits are only found in optional challenges, anyway.

Well if those people want to get rid of time limits entirely - from any game - then....

I wouldn't mind seeing the Time Limits dialed back a bit on Pikmin for the Missions. 7 minutes is gone like *that*, but I have followed up my first attempt with a DRASTICALLY better score on my 2nd attempts. That's how stuff is supposed to work, isn't it??

@Mr_Mustache

Yep, that's what makes it addictive--that feeling of improvement and planning things out better! It's not 7 minutes for all of them though--they can range from 7 up to 12 or so minutes.

How are you guys faring in the DLC missions? I managed to platinum by myself the five treasure missions that came with the game, and then got the 5 platinumed co-op with the girlfriend. It was challenging, but we did it.

We're doing the 5 remixed stages now and holy hell, the difficulty spike is absurd! We're not even sure platinums are possible, even co-op. But they must be, given the insane scores on the leaderboards!

I suck at the DLC, it's too dang hard! I looked on Youtube for help but there aren't many videos showing platinum. Co-op is so much dang fun.

So yeah, been using my holiday to play a bit of this. Of course the first thing I noticed:



Like Australia wasn't deadly enough already?

Dang, Platinuming the DLC is tough as nails! I think this might actually be my favorite Wii U game this year.

I just picked this game up last night. This will be my first Pikmin game as I didn't get around to checking them out back in the GameCube days.

Got a couple of questions before I get started:

1. What's the better controller for this game? Game pad or Wii-mote/nunchuk?

2. Any general tips/strategies I should know before jumping in for the first time, stuff that I don't know because I didn't play Pikmin 1 or 2?

@TheBigG753

1. Remote and nunchuk all the way. You get way more freedom when flinging your Pikmin.

2. The game should teach you what you need to know as you progress through the game. Read every little data cartridge that you find, they'll teach you the basics (yellow pikmin are better at digging, red pikmin are better at fighting, etc.).