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Forums - Nintendo Discussion - Digital Foundry: Pikmin 4

h2ohno on 07 August 2023

You don't have to be a Pikmin fan to appreciate the improvements Pikmin 4 makes over Pikmin 3 graphically. I'm not a Pikmin fan at all and I'm very impressed by Pikmin 4's graphics. I've never played a single Pikmin game, the gameplay doesn't interest me enough to spend money on it. But I do like seeing footage of the 3rd and 4th games based on the quality of their visuals alone.



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KLXVER on 07 August 2023
h2ohno said:

You don't have to be a Pikmin fan to appreciate the improvements Pikmin 4 makes over Pikmin 3 graphically. I'm not a Pikmin fan at all and I'm very impressed by Pikmin 4's graphics. I've never played a single Pikmin game, the gameplay doesn't interest me enough to spend money on it. But I do like seeing footage of the 3rd and 4th games based on the quality of their visuals alone.

You should really check one out if you have the chance. I never thought I would like the gameplay either, but its just something you have to experience. There really isnt anything else quite like it.



NintendoPie on 07 August 2023
KLXVER said:

It does look good, but I seem to remember Pikmin 3 looking better on Wii U. Maybe its just because it was the first time the series was i HD and that had a big impact on me. I dont know. I was just expecting it to look a little better I guess. Great game though.

when i first played the demo, i had thoughts similar to yours. however, after playing the actual game and then looking back at pikmin 3 i felt like i was too quick to judge. pikmin 3 compared to 4 looks so drab now and the textures are clearly worse. 

like curl said, i think some of it has to do with the games we're comparing pikmin 4 to now vs what pikmin 3 was up against. overall, it seems so much more colorful, vibrant, and dynamic than pikmin 3 and the camera angle feels more intimate so i really appreciate those minor details more.



curl-6 on 07 August 2023

It really is a nice looking game and one of the best examples of UE4 on Switch.
Not every day we see a Nintendo game with anti-aliasing these days either, usually they are weirdly allergic to it.

As cool as it is to see what Nintendo can do with Unreal, the nerd in me hopes they don't ditch their in-house engine(s) as in this age of nearly everything being Unreal, it's kinda cool to see what can be done with proprietary tech.

JRPGfan said:
Otter said:

Not just for a Pikmin game, its easily one of the best looking Switch games. I'd say it's in competition for No.1, the somewhat low resolution is the only down side.

Luigi's Mansion 3 is cleaner but also less ambitious

Thats a matter of tastes.... I guess.
I think theres alot of games that look visually more impressive than Pikmin 4, on the switch.

Super Mario Odyssey, Paper Mario The Origami King, Dragon Quest XI S, Final Fantasy 12 - The Zodiac Age, Octopath Traveler 1+2, Persona 5 Royal , Mario + Rabbids games,... ect ect.

It comes down to art style, and preferances I think.
But pikmin, while looking good compaired to older pikmin games, just doesnt wow me at all.
I think unless your a fan of pikmin games, these improvements to graphics are just going to brush off most people.

I mean, to each their own, but isn't Final Fantasy 12 on Switch a touched up PS2 game?

I'm not a Pikmin fan personally (RTS just isn't my cup of tea) but what they've accomplished here graphically is still something I can appreciate.



Alex_The_Hedgehog on 07 August 2023
curl-6 said:

It really is a nice looking game and one of the best examples of UE4 on Switch.
Not every day we see a Nintendo game with anti-aliasing these days either, usually they are weirdly allergic to it.

As cool as it is to see what Nintendo can do with Unreal, the nerd in me hopes they don't ditch their in-house engine(s) as in this age of nearly everything being Unreal, it's kinda cool to see what can be done with proprietary tech.

JRPGfan said:

Thats a matter of tastes.... I guess.
I think theres alot of games that look visually more impressive than Pikmin 4, on the switch.

Super Mario Odyssey, Paper Mario The Origami King, Dragon Quest XI S, Final Fantasy 12 - The Zodiac Age, Octopath Traveler 1+2, Persona 5 Royal , Mario + Rabbids games,... ect ect.

It comes down to art style, and preferances I think.
But pikmin, while looking good compaired to older pikmin games, just doesnt wow me at all.
I think unless your a fan of pikmin games, these improvements to graphics are just going to brush off most people.

I mean, to each their own, but isn't Final Fantasy 12 on Switch a touched up PS2 game?

I'm not a Pikmin fan personally (RTS just isn't my cup of tea) but what they've accomplished here graphically is still something I can appreciate.

Final Fantasy XII - The Zodiac Age is a remaster. It also came to PC and PS4/XOne.



My Brazilian blog about Super Smash Bros.

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curl-6 on 07 August 2023
Alex_The_Hedgehog said:
curl-6 said:

It really is a nice looking game and one of the best examples of UE4 on Switch.
Not every day we see a Nintendo game with anti-aliasing these days either, usually they are weirdly allergic to it.

As cool as it is to see what Nintendo can do with Unreal, the nerd in me hopes they don't ditch their in-house engine(s) as in this age of nearly everything being Unreal, it's kinda cool to see what can be done with proprietary tech.

I mean, to each their own, but isn't Final Fantasy 12 on Switch a touched up PS2 game?

I'm not a Pikmin fan personally (RTS just isn't my cup of tea) but what they've accomplished here graphically is still something I can appreciate.

Final Fantasy XII - The Zodiac Age is a remaster. It also came to PC and PS4/XOne.

I know that, all I'm saying is it's a remaster of a PS2 game that's been touched up rather than remade, so graphically its not exactly a showcase.



Alex_The_Hedgehog on 07 August 2023
curl-6 said:
Alex_The_Hedgehog said:

Final Fantasy XII - The Zodiac Age is a remaster. It also came to PC and PS4/XOne.

I know that, all I'm saying is it's a remaster of a PS2 game that's been touched up rather than remade, so graphically its not exactly a showcase.

Oh, yeah, that's true.

Final Fantasy XII is a really beautiful game on PS2. I haven't tried the remaster yet.



My Brazilian blog about Super Smash Bros.

Chrkeller on 08 August 2023

Pikmin 4 is a great game and sold well. I'm optimistic for pikmin 5 not taking a decade.

I'm ready for the next switch.  While it isn't a guarantee I'm hoping for 60 fps standard from Nintendo.  

I 100% completed P4 this past weekend.  It isn't the best in the series but still really good.  It gets unbalanced towards the end.

Last edited by Chrkeller - on 08 August 2023

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JRPGfan on 08 August 2023
curl-6 said:
Alex_The_Hedgehog said:

Final Fantasy XII - The Zodiac Age is a remaster. It also came to PC and PS4/XOne.

I know that, all I'm saying is it's a remaster of a PS2 game that's been touched up rather than remade, so graphically its not exactly a showcase.

vs:

I will say Pikmin wins on ground textures.
I just think its not that visually appealing to me.  Those simple design cutsie characters...

Like if you compair the face of one the models in both games, which are more impressive?



pikashoe on 08 August 2023
JRPGfan said:
curl-6 said:

I know that, all I'm saying is it's a remaster of a PS2 game that's been touched up rather than remade, so graphically its not exactly a showcase.

vs:

I will say Pikmin wins on ground textures.
I just think its not that visually appealing to me.  Those simple design cutsie characters...

Like if you compair the face of one the models in both games, which are more impressive?

Odd choices for screenshots, but yes pikmin is very clearly way ahead visually on a technical level. As for faces from what I've seen of ff12 faces are probably one of it's worst aspects.