Pikmin is such a formative piece of media to me and picking a fave is impossible for me. I love all the games so dearly! Pikmin 1 had this desolate and lonely kinda vibe, you’re on this unknown planet all by yourself with these peculiar alien creatures and environments, while Pikmin 2’s difficulty and addition of procedurally generated cave systems was a welcome challenge. Pikmin 3’s graphical style was pure eyecandy with all the textures, and having 3 captains meant a greater opportunity for optimisation strats. Pikmin 4 was like a successor to Pikmin 2 in pretty much every way, though I’d love to see the addition of enhanced difficulty sometime in the future!
Pikmin 2 is my fave because it’s actually challenging towards the end and I love Louie and the President. It was one of the first games I played through on my Steam Deck.
Pikmin 4 is close behind though. Absolutely gorgeous and just straight up fun. I really enjoy the variety with the night missions and the dandori stuff. Not gonna lie, I was bummed they retconned the entire story.