Pikmin 4 – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Dandori Academy review
Posted on November 13, 2026 by Ethan in Reviews, Switch 2
System: Switch 2
Release date:November 12, 2026
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
2026 has been a pretty good year for Nintendo. In addition to plenty of new games, the company has also released Nintendo Switch 2 Editions that have breathed new life into their existing titles. Super Mario Bros. Wonder received much-needed extra boss battles, the Xenoblade Chronicles series saw big performance and resolution boosts alongside bonus content, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons finally added bulk crafting, among other things. So what would we want to see out of a Pikmin 4 Nintendo Switch 2 Edition? Increased resolution, performance, and mouse controls, right? It feels like a rather straightforward list of changes, but as it turns out, this version only adds one of those things and not much else.
Back in November 2025, Nintendo randomly released a free update for Pikmin 4 – which is separate from the Switch 2 Edition that just launched. This update added difficulty levels and a field camera to take photos with, neither of which were present in the base game. I remember finding it strange that these changes weren’t part of a formal Nintendo Switch 2 Edition – but it’s for the best, since it means Switch 1 players get them too. Regardless, I held out hope that Nintendo would follow up with a true Switch 2 Edition one day. And that ended up happening!
Indeed, The Nintendo Switch 2 Edition boosts the game’s resolution up to 1080p in handheld and all the way up to 4K in docked. Pikmin 4 is a really pretty game, so that extra resolution works wonders for its aesthetics. It makes the environments pop in a way that they didn’t before, and it’s easier than ever to appreciate the craftsmanship that went into designing all of the game’s locations.
Unfortunately, though, the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition does not increase the frame rate at all – neither in docked nor handheld, which makes me wonder why they even made this upgrade. The game would’ve been amazing at 60 frames per second, no doubt, especially alongside the increased resolution. Furthermore, there are no mouse controls included here. You would think the game would let you use the mouse to call back idle Pikmin or something of the sort, but the functionality has been completely omitted. It does, however, add voice commands that you can use to order Oatchi around. It’s a cute addition and all, but kind of a pointless one at that – it’s easy enough to give Oatchi commands without having to speak into the microphone.
The “big” new addition here is Dandori Academy. It’s separate from story mode, and sees you completing practice courses in preparation for “exams” on weekends. This is really odd to me – why lock content to only a few real-world days? I get that it’s to have you keep coming back, but in practice, I can’t imagine anyone setting alarms every weekend so they remember to take the new exams. The rewards for clearing them are photo frames you can use in photo mode and Dandori ranks and titles. It’s nothing too essential, then – thankfully, Pikmin 4’s gameplay and mechanics are still as fun as ever, and clearing the challenges is at least satisfying. But a lot of the levels I played seem like they’re either ripped from the base game or Pikmin Bloom – maybe future weeks will have unique courses, but right now I find the new additions extremely underwhelming.
Even with the knowledge that new exams will become available weekly, I found myself saying “that’s it?” after only a couple of hours with the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition. The lack of mouse controls and frame rate increases make the $10 upgrade feel like filler, to say the least. Pikmin 4 itself is still a great game, and an easy recommendation – but this version is about as skippable as it gets unless you really want the upgraded 4K visuals. Even then, the presentation isn’t as good as it should be since the game still runs at 30 frames per second. Load times don’t even feel much faster here; levels still take a good while to finish loading. If you absolutely love Pikmin 4 and its gameplay, I can see the challenges holding your interest for a while. But will we really be playing the challenges for six months straight? Given that a good amount of them seem to be reused stages anyway… probably not.
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