Pikmin 4 Switch 2 Edition review: 84 on Metacritic, still 30fps

The complaint that comes up most in the reviews we read isn't about Pikmin 4 itself. It's the calendar. Dandori Academy has 72 stages, but Nintendo hands out six a month and only lets you sit each exam on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday, so the headline mode is mostly still to come.

Pikmin 4 Switch 2 Edition reviews: what critics say

Pikmin 4 Switch 2 Edition reviews are positive but cooler than the original's: an 84 on Metacritic from 22 critics, with 20 positive and 2 mixed reviews, as of November 11. The original Switch release sits at 87 from 123 critics. Reviews went live on Tuesday, November 10, two days before the Pikmin 4 Switch 2 Edition release date.

Player 2 (100) and Loot Level Chill (95) top Metacritic's list. Nintendo Life's Jim Norman calls the upgrade "more of a budding shoot right now than the full-bloom upgrade I had dreamed of." Game Informer's Kyle Hilliard says Dandori Academy "is not a strong incentive to return if you already played the game."

Is Pikmin 4 Switch 2 Edition 60fps?

No. Pikmin 4 Switch 2 Edition still runs at 30fps on Switch 2, according to the reviews from My Nintendo News ("still locked to 30fps"), Nintendo Insider and Vooks, and Nintendo Life says the usual 60fps boost isn't included. Nintendo doesn't state a frame rate. Its listings promise "enhanced resolutions up to 4K in TV Mode" and "improved high-resolution visuals in both TV mode and handheld mode," and the US store text mentions "performance enhancements" without saying what they are. Game Informer also lists "improved performance" but gives no figure. The campaign's gameplay is untouched: Vooks says the main story has "no additional locations, collectibles or enemies."

The graphics improvement is resolution: My Nintendo News reports a jump from 900p to native 4K in TV mode and from 720p to 1080p in handheld mode. How it plays at 30fps depends on who you ask. Vooks says the game "remains perfectly playable" and Nintendo Insider says "things ran smoothly," while Nintenduo mentions "some performance hiccups" in its Metacritic summary and Hobby Consolas says it hoped for more optimized performance.

Nintendo Life and Nintendo Insider also point out there's no mouse control mode, which Nintendo Life finds strange for a game with a stick-controlled pointer.

How much is the Pikmin 4 Switch 2 Edition upgrade?

The Pikmin 4 Switch 2 Edition upgrade pack costs $9.99 in the US, £7.99 in the UK and €9.99 in Germany and France, per Nintendo's eShop price data, and you need the full Switch version of Pikmin 4 to use it. In Japan it's ¥1,000. Nintendo took pre-orders for the upgrade pack ahead of launch (Japan's Nintendo Store says the digital full edition can't be pre-ordered there), and its Ver. 2.0.0 update notes say upgrade pack owners can play from November 12.

The full edition is $69.99 for the physical copy at My Nintendo Store in the US. The US eShop hadn't priced the digital version yet. Prices below are from Nintendo's eShop price data on November 11.

By our arithmetic, buying the Switch game and the upgrade separately costs exactly the same as the full edition in Australia, New Zealand and Japan, one cent less in Germany and France (€69.98) and in the US against the physical copy ($69.98), and £1.01 less in the UK (£57.98 against £58.99).

What does Dandori Academy add?

Dandori Academy is a new mode of timed treasure-collecting stages: 72 in total, released six a month, with exams held each week on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, per Nintendo's UK listing. You can practise as often as you like but get one exam attempt per week, and medals unlock rewards such as user icons.

At launch there are six stages in two groups, each with Elementary, Advanced and Graduate difficulty, according to My Nintendo News and Vooks. Practising earns retry tickets, and an online leaderboard ranks your score. Nintendo's update notes say an internet connection is required to take exams and to download new stages. Nintendo Life sums up the catch: ace the first exam weekend and "you're left with three weeks of nothing new."

The Switch 2 Edition also adds nine voice commands for Oatchi through the Switch 2's built-in microphone, and GameShare for Dandori Battles, so a friend without the game can play locally or online through GameChat. Online GameChat needs a Nintendo Switch Online membership, per Nintendo's listing.

Reviewers are mixed on the voice feature. Vooks found it could trigger commands without anything being said, and Nintendo Life's reviewer turned it off after his real-world dog got "miffed" at hearing "Good Pup!" with no stroke on the head. My Nintendo News found it "more fun than expected." Nintendo UK's overview trailer shows the new modes.

Is there a physical copy, and is it a game-key card?

Yes, there's a physical edition at $69.99 that ships on Thursday, November 12, per My Nintendo Store. The North American box says it "includes the Nintendo Switch game and the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition upgrade pack," and nowhere on the box or Nintendo's listings is it called a game-key card.

Nintendo UK says that if the physical game card goes into an original Switch, it plays the Switch version without the Switch 2 features. The digital version needs an estimated 12.8 GB on Switch 2, per Nintendo's US and UK store pages, and the upgrade pack alone is listed at 1.2 GB. Saves carry over: Game Informer's Hilliard transferred his file from the Switch version, and Nintendo says the free demo's save moves to either version.

There's no paid DLC on top of this. Nintendo's US listing has no add-on content, and its update notes describe the Dandori Academy stages as distributed for download to the Switch 2 Edition, with no listing selling them separately. Relaxed and Fierce difficulty, Decor Pikmin and the Field Camera came in a free update in 2025, per My Nintendo News, so they aren't new here.

What we don't know yet

• The unlock hour: Nintendo's eShop lists only November 12.
• Whether the physical card holds the Switch 2 Edition data or downloads it.
• The US digital price of the full edition.
• Whether Dandori Academy exams need a paid Nintendo Switch Online membership, beyond the internet connection Nintendo lists.

Sources

• Nintendo: US eShop listing
• Nintendo: upgrade pack listing
• Nintendo UK: Switch 2 Edition page
• Nintendo Support: Ver. 2.0.0 notes
• Metacritic: critic reviews
• Nintendo Life: review round-up