The recently-released Switch port of Pikmin 2 has removed the name brands from the game, effectively taking out the product placement that was present in the original release. For the uninitiated, the Pikmin games are about a group of explorers who look for treasure on a mysterious planet that is heavily implied to be Earth.
In Pikmin 2, players take control of Captain Olimar and his partner Louie as they collect "treasure" in the form of various everyday, real-world items. This includes things like Duracell batteries, Skippy Peanut Butter, Yoo-Hoo, A&W Root Beer bottle caps, and much more. While people tend to dislike product placement in video games, it worked for Pikmin 2 and for many, it was part of the game's charm. Unfortunately for those that enjoyed the product placement in Pikmin 2, it's all been sliced out for the Switch port.
Nintendo recently shadow dropped Switch ports of both Pikmin and Pikmin 2. The games are basically the same as fans remember, but with HD graphics so they look sharper running on the Switch and newer TVs. However, all the brand names and product placement has been removed from Pikmin 2 and replaced with generic objects. This will no doubt disappoint purists who were hoping for a truly authentic Pikmin 2 experience on the Switch, but others will likely appreciate that they can play the critically-acclaimed game on a modern platform at all.
Notably, this isn't the first time that Nintendo has ported Pikmin 2 to another platform. A Wii version of Pikmin 2 was released in 2009 in most territories, though those in North America had to wait until 2012 to get their hands on the game. The Wii version of Pikmin 2 was mostly unchanged, but it added motion controls to the mix. It's possible that the North American version of the Wii port took longer to come out due to Nintendo needing to regain licensing rights for the brand name products, but that's just speculation at this time.
It would make sense that Nintendo would want to avoid having to re-license all these brand name products again for another Pikmin 2 port. It's possible that the Big N will want to avoid similar headaches in the future, so it will be interesting to see if the upcoming Pikmin 4 has any brand names of its own.
We know from the Pikmin 4 trailers that have been released so far that the new game does at least have Nintendo products for players to collect as "treasure," like a Game Boy Advance console, for instance. Pikmin franchise fans will find out what else the game has in store when it launches on July 21.
Pikmin 2 is available on the GameCube, Wii, and Switch.
