The latest addition to the pantheon of obscenely long-titled Nintendo Switch 2 Editions is a strange one. Pikmin 4 - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Dandori Academy takes the Switch 1 game that I have long considered ripe for a new hardware touch-up and does...not a lot with it. It's a chance to revisit one of Nintendo's finest games from the last generation, and the upgrade's price of admission (£7.99 / $9.99) is admittedly a small one, but on the 'new' front, I'm left wanting more.

Let's start with the usual 'Switch 2 Edition' bells and whistles. Pikmin 4 now plays in stunning native 4K resolution docked, and there's added GameShare support for those who want to play some cross-console Dandori Battles with a pal.

If you ask me, Pikmin 4 was already one of the best-looking titles on Switch 1, and the resolution bump doesn't feel transformative. That said, there's no denying that it's even more of a looker on the newer hardware.

Strangely, the typical Switch 2 givens of a 60fps boost and Mouse Mode are not included this time around. While the former is disappointing, the latter downright confuses me. Nintendo has crowbarred this control scheme in everywhere, but it's absent from a game with a stick-controlled pointer? Even in the co-op Pebble Pitcher mode? Madness!

There's also a new Howl-Out feature that lets you shout commands to Oatchi via the Switch 2 microphone. It's a sweet, if occasionally inconsistent, little bonus that I quickly turned off after realising my real-world dog was getting miffed at me shouting "Good Pup!" without giving him a stroke on the head.

The big newbie is the titular Dandori Academy, where you're tasked with clearing a stage's treasure as quickly as possible. You practice during the week, then take a weekend 'exam', unlocking various medals and in-game rewards in the process. The Dandori stages were a highlight of the base game, and it's great to have even more of them to play here. The three difficulty options provide a welcome challenge in the later stages, and with 72 of them arriving over the next year, it's a wonderful excuse to return to one of my favourite Switch 1 games.

The mode's rollout, however, is a little confusing. 72 new stages sound great on paper, but that means only six new challenges are available each month. If you happen to ace most of them on the first exam weekend, you're left with three weeks of nothing new. Sure, it gives me a prime reason to come back to Pikmin 4 on the regular in 2027, but it does leave things feeling rather slight at launch.

Overall, £8/$10 is a small price to pay for some minor new features and a fun little mode that'll keep me entertained over the coming year, but it's more of a budding shoot right now than the full-bloom upgrade I had dreamed of.