Nintendo's Pikmin series of real-time strategy games didn't start out as a cooperative series. The first game was single-player only. That changed when Pikmin 2 arrived on the Gamecube way back in the innocent year of 2004, adding a cooperative Challenge Mode. Switch owners can now experience that classic co-op razzle dazzle, because Pikmin 1 and Pikmin 2 have just been released as digital downloads. Buy them individually (2 is the one to get) or together for a nice discount, play the heck out of them, and then you'll be ready for the upcoming Pikmin 4.

Some new footage of Nintendo’s upcoming Wii U Pikmin title, Pikmin 3, has surfaced on the internet, and we’re excited to show off some more of its co-op gameplay. From the looks of things, there will be a crap ton of new, giant monsters to encounter and defeat. Players have got to hand it to Nintendo to make Pikmin games look so natural in both their environments and alien life forms.

The announcement of Pikmin 3 at E3 was one game we couldn’t wait to learn more about. With the Wii U just months away from release, we wanted to grab as much info on Nintendo’s next-gen, co-op titles as possible. From the big Nintendo cheese himself, Shigeru Miyamoto, we got the inside scoop on Pikmin 3's co-op capabilities.