Pikmin 4 player character

The main character of Pikmin 4 (referred to by various nouns) is a customizable character whose name and appearance can be changed in a character creator on each save file. They are the newest recruit to the Rescue Corps, sent to rescue them from a crash landing after trying to rescue Captain Olimar for the same reason. They, along with Oatchi, are the only playable leaders in the game's Story Mode. Their ID card mentions they are from the planet Karut, which cannot be changed or customized. Their appearance can also be altered mid-story after rescuing the castaway Puddle.

Unlike previous characters, this character is silent for the majority of gameplay, only speaking with other characters via text prompts selected by the player (usually only between 2 to 3 options).

As this character is fully customizable, much of the game's promotional material as well as the game's own introduction addresses the character by addressing the viewer in second-person perspective (such as saying "you" or "you're"). Additionally, only gender-neutral pronouns and other terms are used when referring to them.

The default design of the character also appears in the Pikmin comic.

Appearance
The default design that is shown in trailers, promotional art, and in game demonstrations is obtained by choosing the first option in all of the character creator's steps. In this style, they have a full head of unkempt red hair, one long eyelash atop each eye, rosy cheeks, a small spherical nose, a small circular open mouth, an orange antenna light, as well as a full red spacesuit with white gloves and boots.

Biography
The player character of is the newest recruit of the Rescue Corps, who is sent to PNF-404 to rescue them from a crash landing while they were trying to rescue Captain Olimar. They must also find the rest of the rescue corps on this planet as well as finding as much castaways they can.

Customization
These are all the option available in the character creator. The choice of available faces and haircuts depends on the chosen body type.

Upon completing all of Puddle's side missions, the Leafling body type becomes available along with a corresponding set of faces.

The other Rescue Corps members will wear uniforms in the same spacesuit color that the player selected. Additionally, the S.S. Shepherd, S.S. Beagle and Oatchi's collar will also share the color. Additionally, if the spacesuit color is the same as a castaway's spacesuit color, the castaway's spacesuit color will change.

Naming
Being a customizable character meant to serve as the player's, this character does not have a fixed name. Their name is set in the character creation screen by the player. Most of the time characters need to refer to them in-game, they will do so by this name.

The character is otherwise referred to using nouns such as:
 * Player avatar or simply your avatar in the game's control menus
 * Newbie Rescue Officer, Rescue Officer, or newbie in the Pikmin comic and by Rescue Corps members (notably Dingo)
 * Rookie by Rescue corps member Dingo, who even refers to them as "our star rookie". Captain Olimar also refers to the player character as "a rookie" in the prologue.
 * New blood by Rescue corps member Yonny
 * Explorer on the game's North American website
 * Avatar internally.

Trivia

 * While the game allows the player to give their character the same name as another character, nothing special happens in this situation.
 * If the player customizes their character to look identical to another character, then that character will point this out in their first conversation. It should be noted that this interaction can only be seen once.
 * The color of the spacesuit the player chooses directly affects the coloring of character and object textures such as the Rescue Corps spacesuits and Oatchi's collar in-game and in menus and the ID Info Cards.
 * The home planet of the main character, Karut, is named after Nintendo's original name, Nintendo Karuta. It also refers to Japanese playing cards.
 * When the player chooses their character's face type, a faint sound very similar to the option confirmation sound will play.