Reference

At times, Pikmin will make a reference to another piece of media, normally within the same company, Nintendo. These nods to other franchises can range from subtle to obvious, and their discovery is a small entertainment reward for savvy and attentive fans. The Mario series is the most commonly referenced one. For the sake of completion, references that are ambiguous but mostly agreed upon by the community will be included in this article as well.

General

 * Olimar's Japanese name,, is an anagram of Mario. To fit in with this reference, Louie was given that name to resemble Luigi.
 * resemble coins from the Mario series.
 * The appearance of the Bulborb somewhat resembles that of the Super Mushroom from the Mario series. Both have generally bulbous sides, backs, and tops that are red with white spots. Likewise, the red and white spotted patterns of both are broken up by beige-colored fronts with two eyes.
 * The name Hocotate comes from Nintendo of Japan's headquarters address, 11-1, Kamitoba-hokotate-cho, and Koppai comes from Nintendo's founding name, "Nintendo Koppai".

Treasures
Some treasures contain cameos of other Nintendo series. These include:

In addition to these, some unused treasures exist in the game's files, and they are based off of game discs for Pikmin, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Luigi's Mansion, and Super Mario Sunshine.

Enemies

 * The overall appearance of the Man-at-Legs is likely based on the s from the novel . Both have a robotic and arachnid nature, as well as unproportionally thin legs. The way both creatures awaken is also by slowly lifting their spherical heads to reveal the legs attached to them. Both even have similar methods of attack, with deadly lasers.

Other

 * The fact that Armored Cannon Beetle Larvae (which are green) shoot linear boulders, and the Decorated Cannon Beetles (which are red) shoot homing boulders could be a nod to how green shells and red shells work in the Mario Kart series: green shells go straight, whilst red ones home in on opponents.

Intro
During the introduction cutscene, when the diagram shows the S.S. Drake being by a celestial body (likely Koppai's moon), a faint chiptune-like sound effect plays. This sound is actually the walking sound for Mario on the NES port of Mario Bros. In addition, when the cutscene shows a diagram of the Drake exploding and the three leaders scattering, a jingle similar in retro nature can also be heard. This one is actually the sound byte that plays when a player lets the ducks fly away in Duck Hunt.

Others

 * On the cutscene after Alph and Brittany first communicate via the KopPad, Alph notices some growling sounds and stashes away his KopPad. When he puts the device away, a sound similar to the one that plays when the player puts something in their pocket in the Animal Crossing series can be heard.
 * In the Twilight River, the main pipe that connects the two sections of the map, and the tilted flower pot near the section with the clipboards are quite similar to the Warp Pipes from the Mario franchise. For the latter, one might need to use the KopPad's camera to see it well.
 * The SPEROs have some Koppaite text on their lens' frames. This text,, means "Automatic Ultrascope", and is a reference to the Japanese name of a periscope toy released by Nintendo in 1971.

Treasures
Like Pikmin 2, some of the treasures in reference other things.

Other
Alpin, one of the castaways that is rescued, mentions being the founder of a telecom company called "e-leader," being a reference to the Gameboy Advance add-on, the Nintendo e-Reader.

Treasures
Similar to Pikmin 2, some treasures contain cameos of other Nintendo series. These include:

This also includes the entirety of the amiibo treasures, which are all replicas of real world amiibo figurines.

Treasure in a Bottle

 * When the Red Pikmin notices the size and details of the bottle, a song similar to Also Sprach Zarathustra plays.
 * The bottom of the bottle has Nintendo written on it.

Occupational Hazards

 * When the Pikmin are exploring some tubes laid down on the ground, several Mario references can be spotted.
 * A Yellow Pikmin pulls out a mushroom similar to the the ones in the Mario series or a Spotcap.
 * One Pikmin comes out of a tube that resembles a Warp Pipe far more than the others do.
 * Coins come out of the previous pipe after it comes into view, accompanied by their sound effect from Super Mario Bros..
 * The "pipe entered" sound from the same game can be heard straight after the coins come out.
 * A Red Pikmin appears with dust bunnies on its face, making it resemble Mario.
 * When that Pikmin jumps out, the "jumping" sound effect from Super Mario Bros. plays, along with the main theme from the same game.
 * When the Pikmin land safely on top of the unconscious Bulborb after the backhoe's bucket lifts them all up, one Pikmin bumps into another, and the "shell kicked" sound effect from Super Mario Bros. plays.

Pikmin Adventure

 * At the start of the 14th level, "Out of the Darkness", one can see a castle that resembles the ones in Super Mario Bros..